I’m not usually one given to nostalgia of a simpler time and place. This is our world; it’s big. It’s complex. It’s there. We deal with it, usually by carving out a niche, staying there while staying away from the ugliness that might be out there. We can visit those parts of the world through the internet, or we can choose to avoid them because they make us uncomfortable.
Several different examples of this come to mind, and I’ll be the first to admit my own hypocrisy. I live relatively well-off in a suburb in Texas in the United States. I own a house, I don’t struggle on a daily basis to live.
But other people do. Not just here, but around the world.
While I was in Indianapolis last week, I was amazed by the large number of homeless people on the street, shaking their cups, holding their signs. I know Indy’s home to the denomination I used to belong to (Christian Church, Disciples of Christ), so what does it say when there’s issues that don’t seem to be getting addressed in their own backyard?
What am I doing for Dallas’ homeless? Nothing. Every time we’ve tried, it hasn’t worked out well. And that, I think, is a guiding factor. We’re shaped by our experiences. We’re shaped by what we listen to. We’re shaped by what we see. Where one person might see someone who isn’t willing to work, I might see someone who’s been kicked in the teeth by life.
The biggest concern I have is because of the overwhelming amount of information we have and our ability to be selective about it, we can choose to shape a worldview that may not entirely be true. Look at Westboro Baptist Church (go to google video and find Louis Theroux’s series on “the most hated family in America”). What they say is repulsive, but in their view, they’re right. Look at the surprisingly large number of people who believe “Obama is a Muslim”. You can construct a very coherent, reasonable argument that our president wants to impose Sharia law in spite of his actions, his stances, and all other supporting evidence.
However, because there’s so much noise out there, if you don’t want it to fit your view, you can conveniently ignore it.
What sad is that people in power understand this and are now choosing to use it to promote their agenda. And it doesn’t matter if it’s true. It just has to be repeated, over and over again, until, much like Huxley’s brave new world, doublespeak is the norm.
As for me, I’m tired of arguing about things that should be settled. I’m just tired of it. I can’t change people’s minds by my words. I can only hope to change this world, one person at a time.
And I’m still afraid to do that.