Restoring Humanism In America.

To my way of thinking, 21st Century America, thus far, has suffered much more than the murder of innocents on 9-11-2001. It has also suffered from the mass effect of the commercial mass media and the corporations that produce too much junk (mind you, not all American corporations produce junk).

Too many Americans have grown up under the dangerous influence of unrealistically violent cartoons, movies and video games.

Now, don't get me wrong; I'm definitely opposed to any form of government imposed censorship and in fact it is my sincere conviction that all these unrealistic depictions and portrayals of violence (war and crime) should be allowed to be viewed by anyone, so long as each of those cartoons, movies and video games comes with a short, roughly three minutes long, mini-documentary that shows what real violence is like and how it destroys life and harms us all in so many other ways beyond the immediately obvious blood, carnage and death.

Anyway, we Americans are overwhelmed by all the hate, fear, violence and insecurity that has convinced many Europeans living in less violent countries, that we are a country full of mentally deranged and dangerous people, and that we glorify violence and brutality to the point that in some ways we begin to resemble the Fascists and Nazis of times past and present. That said, part of the overall problem we face is that a large enough minority of Americans, perhaps around 40%, live in relative comfort and safety, and would be quick to dismiss an Op-Ed piece like this as going too far and making more of a problem out of something that they are certain is not as bad as it seems. That is to say, those of us Americans who can afford to stay away from the poverty, crime and daily corruption that plague most of our large inner city metropolises and many of our suburbs, have no experiential reason to feel equally adamant about what both visiting Europeans experience, and what disenfranchised working class autodidacts can clearly see, day in and day out! This convenient ignoring of the full picture reminds me of that famous Alfred E. Neumann catch-phrase (MAD magazine) which goes "What, me worry?!" Because, nothing is considered a real problem until it affects you directly in person! And Europeans can see this great and growing gap (divide) between the relative "haves" and the "have nots" of America, and for them that attitude of ignorance, of failing to see the whole picture, combined with America's unintentional culture of unrealistic and fortuitous violence makes for an America that is not only a danger to itself, but, being so wealthy, military powerful and economically influential, is a threat to the rest of humanity, to world peace!

What advice do I have for my fellow Americans?

Well, we need to restore humanism to America. For there was a time after the Civil War and even up till the 1980s when many relatively educated Americans, mostly from the Middle Class, sought the wisdom of the great humanists, such as Gandhi, Einstein and Asimov, and were willing to go out of their way to help inform, educate and sometimes befriend those less fortunate!

Well, skepticism and complacency, have managed to ravage American humanism and we now live, for the most part, in a society that is too much in the hands of opportunists and desperate novices! There is even, to some extent, a severe disconnect and inability to cope on the part of many of the remaining depleted Middle Class, to the point where reality avoidance is commonplace and people tend to build walls based on seemingly convenient theories about how:
a. things are actually not that bad, b. people who claim otherwise are just mentally ill misfits and troublemakers, and c. the real problem is the suffering of people much further away and usually abroad! This culture of denial and reactionary thinking is so common today that just by writing this kind of Op-Ed Blog I risk being labelled everything the opposite of what I actually am! For those who have somehow managed to attain and keep their own comfort zones, people like me are perceived as dangerous threats and obstacles to greater social harmony! Never mind that they cannot seem to understand and explain the cause of all those sick overreactions and psychotic people, whose senseless, despicable violent acts harm so many innocents and only serve to make things even worse than they were to begin with! Never mind that throughout history it took the daring and risky intervention of truly introspective, critically thinking , relatively non-violent radicals to bring about true progress and more meaningful human civilization. No. The enfranchised large minority of "haves" tend, by virtue of their immediate circumstances and daily experience, mediocre and dissociated from the rest of us. And they do so to their own detriment without really realizing it!

In order to restore humanism in America we are going to have to instigate, motivate and inspire the "haves" to think critically and not hypocritically, to dare face the painful truth that all it really not well with America as a whole, and that all those horrible incidents that make up so much of the local news are symptomatic of a society that actually disrespects,neglects, ignores or even punishes those who make every reasonable effort to be honest and constructive individuals, instead of rewarding their humanity, their honesty and creativity!

But how do we go about instigating, motivating and inspiring the "haves" to seriously dedicate themselves to the great, most meaningful, and spiritually (and emotionally) rewarding goal of providing the "have nots" with all the real means to elevate themselves out of their dire predicaments?

The answer lies in promoting broad and deep philosophical discourse at all levels of society and in the mass media working to re-enforce the idea that what anyone should really strive for and praise is wisdom, compassion and love and not vanity, greed and self-adulation!

That's my Free Advice, for whatever it is worth.

(PS: If you agree, disagree or have anything to say at all, leave a comment.)