The Fairy Tale Fantasy of American Politics & The Dangers It Brings To The Conversation
March 29th 2009 13:50
"Fairy tales were not my escape from reality as a child; rather, they were my reality -- for mine was a world in which good and evil were not abstract concepts, and like fairy-tale heroines, no magic would save me unless I had the wit and heart and courage to use it widely."
~Terri Windling
"Surviving Childhood” The Armless Maiden 1995
~Terri Windling
"Surviving Childhood” The Armless Maiden 1995
The pieces of the puzzle are slowly coming together but the story of how this came about is becoming hazy. The story of a society built on the instinct to communicate through cave drawings and later adapted the art into the stroking of the pen on sheets of paper.
Communication has and will always be the key in the story of our society no matter the struggle or strife that surrounds us. No man, woman or child will ever agree on each and every issue but the ability for our society to bring the argument into forums where discussion was used instead of weapons has made our American culture one of the greatest in world history.
While the fundamentals make us great, the things that brought us to the dance are tearing us apart.
The same passions that will quickly rally hundreds of thousands Americans of varying race, gender and sexual orientation to stand up and fight against injustice have been muddled by political czars who would rather steer our passions into their own money making political agendas rather than solving the original problem that stirred our passions.
From the time of our youth we are bombarded with stories of Kings, Queens, Princess’s and Evil Step Mothers in fables framed around black and white stories of right and wrong.
These stories take different paths but always have the same ending with the knight in shining armor saving the fair maiden from evil forces centered around destruction of the “just and proper” society.
While a children’s novel should not be seriously examined in any political conversation the argument still breaks down to the fundamental question of how we bring these clear black and white lines of good and evil in judgment of those who share the same goal for our countries success and well being.
When an argument of how we weather the storm in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression is deduced to a simple jockeying for political points and control rather than a clear agenda to find an end game we’re not any closer to finding any conclusions.
Everybody’s ears are closed as Republicans have made the decision to simply wait and wish for the President to reach a point of failure and Democrats are content with ruling with an iron fist after an election built on mandates.
After an outcry from the American people for a change from the politics of yesterday with a lack of results it does nothing but make my heart even more cynical when the time comes for a man or woman to step up to the plate and run a campaign on something they actually intend to do.
Like the story of the boy who cried wolf, our ears are going to be closed to what they have to say simply because we heard it all before and the game of holding our nose and saying ennie, meenie, minie moe between the red and blue candidate will continue instead of choosing the best man or woman to fix this mess if it is even still fixable at that point.
I’ve come to the plateau where I bluntly realize that nothing is going to change and the political czars will always control the conversation.
This control isn’t a mandate handed down from a higher power because their work is good for America but is rather a product of the greater failing empires in our society.
Empires based around a theory of divide and conquer from the places we get our information and the politicians we elect to represent us on a national and state level. Structures set up to filter information the general public receives are now facing the hand of fate when the doors finally opened for the people to choose.
Like the a-track, cassette tape or vinyl record thousands of newspapers from sea to shining sea are concluding their Sunday morning tradition and closing business. A tradition that was passed down from generation to generation, told stories of American Independence, two World Wars and the rise and fall of 44 American Presidents. Some may say that it was the deep economic crisis that brought this American institution to her knees while others may say it was a simple product of evolution.
While the evolution of the technological age where any man, woman or child can get access to news in America or beyond with the click of the mouse would be a quick and dirty answer it would still be a simple assumption. The answer simply comes down to the empires of journalism losing their way.
When technology stood up and called names to the empire of journalism the decision was made in the industry to move towards becoming bigger and more profitable instead of reinforcing the core values of the industry. Synergy of Newspapers with TV and Radio Stations became the industry norm as millionaires bought into the game to run an empire based on profit and spreading their personal political values rather than the raw truths 0f the world we live in.
The pockets of the men and women who brought us the news on the high level became thicker as they achieved rock star status.
Living up to the American way of bigger and better the industry became mired with excess with the result being a watering down of investigative journalism and Johnny come lately reporting.
Caught in the glitz and glamour we allowed our media to focus more the looks of the anchors and reporters rather than substance resulting in revolving, special interest laden, out of control sessions of Congress on Capitol Hill where our politicians have no watch dogs until their activities reach unimaginable levels.
As I mourn the death of an American tradition I can also take solace in the fact that death brings life. By taking their eyes off the ball it has opened the doors for truth to shine through as the road blocks set up by the FCC and other government entities can and will never apply to the world wide structure of the internet.
The dirt and backroom politics are now open for the world see allowing the average American to hold their representatives to the candle of public scrutiny.
The game of hide and seek through media filters is now over but it is the job of each and every American to take advantage of these opportunities regardless of party lines, race, gender or ethnicities.
The sad part of this idealistic thought is within the fact that we have so many decades upon decades of back and forth politics that the battle lines are deep and blinding. We carry our causes on our backs like a thousand pound weight and refuse to let them go. Fire balls of abortion, racism, sexism and socialism are thrown around on all sides of the issue and have not helped us in the long run.
What we need to do as a society is to find a way to carry this weight without breaking our backs but I guess this is the very same argument that has existed since our forefathers fought over the final articles of the Constitution and Bill Of Rights.
The doors are open….
It’s ultimately our choice to walk through them or to continue throwing fire balls and suffer together with no results, no progress and impending doom.
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