Moral Absolutism Meets Jeff Foxworthy

Have we ever been in a more contentious, toxic, pointless circle of arguing in our nations’ short history?  Well, probably.  But I’ve studied this stuff.  But with the internet and the speed with which we learn information and respond to it, the noise has risen to an inhuman pace.  I use ‘inhuman’ because I am aligning myself with the scientists who are beginning to understand that out culture and the technology that powers it have exceeded the very evolution of our minds. 

In simple terms, we’ve created a monster we can’t possibly comprehend.  It’s not that we’re dumb.  It’s that the human brain is centuries behind. We aren’t there yet.  We can’t grasp the global impact of anything.  We certainly haven’t figured out economics or a proper environmental relationship. 

So, what can we handle?  Maybe we can restructure those arguments.  Make them accessible.  Local.  Simpler.  The problems aren’t simple, but the long, tough road it takes to solve them may need a deliberate, paced approach.

In the past five years or so we’ve somehow blurred the definition of fact.  It because of one side of the political spectrum which has gone over the deep end in its attempt to gain power and keep it. There is a back and forth about who is right and wrong, who is morally corrupt and who is not, and my least favorite argument: Who is more American?

Let’s acknowledge some facts in this premise, okay?  People in power are fallible.  No matter what political party, they are all capable of cheating on their spouses, taking campaign money from dubious sources, failing to live up to promises they should not have made, not having all the information they need, kissing ass, ignoring constituents.  All of that human behavior that we as a people are all guilty of in some degree.  I would never say that one side of the political spectrum is inherently better behaved than the other.

Maybe I would.  No today, though.

What I want to address is the existence of moral absolutes.  There are limits to these behaviors.  We like to find fault in the opposition, but deep down here are absolutes and when they obviously being ignored, the perpetrators have entered into idol worship of some kind, but more importantly, they have actively excused themselves from the bargaining table.

I’m also addressing us.  The people.  It’s not your guy versus my guy.  Not really.  It’s what you support.  Its what you allow and approve of.  For instance, I do not think it is ever permissible for children to be locked in cages.  Some people think that’s okay because their parents arrived here illegally.  I don’t.  And, they’re wrong for supporting it. 

I said it.  They are wrong.  Its an absolute.  Let’s draw a line in the sand with babies in concrete cages. We can do that, right?

We just need to sort out who the bad guys are.

But wait!  You can’t do that!  That surely is racist, sexist, xenophobic, anti-intellectual, anti-religious! 

It would be if I dared to base it on any of those things.  But we are so far gone as a culture at this moment, we truly have to get back to the basics of human civilization.  Just as a starting point.  Then we can knock out gerrymandering, okay?

History has a nice list of these if you read closely enough.  We repeat a lot of our mistakes as well as our victories.  This will be reminiscent of Jeff Foxworthy’s old ‘You Might be a Redneck’ bit, but in a way, it kinda fits.

If you disregard information or scientific fact because it may challenge a belief, you might be a bad guy.  Information is just that.  It sits there waiting to be proven.  You get some proof behind it might become science.  But to disregard it simply because it interferes with your belief or its critical of your team, is just wrong.  That is the seeding ground for fascism.

(Oh, and fascism is bad.  And racism is bad.  All of it.  Everywhere. Including here.)

If you believe you should delete, deport, annihilate, punish, or attack your opposition once you are in power, you might be a bad guy.  This is what tyrants and fascists do.  I don’t mean a Democratic president appointing liberals to his cabinet. I mean if you think the opposition should be killed or subjugated once your guy is in power.  See, that’s bad.

If you think it is okay to burn books or destroy media because of a criticism against your guy or your belief system, you might be a bad guy.  It’s a lot like the fear of information.  Information is just that.  Your belief system is your business. They are two separate things. Don’t like a book?  Don’t buy it.

Here is a big one.  If you believe that if we could only get rid of a certain group of people than everything would be better, you are probably a bad guy.  And just historically speaking, your thinking is antiquated and antithetical to the America spirit.  It’s a roundabout way of saying that you suck and you are unamerican by most standards.  I don’t like defining Americans, but that has to be one the tenets of America we all agree on, correct?  No genocide?  I don’t think those exact words are on the Statue of Liberty but it’s implied.

The simple fact that I feel awkward about typing all of this out is how bizarre modern times have become.  These are bullet points in a history lesson. None of this is original thinking on my part. It’s all been hashed out long ago. I probably saw all these on a chalkboard decades ago and I’m just regurgitating them here. Now, I feel revolutionary.