There can’t be any other explanation. Reading the headlines over the last few days
it’s difficult to think otherwise: The National Rifle Association has called
for armed guards in public schools following the Newtown massacre, there’s been
still another mass shooting, this time in Pennsylvania, a middle aged truck
driver has pled guilty to setting fire to an Ohio mosque claiming he was goaded
by Fox News’ relentless vilification of Muslims, and the ragged remnants of the
congressional Tea Party caucus are stubbornly blocking a compromise solution to
the fiscal cliff crisis.
I’m not sure why this series of events is any
more comment worthy than others of late.
The myriad permutations of madness that express themeslves so frequently in this society are like background
noise by now. It won’t be long—a few weeks
at most—before the Newtown murders fade from popular memory. More unsettlingly, it will probably be
recalled only when the perpetrator of a fresh new atrocity exceeds Adam Lanza’s
body count. Because, you see, in our
fascination with superlatives we are pleased even when the unthinkable occurs
to set a new record. Not overtly pleased, but the
enthusiasm (if that’s the right word) is clear as the talking heads linger over
the latest numbers as if recounting the score in a particularly exciting
football game.
We’ve become inured. It’s our way.
Twenty-eight dead, and our biggest concern is that Congress is going to
raise taxes and take away our guns. A
couple of days ago, I heard a story on NPR about the recent spike in nationwide
gun sales and proposals to renew the federal assault weapons ban. The memorable soundbite was from a man buying a semiautomatic rifle and several high-capacity magazines (and I
wish I was making this up): “Ah was savin’ up to buy a new truck, but I figgered
Ah’d better buy a new rifle ‘fore the law changes.” (I
don’t remember if this interview took place in the South. It probably doesn’t matter. In the same fashion that the inflectionless
California dialect has become the norm among denizens of Blue State America,
the manner of speech I like to call “Redneck Creole” has become the patois of
Red State America. This poor ass could
have lived anywhere, really.)
Now for the obligatory disclaimer: This is
not to imply all, or even most conservatives are on the loony Right. But when one surveys the political landscape
at the close of 2012 it is not difficult to infer that the quotidian
conservative is at least partially influenced by the propaganda echo chamber created
by Fox News and AM talk radio. Subjected
to a worldview which offers pat, self-contained answers in lieu of critical thinking, public acquiescence to the right-wing agenda can be
little wonder to the minimally astute observer.
Of course this raises the question of why so
many people so willingly accept such tripe.
In a more charitable frame of mind I would chalk this up to
conservatives' penchant for conflating opinion with fact (a flaw shared by more
than a few on the Left), their unwillingness to consider points of view which
conflict with or refute their own, and a narrow shortsightedness that leads
them to support unstintingly policies that are beggaring our country. When I’m feeling irritable (my default
setting these days), I attribute our problems to the millions of brainwashed
imbeciles that the U.S. produces so prodigally.
The balkanization of public opinion is, I’m told, an unfortunate byproduct of the information
age. We cherry-pick information to suit
our politics. So it matters little, in
the end, what recommendations come of the Vice President’s search for solutions to
the gun violence problem. They will come
to naught as Republican lawmakers and their Blue Dog Democrat colleagues alike depend
upon favorable NRA endorsements at election time. Even if Congress does succeed in enacting
more restrictive gun laws those laws will inevitably be challenged in the courts, and
the federal judiciary has traditionally taken a cautious approach to
interpreting the Second Amendment.
In short, expect little substantive change
and more grieving communities until sanity and reason return to
our political discourse.
©
2012 The Unassuming Scholar
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