In the course of my job as a general contractor, I work for and with (and probably other prepositions as well--healthcare practitioners get to say they work on people, which, as far as anyone knows is not true for me) a variety of people and types of people. As in all relationships there are minefields and pitfalls one must negotiate, things one can and can't safely discuss in the course of friendly and casual conversation on the jobsite.
I just finished finishing-up a project for a late-ish middle-aged couple, a few years older than me. They're very nice folks in general, and they are rabid Republicans. During campaign season you can count on their yard being plastered with campaign signs, stumping for every Republican candidate from dog-catcher to President. Some of the people who worked on that job (see, we can work on jobs, if not people) also shared their political views to one degree or another. In fact, one of them used to be a "Follower" of this site but left, I guess because it was too left. They believe what they believe at least as fervently as I believe my beliefs. It got me to wondering how that sort of thing happens.
We all love stories, have throughout the course of human history, from griots and bards through novelists and screenwriters. It could be argued that, beyond food, shelter, and clothing, stories--and probably art in general, as witness cave paintings, petroglyphs, The Rolling Stones and other ancient examples-- is the fourth basic essential human need. In this political season--and when isn't it political season in the US, to our collective exhaustion?--there's certainly no shortage of stories being told.
There is, of course, no inherent connection between stories and truth; some of our stories are true, some--often the most enjoyable--are outright fiction. It's when the fictions blur into, or are presented as, facts that things can get pretty sketchy. Today we have several media-watchdog organizations who vet political ads and claims for their relation to the facts, bestowing ratings like "three Pinnochios" or "Pants on Fire," depending upon the veracity of the propaganda.
From my precarious perch on the Left, it sure looks to me that the stories primarily come from the folks on the other side. I mentioned several of them in passing in last week's post: Obama's Kenyan birth, Muslim faith, plans to confiscate all guns and to take private property into government control via armies of UN soldiers or Martians or something, are just a few a few of the stories being promulgated in the elite Right Wing Media: in print, on Fox Noise, and, especially, I think, on Hate Radio (66.6 on your AM and FM dial--and the fillings in your teeth, and the receivers they implant in your brains, and other silly stuff I'm making up). But why are so many otherwise smart and decent people so eager to believe such rot?
Turns out it's biological. Recent studies discussed in a number of places (the two I consulted were Psychology Today and the blog Live Science), cited experiments that show that, when shown photos of positive things (cute little bunnies, beautiful sunsets, marijuana [I made that one up]), or negative and gross things (car crashes, maggot-infested wounds, Ted Nugent [I made that one, up, too, but...] ), conservatives spent more time looking at, and were more affected by, the negative images, while liberals were drawn to the positive stuff. The upshot, I guess, is that we may really not have a choice in how we think, politically: we're just wired (or, for conservatives, weird--wouldn't resist that) in that way. Verrrry eenterresting....
Story songs, then, this week. This post title, f'rinstance, comes from a Dan Fogelberg song, as will the coda, which is coming up soon, honest. Tuesday, noon till two, 100.1 FM, wwww.wool.fm on the webs. And don't forget on Sept. 15, the final in the DothWool series at 33 Bridge St. in Bellows Falls, three bands for 5 bucks and a really cool bartender, unless I show up instead.
...and they just ain't true."
Pretty funny Mark. Your list of essential human needs is I think correct, food and water; shelter;a great wardrobe and stories.. yes I agree. I love stories, we all do. That's why people watch tv series, and I am addicted to reading late into the night. And poetry, an artful story telling. From my perch, solidly in between the left and right, I see the purposeful use of half truths employed as political warfare by both sides equally, because, sadly, very sadly, it works..or they wouldn't do it. And then there is the radical fringe of militia men and other hate groups that are in a league of their own.. (that was a great movie)..and yes, they do seem to gravitate toward the grand old party, the party that has been high jacked away from the good old white's only country clubers.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that media watch groups are popping up pointing out the 1/2 and 1/4 truths of both sides propaganda. I really, really wish that the network evening news, during this (two years on..two years off cycle of political drama)would have this truth squad story be the lead every night.But, that won't happen, cause the special interests that run the world, also run the networks. Jamie and I turn our tv off every summer, and reluctantly turn it back on when the Patriots start up their season. It's glorious to not have all this trivial din in the fore front of our lives, and I've come to realize that the world keeps on, whether I'm sitting in front of the news every night or not. We just finished a cable series called "Boss" with Kelsey Grammer as the mayor of Chicago. Wow, if there is any truth to this story, we have more to be worried about than I imagined. Good story though, great writing. Oh yea, I think I've heard that Kelsey is one of the very few Hollywood republicans too. Anyway, he's a good actor.
Wow... where to begin here!?!? There is no doubt that we humans love a "good" story. Whether or not its true is really not the first thing we think, after we hear one. We just react to it... enjoy it (assuming its a likable the tale), etc. But I do think (if you're like me) we test the validity of many things we hear, particularly those politically charged tales, or recounts of alien sightings and/or abductions, or learning something shocking about someone we know (term used loosely here)... But there are those of us that simply like to accept what we see or hear as fact... readers of the National Enquirer for example. Some of us read that and say "Yeah... right" to ourselves, but there are others that say "Wow, I never knew that!". We certainly are wired differently.
ReplyDeleteA parting thought: Wouldn't it be nice to have a "Truth meter" available to test everything we see or hear? I think someone much smarter than me, should develop a way to review an ad, or article or video clip or sound byte or whatever and then post for all to see (like a barometer icon in the top right hand corner of my computer screen) rating it from 1 to 10. Wouldn't that make life easier? But until then, we're on our own! Be careful though, because we truely believe what we want to be true first and ask questions later. (Can you believe it?)