The problem is, I'm an archaeologist. I was once an aspiring journalist, but in college discovered that I was actually an archaeologist during a series of experimental activities*. This came as a shock to me, but then again, my nickname at the time was, "Queen of Delayed Reactions." As it turns out, Archaeology is a lot like journalism, albeit focusing on events that occurred at least 100 years ago. In reality, most of us work on things that occurred at least 500 years ago. We like it that way. It gives us plenty of time and leeway to accumulate stupefying amounts of data, look at a situation from every possible angle, and when asked for clear answers to simple questions, reply, "We need more data."
Actually we're not allowed to give definitive answers to any type of question, vague or specific, we are honor-bound to begin every sentence with the qualifier, "We THINK this is what happened, based on the evidence....." Even if we had bonafide video footage of say, ancient Native Americans consuming beans, squash, and corn just like all of the other evidence suggests, we would still have to say, "We THINK that they ate corn, beans, and squash, but we really can't say for sure, because that would smack of hubris and high-handed-ness."
Contrast this with what passes for journalism in today's media. E.g., Fox "News".
I'm not saying it wasn't frustrating to put this lame-ass qualifier in front of all my declarative sentences when I was working as an archaeologist- it was. So partially to vent the steam coming out of my head from this frustration, I double majored in English along with Anthropology- specifically, Creative Writing. There, in the safe haven of my other major, I could write poems about Howling Wolf's ledger drawings and tipi paintings that started with the deliciously subversive line, "THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENED- the horses here...."
Well, I'm no longer a professional archaeologist, and dagnabbit, I still have things to say. Somewhere in between the "pronouncements" and poetry of my youth, and avalanche of stultifying, curiosity-killing data, my inner journalist is still screaming to get out. I'm guessing most scientists have this problem- none of us are allowed to make pronouncements or give definitive answers, DESPITE the piles of cold, hard evidence backing us up, and simultaneously, uneducated asstards and newsmodels on Fox, and really all the major stations, are allowed to say things like "Global Warming is a Mind-Control Scam from the UN!" because that's what they're paid to say. It's enough to make a person drive a .7 mm mechanical pencil straight into their brain, via the nearest soft-tissue entrance.
So here I am in a "Post-Truth" America, glad to be neither a journalist nor an archaeologist, and yet I still need more than 15 minutes to digest and report on something that I feel strongly about. Much more than 15 minutes. Por ejemplo, something like 9 years ago my minister asked me what I thought about the "Culture Wars" as it was called at the time. I raised a skeptical eyebrow and replied that I wasn't convinced any sort of cultural war was happening, at all. Give me 500 more years and mountains of overwhelming evidence, and I'll get back to you- albeit with the qualifier sentence, "We THINK this is what happened...."
But now, a mere 9 years later, I may have an answer. There is a sort of cultural war going on, for the hearts and minds of the 99% as we've taken to calling ourselves- but it is not fueled or paid for by any of us in this so-called war. It's sole purpose is to divide us into mortally opposed, warring factions, and failing that, to distract us from the fact that WE outnumber THEM vastly, insurmountably, and almost comically. And besides, it's not even about Us vs. Them. We are all in this together, supposedly.
I have to remember that every day, especially when some jack-ass in a gas-guzzling SUV with a bumper sticker that says "Why Should I Pay for Your Healthcare?" cuts me off, or tries to run me over.
A Different Kind of War
David Wilcox says it better than me, but basically, we are being played, big time. Advertising has always manipulated emotions in order to get people to buy things, but now that manipulation is masquerading as journalism, and even Truth with a capital T- and worse, people don't see a difference. And people don't see a difference between truth and bullshit anymore because they've been taught to believe the only difference is a matter of opinion, or perspective, and that Truth, or even facts, are all relative. Or rather, they HAVEN'T been taught critical thinking of any kind, except "when in doubt, go with your gut" and by gut they mean raw, un-examined emotions- not the still, small voice of intuition. Hence, we get these extreme political views voiced by otherwise sane, rational people, who are trying to pass them off as natural, mainstream, "normal," and unarguably, patriotic.
What happens when these politically extreme views masquerading as mainstream/normal views get elected? George W. Bush happens, that's what. And what happens to the misinformed electorate that got their raw, unexamined emotions ratified and validated all at once? Long story short, we turn into a nation of whiny little babies and assholes, and people trying to shove something sharp into their heads. The whiny little babies or (WLB's for short) are the ones who are incessantly whining about how many "entitlements" and hand-outs other people are getting, when in reality they are probably getting the most hand-outs and are over-entitled up the wazoo. Assholes are pretty much the same, they're just meaner about it. Both have the self-awareness of donuts and take absolutely no responsibility for their own actions, or the actions of whatever group they belong to. And since they mostly belong to the dominant group that's in power, they don't feel the need to take responsibility for anything that doesn't polish their balls, so to speak.
What wlb's and assholes generally do to mask their shitty behavior and sociopathic attitudes, is something psychologists call Projection. We commoners know it as Blowing Smoke Up Someone's Ass. Basically, you accuse the opposition, or anyone but you, of doing what you're doing. Why is that fat man screaming about "Welfare Queens" in a city very far away from him? Because he's getting government tax breaks that dwarf the amount of those welfare checks by a ratio of 10-1, that's why! Why did Republican Dick Armey* act so upset about Bill Clinton's affair back in the late '90's? Because he was screwing every staffer on the Hill, that's why! Pretty simple.
This is all stuff that pundits probably said in 2008, or a few months ago, but as I said, I'm an archaeologist. You want up-to-the-minute analysis, watch The Daily Show. And as you can surmise, I'm going to have to cross-post a lot of this in my Come To Jesus blog forum, because there's a shitload of coming to Jesus that needs to be done here, sinners.
*all of it legal
* his real name
