Bullying...

When we bully like we do...and it's all around, like it is...

Why are we surprised when our children turn out to be bullies?...

And that the worst of those bullies go into their schools and kill other children?...

Why does that surprise us?...

Why is it so hard to see that the bullies that our children become...

Are generally a reflection of us...

I'm tired of that legacy...

I want it to end...

Ben

Right on the fuckin' money...

I need to vent, here, for a moment...

Ron Hutcheson of Knight Ridder is right on the fuckin' money in this brilliant defense of the mainstream news media...

Mainstream media suffer collateral damage from Iraq war...

Folks on the left are upset that the media didn't criticize the war, enough, they said (even though many members of the media far anticipated most Americans in their criticism of this war)...and that they don't show enough of the gruesome details of the war (even though body counts are reported almost literally every day)...

Folks on the right complain that it is the media's fault that support for the war has dropped off...

Instead of the clear, objective evidence that the number of troops being killed has increased...which really is kind of a nuisance to self-righteous activists looking to buttress and defend their view...not test its validity...not question it...and themselves...

And Ron Hutcheson hits the nail right on the fuckin' head...

That...for the most part...the American and international news media have done a pretty amazingly admirable job covering this war...and that the diversity and free, democratic, and independent nature of that same media is one of the strongest and most taken for granted guarantors of democracy, right now...no matter what self-righteous advocates say -- who will never be satisfied until they have bullied their way into dictating exactly how every single American and international citizen reads, thinks, and votes in exactly the directions they want...the persistent attacks on the news media being just one example of that bullying...

No matter how mindless that course might be...

Because the truth is that too many activists (of which I count myself one...though I try not to be of the self-righteous variety) don't really care about the truth nearly enough, really...

It's kind of a bother, really...

It requires that they do something that they don't like normally doing...

Thinking...

And thinking hard...

Meaning...

Having to do what most people have to do...

Which is acknowledge that they just might not know exactly how the world works and functions...

Because the truth is that to admit that they might not know...

Scares the living shit and bejeesus out of them...

Because what will they do if they have to navigate this uncertain world without knowing everything?...

Like the rest of us have to...

They just might have to face up to what nasty, mean, bullying motherfuckers they've become...

Right or wrong...

They just might have to acknowledge that they have been playing God...trying on their armor of omniscience and omnipotence in a world of uncertainty...

...in a world that has enough people playing God, right now...thank you very much...

They just might have to do what the rest of us have had to do...

To admit that they don't know everything...

That they're just not quite sure what is best...what is right...what, exactly, is wrong...

That...like the rest of us...

They're trying to piece through the whole thing...

They're just too scared to cut anyone any slack...

Because surely being right is more important than being open to being wrong...

I want to repeat the fucked up logic that animates peoples' self-righteousness...

That being right is more important than being open to being wrong...

And if we can never acknowledge that we might be wrong...because we are so obsessed with being right...

How will we ever find out what it means to be right, for real, at all?...

Maybe it's because we just don't know what it's like to even be very close...so lost are we in our own fear...

Well...you know what...

I understand that people are scared of the dark...

But when you are scared of the dark...

You need to move toward the light...

And there is no light at the end of the tunnel of self-righteous activism and journalism and blogging and conversation and what the fuck ever that claims to have all the answers...

Because that world doesn't exist...

And in the meantime...that dark fantasy fucks a lot of shit up...

And most important of the things that it fucks up...is that it seriously distorts both truth and an honest pursuit of the truth...

In its desperate attempt to maintain it's own self-righteousness...

And the reason I think an article like this is so late-coming?...

For the same reason that I haven't given too much of a shit when morons argue that I should agree with them Because They Say So...

Because when you don't know what you're doing...

And you're not even making much of an honest effort to try...

It's pretty easy to see...and those who don't...will see...

Because you can only bitterly harass people who don't have all the answers you want for so long...

Until...as the old adage goes...

You either have to put up...or shut up...

And self-righteous activists are often long on bitching...and short on constructive alternatives...

And much of the time...I do have a secret fantasy...

That those who aren't serious in thinking about alternatives...

Would just shut the fuck up...

But...then again...if they did...this wouldn't be democracy...and American democracy, at that...one of the strongest and most robust democracies in the world...

So the major media outlets will weather this storm...

The most intelligent and independent of the media will come out smelling prettier, after this, I think...at least in my book...

And activists will be sure again the next time...

Except...next time...we will all shrug...and hope that next time we can trust activists to bring us smarter alternatives...

Because they're doing a shitty job of it, generally, thus far...

And the really hard truth...

Is that if you don't have some kind of constructive alternative to a situation you don't like...and you aren't trying to develop an honest and humble understanding of the world...and you can't share in the human frailty that is involved with doing so...

Who the fuck really cares at all what you're opinion is?...if you're not even trying to work on behalf of better options and better solutions...and patient and supportive of those who are...

The media...the President...the troops...everyone...

If you're not making an honest effort to support these folks to come up with better answers in an uncertain world where noone has all the answers...no matter how much they self-righteously assert them...

Who the fuck cares what your opinion is?...

I know I don't...

A little...but not a lot...

Because...if you're not trying to do better in this world...as the old saying goes...opinions are like assholes...everyone's got one...and I don't really give a shit what anyone's is unless it gets us closer to dealing with this war or any issue better and more realistically...

And if not...pardon my french...

But fuck off...I just don't give much of a shit what you're opinion is...

Until you start coming up with something better than...

"You know what I really hate?..."

No...and until you start thinking about what you want to do to make it better...and you take seriously the idea of accounting for the realities and not just your dark fantasies or wishful thinking about the matter...

I don't care...

And if you don't like that...

Then tough fuckin' titty you little fuckin' whining baby...

I've needed to vent about this one for quite some time now...I am tired of being bullied by folks who are not only not curious enough about how to make things better...but don't seem to want to be bothered with such a minor detail...

I want everyone to have a say in democracy...

But until your say is wrapped around some really serious thinking about how to improve situations...and a commitment to consider and reconsider your ideas in light of concerns and legitimate criticisms and an open and patient pursuit of better understanding of issues...

It is often self-righteous and bullying...

And I've had my fill of that this political season...

Great performances by EMU Theater's annual 10-minute play festival, tonight:):):)...brilliant stuff:):):)...

Have a great night, everyone:):):)...

Love,
Ben