Monday, June 26, 2006

Got Me Thinking

I saw two movies this weekend, but I'll leave the most recent for another post. Both made me question the foundation on which I have built my beliefs. Suddenly I feel like I may have to start over. Am I becoming like my father, someone to be labeled a conspiracy theorist, easily disregarded by people like myself, people who haven't figured it out yet?

I have a very serious job. Not the bullshit I do from 7 to 4. No. The job I speak of is the one I do at night when I set the table, clean up after dinner, run the bath, read stories, rush between tee-ball and soccer. To do that job properly is to acquaint myself with the reality of life, how things are run, how things get done. I'm starting to realize that I don't know a thing, and neither does the media--not the media I listen to, not the media that I read.

George Clooney has not been my favorite person. Like most conservatives, I pretty much had him pegged as a looney leftist, who should just shut the cake hole, look pretty and yell "Roll 'em!" Syriana changed that for me.

I'm definitely not going to be running with Cindy Sheehan anytime soon, and I'm not ready to declare Iraq a quagmire or another Vietnam. But let this be my notice to the world: I will be looking real close at the whole situation in the Middle East with a different set of glasses than I have been wearing. And before you think my polarity has been totally switched, just know this: I can't think of a single politician of either party that I believe in my heart prioritizes the concerns of every-day Americans.

One of these days I'll have it figured out. A Eureka! moment just before I flatline perhaps, but there has to be a solution. How is it that we are all screaming No Amnesty and Enforce the Borders, and yet, bills in congress are poised to actually pass? Can you tell me how this is even possible?

Despite all my rage, I'm still just a rat in a cage. I didn't write that, in case you're wondering.

Can the internet solve this somehow? By circumventing the bottleneck that keeps valuable information from us. Syriana is basically saying that we kill foreign leaders that don't agree with our demands until one is left standing that plays ball with our government. Not so hard to imagine really. I begrudgingly admit that this sounds and awful lot like, you are either with us or against us.

I'm pissed and tired, and feeling helpless. Perhaps tomorrow I will play the glad game. Until then, well, see you then.

10 comments:

Ultra Toast Mosha God said...

Hmm

It's an ugly business.

I have yet to see the film, but I hear all the right things being said about it. If it has made you sit up and think to this degree, then it must be pretty good.

I don't know what to believe about American foreign policy. What I read in the papers just seems to be extreme reactions to the left or right.

Our government is affiliated with yours in the middle east, so the media will be unavoidably slanted with this in mind, on both side of the fence.

Unfortunately, there are may Britons who hold a great deal of contempt for the U.S.

I try to explain to them that the government doesn't necessarily speak for the people, and that the majority of the Bush vote in the last election came from fearmongering.

But I cant even be sure if this is true.

sheesh........

Scott said...

It's way more complicated than fearmongering. The term itself is an over-simplification that could actually be correct. I don't think our media is slanted in favor of the government at all, but I am starting to think they don't have the resources to really dig in and find out what is happening. If they get too close, bad things happen to them--maybe. I don't know. At first I was behind the whole idea of intelligence being a private matter, that it was in the interest of national security to keep things from the public. Problem is, the holders of these secrets have emperor-like power. They have a finger on buttons that can snuff out a life. This is really scary stuff. Something has to change. Perhaps an oversight of all intelligence reviewed by a large committee. Problem again, is that money can buy anything. How do you offset the incredible influence of big money? Can it be done?

Flood said...

Wow, I just want to write for five feet about this.

Instead I'll just mention that loyalty to a political ideal (i.e., dem/con) doesn't mean agreeing every tenet. Your thinking may be changing on certain issues, but your foundation can stay the same.

jenbeauty said...

I feel the same way a lot of the time. I think we still have the best system in the world and lots of great people in this country, however, some of it needs fixing.

Hmm who to trust? The media is out for money and themselves. Hollywood is too. Local politians who start off with good intentions and eventually end up being a clog in the system or scape goats for the corrupt. I know this sounds very cynical but I think our opinions have so much truth to it.

What can you or I actually do? I got to work, support my family, have fun with my friends and usually stick my head in the sand. I speak out when dicussing politics and I vote. That is just about it at the moment. The only place I know I can make a difference is locally.

{{HUGS}} Scott it truly is tough to have these realizations.

Scott said...

Flood - Thanks. I'll always believe that doing the right thing might be hard to do, and even unpopular, but doing it for money is not reason enough.

Jen - Hey, great to see you around again. I guess I'll just have to get used to the fact that some things will always be tainted. But my approach has to change. I have to be able to call it what it is and spread that to my children.

Scott said...

Oh my goodness Janie, sorry. You must be stressing out real bad. I think it becomes a challenge after you solve the problem.

Kathleen said...

I've been wanting to see Syriana and you just made me want to see it even more.

And I think it's good to question authority, not in an anarchical way, just a "we're watching you" kind of way.

Toni Anderson said...

Don't get me started on politics!!!

However I'd like to make one little observation. Notice how about 2 years ago, George Clooney, Tim Robbins, Dixie Chicks etc, were all villified by the press as unpatriotic loonies--by press and radio etc? Making ordinary people think of them as nutters?

The US has to be careful it has a free press. One thing I think about the Brits is we have a diverse, dynamic and pretty unbiased press with the BBC and some other broad-sheet papers. (Not that certain papers owned by certain people don't toe the editorial line).

But seperating industry, religion, media from politicians seems like the only way out of the US foreign policy quagmire.

Wouldn't that be nice???

Scott said...

Janie - Yeah, I am disgusted that our security is for sale, that we have let it go on for so long that Mexico is dependent on us to survive. But that's what we want, and thus all the free trade agreements--co-dependency. They'll give us what we want when we ask because we have a large hammer.

Toni - I do have a little problem with what the Dixie Chicks said. It's like when I'm fighting with my wife, I don't go to our mutual friends and solicit their opinions. It's one thing to criticize.

I agree about religion being a seperate thing from government. That's what we are supposed to be, but I do see that Bush mentions God a little too often in his speaches.

Scott said...

Kat - Totally agree. I think you will really enjoy the movie.