Mirage

Blissfully, I have been out of the loop news-wise for a while, now I am slowly creeping back into it and it just leaves me in a constant state of sighing. The Ron Paul nonsense is enough to start me shaking my head like I have acquired a tic. Newt Gingrich is playing the field like he is related to the Kardashians. Mittsey is just hucking money at crap and Obama, well, I have always wondered why a party assumes that just because they have one candidate in office it means they have to automatically accept them as the defacto choice for candidate in the next election.

Anonymous has posted a survival guide for violent revolutions. Occupy Wall Street struggles to overcome their media and themselves. Housing prices are falling. The troops are coming home, oh wait…they are going back out again. The EU is failing, oh wait, they are redefining themselves as stronger than ever before. Tom Cruise has a hit movie (why?). And Hollywood decided to remake The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo before the original film is even out of the theaters.

In the middle of it all I came across a post on a social media service (which one, I don’t remember) that slammed Obama for being un-American because his family does not believe in giving gifts on Christmas. I had to read the post several times before I believed what I was seeing. The writer not only declared this practice un-American but unchristian. Lately my secret habit has been watching youtube clips of Kathy Griffin. She is rude, crude but very honest. A contemporary Joan Rivers. For some reason, watching her balances out my slow digestion of the foul, moldy food of the news.

And the horrible thing is that there is no news. Not any more. No matter what opinion professed, a “news” outlet will report in favor of it and include statistics manipulated to support the opinion. I came across a news sight today that was a sign of the times, their front page was honest to god reporting (slanted, but reporting none the less) but all the other articles listed as additional news items were not news items but sourced advertising or spin-doctoring. One of their major stories was on the unknown truths about the price of gasoline (written and published by the Exxon corporation – you had to look at the fine print on the article to see its source).

I did read an excellent review of the Republican primary process that pointed out that we have now moved into an electoral process that is entirely dependent upon performance in the reality show setting of a debate. There is little consideration of a candidate’s history or record of accomplishment; whatever happens in a forum of what is essentially entertainment is what people base their decisions on. It is why there is such a fuss about Ron Paul. He performs very well; in fact, he is outperforming the other candidates right now. His history and track record is abysmal, naïve and just plain depressing. But that doesn’t matter does it?

When showmanship is worth more than ability, you get what you deserve.

The question again is, what are realistic and pragmatic solutions to the problems we have and the problems that are getting ready to come down the pike? What are practical ways to keep hope alive for a better future so that people are motivated to seek solutions?

The first step is to imagine what a resolved life would look like – personally, locally, nationally and globally. It is only when we have a “big picture” in mind of what a completely healthy and self-sustaining society looks like that we can move towards creating it. Right now, we are trapped in an endless funnel of details about what it wrong. It is a self-perpetuating cycle.

It is almost New Years. A traditional time of new beginnings and new commitments to change. What will yours be?

c.2011. Cassandra Tribe. All Rights Reserved.