CONFIDENT IN OUR IGNORANCE
In my attempts to introduce people to the candidacy of Dennis Kucinich and the host of pressing national and global issues that he represents I suddenly became aware that an acquaintance of mine, who I walked my dog with at times, was a Fox news watching republican. I never would have guessed. When I brought up politics after a good number of weeks of never stumbling upon that topic I assumed he was a democrat so I was blown over when he told me he thought the war was great and that we needed such a war to keep the cost of oil down.
I was speechless. "Then why is it going up" was all I could muster. "Well, that's only temporary" was his confident reply. After spending a lot of time discussing issues with like minded Kucinich supporters it was stunning contrast. He had tremendous confidence that he was being protected and provided for by the same people who brought us the war and that they were fighting to make his life as comfortable as possible. After regaining my composure I thought for a while about how to approach the situation.
Finally, I started painting a picture for him of a small Iraqi village where suddenly shells start exploding and American forces are breaking down doors, shooting people, arresting, raping and torturing. He denied that anything "too serious goes on" but admitted that bad things do happen in war and that's a shame. When I urged him to he even looked at it through the Iraqi's eyes and saw that the whole situation would be different if he were one of them instead of an American. He had to admit that if that were the case he would be against Bush and the war.
He then pointed out that so long as the park we were walking in was quiet and safe and so long as he had a good paying job and a roof over his head, that he would feel satisfied with the policies that provide that security be they democrat or republican. He just happened to lean toward republicans because it culturally suited him.
After all he was a city kid brought up in a house of democrats who when he moved out to the sticks wanted so badly to fit in with the locals that he changed his name to Bud and started listening to country music. Fox news is just the natural place for a redneck wannabe to wind up during his off hours. But the funny thing is, Bud is one of the nicest people I've ever met. I mean a really good guy through and through.
He even helped me fix my car a few times while a good friend who had been promising to do the same for months was a no show. Bud was the kind of guy that could disagree with everything I said about politics and yet neither of us would feel as if it mattered a damn weather there was agreement or not. He was willing to concede that I was very well informed about all kinds of things he would never have even thought of taking the time to look into but for the most part he insisted that on key issues I was the product of liberal propaganda which was made up of lies to make the president look bad. He pretty much considered all of the news media to be liberal propaganda lies except Fox news.
Even after polls started suggesting that the vast majority of americans were against the war and Bush and a slim majority favored impeachment, including a lot of republicans, Bud still had the bumper stickers and still towed the Fox party line. He did once admit that the bumper stickers started out as a way of trying to get out of tickets since he spent a lot of time driving for his job and was convinced that all cops were Bush supporters. In fact it was a company car so while he would otherwise be driving a used car, his job allowed him to drive around in a new one. This was one of the things that he held up as why he can't complain about the system.
He was a strange mix but the most interesting thing was that morally and ethically he seemed to be an outstanding person - they just didn't translate into how he would vote. He would admit that wrong doing, and lies and corruption was bad but would shrug his shoulders about it all the way a lot of liberals do and just chalk it up to necessary evil. Finally, in desperation, I pulled out a trump card. I asked him what his religious beliefs where. "Christian", he responded, although I think more specifically he had been raised catholic.
"Oh, Christian" I said and then went on to ask what Jesus would think of torture and rape and pillaging oil and trying to take over the world not to mention small communities with wall marts and fear tactics and race baiting and all in his name no less. Well that seemed to do it, Bud got kind of quiet. He thought for a while, then smiled and thought some more. He didn't have an answer to that one. Fox news had not prepared him for that approach. The answers were spinning around in his head, I could practically hear them but he was shooting them down himself as he knew I would, albeit in a good natured teasing way. He knew there was no credible rebuttal and was actually pretty amused by it.
The words were something to the effect of "I guess you're right" but there was some shrugging and a bit of hemming and hawing about how we humans can't possibly understand the world as Jesus would see it. "True" I told him, but I can't picture the savior of saviors sending a soldier to heaven because he's a good christian who just happens to blow up babies as his day job working for a president who claims to launch wars for god. It just doesn't make sense.
The conversation was rightfully over as we politely trailed off onto another topic. Bud was calmly reflecting. He was so sure that traditional morality was the stuff that fox news was spouting and that real morality having to do with higher principals was just not very relevant to the modern world. I could see he was rethinking it a bit. He even said in parting that he would keep his ears open for Kucinich though he was just being friendly. After that the political discussions went on the back burner again and when it did come up once and a while he was still holding firmly to the republican party and Fox news.
He said it would take loosing that job and the company car before he actually started taking someone like Kucinich seriously. Like other things he is very confident about, I doubt it. I think someday he will just wake up and decide to scrape off all the old bumper stickers and turn off his television. He will go out and take a deep breath of fresh cool air and think to himself a thought concerning how everyone deserves to live this way.
I think the same thing will happen to all of the liberals who support people like Hillary, Obama and Edwards and take all their cues from CNN and Larry King. They are just as trapped as Bud. They are even better educated than the Fox news crowd and therefore even more confident in their ignorance. The ignorance of why the New York Times is hiring neo-con hacks for it's op-ed page while refusing to print opinion pieces by Congress members trying to launch impeachment hearings. It is a willful ignorance born of not wanting to face the truth of what is happening to our democracy. Some day, hopefully soon we will all wake up and realize that it is better to aspire toward truth and be unsure of yourself than to believe lies and be confident in your ignorance.
I was speechless. "Then why is it going up" was all I could muster. "Well, that's only temporary" was his confident reply. After spending a lot of time discussing issues with like minded Kucinich supporters it was stunning contrast. He had tremendous confidence that he was being protected and provided for by the same people who brought us the war and that they were fighting to make his life as comfortable as possible. After regaining my composure I thought for a while about how to approach the situation.
Finally, I started painting a picture for him of a small Iraqi village where suddenly shells start exploding and American forces are breaking down doors, shooting people, arresting, raping and torturing. He denied that anything "too serious goes on" but admitted that bad things do happen in war and that's a shame. When I urged him to he even looked at it through the Iraqi's eyes and saw that the whole situation would be different if he were one of them instead of an American. He had to admit that if that were the case he would be against Bush and the war.
He then pointed out that so long as the park we were walking in was quiet and safe and so long as he had a good paying job and a roof over his head, that he would feel satisfied with the policies that provide that security be they democrat or republican. He just happened to lean toward republicans because it culturally suited him.
After all he was a city kid brought up in a house of democrats who when he moved out to the sticks wanted so badly to fit in with the locals that he changed his name to Bud and started listening to country music. Fox news is just the natural place for a redneck wannabe to wind up during his off hours. But the funny thing is, Bud is one of the nicest people I've ever met. I mean a really good guy through and through.
He even helped me fix my car a few times while a good friend who had been promising to do the same for months was a no show. Bud was the kind of guy that could disagree with everything I said about politics and yet neither of us would feel as if it mattered a damn weather there was agreement or not. He was willing to concede that I was very well informed about all kinds of things he would never have even thought of taking the time to look into but for the most part he insisted that on key issues I was the product of liberal propaganda which was made up of lies to make the president look bad. He pretty much considered all of the news media to be liberal propaganda lies except Fox news.
Even after polls started suggesting that the vast majority of americans were against the war and Bush and a slim majority favored impeachment, including a lot of republicans, Bud still had the bumper stickers and still towed the Fox party line. He did once admit that the bumper stickers started out as a way of trying to get out of tickets since he spent a lot of time driving for his job and was convinced that all cops were Bush supporters. In fact it was a company car so while he would otherwise be driving a used car, his job allowed him to drive around in a new one. This was one of the things that he held up as why he can't complain about the system.
He was a strange mix but the most interesting thing was that morally and ethically he seemed to be an outstanding person - they just didn't translate into how he would vote. He would admit that wrong doing, and lies and corruption was bad but would shrug his shoulders about it all the way a lot of liberals do and just chalk it up to necessary evil. Finally, in desperation, I pulled out a trump card. I asked him what his religious beliefs where. "Christian", he responded, although I think more specifically he had been raised catholic.
"Oh, Christian" I said and then went on to ask what Jesus would think of torture and rape and pillaging oil and trying to take over the world not to mention small communities with wall marts and fear tactics and race baiting and all in his name no less. Well that seemed to do it, Bud got kind of quiet. He thought for a while, then smiled and thought some more. He didn't have an answer to that one. Fox news had not prepared him for that approach. The answers were spinning around in his head, I could practically hear them but he was shooting them down himself as he knew I would, albeit in a good natured teasing way. He knew there was no credible rebuttal and was actually pretty amused by it.
The words were something to the effect of "I guess you're right" but there was some shrugging and a bit of hemming and hawing about how we humans can't possibly understand the world as Jesus would see it. "True" I told him, but I can't picture the savior of saviors sending a soldier to heaven because he's a good christian who just happens to blow up babies as his day job working for a president who claims to launch wars for god. It just doesn't make sense.
The conversation was rightfully over as we politely trailed off onto another topic. Bud was calmly reflecting. He was so sure that traditional morality was the stuff that fox news was spouting and that real morality having to do with higher principals was just not very relevant to the modern world. I could see he was rethinking it a bit. He even said in parting that he would keep his ears open for Kucinich though he was just being friendly. After that the political discussions went on the back burner again and when it did come up once and a while he was still holding firmly to the republican party and Fox news.
He said it would take loosing that job and the company car before he actually started taking someone like Kucinich seriously. Like other things he is very confident about, I doubt it. I think someday he will just wake up and decide to scrape off all the old bumper stickers and turn off his television. He will go out and take a deep breath of fresh cool air and think to himself a thought concerning how everyone deserves to live this way.
I think the same thing will happen to all of the liberals who support people like Hillary, Obama and Edwards and take all their cues from CNN and Larry King. They are just as trapped as Bud. They are even better educated than the Fox news crowd and therefore even more confident in their ignorance. The ignorance of why the New York Times is hiring neo-con hacks for it's op-ed page while refusing to print opinion pieces by Congress members trying to launch impeachment hearings. It is a willful ignorance born of not wanting to face the truth of what is happening to our democracy. Some day, hopefully soon we will all wake up and realize that it is better to aspire toward truth and be unsure of yourself than to believe lies and be confident in your ignorance.
