How is it, that Americans can be so polarized, by leadership, by party, by religion, by race, by ignorance?
If I asked each American, absent from his ‘clan’.
What would you do if?
“If”, personalizes the problem. You don’t have to look around to see who is watching, who is listening. It’s just you, and your conscience, whether religious or atheist.
I wasn’t born an atheist, it just became obvious to me that it didn’t matter in any real way. People are innately decent. We don’t need some artificial reason to know what is right or wrong. We simply know.
Ask a five year old what’s right or wrong, who has never been indoctrinated into a religious cult, what they believe, and show the a video of people acting badly in any forum, any language, and they will tell you. Ninety-five percent of the time they will get it right.
Now roll forward twenty years and ask people who have been indoctrinated by ‘their personalized cult’, call them Republican, Democrat, White, Black, Educated or Uneducated. Ask them the same question, and all you will hear is rhetoric, excuses, lies, irrationality or justification, based on their ‘indoctrination of choice’.
It’s simple. Just do the right thing.
I was a Fire Chief in Canada, for fire and emergency services. In departments from 104 members up to 700 members.
I had one rule in relation to how I ran those departments, and I didn’t need an arbitrary rule book to reach a determination.
It was this, “What is the right thing to do in this situation?”
I didn’t have to consult, or ask others. I knew that “if” I did that, all I would hear, in most cases would be justification, rhetoric, rationalizations, biases, or outright contempt or ‘position’.
If it was councillor, I knew it would be his interpretation of what the CEO or his fellow councillors thought to be important, or the status quo.
But what of the unvarnished truth? What of the facts? What of balance, logic, equity, intelligence?
Often times none of these considerations are actually utilized.
What is? That individual’s ‘in-group’, those who he or she must assuage, reinforce, support in order to still be considered ‘one of’?
Right now in America. All of the things that matter, weather it be the facts, truth, logic, reason, equity, empathy or what is simply, right, — has been lost in adherence to ‘group-think’.
“Who must I be with?” Is the question, not “What is the right thing to do?”
It’s time to use the logic, reason, rationality and intelligence of the five year old in all of us.
When X does Y, irrespective of party, affiliation, or perceived support, — what is the right thing to do?
Not until Americans ask themselves this question, and then act on it, will America ever find itself.
Because right now? America is lost. America is beholding to interest groups, the media, and opinions that aren’t formed on the basis of ‘greater good’, but on personal loyalty and benefit.
You’re better than this America.
Act like it.
Leave a Reply