Cabot O’Callaghan is fed up with the lies perpetuated by mass culture and the media and ready for some real change.
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You could say I lost my faith in science and progress
You could say I lost my belief in the holy church
You could say I lost my sense of direction
You could say all of this and worse, but
If I ever lose my faith in you
There’d be nothing left for me to do
-Sting, If I ever Lose My Faith In You
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I don’t like the soapbox much. Even the most articulate of stances are a form of masturbation. People only change when they are ready and it’s rarely when someone else expresses their opinion.
I feel much more useful sharing my experience. Change happens when the listener can relate. It’s called connection.
But, here it is: I’m a cultural outlier. The margins are my home because growth is at the edges. The center is deadwood and rot has set in.
I’m often accused of being a cynic for saying this. “You have no hope,” they say. It’s understandable. We have invested so much to build the world as we know it. It’s too disturbing to consider that we may have wasted our lives building something hollow.
It’s also called denial.
A tipping point is near. Silent masses have begun to individually question our shared manufactured reality. We need that. We need explorers.
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So I’m labeled a nihilist or pessimist. “Do you have faith in anything?” Yes. I have faith in humanity. A tipping point is near. Silent masses have begun to individually question our shared manufactured reality. We need that. We need explorers.
Faces get twisted up when I say these words. Clearly, I’m nuts.
My way of seeing things is a hard line to toe. It means feeling alone. It’s the stuff unicorns often complain about, I imagine. But I also have faith in myself, no matter how lonely I may feel.
And I’m not going to be quiet about it.
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I’m not a cynic. I’m a no bullshit critic of our culture. There’s a huge difference between the two. I spend my days digging through its sexy skin to rip out the diseased bones. Sometimes that’s not enough. Sometimes I have to splinter the bones and pour the putrid marrow on the sidewalk.
I’m here to tell you that we are drowning in a culture of cynicism.
Recently, fellow writers here at The Good Men Project had a discussion about a Huffington Post piece where a Fox News guest (that I refuse to acknowledge by name) made some outrageous misogynic comments, something he’s well known to do already.
A call for a rebuttal to the guest’s appalling opinion was issued. I disagreed.
“It’s entertainment, folks. Shock and awe. OH MY DID YOU HEAR WHAT HE SAID? It’s scripted or strategy or one man’s need for attention. They want buzz. They don’t care if its good or bad publicity. Throw away your television,” I commented.
But millions of people watch Fox News, we need to respond to this man’s bullshit, was the general consensus.
Do we?
Does recycling cure the problem of ever increasing tons of waste? No. It’s a response. It’s a program. It will get us a little farther down the road at best. The root cause is ignored, and so the problem will continue.
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I think of the act of recycling when this strategy is used. Does recycling cure the problem of ever increasing tons of waste? No. It’s a response. It’s a program. It will get us a little farther down the road at best. The root cause is ignored, and so the problem will continue.
Fox News is not isolated in this behavior. Every major network participates in the perpetuation of polarity and fear as a means to generate marketshare. They stoop to the lowest level, dig at our deepest insecurities like demons. It distorts reality and is socially destructive.
Networks, and the reporters, know wingnuts like this will pop off and spout old divisive trope. They are counting on it. They have no ethics. Then they play the innocent. “Oh, how can you say that, esteemed guest?”
Their focus is on triggers, not critical thinking. Politicians are experts at this.
And in this way, one man’s asinine comments destroy an intelligent conversation.
The death of noble journalism is happening right before our eyes.
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It’s easy to deny this. Our culture takes the body of humanity and chops it into disconnected pieces, placing each in a box. Labeled. Cataloged. Filed away.
The man box.
The woman box.
The white box.
The black box.
The religion boxes.
The political boxes.
The nation box.
The rich box.
The poor box.
The environment box.
The whole becomes a list of Others. Others are feared. Others are blamed. Others are inferior.
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This is how our culture flips the script and perpetuates invisibly. The whole becomes a list of Others. Others are feared. Others are blamed. Others are inferior. “If we could only get rid of [insert box/box within a box], we’d take care of [insert demon].
You are either with us, or against us. It’s the stuff of wars and countless other horrors.
What’s more cynical than the belief that we are born into sin? Or eternal hell awaits the unbelieving sinners? Or Armageddon is an inevitability?
Or that violence and selfishness are inherent characteristics of human behavior?
Or that laws of prohibition are the only thing that keeps society from unraveling?
Or that products make us more beautiful, successful, superior?
Or that “If it bleeds, it leads” is a news broadcasting priority?
Or that the poor are lazy, simply the leeches of society? Or the lie that blacks constitute the majority of this class for those very reasons?
Or that addicts are criminals lacking willpower?
Or that Socialism is oppressive, just a side-step away from the evil of Communism?
Or that Capitalism is the pinnacle of political/economic theory?
Or that there is human activity, and then there is the environment?
Or that men must be strong at all times, ever-stoic and decisive—enforcers, not nurturers?
Or that women naturally lack the ambition needed for equal pay and are happier staying home and caring for children—the desire to be respected as equals, capable of determining their destinies, an extremist ideology?
The boxes are endless, the cynicism suffocating.
Mother culture is the tender of our ills, not individuals. Our solutions lie beyond it.
Let it go. Evolve.
Photo—badjonni/Flickr