Ugly Americans

People are speaking out about politics today, making it clear what side of issues they support and what they abhor. There is a lot of shouting and finger pointing. This dissension is not bringing the country closer together or making it great again. Rants abound.  Case in point.

Fake news, though not really a joke, brings applause and laughter on late night shows. It is serious stuff when the comedians take up a cause. Lenny Bruce a fifties and early sixties comedian was also a controversial fighter. Wiki states: “He paved the way for future outspoken counterculture-era comedians, and his trial for obscenity is seen as a landmark for freedom of speech in the United States.” Truly, this was a Pyrrhic victory for Bruce… the beginning of his last hurrah. It is impossible to be heard when half of the potential audience does not see the comedy of the situation. There is no audience when no one hires the entertainer.

Now, as then, things are getting nasty. Mouths outrun brains. Each side feels it must win. Strategies include ridicule, abasement and fabricating history. Manipulating data is added to the mix. Staunch politicians and pundits become outraged children fighting in the schoolyard over a ball. The public feels a need to join the fray. In this belligerence no referee or level headed adult has emerged to resolve the situation. Our senate changes the passing grade in public education to 51%. A “nuclear option” looms in our near or not too distant political future.

A country of clamoring psychotics, the worst image of our former selves, stuns a confused world. American enemies and allies wonder who will prevail and what they stand to gain or lose. There is no end in sight. Hashtags are flying left and right as social commentators attempt to be heard and hit a social media home run by going viral.

Thinking forward is impossible under these conditions. Unfettered unadulterated blind allegiance is breeding a totally new generation of Ugly Americans.

© stevendphilbrick sr+ 02.08.2017 sukidawg & the cawing crow