Political Red Shoes

Media has a dizzying pace.

I caught myself wandering and wondering over headlines of the not-so-distant past:

“What ever happened to the bomb guy – the one who had sent all of those package bombs to political folks?”

“What were the results of the investigations for some of the recent mass shootings – did they ever find a true motive?”

“Did the Keystone pipeline ever get resolved/completed?”

“…Did they ever resolve who did shoot J.R.?”

Okay, that last one was added simply because my mind, once bringing up questions, tends to reach for reasons to be sucked into the internet. Give me a break – I have to try to have some sort of levity in these posts.

Even a seemingly honest question from a friend can be inevitably wrapped up in the controversy barely controlled by the media:

What in the hell has happened to journalism? Like actual journalism… The kind where you are given a story and you actually corroborate the details and learn the facts BEFORE you publish and run it. Between the high school kids and the BuzzFeed BS, how many times does the media get to push an agenda before they lose all credibility? All I want is the damn news. Actual news.

Those straddling the shrinking real estate between the poles of opinion, such as myself, are often driven to silent disapproval as the cacophony reaches an unhealthy level.

My response:

Unfortunately, no one wants moderation or rational discourse, Paul. Outrage and anger became the preferred method of “discussion” a long time ago.

We live in a day of instant communication around the globe… yet we have forever lost the patience required for journalism without emotion. We can reach out to long lost friends… but we cannot effectively communicate to the people next door. Every global problem has become a local cause; we have too many options but no focus.

…And going forward in a positive direction is damn near impossible at this rate.

I love to write, and I have gone back to blog posts I have written on a few of the focus areas of the moment – they are rational, inclusive to differing perspectives… and largely unread.

Meh.

I write for my own reasons, and I observe with the best impartiality I can muster… but, for the sites and personalities you mentioned, I can only venture the guess that they aren’t speaking out for anything other than for approval from those with whom their opinions already resonate. That, and to hear themselves talk. 

We know how to move forward… we just don’t truly want to. We’re apparently content with the way things are going to actually listen to anyone telling us otherwise… and by the time we wake up out of this media-induced stupor of pliability, it will be too late.

It just amazes me how bad things have gotten. 

I have great memories of how, years ago, many of the people in this thread gave each other crap in good nature, but are presently stewing about the others’ political views.

“Divide and conquer,” right?
Thus far it has been effective beyond all possible logic – to place a wedge between folks who have served together… to weaken THAT bond… Well, that’s pretty fascinating. 

Once, we put our faith in each other’s abilities as mechanics and crewmembers… that belief in someone else that they won’t let us down and we will return after a fucked-up mission to talk vent and razz… Some of us weren’t the best at what we did, true… but there was a unity in purpose that had us covering for the slackers and trying to help them get their shit together if it was deemed possible.

Now? What purpose is there? What cohesiveness remains? People we don’t know, writing about stories which have little direct impact on our immediate lives have proven that those days I mentioned are not as important as I thought they were.

There are a lot of political outliers from my own views on my “Friends” list… on either side. And as long as they are there, they are exactly that: friends… from a long time ago, when things made much more overt sense. While I may disagree with their viewpoints, the bond that was once formed is more important that the outrage which is seemingly manufactured.

Another friend posted something disturbingly similar:

This country will never be reunified until you stop sharing this bullshit. I have seen things said and shared on my news feed in the last two days, by people I love and care about, that has begun to completely erode my faith in humanity. I’m not being hyperbolic. I am completely dismayed by what some of you seem to think about an entire segment of the country, based on no more than what political party with which the person is affiliated.

You are destroying my country and I want you to STOP, please. You are the problem. Not the liberals, not the conservatives- But YOU, the people posting the negativity, lies and click bait. Just stop it.

Sitting with my 9-month-old daughter this morning, I amused her with YouTube videos of music from my past. It was one such video – Kate Bush’s “Moments of Pleasure” – which elicited one of those interesting “ah-HA!” moments due to the theme of “The Red Shoes”:

 I can’t go on. I’m torn between what I was and what is to become of me. In these shoes every step I take is laced with madness. They fill me with pain and confusion and with thoughts that are not my own. I have danced their dances. […] These shoes are all anger and passion. I am possessed. And I no longer have the strength to fight them.

The concept behind the video, movie, and original fairy tale is diverse, but follows a common theme: the cautions about restraint are cast aside for the individual indulgence of desire. The shoes in question become an entity with one singular purpose – dance – with no regard whatsoever for the welfare or whims of the person wearing them. Vanity, pride, and indulgence… all of which has the shoes taking on a possessed and never-ending life of their own.

Much like now.

Vanity of opinion… We love to cherish our own perspectives more than others. This is natural and not all that destructive. In the case of the tangents which often follow one idea made public, however, this becomes a hinderance in actively hearing the opinions of others.

Pride in subjective interpretations of truth… Again, this is not all that bad – the confidence in our own perspectives is what constitutes part of our own self-identity and consciousness. However, a look at any comment section or discussion on any controversy is only as far as one needs to go to find angry and fierce pride in whatever truth is convenient and reinforces the biases which support it.

Indulgence and indifference in the perspectives and speech of others… All of the observations prior to this final one are those which are – on some level – understandable and unavoidable. Indulgence and indifference, though, represent a conscious choice in continuing the argument that started from debate. It boils down to a simple concept any parent can understand: “I want to do what I want because it feels good to me; I don’t care.”

Political ideology is immortal, and disagreements on differences are inevitable and necessary. We need differences in opinions and values because this is how we strive to work even harder at communication, justice, and reaching common goals.

However, much like the fictional red shoes, when unregulated by wisdom and encouraged by emotion, the potential for the course established becoming one of unstoppable momentum of good intentions gone bad. In Hans Christian Andersen’s fable, the main character “put the red shoes on, thinking there was no harm in that either.” The comment section beckons in a similar manner – there is no harm in speaking up… voicing one’s opinion, right? Comment as much as you wish… “dance in your red shoes till you are pale and cold, till your skin shrivels up and you are a skeleton!” Comment until the frenzy has consumed you and your attention and unity has been sliced, diced, and julienned… until there is nothing left to protect or dispute.

Don’t get me wrong – the last thing I would hope for is a serious effort to enact draconian state-sponsored censorship or to stifle the First Amendment rights of any one person, group, or organization. This is, unfortunately, where I see things going if folks don’t see where all of this anger and outrage might lead.

Shortly before my daughter was born, a podcast lead to a Facebook post along these same lines:

Since my comment, I have been sucked into reading more about public opinion and information operations. Horrible habit, I know. 

A while ago, I came across a podcast that ended with an interesting statement/idea: 

“The rule of thumb is: if you read something or watch something or hear something… and you have strong emotion to it, like a strong response – like you are instantly terrified… or you’re instantly really pissed off… or you’re instantly looking at somebody who doesn’t look like you and thinking they’re the enemy – especially that last one – check your sources. That’s it. Check your sources because you are being manipulated or being played.”

The media on both sides are playing folks. If you look at things through their lenses, the world is very binary… and biased. I choose not to have that perspective and play that game.

This is all nothing new. I have written about it before, and I will probably keep writing about it for the foreseeable future.

Information operations are far from new. Current military information-support operations (MISO) are rooted in the control of information which has dominated human history in one form or another – deception, propaganda, and media control.

I can only hope that the dissonance fosters more active moderation…