America is in need of a make-over in the most extreme sense. In need of a great soul-searching moment. A revolution. Angela Davis reminded us in the stunning and brutally honest way that she does, that a revolution does not need bloodshed, “the real content of any kind of revolutionary thrust lies in the principles and the goals that you are striving for not in the way you reach them”. In essence a revolution is a transition of ideas and cultural ideals. An ideological shift. This shift can only be realized when us as Americans understand that we are all in this belligerently inconsiderate political and economic mess together. Left, Right. However, we have been separated by the perfect union of misinformation and discontent.
It matters little who you ask: corporate America and politics have eroded the fabric of our country and it needs to change. CItizens United, The Great Recession, the vast economic stratification and increasing economic divide. Remember the 1%? I hope so. We had the Occupy movement for crying out loud. Where did that go?
Looking to mainstream TV as well as other forms of mass media for any semblance of our own lives. We watch sports and dive into music to escape reality and not confront our own anxieties. Yearning for a glimpse of a future filled with hope, a future we want to partake in. This future is hard to find. We all feel betrayed, we all feel taken advantage of, we all feel like we have been used, abused, and lied to. We feel these ways because we have been used, abused, and lied to. The American vote for Trump symbolized that in the most bizarre way. The status quo can go on no longer, the system must change no matter the cost. Even if it takes Trump to do so. We will see.
Ecological consciousness, 2nd amendment protectionism, animal consciousness, the Tea Party Movement, #BlackLivesMatter, Occupy, Edward Snowden and mass surveillance. Few of dozens of obvious symptoms of a growing sense of distrust. We may disagree on which particular institutions are now corrupt and how exactly to remedy this malignant disease that has manifested, but we can all agree the nation is experiencing an identity crisis and an extensive truth shortage. We can agree that certain interests have hijacked the American Dream and left many of us in a sort of limbo, not knowing exactly where to take our lives next. I say we take solace in that fact that we are all united in our mutual confusion.
There has been an immaculate effort to divide us hasn’t there? Divide and conquer is a long standing tactic that has stuck around for a reason. If you asked your local staunch union loving Democrat, you’d think (or maybe know) that the Republican Party is owned by the Koch brothers and has been duped by corporate America into supporting policies that are inherently against the populace that vote for these representatives. They are closet racist, bigots, sexists, and all around hate filled people who want to see white America rule again with an iron fist, or rifle.
On the other hand, talk to the loyal Republican down the way, and you’ll learn (or maybe already be conscious of the fact) that the self-righteous Democratic Party are really slaves to the George Soros and other members of the “Liberal agenda” which aims to globalize the world into a one-government political and economic system. The aim, stripping us all of the culture and history which makes us who we are. Foolish Democrats; pawns to the big money/wall street riddled system, dubious participants in the destruction of morality.
Here’s the kicker, both sides are true.
We all consider ourselves fairly intelligent human beings that can tell good from bad, lie from truth when presented the facts in a rational manner. How can we fall for the basic tricks of mass deception? The problem is we are still new and haven’t yet fully matured in the information age. The indiscriminate information age. I call it indiscriminate because our current technology and culture does not indulge in whether information is factual. The internet pays no mind to whether there are misleading notions attached to whatever kind of information one consumes. Whether it is littered with lies, half-truths, innuendos; which are just as dangerous if not more dangerous than the outright lie because they can camouflage themselves in a thin veil of truth. Certain pieces of data can be extracted without context to mean whatever it is the agenda behind is can distort that information to mean.
Liberal America has allowed for the modern rise of nationalism and budding of fascism. Hyper political correctness aimed at silencing dissenting opinions and ideals. Since when has the Liberal ideal of truth seeking and tolerance sought to suppress the voices of society. In a nation that allows freedom of speech, no matter how “deplorable” that voice might be, let it be heard. Let it resonate. If it catches a following, then it is up to us to discuss our differences and create an environment that cultivates harmony. Instead, we have thrown insults. Insults end discussion right in it’s tracks. I’m not advising to not call hateful language and acts for what they are, bigoted acts. I’m just suggesting that we let these voices speak. A suppressed voice will come out anyway, especially in economically and politically unbalanced times. The almighty pretentiousness of American Liberals are at best blind, at worst demonizing anyone living outside our bubble will be the death of not only us but our principles and our nation itself.
Conservative America. In this ever changing world, you have the right to stick to your principles. You all have that right. But there is no right to impose one’s principles on others. Separation of church and state was created as a firewall to religious tyranny. To demonize any group of people is as counterproductive as using insults to suade others to follow a cause. It is not all the fault of immigrants, minority “childishness”, feminism, Muslims. It is the fault of a selfish global wealthy elite that has institutions and corporations that have stripped the earth and its people of health, dignity, and sanity. And please God don’t let us repeat the powder keg nationalism that led us to war. It was pretty bad last time. Oh yeah, it wasn’t just war, it was World War.
All of us human and wrong. All of us bewildered on how we arrived in the contemporary world that we live in. Let us be bewildered in togetherness. Let us join hand in hand in our everlasting abuse. Let us avoid the traps of division. The pitfalls tribalism. In an economically disenfranchised era, in the maze of the information age, the ever increasing distrust, understand we are all being lied to our face and frankly screwed out of our future, encroaching on our present, let it happen in communal love. Or we understand that we really “in this together” and get this do-over going. This current Trump make-over, I’m not really digging. But instead, one that brings about the great cultural shift.
by Wendyam Mathias Jack Ouedraogo
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