I care about politics. I do.
But I’m also ready for Christmas Break. Curling up with a book, or VR mini golf, without email nearby, without ads, and WITHOUT ELECTION COVERAGE. I don’t need to know when Donald Trump farts or what Kamala orders on her burger (okay, neither of those is a news story, as far as I know, but so many news stories sound just like that).
Media news coverage of this election is too frenetic and focused on fear. How can news sources have a serious conversation about separating news from sensationalism to get advertising dollars? I know, I know, it’s the world we live in. ABC, CBS, NBC, manipulative FOX and occasionally manipulative MSNBC also are all focused on how many viewers they get, which MAKES them want to say things like “You’ll never believe what THEY are doing now!” It gets people to tune in so they can keep their advertisers. But seriously, can’t we start to change these models?
The PBS News Hour and NPR at least try harder to stay just news. Maybe we should sell our time to THEM to give the rest a message. Stop making me angry or scared sensationalized broadcast news people. Please.
Anyone else ready for the 2024 Presidential Election to be over?
One of the first discussions I have about readings with my college composition students is that two common components can get in the way of understanding new readings: 1) Vocabulary, and 2) lack of Background Knowledge. (Vocabulary being helpful explains itself, but Background Knowledge is that info writers just assume you have for their average audience, though many don’t have it. BK references often sound like quick mentions or comparisons, say to Dave Chapelle’s Canceling or pulling a Ralph Nader.)
Another thing we focus on with college-level reading is credibility, bias, and trust.
For white people trying to make sense of what might feel like a changing America, for non-native Americans trying to understand why race is such an issue here, for people trying to make sense of strange politics: One voice I trust is Columbia professor and linguist John McWhorter.
Sign up for his NYTimes newsletter HERE (and see past issues here too). (These show subscriber only, but sometimes you can find these crossposted other places – google it. Or ask me and I can get it for you. OR, subscribe to the NYTimes. OR use your college’s databases to see anything the NYTimes produces.)
John McWhorter first came to my attention when I saw his name listed as a writer for one of the New York Times newsletters. Since I am a white person and I’m on a lifelong journey to learn more about race in the US, I thought I’d try McWhorter’s writing. Since 2021, for years now, he has build credibility with me as a consistently clear, engaging, sensible, and interesting writer. I learn from him regularly. (I particularly LOVED his take on television’s developing portrayals of black people and what works about HBO’s The Gilded Age.)
Those interested in making sense of the world and learning from the perspective of a black man and father should consider John McWhorter. Here’s an NPR article about a book and perspective of his.
Who do you learn from (about any topics)? Reply and tell us who you find credible and why.
POST NOTE: while doing research for this post, I scanned John McWhorter’s twitter posts for the first time. (I don’t tweet or read most tweets – who has time for that?) I was surprised to discover that he seems to have a feud with Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility, a book I have read and learned from also. What does this mean exactly? I can say that I enjoy and have learned from what I’ve read of McWhorter’s NYTimes posts, but apparently, even though I think highly of him, I don’t agree with everything he believes. Some of his points I still have to consider. This is far more normal than people may realize.
Pay attention when you read. If your body says “Yes!” or “Wait, what?” that may be you’re brain reminding you to stop and think for yourself.
Read this story from the Atlantic’s Thomas Chatterton Williams about what happened this July in France when problems with a growing Far Right movement (think anti-immigrant, pro-business, smaller-government, but much more complex than that) threatened everything.
France, at first, floundered. Then it didn’t. It woke up and worked together. Note: I rarely talk about my own politics because I’m a small-time novelist and English professor, who deeply wants to make my students work for their own thinking, not give them mine.
And yet, here’s something I’ll give everyone for FREE: extremes in a political spectrum, both far left and far right are not helpful/positive to most people. Far right politicians are extreme conservatives, who are often anti-immigrant, suspicious of government, and too friendly with big businesses (they are sometimes so pro-business to the point where they’re generally okay with Henry Fords, Elon Musks, and other unnamed rich white men squeezing the middle class smaller to extract more wealth from them – and sometimes, far-right people are okay with those rich white men controlling more/having more political power).
Far left politicians are often distrustful of businesses and capitalism, sometimes too focused on reducing rights to property, or are hyper-focused on small issues like climate change or cruelty in animal industries, and sometime too dependent on regulation to inhibit businesses, but too focused on individual rights like legalizing all drugs, (and sometimes that hyper-focus on niche rights or issues can put large industries out of business, causing a soft economy, job loss, and broader economic issues).
My first suggestion to people wanting to better understand why extremes aren’t the best choices for politicians is to tell people to listen (to a variety of different voices), to read more (from people who think differently from them), and to try to imagine life from other perspectives. This can develop empathy for “other sides”. For example, people arguing that we must close the border and severely limit immigrants coming into the US are often surprised by immigrant stories (the violence people flee, the taxes they pay, the pure goals of providing for their children they have). It doesn’t change the issues of a more open border but it at least helps stop people from dehumanizing immigrants. There are actually plenty of great ideas and great points on many sides (of plenty issues).
Some of the conversations happening at the extremes can be fascinating… but unrealistic. Switching to only green energy! Yes! But how? Hmmm. Abolishing public schools so I don’t have to pay for other people’s kids! That may sound interesting, but what would the results be? Look closer at who will definitely be able to afford the good schools still and who won’t. Totally unrealistic, and not the America anyone wants. It is cruel, especially to lower income families who would then almost certainly never be able to get out of poverty.
This Atlantic story about France is inspiring – another strong democracy can wake itself up to avoid extremes. Can the United States?
STEP ONE: READ/LISTEN/GROW. Set aside at least 5 minutes per day at least four days per week to answer some questions you have through unbiased sources. Wikipedia is okay. Fox or MSNBC are not exactly. In fact, start looking for news stories that are designed to make you angry or ticked off. THAT IS MANIPULATION. Sometimes there’s also propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation there too.
STEP ONE B: keep finding more sources you can trust, like the Atlantic above, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and plenty of others.
Note: anyone who tells you not to trust any media but them is lying to you. Don’t automatically trust any media at all (including me). Let them build up trust and use Reagan’s often used maxim: “Trust but Verify” to check other sources too.
STEP TWO: identify your VALUES. Not your party, your values. Sometimes a party veers away from their own stated values (and yours).
STEP THREE: VOTE. if you don’t vote, your voice matters less. Use that power or someone else will. Or someone might take that power away.
(STEP FOUR): Take breaks, but don’t ever stop reading and growing. Build up your vocabulary, your ability to express yourself to people of all backgrounds, and build up your resilience/stamina to stick with stories and topics and solutions. We as a country need good ideas.
Step up or other people might put you to sleep and take your place away.
Many normal and apolitical people (people like me) don’t want to weigh into this political stuff like with Former President Donald Trump and the January 6th Committee. I personally don’t want to isolate sensible people who are conservative or sensible people who are more liberal or progressive.
But at a certain point, everyday people do need to weigh in and help others get a sense of how to think, what to think, or what to listen to versus what to ignore.
Today’s news is a complicated blend of biased facts, unbiased facts, misinformation, and flat out lies, so it is important to be skeptical of EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE (including me).
Here’s what I think about the January 6th hearings: There is verifiable evidence here and Americans as a whole must be able to come back to some facts we can all agree on. What we believe about some of these facts can be divergent, and that is normal in America, but we cannot pretend that facts do not exist.
There are reasons to still like President Trump or support his legacy, or like President Biden or support his legacy, but we cannot
You cannot trust just what one side says or just what any one news source reports, and I have seen enough to believe that some people are trying to manipulate you.
CLICK HERE or Google “January 6th Committee Hearing Livestream” and/or “October 13” to see what is happening today in Congress. President Trump was just issued a subpoena.
One thing I love about a new semester is that a predictable cycle starts again.
One thing I DON’T love about a new semester is that a predictable cycle starts again.
There is comfort in the sameness and there can be stagnation in it as well.
I’m reminded of the Catholic prayers I recited over and over and over growing up in stogy churches and slow droning ways and how I searched for freshness in the words every time. I often found nuance. I did not always. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
I guess it’s about MINDSET too, and so many things are. I just need to remember to see the positive and move towards the finish lines I want.
This Cycle, Clouds on the Horizon
I begin a cycle again in a strange time, a time of darkness and apathy, of fear and racism and the hints of danger past the ramparts, pennants through trees past the fields. Some seek blood to shape our world into one without the others.
And amidst this, most of us have to drive, cut grass, sauté vegetables, feed the dog, pay the phone bill, and wake up too early for work.
How are we to find meaning and purpose in a world shouting at us, shouting through us, a world so full of distractification devices that people have left the ramparts?
Being intentional matters – setting plans that will either show us meaning or show us the way closer to it. And also not falling prey to the siren call of that which lulls us into our slumbers and atrophy.
I’ve got a few goals for the year myself. Do you?
One Man with a Purpose
In this time of heat before the fall, of the bustle before the semester begins, I found a surprise in the chaos.
Enter Oliver Anthony’s song, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” rich guitar folk twangs and an angry, despondent voice, at the launch of a clown show of a political debate. It was at least a hint of pure life and real human worry at the head of a river of posturing and misrepresentations.
His song may not be for everyone and some are reading their lenses into the words. One thing that many can agree on is that this is a person who sees struggle and wants it to be different. He’s using his song to point to some hardship that many face.
Anthony’s message is worth discussing. It must resonate with people: at the time of this writing, it has garnered 41 million views in two weeks.
Here is an artful song with a shade of a dream that has been shared before and needs to be shared again.
I enjoy that Oliver Anthony responded in a video after the debate and said he wrote the song about those leaders. I can understand that. So many leaders today sound the same: ivy-colored, full of meaningless phrases, and lack of detail about clear action on the hard choices we need to be making. We need humans who listen, who know the feeling of having double digits in the bank account, who remember what it was to say no to something important like food or medicine because those were the only choices.
Let’s let servants and listeners into the white rooms. Let’s ask those who will serve others balance some budgets and make some hard choices.
Join this conversation. Go watch some of the Response Videos (which is apparently a thing? Can you tell I neither Tik nor Tok?). See what others say. What do you think?
We can all do so much better, and we WILL. Let’s do it together.
Read. Think. Come up with simple ideas. And VOTE.