October 2021
Sadly, I’ve lost so much emotion for my country, its culture, and society. While I hope to recover, I’ve basically become numb after watching the uncivil discourse that now passes for the norm, a redefinition of what is truth, destruction of once beautiful cities where elected leaders either fear the criminal element or the ideologically most aggressive, selective censorship, lack of respect and cooperation with the office of the CinC (no matter who sits behind the Resolute Desk), felonious immunity for the chosen few plying their trade within The Swamp, certifiable lawlessness for certain political/economic/racial classes, judicial activism and overreach, and the embarrassing national theater we once knew as the United States Congress.
What has happened to America … how and why did it happen so fast? There are 80 million people that would love to blame one guy with a fake tan but if they had a shred of honesty, they’d have to confess it started a long time before his trip down the escalator.
Regrettably, the American future doesn’t appear to have any silver bullets. There is no single person on the horizon who could reunite the two sides that have drifted so far apart. No post-depression FDR, no post-Nixon era Gerald Ford, no post-Carter era Ronald Reagan with the capacity to bring the two sides together. But more importantly than a single person are the Americans that have chosen a societal side to which they have become married. Whether or not it’s an ‘until death do us part’ relationship is to be seen. The courts, the next generation, the Beltway, virtually all forms of media, government entities and their leadership, even our service academies have doubled down on a socially, politically, and constitutionally destructive ideology to the point where they have indoctrinated a legion of followers.
When citizens start to believe that they have been rendered impotent in terms of their civic participation and stop having a reason to believe the information they’re being fed – they will become silent, disengage, disconnect, and simply go about their life in a compliant manner knowing they have absolutely no say in any outcome within their existence. We’ve watched this life and world view play out in every country that has gone in this direction; USSR and their satellite states, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq formerly, and every Third World country power structure that knows they can get away with anything because their citizens have become numb.
Where do you go for the truth? I’ve asked that question a lot. There was a time when I counted on a variety of semi-trusted sources from which to assimilate info, apply various filters, and parse out good from the bad. Regrettably, most have either been co-opted by a specific ideology, censored, canceled, or simply silenced leaving those that actually still care with even fewer places to garner reliable information. This applies to state and federal authorities, corporate leaders, once respected institutions, government officials, and the litany of media outlets.
Why is this important enough to write about? Because finding trustworthy and truthful information provides the foundation for our basic system of beliefs. This belief system literally becomes the baseline for who we are; our core values of right and wrong, good and bad, and our personal view of reality that provides a foundation for how we act on a daily basis. When segments within that system break down it throws our entire world into an area of doubt. Once we’re told that A isn’t true the next question is; what else isn’t true? It only takes one deliberate lie, obfuscation of facts, or exaggeration of details for honest people to build filters into who and how they receive information.
We’re at an inflection point in the United States in terms of the way American citizens view culture and our uniquely American way of life. So many things that were ingrained into our basic system of beliefs which we used to count as trustworthy, resolute, and unspoiled are now questioned on a daily basis as we witness the very history of this country being rewritten and taught in our public schools by those who didn’t like the original version of documented evidence, testimony, and long-held fact.
What’s left to actually believe in? Apparently, I am not alone as I find more and more people are harboring this exact sentiment and it’s not confined to one ideological side or another. It speaks directly to the American way of life. Obviously, the media outlets across the board head the list of entities I no longer have confidence in or fully believe. They are followed in close second by state and federal politicians and virtually every government agency that takes its lead from inside the Beltway. My information highway now has countless and very fine mesh truth filters.
What is so sad is that we’ve done this to ourselves in the name of progress, technology, need for ratings and the 24-hour news cycle, and most decidedly, ideology. What’s gone by the wayside, what used to be revered? The truth.
The famous quip attributed to Chico Marx, “… who ya gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?” is especially apropos to the current American sociopolitical environment. It’s a perfect storm where government agencies and their operatives, mass media, and big tech do everything in their power to convince the masses looking for truth, importance, and relevance that they are the ultimate arbiters of what one should read, watch, consume, and believe.
It’s become a war for your (and my) mind. I’m hopeful in one area, however, that Americans are smarter than that and at some point, will realize how they’re being played.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: American culture, truth | 2 Comments »
BasicMan Perspective 