Letter: We are all victims of the messages from today’s “leadership”
People still wonder how politics, personalities, and religion have become such a volatile mix the last decade. Politics and religion have always been “enter-at-your-own-risk” topics, but differing opinions used to coexist with tolerance. We didn’t pre-hate people for their political or spiritual views. What happened? I don’t know, but I have a theory.
My first job was selling advertising for a rural, Southern Illinois radio station. In 1975, before Sirius and Rush Limbaugh, some stations were automated. We ran inoffensive, even bland reel-to-reel taped radio programs. Our competitors sounded more professional, but we covered local news better. Older listeners followed us, even when our automation garbled two tapes simultaneously.
Over time, we educated our listeners on our version of good radio—and they bought it.
For roughly 10 years, politicians, both local and national, have schooled us on what they consider good governance and how to achieve it. Gradually, deliberation, once a hallmark of congressional discourse, was nudged out by partisan bickering, spite, and general dissension.
Social media gets much of the blame for this rancor, but it’s more than that. The Internet enables us to consume a lot of information quickly. That shouldn’t stop us from discerning what we watch on TV or read online.
For example, when a presidential candidate suggests that the late Senator and Navy pilot John McCain isn’t a war hero because he got shot down while serving in Vietnam, our brains should scream: “Who else is running for president?” But they didn’t, and we’ve been shrugging off similar behavior ever since. Even a Capitol breach doesn’t faze us.
Two Congresswomen just staged a grade-school spat over body shaming. Appalling, but this is now par for the course.
It’s the “Boiling Frog Syndrome” of politics. Like the frog in the pot whose condition worsens as the water heats up, politicians and like-minded media outlets have conditioned us to what passes for reason. We’re smarter than frogs, right?
A decade of sycophantic lawmakers, some claiming evangelical prowess, have educated us on their version of what is morally and ethically defensible. I’m not buying it.
Jim Newton
