This
is one of those essays that’s been written a few dozen times.
It’s one I’ve tap danced around enough that it’s a wonder the
whole thing hasn’t been scrapped and tossed.
I
don’t mean slid into some folder. I don’t mean the basics sketched
out, a few notes pondered, and let’s revisit it down the road
when we might have a better grip on what to say.
I
mean delete delete delete. I’ve tried, no good can come of it,
gone.
And
the problem begins with Family Guy.
Family
Guy is a show that’s been on the air for quite some time.
Long enough that reruns are syndicated all over the place. Local
stations. Cable. Streaming services. It’s a popular show, with
a large catalog of episodes, and there are plenty of options every
day of the week to see it multiple times.
For
us, the important thing to consider is that first run shows air
on the Fox television network, with a side note to that idea being
that many of the stations that carry the current season in prime
time also show previous seasons at other times.
Many
years ago, a protest was launched against an episode. The specifics
aren’t important. It could have been because of a joke. Could
have been because of some storyline or character or something
you’re not even considering. Could have simply been Peter’s naked
behind on the screen. And, as the saying goes, when it came to
the protest, it was in all the papers.
The
story got coverage on television news programs. It got coverage
in print media. You could find links all over the internet. Family
Guy has multiple times generated protests and complaints
and more, so we’ll just leave it at that and I’m not going to
bring out the specific moment of note. Suffice to say, I recall
becoming aware of the issue, and then moving on with my day.
A
few months later I had the television on. It was like 6 or 7pm
in the evening. Local Fox affiliate was running a syndicated Family
Guy episode. Just so happened, there it was, the same moment
that had caused all the fun a few months before. With the joke
intact, not blurred or bleeped or censored or anything.
And…
crickets. Not a single complaint that I was ever able to find
directed at that broadcast.
We
can gather many lessons from this. We could discuss how groups
make attempts at creating the largest story… so a first run national
issue is more important than sounding off for a localized rerun.
We could do some type of deep dive about what really stirs passions
and emotions and movements. We could consider how energies and
emotions and passions diminish over time, and try researching
fatigue syndromes.
All
of those and more would be worthy of thought and debate.
For
now… simple… the squeaky wheel makes a commotion and moves on.
For
a lot of people, there are two ways to view the current President.
No middle ground. One or the other.
Number
one – The President is awesome. Regardless of your own personal
opinions, the facts you may want to present, and any type of
defense you may wish to mount, there are many people—millions
of people—that think he’s a swell guy doing a fine job. These
people will not change their minds.
Number
two – The President is even stupider and more unbalanced than
he’s shown, give him another tomorrow and he’ll once again open
his mouth or visit social media to drop to new levels of ridiculous
narcissistic actions in pursuit of undeserved self-promotion,
and simply put he’s an embarrassment on countless levels. Regardless
of your own personal opinions, the facts you may want to present,
and any type of defense you may wish to mount, there are many
people—millions of people—that think he’s a jerk making a complete
mess of everything. These people will not change their minds.
That’s
it. The two ways to view the President. One or the other. Extremes,
yes. Also, if I do say so, pretty darn accurate. Regardless of
which camp you may find yourself residing in, you have to admit
that there are those with the other way of viewing him.
Those
items are extreme though, and they actually in turn bring about
two segments of people, which fractures into three camps.
Group
number one (the fractured into two different camps group) –
Regardless of which way you view the President, people that
believe those with a different opinion about him aren’t just
wrong but present a danger to both the present and the future
of our country.
Group
number two – People that don’t care. For whatever reason, wake
them when the next administration shows up and they’ll think
about caring then. And, oh yeah, the two camps group shouts
way too much and really need to calm down. They are annoying.
When
two areas are divided so strongly in opinions on a subject, and
the middle ground isn’t interested in hearing a darn thing either
way… well… yeah. And here we are, with exactly that division.
Some
people: Awesome. Some people: Embarrassment. Some people: How
do you not see it? Some people: There are much better things to
do.
Welcome
to America, present day.
(For
the history books and to provide a marker for generations that
follow, this essay will finally make some kind of appearance in
2020. It’s been in production for a couple of years.)
My
initial inspiration for returning to this essay was the following
quote:
“Our
Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the
airports.”
I
want to get away from all of the trash talking, commentary, fact
checking and whatever else you may have heard about this comment,
speech, event and more. Put it out of your mind. Clear your thoughts.
New ground here. Ready?
I
want to present you with two words.
You
don’t get to look them up. No cheating. No using a search engine.
Just two words and your immediate reaction to the questions that
follow. (And I don’t even need to check on you, since there are
no prizes… you’ll know whether or not you did ok.)
Ready?
Great…
Caisson
Rampart
Do
you know what they mean? Do your friends?
(And
be honest here. Ask your friends if you don’t know how they might
answer. Because, and I kid you not, I know as a fact that a very
high percentage of my friends will point toward the television
show Emergency! when you mention rampart way before they’ll
begin wondering about castles and battle defenses. They might
eventually get there, but they’re starting with the exploits of
Station 51.)
The
thing is, hidden in these two examples becomes a problem of the
blunderbuss and ongoing bickering for two thoroughly and stubbornly
entrenched sides. In short, they don’t know what they’re talking
about. And, perhaps just as significant, they often criticize
that opposition without knowing what that side is talking about.
They
call each other misguided. They call each other naïve. They
call each other wrong. With conviction. They never bother to check
the realities.
But
that’s politics. Right?
There’s
a reason we deserve better. Across the board… better.
Hopefully
we’ll all do a bit of research and take action to get it.