And yet, Senator Lott holds one of the most important elected positions in the "free world". He is responsible for the direction of the United States Senate and therefore the national and international policy that affects my very life. He was elected in large part because he campaigned on such beliefs. His spokesperson, Susan Irby, who must be, by her very title, speaking for Senator Lott, proclaims that he represents "the views and values of the great majority of Americans, who understand and are concerned about the grave social and ethical questions our country faces."
I have to ask where Ms. Irby gathered her "facts" to make such a statement. Who are these "great majority of American people", what are their "views and values", and what is it that they "understand"? What are their "concerns about the grave social and ethical questions (that) our country faces"? And where do I and every person I've ever met, who unanimously do not share this view, fit in? What of the "concerns etc." of our "great minority"? Are we not Americans, as well?
These are some of the questions I often ask myself, and yell at the television, when I'm offorded the view points of these self-proclaimed protectors of "American values", the Conservative Republicans. Many times I've marvelled at the immence significance proposed by such devastating information indicated as with Rush Limbaugh's daily charts and graphs, only to realize that if these "facts" WERE true our republic would have truely crumbled long ago.
I also wonder why these slanted, hate-based, blatantly erroneous, morality pieces are still seemingly prospering when there is an enormous, overwhelming amount of scientific information to the contrary readily available. I suppose it is easier for many people to be told what is what, that "the enemy" is real and that we can vanquish him.
The profligation of such manipulative posturing is fostered by a keen knowledge of the most basic elements of the human psyche. One of those elements is a strong urge, especially in America where most people in power have never had to struggle for survival, for the simple, quick solution. The second is that human beings hold as "the enemy" that which we fear- and that which we fear most is The Vast Unknown. A third element is the drive to be in control of our environments. And a fourth, the insatiable human curiosity, that need to bring meaning to everything.
So, The Vast Unknown is given a face so that it is unknown no longer, and an agenda so that it can be understood. And, with that peculiar tendancy that we humans unfortunately greet the unknown or what we fear with, it becomes something to fight against to afford our lives meaning and create the illusion of a sense of control.
One of the problems with such an ideology is that because of the necessity to anthropomorphize that which is in reality conceptual, someone or some group must assume the mantle of "the enemy". This ideology is probably as old as the human race itself and is propogated by and for the weak-minded and those with the "luxury" of being in the majority.
Much like Nazi Germany. "The enemy" are the Jewish peoples, the gypsies, the homosexuals, blacks, criminals, any outcasts available or created. They are the reasons why our lives are in such turmoil. Why our children are out of control. Why the divorce rate is high. Why we can never get ahead. Why the sun will turn black as sackcloth and the moon, blood-red.
Any and every complication is smoothed away, the complex made simple. And yet the price we pay is too high. We gladly offer up our Truth, humanity, integrity, and ultimately, our souls to assuage our fears, to eliminate the difficult effort, to maintain our priveledge, and to answer our most profound of questions: what is our place in the cosmos.
This is Raze Kainne and this is my opinion.
June 20, 1998
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