The Spectrum Is Round

Every time I read a news story, I have to activate my "political agenda filters" to make sure I get the information and not the ridiculous spin from the source. This is not a new phenomenon.  I like to think that most journalists try really hard to make their work great, but the corporations they work for -the people who are sleeping with this party or that party- have lost the point of disseminating information and exchanged facts for political agendas. It seems to be a giant ass-kiss, and we are left to sort through it. Hopefully someone is sorting through it.

The truth is that Americans have taken passive reading to the stratosphere, and just want to be entertained. Southpark is a great example of this. It is more informational to watch an episode of a raunchy cartoon than it is to sit down and read a well thought political report. That's what America has been begging for; please make it easy. Unfortunately, some things cannot be dumbed down enough to reach the passive readers.

What is reaching passive readers? Agendas. It is more popular to adhere to a party line rather than think for one's self. This has created an easy-to-access identity for millions of drone-like consumers. For example, if it is on Fox News, you can go to bed knowing that you have been fed some right wing propaganda, a watered down Libertarian message, and a flirty tryst with some Tea baggers. When you meet one of these drones, it is generally unnecessary to have a political conversation with them. It is safe to pigeon-hole them and move on. This goes for every other mainstream -or otherwise- news agency, and their entertained consumers. Please entertain us.

Most of us think of the political spectrum as a line that goes from left to right. I have seen it in books, been taught that way, and thought that way for a long time. The more I studied political philosophy, the more I realized that not only is a line a dumbed down way to categorize philosophy, it is also impossible to fall off the end of it. What happens when someone reaches the extreme right or the extreme left is the same. Those people wind up back-to-back. Yes, Wayne LaPierre and Obama are back-to-back. There is no center on the circumference of a circle. It is a mad twirl round and round; a revolution.

That leaves the notion of a two party system in the land of simplistic ignorance. If we go around thinking that there is a difference between a democrat from California and a republican from Mississippi, then we miss out on the collective in Washington that operates as a unit. Sure we are entertained by the squabbles and "philosophical differences", but I am convinced that they are not really differences. There is no good and evil in politics. It is a marketing scheme that is orchestrated like a super hero movie. They have gone so far as to court particular news outlets to get their pretend goals out there to stupid people.

So many smart journalists have fallen in line like unarmed soldiers, ready to fight for their masters. I hate to tell them, but it is very difficult to fight on your knees under a desk. The same goes for politicians.

I was going to present the silver lining in all of this, but there isn't one. Until we start using our brains at a higher capacity and see that unification is the only way to move forward, we have no hope of changing anything. In the mean time, keep letting them define words for you. Keep believing that the Earth is flat. No matter what, we can always find another way to dumb it down a little more. Maybe our kids will be even more lazy and unable to think for themselves. That way all the things we let slide will matter less, and they can find a simpler way to be entertained. I hope your favorite news story makes it through all 48 hours of the weekend before you have to be fed a new favorite.

                        Sincerely, Johnny

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