Children of the Juggernaut

The other night as I was about to turn off my television after watching a recorded show, I decided to surf channels to see what was on in real time. I happened to land on a rerun of the PBS series “CARRIER, “ a 10-part series filmed aboard the USS Nimitz during its 2005 deployment. The producers describe the show as a character-driven, nonfiction drama which “...closely follows a core of characters, from the Admiral of the fleet to the elite fighter pilots to the lowliest scrubs” while “...addressing larger themes as family, faith, discipline, patriotism, love and war, the rites of passage and the war on terror.”

I was riveted.

My interest certainly wasn’t based on any gung-ho, “lets-go-bomb-something” militarism. Nor did it come from a patriotic commitment to “support-the-troops-while-they-defend-us-against-the-evil-doers-and-make-the-world-safe-for-democracy-and-SUVs.”

In fact, I’m opposed to war on ethical, moral, and practical grounds, though I believe certain military actions can be justified (WWII and the first Iraq War, for instance). I am very much against Bush’s Iraq war.

So, what was so fascinating to me? I’m really not sure. One thing may be the scale and complexity of the social environment aboard the Nimitz – clearly a world unto itself. Another thing was how extraordinarily young many of the sailors were and how endearingly innocent they seemed despite the lethality and danger of what they were doing, Finally, it was clear that they were committed to doing their very best in keeping this juggernaut working smoothly, regardless of the tremendous personal sacrifices required.

It seems essential to me on moral grounds that the sacrifices being made by these sailors be justified by the magnitude and certainty of the threat they are facing and the efficacy of military action to reduce that threat. Sadly, I don’t think that is currently the case.

What, Me Worry?

My wife says I have a weird, warped sense of humor. “Sick,” is the word she often uses. Although I enjoy mainstream forms of humor, I must admit I have a particular fondness for humor that cleverly exposes in an off beat way the ridiculousness of much of our world. For example, I am an avid fan of the very deranged mind of Gary Larson, creator of the comic strip Far Side , and as a substitute now that Far Side is no longer published as a regular strip, the work of Dan Piraro in Bizarro . These guys are crazy. And very, very perceptive. Satire and parody are good, too, because they can show the fundamental silliness of our culture in a humorous way, particularly those aspects of culture we hold near and dear. American television news programs are certainly deserving targets of satire and parody, both in the topics they treat and the manner in which they treat them. John Stewart’s Daily Show and Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report do very well at humorously exposing the shallowness and recursiveness of American media. When I watch these shows I become all the more convinced that the news coverage offered on major media sources in America is shallow, incomplete, and distorted. I thought that without watching Stewart and Colbert, but they allow me to laugh about it instead of just being depressed. One of my favorite places to get a fix of “sick” humor is The Onion . A feature of the Onion that I just recently discovered is a collection of videos that parody tv news coverage of various topics. The difference between these videos and similar features on the Daily Show and Colbert Report is that the Onion reporters play it absolutely straight and the format is exactly the same as mainstream news coverage. But boy is it funny – in a weird, warped way. Two of the videos I particularly like are the High School Tony Awards (e.g., the Award for Best Stage Lighting of a High School Gymnasium) and the report entitled “Bush Tours America to Survey Damage Caused by His Disasterous Presidency” . Hilarious... but sad, too. Some years ago my students produced some insightful analyses of how humour can illustrate certain Social Psychological principles. These analyses are still available on the web . Of course, when you analyze humor it really isn’t funny anymore.

McCain Will Win

What to write in my first blog?? There are lots of possibilities, since I’m like most people and filled with opinions that crave validation. But there is one thing in particular I need to say because it is time-sensitive and I want it on record.

JOHN MCCAIN WILL WIN.

There. I said it. The liberal in me is saddened by the very thought. How could this possibly be? After all, hasn’t the American electorate demonstrated in repeated recent polling that it now repudiates the legacy of the buffoon they have twice elected? And surely the Democratic Party has learned from their mistakes of the past two Presidential campaigns, right?

I hope I’m wrong. My own views on many matters are very, very far from McCain’s – on the Iraq War specifically and American foreign policy in general – on issues of energy, environment, health care, education, abortion.

But.

There are two forces that will give McCain an edge in the coming months. The first is that although many Americans reject G.W. Bush, they don’t reject the underlying conservative philosophy he represents. The proof of this will be in their positive response to campaign messages that stress militaristic strength, defense of the “homeland” against irrational and fanatic foes, and above all the sanctity of mainstream religious and ethnic values. In the psychology of Presidential Campaign strategy, Obama is very vulnerable on these issues.

The second force is more insidious but very powerful. Racism. America has progressed to the point where this will be subtle and hidden, but if the McCain campaign taps into the racial fears that are deeper and more widespread than we liberals like to believe, it will gain advantage over any message Obama may offer. We may have already seen the beginnings of this. Rumors of Obama being Muslim have been difficult to neutralize, partly because it is more socially acceptable to be anti-Muslim than anti-Black. In short, it allows voters to feel justified in their rejection of Obama on religious grounds, rather than admitting (even to themselves) that the real basis of their negativity is race.

Ok, I hope I’m proven wrong. Please, work hard to prove me wrong.

In The Beginning.......

Words. Powerful. Empty. Necessary. The purpose of Snow Crash is to share my words, though there may not be anyone out there who reads them, or if there is, there may not be anyone who cares. Stay tuned.