Mechanized Silliness

We’re getting what we deserve, here - the slow downward slide can easily continue, but it’s hitting a new speed and low.

It’s a three-pronged sort of contempt that I’ve developed, and I feel an urge to write down what it’s congealed into, shove it into a bottle, and set it free onto the waves. BE FREE OF ME, THOUGHTS.

First, the status of political discourse in the old US. At this point in time, everyone seems to favor a specific tactic - label the other side with a nasty pejorative, and then use that to discard everything they say. Socialist, bigot (and its derivatives), terrorist sympathizer, old white guy... We slap that label upon them, and suddenly every single one of their thoughts is invalid and worthless. We don’t have to consider their actual thoughts, we just have to examine the caricature and use what we say that says in order to completely discredit them. I shouldn’t have to say this out loud, but goddamnit this is not an acceptable method of debate. It is lazy - it’s the same sort of thought that causes us to prejudge. We’ve decided the veracity of the claim already, we just want a reason to discard it; we don’t want to actually think, we want to be right. We don’t have our own thoughts, and we’re content with that. 

This is exactly what both parties want - as long as we aren’t actually considering our own way, we can’t change. We adopt the thoughts that we’ve been offered - we mimic what others do, we adopt the party lines. If we aren’t interested in a different way, if we always say ‘Might as well go for the lesser evil’, we will be stuck with the lesser evil instead of actually making an attempt at something better. Change won’t come from the top, it won’t come from those already entrenched with power - it’ll come from new generations, the ones that actually have the ability to change.

Speaking of those already entrenched...

Our choice of candidates is often dictated to us by the media, like it or no. The media is part of the system, honestly - by its very nature, it embraces the power, placing the spotlight where it feels its best interests are. Its best interests lay not in exposing the flaws in the system, but in cooperating with the system, ensuring it remains intact, as that allows them further access instead of being viewed as.. dangerous. After all, if the press is going to be viewed with suspicion, they won’t be nearly as welcome, they won’t have nearly as many stories to show off. They align themselves with the system they desire, the candidates they desire, and they -push-. Sanders receives little coverage (mostly footnotes), Hilary receives lots. Trump’s coverage in the media has been overwhelmingly negative despite his popular support. Everyone has an agenda. We become so accustomed to bias in the press that anything that doesn’t match others’ spin is suspect, accused of bias itself.

(I believe it’s impossible to be free of bias, however - there’s a reason I’ve described the Original Position discussed in certain areas of political philosophy as essentially being Nirvana in certain religions - but honesty of bias is vastly preferable to trying to act as though one is lacking in it. Deception is an enemy of wisdom.)

That brings us to the current election.

Our options, as presented by the media (and in one case, despite its best efforts), are a loudmouth with little understanding of the function and balance of government (granted, using our last few presidents as an example would leave anyone a bit confused on that score, zing.) and The Politician.

(Upon rereading this, I realize that there may be some terminology muddling. When I say The Party, I mean the party they’re nominally beholden to, and the Other Side is the one they’re nominally against.)

Breaking this down... Trump’s appeal is that he’s (at least verbally) not beholden to The Party, but he’s still part of this false dichotomy, this spectacle, panem et circenses. Because he is not beholden to the message of The Party, he’s allowed to say whatever he likes - and he’s chosen to tap into the resentment of people who have been told “you are lesser and need to sacrifice yourselves for everyone else”. What bothers a lot of people? It is working. Someone who tells people ‘your opinion matters and I want to do something about it’ to a group of people who have spent years being told ‘your opinion is meaningless’ is going to rally them. Who would have thought that using the exact same tactics as the Other Side would work in his favor?

(This is an observation, not support. I hate very, very much that these tactics are not only popular, but effective - mostly because in order to continue to work, they need to perpetuate, not eliminate. That rant is for another time, though.)

Hilary is a Politician, an exemplar of the person who has made working the political system their occupation. Nothing exits her mouth that has not been filtered through her advisers and calculated to appeal to the groups that will hear it. She has been anointed as The Party’s successor to the presidential mantle, and groomed for it for the past four years. The media as a unit was ready to declare her president the instant the race began without all that election and caucus and primary bullshit. And, well. No one wants to say anything against her except for her opponent who the Other Side literally has no control over. She is the system. She benefits from the system.

(I find the catch-22 over the classified information fascinating. If she is indicted, the nomination will likely cease. If she is not indicted, corruption will be sincerely suspected, as people have been found guilty for less, and if she is given a pardon, corruption will be basically confirmed in the eyes of many. The question is, are those eyes going to be relevant ones?)

These two seem to be opposite extremes.

They are not.

They are both part of the system. Nothing will change - the system will chug on as it always has. We say Trump is some kind of loose cannon, but he’s placed himself under the Party umbrella, and aligned himself with them - how long does anyone believe that he’ll remain such once he’s stationed in the Oval Office and is forced to actually work within the system? Big talk is absolutely meaningless. Clinton is being poised as a savior, a champion of equality - but she’s buried firmly in the upper 1-2%, and her distance between herself as the people she claims to support has only widened since she and her husband have been in office. Token gestures, speech.. all calculated to get people’s attention and focus it on all these ideas that... never quite come about.

not okay

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