August 13, 2007

American Society Can Do Amazing Things, but Will It Do the Right Things?

 

“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.”

 

I’ve been increasingly aware of these poignant words from Dickens’s “A Tale of Two Cities”. We are a great nation, but to experience our greatness fully we must address our weak cultural underbelly.

 

We have reached a pinnacle of human achievement and a low point in human integrity. We send humans to the moon and human-like robots to Mars, while many earthly humans are without basic essentials. Many feel no connection to our great achievements, and some do not even believe they have occurred. We discover drugs to treat conditions we recently didn’t know existed, available to decreasing numbers of our people.

 

We won the Cold War and defeated our only serious challenger to world power, yet more insidious threats have emerged, making us feel even less secure. Organized violence is prevalent around the world: Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, Somalia and countless other places, while most of us are barely aware.

 

People have always killed without interference from “bystanders” for a range of reasons, and no reason at all. But current technology that allows Darfur-like atrocities to be seen in our living rooms (when they make the news), now makes these tragedies about us, as well as “them”.

 

Violent crime in some major cities is reported down in recent years, but crime-ridden ghettos are growing relentlessly around our country. For many this is a time of unimaginable affluence, yet increasing numbers of people have difficulty affording food, education, health care and other necessities of life.

 

Financial interests dominate our affluent culture and society as never before. I never took seriously the claims of radical groups during the 1960s regarding the dominance of corporate interests in our political life. I’m still not sure if those folks were right then, but today’s world seems to have come from a playbook of their worst fantasies.

 

The secret conspiracies they talked about then, like our energy policies being made by the executives of top companies, are now obviously and painfully the case. National events and places are taking on the names of corporations instead of national heroes.

 

The integrity of the culture is eroding in many ways. During a year-study in Colombia in the late sixties, it made me proud to observe how much better our business culture seemed to work for customers. A guarantee meant you could get your money back if a product didn’t work. U.S. companies seemed to care about their integrity and my business. I felt I had some power as a consumer. This was not the case in Colombia and other countries I later came to know.

 

I now pretty much don’t believe anything from companies – in the mail, on television, over the telephone (usually during my dinner hour), even from non-profit organizations or the marketers they hire to do their fundraising. How can organizations that call me at obviously inconvenient times or trick me into opening mail with an envelope that pretends to be something other than what it is, expect me to want to become a member or give them money?

 

In addressing issues, we have become so polarized it is difficult to have useful discussions about important issues: Defending ourselves from our enemies, preventing unwanted births, keeping our borders secure, et al. Our political leaders use language that obfuscates and sanitizes, and lowest common denominators are put forth as “courageous” positions and important social questions are left unattended. We have trouble even agreeing on terms to describe our disagreements. “Collateral damage”, “Pro-life/pro-choice”, “War on terror” (at least some terror). Orwell’s “1984” may be up for a revival, if it is still allowed under emerging “anti-terrorism” laws, or government practices.

 

Most of these practices continue because they work. The “rats” that send out the mailings make the calls, create the political positions, get their “pieces of cheese” and continue to press their little levers faster and faster.

 

Ultimately we get what we deserve. We are all creators, as well as victims of our culture. What we tolerate and respond to will drive that culture – becoming the ground rules of our society. We should all feel proud about the great achievements of this time in our history, as a nation and a species. And with regard to our serious shortcomings, I quote a hero of mine (Pogo), “We have met the enemy, and it is us.”