A Time Without Meaningful Voices

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Santayana, Churchill? Probably Santayana first, later appropriated and rephrased by Churchill. But the message remains succinct: those who fail to reflect on historic blunders will repeat those stumbles. Regardless of the appropriate footnote, we need to consider the substance of the message as America gropes for a positive path forward in these troubled times. 

Being in my 70s, and firmly committed to the principles of Distilled Harmony, there are several moments that remain firmly entrenched in my memory. In addition to the personal high points of marriages, the births of my daughters, the sadder times of the the passing of my brother and my parents, there were moments of social import, and of particular significance in this, America’s summer of quarantine and unrest. I remember my father and older brother heading off to Dr. King’s March on Washington in 1963. And then the horrible string of assassinations, Kennedy, King, and Kennedy. Then the moon landing and later, the upsurge of harmonic optimism with Obama’s election in 2009, followed by a seeming resurgence of anti-intellectualism, intolerance and bullying under the current administration. Politics aside, to the degree that politics can ever be truly set aside, there is an interesting little factoid buried in these moments in my “memory castle“: everything prior to Obama’s election occurred prior to the Internet going public in 1991.

So the “data” that informed all my “pre-internet” memories were predominantly drawn from newspapers, radio and television. I am not about to suggest that 20th century media voices were anymore “free and fair” than their 21st century descendants, but there were fewer of them and we could discern more easily how they might massage the dominant voices of the era. And that is the important point of this post: before the internet there were dominant voices of the era. Voices that, for better or worse, concentrated and clarified the various positions on the vital issues of the day. Dr. King and JFK sounded the mainstream progressive position. President Regan and Rev. Billy Graham defined the mainstream conservative party line. That is, I realize, a fairly gross oversimplification. But the point is that there were centrist, credible, voices on the social landscape who could, and did, define “truth” from their particular perspective. And we could take our seat under the tent best suited to our own taste, and move our chair closer to the choir or to the back of the room as the issues under consideration unfolded. Perhaps even catching a phrase or two from a neighboring tent, and slipping in to check out what was going on there.

And then 1991 rolled around, the Internet went public, and truth, and our perspective of it would never be the same. Everyone with a digital device and a connection to the Internet could claim a front row seat in the contest for the hearts and minds of America. It is not that there are no longer significant voices to be heard. From my Distilled Harmony perspective I found former President Obama’s recent posting on how best to heal America insightful, and the conciliatory behavior of the Fayetteville, NC police in the face of angry protestors was nothing short of inspirational. On the other hand President Trump’s disavowal of violence after ordering his guards to spray tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowd of non-violent protesters to clear his path to a photo op clutching a bible on the steps of a church reached the level of high farce. 

Your perception of those events may be completely at variance with mine. But the discouraging reality is that neither your perception or mine makes much difference because thousands and thousands and thousands of online voices - many declaring nothing more insightful than simplistic shrieks of “Democrat!” or “Republican!” “Liberal!” or “Conservative!” - will eliminate most meaningful discussion of the issues that confront our nation.

And so what? Perhaps we begin by reclaiming and reassertion our own voices, not so much to add to the digital cacophony that fills our screens, as to see more clearly the path to the place where our voice still matters - the ballot box.  And here is where the internet can be a helpful tool. We need to research the candidates for every office, from animal control officer to the highest offices in the land. Visit their websites, read their position papers, research their past performances. See what "those other people” say about them, and when available see what voices outside our town or country are saying. Canada? The EU? China? South America?  As the US has systematically withdrawn from important international organizations, those voices may be the source of some less biased perspectives. We may have trouble hearing important voices as clearly as we did in years gone by. But we can make sure that the most important voices are heard - ours, speaking through the ballot box.

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