The Feld-Blog

You know what really grinds my gears? Americans. Much of the time I am pretty proud of America. It’s not hard to point out the many things we do right, and by the same token, it’s not hard to point out the many things we do wrong. It is heartening, when you think about it, that our big governmental scandals revolve around exploiting tax loopholes or committing adultery (relatively tame crimes when compared to the world at large) rather than the mass murdering of citizens or the involvement of high-level government officials in well-known terrorist cells (as is the case in some less stable countries). What concerns me most about America, however, is apathy.

I saw the above cartoon late thanksgiving night, but I felt its truth during my thanksgiving dinner. In America politics are taboo. While in London, I’d walk into a hole-in-the-wall breakfast place and there would be old men sitting in Burberry caps and articulately debating the politics of the Westminster parliament as well as that of the EU and even the US Congress. Apparently the only thing more amusing than hearing this over breakfast, is hearing it over dinner when the old men are drunk and yet somehow still articulate and educated.

In America, the most common topic of conversation in a bar or restaurant is probably sports. At the thanksgiving table people talk about sports. If you want to bring up an interesting conversation of substance, such as one relating to politics, be prepared for the immediate volley of glares that will ambush you from every direction. Why are sports a more suitable topic of conversation? Why is anything a less suitable topic. We are so uptight here in America, and so obsessed with being Politically Correct (ironically enough), that we skirt complicated or charged topics of conversation when we are together with multiple viewpoints (via many family members) in favor of infinitely more vapid conversation.

The American electorate is grossly uninformed, and perhaps this is due to the fact that any attempt to disseminate political information is much like trying pushing water back into a gushing hose. If someone have an interesting political thought, or reads something in the newspaper that might affect our government, it rarely makes it past that person’s own consciousness since few Americans are willing to listen to or partake in a conversation of substance. Rather than debate and discuss the difficult issues of our time, we shove them in a drawer and hope someone else will sort them out. Even high profile debates like abortion rarely see debate. Battles are waged on the personal level – so-and-so wants to kill your babies, or so-and-so wants the government to tell you what you can and can’t do with your body. I can’t remember the last time I saw or heard a real substantive argument about whether or not the death penalty or abortion are right.

A large majority of people say they favor the death penalty when asked the question “Do you favor the death penalty for some crimes?” On the other hand, a majority of people often respond negatively to the question “Do you support the death penalty when life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is also an option?” Is America being contradictory or does this merely demonstrate that Americans are largely uninformed and that opinion can shift dramatically with the addition of one little bit of information? (Click here for polling information. Click here for any other information you might want concerning the death penalty and its efficacy. Current polling supports the conclusion that Americans support the death penalty. Though I think this is not always the case, I have included it in the spirit of education and accurate information dissemination)

Does anyone think that forming opinions out of ignorance is a positive thing? I hope not. But if it isn’t true, then what motivates us to be so active in our avoiding any kind of informal education on these issues. Why let propaganda drive public opinion when we as America can engage in discussion and education over our own dinner tables and work to drive public opinion based on real knowledge and understanding?

Do you have thoughts on this? I’d love to hear them. Post a comment.