The American Force Awakens
Opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one and they all stink. - Unknown
Well, here I am back in my own journal. I used to belong to the Talk_Politics Community for political discourse. I had observed and participated in some pretty spirited and sometimes heated discussions where all sides were represented, respected and expressed in no uncertain terms. Unfortunately, the Conservative side of the discussions retreated into their own hollow echo chamber, basically leaving Talk_Politics as a, more or less, hollow echo chamber itself. Eventually, any attempt to inject an American perspective resulted in deep resentment toward America's place on the world stage even from the moderators and I, myself, retreated and left the forum.
Livejournal used to be awash with political communities, but has been reduced to precious few. I tried my hand at the ONTD_Political forum, but they exercised Gestapo-like censorship on their links only allowing their preapproved short list of sources that were basically their other forums and a few far left wing sources. Also, if you weren't sucking Bernie Sanders' dick, they didn't want you.
Now to my point. The internet has been heralded as a medium that increased communication, enabled worldwide commerce and put knowledge at the fingertips of the common man. At the same time, it provided an open forum to have your voice heard along with everyone else's. Political forums on the internet became open bitch boards that enabled the masses to express their pet peeves and self centric agendas. America stopped discussing and started shouting to the point that the nation no longer has a meaning as a society of citizens, but got drowned in the noise of divided competing tribes. Nothing illustrates that more than the political candidates, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, that represent what is most extreme about America.
The voice of reason and the voice of moderation has become lost. Compromise has turned into staunch and unyielding confrontation. The really sad part of this is that this confrontation and rage aren't even seen as a failing any more, but a valuable asset. Seemingly insurmountable problems have become more intractable than ever. This seems to have arisen from the financial meltdown of 2008 where institutional icons no longer provided answers and people had to look within themselves for their own solutions. As a result, cooperative victories within our society now appear to be personal intrusions because they require imposition on our personal lives. Nobody wants to contribute to a general welfare any more. The Constitution is no longer a founding document, but a convenient weapon for the weak minded.
For the first time in my life, I genuinely fear for the country's future. It is not because I am afraid it is going in the wrong direction, but because the country is consciously choosing not to have a direction. We are in pure stimulus/response mode for only immediate gratification and the future be damned.