Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Do we think much about what we think, or is it just what we think? Is there some obligation to check our own facts? Or to truth proof ourselves? Or are we content to leave that to some other authority? How much consideration of our thinking is necessary? Does correctness matter, or is it just a matter of finding some relative cohesion with in our own head? The age of reason seems past and replaced in this age by choice and preference. Demographers say we are simply collecting ourselves in pockets of like mindedness. Moving to regions that vote the way we do, or neighborhoods that fly the same bumper stickers we do. Correctness becomes a perception in the way OZ was emerald. My acquaintances that think very differently from me pump their gas the same way, shop at the same grocery stores, get into their pants the same way…, we just come to hugely different conclusions about the issues of the day. I heard some conversation on the radio the other day, mind you my radio listening is filtered green, about whether a new health care initiative could be “swift boated’ this time around by outright lies and distortions. The common taters of the moment had some notions that due to the influence of the blogosphere, which wasn’t as prevalent back when Hillary and Bill made a run at it, such blatantly distorted characterizations could not be as effective. Hum… Does this suggest some new democracy of factuality dawning? What about the Ying of liberal shouters on TV balancing out the Yang of right wingers? Does this help us come to the truth in the middle? (If it’s in middle) I am not so sure. It ’s a badge of honor to hold fast to what you believe, and a sign of weakness to waver in your convictions. The cultural reinforcement mechanisms aren’t geared so much to truth or fiction. So much falls into the realm of unknowable, and so much proclamation stands unwanted.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Interesting thoughts-- it certainly speaks to the "red state/blue state" phenomenon that I find so off-putting. I think the truth may very well "be in the middle," but not necessarily in the sense of a "moderate" position in between political liberals & political conservatives. While I tend to support liberal-- even quite liberal--positions myself, I honestly believe that the "real truth" (whatever that may mean) lies beyond political discourse.

Randy said...

Thanks John, for the comments. I agree with you, I think of our political thinking as one band of frequency in a spectrum of radio waves, or as a layer of sediment. We tend to go to this band and lock in and forget about all the rest that completes us.