"All that has happened is that the public has adjusted to incoherence and been amused into indifference" (Neil Postman, 1985). While that applies readily to
society, today, it merely scratches the surface of the cultural cataclism that
we have inflicted on ourselves, a collision of world views that formerly moved
about in relative harmony before the Information Age knocked them out of orbit
and into one another, a virtual chain reaction that threatens to atomize every
ideal we associate with democracy.
Contrasting with advanced sophistication in communication technology, there is little substance in transmission. Dropped into an empty oil drum, a lead pellet masquerades as a cannon ball. Bubble-headed bombast is taken as brilliance. Differences, innocent, ordinary and old as dirt, are portrayed as posing a greater threat to national well-being than the latest strain of flu bug. "They're not like us."
The bizarre thing about all this is that we have known since the establishment
of the nation how remarkably diverse we are. Indeed, there was a time, not so
long ago, in relative terms, that we considered that a source of strength, not
of weakness. We celebrated it as the core of national history, "From the one, many; from the many, one."
Reporting on an extensive search for meaning in the madness, Will Bunch offers valuable insight into the minds and hearts of people disturbed by changes they
see as the result of a deliberate and concerted effort to destroy their way of life. It does not appear to have occurred to them that, sometimes, regardless
of who sits in the White House, or the backhouse, "stuff happens." It happens
on TV. Actors discuss the nuances of plots, taking a leak on camera. Nothing
is sacred in la la land.
"Socialized medicine!" HMOs denied access to doctors and procedures for years before anyone bellowed about "death panels." Granted, there are myriad things
that go on out of sight, beyond our control. And that, the author posits, may
be what the fuss is all about, the sense that we have no real say in the things that affect us, promoting distrust of authority, and otherwise feeding a phobia
of almost everything.
Think this to be unprecedented? The rancor and wrangling that plagued the Constitutional Convention of 1787 pales in comparison with the hoohah over ratification that followed, covered superbly by Pauline Maier in her hefty
book on the subject. While some readers have attempted to draw a parallel
between the mood in the country then and today, what is clear, whenever we
come together to discuss something, Americans display an incredible degree
of discordance, seeking a path toward mutual understanding. Face to face,
we see eye to eye, though rarely, as through a glass, but darkly. And the
lens bears all the colors of the rainbow.
What is not clear, as Bunch muses, is what the U.S. Constitution has to do
with the present unrest, in reality. As testament to the media that pumps
life into it, there is substantial evidence that public protest has become immoderately marketable, funneling millions into the coffers of latter-day
broadcast Barnums.
Beyond the benighted ballyhoo, Bunch reports, lies genuine unease over the
uncertainty of modern life. So much change, and so fast. Or so it seems.
Every generation has stretched to embrace unexpected challenges. However,
for a portion of the population, it is as though the fabric of society has
reached its limit--the elastic has given out. It's not easy being a small
town in a small world in an expanding universe.
Small towns have been bypassed by shifting economies for generations. The
one this writer grew up in has changed enormously, the principal employer,
a prominent manufacturer, having moved operations overseas, over time, and
with the usual impact on local trade. Buffeted in the backwash, castaways
rail at the Ship of State, ineffectual at reeling in corporate greed, plus
the unabated concentration of wealth at the top one-percent that offers no
relief for cash-strapped states, counties, cities and towns. Big business
operates on the principle of profit, not philanthropy. Who sells stock in
highways, bridges and other essential infrastructure? None of which seems
to matter to the people who argue that government is the problem, as Bunch discovers.
If the past, however pictured, beckons to the populist imagination, it may
be because the present is a blur.
Thankfully, the author manages to bring it more fully into focus, with the
caveat that much remains to be told. Perhaps, an expanded view may return
the nation to the time-honored agreement to disagree, assuming that we can
agree on what the disagreement is about.
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