I’ve been wanting to write blogs for some time, on a variety of topics, but since political blogs are how I was introduced to the medium I’m sure I will always be drawn to them. The problem with such blogs is the same as with other forums that discuss topics: polarization of opinion without any real discussion of facts. This pattern gradually appears everywhere, two locations I have found demonstrative:
1) Sports – Although sports are banal for the most part, I still partake in the guilty pleasure of football, and though there are arguments that can be made based on facts, most sports commentary eventually devolves into “Cowboys Rock!” or “Patriots Suk!” or some such claptrap with an exponential increase in spelling mistakes over time as you can see in this highly scientific graph:
–Care of the Bush Foundation for Scientific Advancement
(Yeah, here I am already taking a cheap shot at politics when I’m trying to be fair and balanced, thereby single-handedly ruining the validity of the words “fair and balanced”, apologies). (Dammit, the excel graph didn’t take, damn wordpress. –ed.)
Basically, emotional people have no time for spell check or dictionaries, only time to yell as loudly as possible or denigrate the opposing person as abusively as possible. As goes spelling, so go the facts.
2) Internet movie forums – I’ll leave out my favorite website, both for the sake of preventing more trolling and to avoid excessive advertising on my part. However, no matter what movie is being discussed there are always two comments that appear without exception: “This movie is the greatest ever!” and “This movie is the worst ever!” or other variations on these two themes. Then others, holding an opposing view on the movie, automatically gainsay whatever was previously said. Seriously, try it; go on forums for Gone with the Wind or The Godfather and post “What was the point of this movie, terrible from beginning to end.” I, being a positive person by nature, prefer to do the opposite, going to forums about excessively bloody and gruesome B-horror flicks with little or no plot and posting, “This movie really taught me a lot about the true meaning of Christmas” or “A feel-good fun time for the whole family!” Immature, I admit, but sometimes immature is all we’ve got, particularly after a sixer of Pabst Blue Ribbon.
The point being that any topic can end up in this state, if rationality and the willingness to see another’s point of view are sacrificed on the altar of emotion and ego.
Damn, where was I going with this? More of a point, perhaps? I was trying to tie this all back together with a story I wrote several years ago about communication and the dangers of turning every topic into an Aristotelian duality of A or not-A with nothing in-between, more commonly described as seeing things as ‘black and white’. Essentially leading to discussions that have no recourse but simply the automatic gainsaying of whatever the other says; a breakup into two parties with no possibility of an outside view (sound familiar?), and ultimately, the joy that comes when people break out of this habituation and begin to see the grays (or the greys).
So, without further ado, judge as ye see fit:
Two Men and a Road
‘One day, a man was walking along an asphalt road. On one side of the road was a green pasture stretching as far as the eye could see, and on the other side a single line of trees partially obscured an almost identical scene. He had wandered for many days, so many days that he couldn’t recall how long it had been since he had done anything else; in fact, he couldn’t really bring to mind any specifics of his life before this road. Just this road, and only this road, and that was all he could think of.
At long last the man came upon another man walking along the road in the opposite direction. He noticed nothing particularly special about the other man, and the second man thought much the same about him. They stopped a few feet apart and stared at each other silently for some time. Then, suddenly, they both began to speak, which startled them into silence. Neither had realized they possessed such a skill, nor did they remember where they had learned it, but most importantly they wondered how they had thought about anything at all as they roamed this road if they hadn’t been thinking in words. Had they been thinking in words but couldn’t recall it? And if not, how had they thought?
They began to speak at length and found that they understood each other’s tongues perfectly. However, after some time they found themselves tired of the effort; tired of the questioning to learn about the other. They found that each had extensive past experiences, a vast array of thoughts brought forth by these experiences, and so, in order to understand the opinions of the other, they had to talk in great detail. They both found this quite burdensome.
“Considering,” proposed the first man, “that there is likely many other people in this world, and taking into account the amount of time that would then be required to know each of them, I suggest we invent umbrella words to cover large sections of our beliefs. In this manner we can more easily get to know each other and quickly segregate ourselves into like-minded groups, thus avoiding the necessity to question our own beliefs.”
“I agree,” confirmed the second man, “but what of the enjoyment of discussion and argument? If we all agree, then what will there be left to discuss?”
“Well, this is a good point…” pondered the first man, “…perhaps we could create groups that are different in name but not truly different in their actual character. Then we will be free to argue about the shapes and the colors of the leaves without considering the nature of the tree itself; to speak of the relative characteristics of what we create without asking why we create at all.”
And so they were in agreement. They walked again, this time in the same direction. For many weeks they traveled until they came upon a city. They decided to speak with the citizens and see if they had created such a system of communication already, and if not, they would slowly introduce it. They approached two individuals who appeared to be drawn up in a heated discussion, and they interrupted them to ask what it is they believed.
The two citizens turned to the new arrivals in confusion, at first wondering what they meant exactly, but then decided they must mean politics. “Well,” said the first citizen, a man wearing a gray suit with a blue tie, “I’m a republican. I’m not sure exactly why, I guess because my parents were. It means I support a group with an ever-increasing military budget that accepts large donations from corporations in order to maintain the status quo. But I say it’s because I support less government interference in my daily life.”
The second citizen, a man in a gray suit and green tie, began to speak, “Well, I’m a democrat. I’m not sure exactly why, I guess because my parents were. It means I support a group with an ever-increasing military budget that accepts large donations from corporations in order to maintain the status quo. But I say it’s because I support more social programs to help the unfortunates of society.”
The two travelers were baffled and looked at each other dumbfounded; meanwhile the citizens began to argue about whose group receives $1.2 million in campaign donations from a particular tobacco company and whose group receives $1.1 million from the same company. Then they stopped a moment and reconsidered the original question.
“Perhaps you meant religion,” said the citizen in the blue tie, “I am a Christian. I believe in only one God who destroys all others that don’t believe what I do, so I sure was lucky to have belief in Him as my only option at an early age. My only evidence is an extremely old book that I haven’t read but I got the gist of it from people who would have nothing to gain by lying to me. Now I can justify any means by the ends of serving God and no matter what I do I can still be forgiven and spend eternity in what sounds eerily like a human fairy-tale made up to comfort us from the great unknown.”
The man in the green tie then piped in, “I am a Muslim. I believe in only one God who destroys all others that don’t believe what I do, so I sure was lucky to have belief in Him as my only option at an early age. My only evidence is an extremely old book that I haven’t read but I got the gist of it from people who would have nothing to gain by lying to me. Now I can justify any means by the ends of serving God and no matter what I do I can still be forgiven and spend eternity in what sounds eerily like a human fairy-tale made up to comfort us from the great unknown.”
The citizens continued to discuss the question while the two travelers looked at each other in borderline terror as they quietly tried to back away but were stopped again by the suited citizens.
“Sorry, perhaps you meant sports,” suggested the blue-tied man, “well, I’m a Green Bay Packers fan. I have no actual connection to the team other than my entire wardrobe is made up of their merchandise, I watch every game, and I argue the superiority of the team at any opportunity. I define myself by the team, even though the team itself is relatively transient and ultimately football is pretty damn unimportant.”
“And for me,” interrupted the green-tied man, “I’m a Minnesota Vikings fan. I have no actual connection to the team other than my entire wardrobe is made up of their merchandise, I watch every game, and I argue the superiority of the team at any opportunity. I define myself by the team, even though the team itself is relatively transient and ultimately football is pretty damn unimportant.”
The suit-wearing citizens then broke into a heated argument about a referee call in a recent pre-season game between the Packers and the Vikings, and the two travelers took the opportunity to flee from the situation.
The travelers settled in a small house on the outskirts of town and often talked of the large mistake they almost made, and how the townspeople often broke into bloody feuds over differences that never really existed, especially during football season.
Many years passed, and the men entertained themselves playing Tecmo Super Bowl on the original Nintendo Entertainment System in perfect harmony. But the first man always felt that the second man favored the Dallas Cowboys, and the second always suspected the first favored the San Francisco 49ers.’
Anyway, mull that over for now…as will I. I’ll get back when I’ve collected my thoughts.
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