Fashionable Cynicism

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I was in the break room of my workplace the other day and they had the TV on (to CNN, of course) and it was talking about the financial issues that were going on. So, I was standing there watching it for a minute when another co-worker came in. Without provocation, he said something like, "Bah, might as well just vote for Ralph Nader" and then left.

I've had other occasions where I've asked family or friends what they thought about the elections and they have almost invariably gone the way of criticizing both candidates and criticizing the whole process. They bemoan the corruption in the system and write it all off as not worth following.

While I totally understand the frustration with the corruption in the system (see here), these two examples strike me as what I call "Fashionable Cynicism" There is the kind of cynicism where someone is fully aware of the faults and expects the worst. That I can understand.

However, this fashionable cynicism strikes me as fundamentally false. By decrying the whole political landscape and lumping everything together as bad, these people are actually failing to engage with the issues. They are actually choosing to blow it off and just think about something else.

I can understand, believe me. Sometimes it's just too overwhelming to think about all the issues going on in the world. Sometimes it's really scary to think about it. Or you just feel helpless to do anything. Or it's just inane and doesn't make any sense. These, to me, are honest, authentic responses.

But when people stand on the sidelines and criticize the whole process, and yet are too uninformed to even understand what's really going on, that to me is just a cop out. It's their way of just not dealing with it.

But deal with it we must. The consequences of going through life uninformed are too grave. We must do our part to make sure this country remains strong.

If you're just angry with all politicians, do something to make it better! Don't just complain about it. If it's overwhelming to you, start with a small area and become familiar with that and let that lead you into more and more broad areas of knowledge. If you feel helpless to do anything to change things, rebuke that lie! You are not helpless! You can start by becoming informed. You can give money to a cause. You can volunteer. You can talk to friends and family. You can start a blog. :-)

The way I see it, people who are just generally critical of the whole political process are not much different than someone who is just talking in their sleep. I just want to shake them and say, WAKE UP! There's a whole world out there in need of engaged people making a difference and your cynicism isn't helping at all.

Also, once you start to really get informed of the events going on around us, you will begin to see that not everything is just bad. I want to shout out kudos to all the Republicans in the House. They have been fighting valiantly for us and I feel personally grateful to them this day.

If you're out there and you feel a general level of cynicism toward the whole political process, I want to challenge you to take a hard look inside yourself and see if you aren't just avoiding it. Don't avoid it! Do something about it!

Influencing People

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In my last post, I made a point in saying that I'm interested in trying to influence people. Since I wrote that, I've been wrestling with thoughts and feelings of hesitation about that. Is it wrong to want to influence people? Shouldn't we all just "live and let live"? Who am I anyway, to purposefully and intentionally try to influence people?

My first and natural instinct is to shy away from overtly trying to influence people. It feels just too manipulative.

But a few counterweights come up in my mind. First of all, I can't FORCE anyone to do anything they don't want to do. Everyone is truly free to make up their own mind about everything and do whatever they want. From that perspective, I really have no power over anyone. I'm just so much chatter.

Second, it seems to me that everything out there is already trying to influence people to make decisions or change their mind on something. There's the endless advertising you see on TV, the internet, radio, billboards, buses, etc. There's the political machines and systems trying to get us to vote or do things a certain way. There's a multitude of activist groups, religious and civic groups trying to get us to contribute or volunteer. We are always bombarded with messages trying to get us to do something.

In fact, because there is so much out there trying to influence us is one of the reasons that I feel compelled to try to speak out myself. I'm not doing this just because everyone else is, but to try to counteract some of that stuff in the first place. If there are messages out there saying negative things about Christians, I want to say positive things. If there are messages out there saying bad things about conservatives, I want to say good things. If there are messages out there saying that we should not pray in schools, I want to say that we should. If there are messages out there saying that religion has no part in public life, I want to say that it does in fact have a part to play in public life. If there are messages out there saying that we should just enjoy our own life and not think about anything outside ourselves, I want want to say that we should take up a cause greater than ourselves.

You get the point on that. I do want to influence people not because it's a bad thing, but because I want to help steer our culture and our world into good things.

I'm also wondering: if people are feeling threatened by someone purposefully trying to influence them, shouldn't they stop and think about why they feel threatened? What's so scary about someone trying to influence them? If that person is saying something you don't agree with, you can argue back (and therefore try to influence that person yourself) or just ignore it and blow it off. If that person is saying something you do agree with, there should be no threat there.

Maybe the threat is just the feeling of conflict. I know a lot of people really don't like conflict in their lives. They just want everyone to get along. My personality tends naturally in that direction. However, I'm beginning to believe that the tendency to want to just get along can lead people to do things they normally would not do just for the sake of getting along. When people are faced with the thought of a fight, people tend to avoid that. Therefore, the person who is the aggressor begins with a huge natural advantage in getting people to go along with him. It seems that for too long, aggressive people have pushed things that are not good, banking on the fact that people will not stand up to it for fear of a conflict. I'm beginning to think that the end result of that is worse than if people would have challenged the aggressor in the first place.

Well, part of why I'm here is to challenge. I'm here to push back on the negative influences in society and try to be an influence for good. Is that so bad?

My First Post

As I mention in my profile, I have gradually moved from being disinterested in anything that doesn't concern me, to mildly interested, to where I am now: intensely interested and gravely concerned. As way of an introduction, let me give you a quick overview of my journey along these lines.

At first, it was just the big events happening in our country that held my attention. Once the blast of attention from that faded, I would sink back into my own little world and pay attention to things that only mattered to me. Then another major event would happen that would get my attention and then another. Over time, it took less momentous things to get my attention and so my attention was grabbed more often. As I watched these things, I began to thirst for more. I began to look for other ways to access information about the world around me, which then fed into my interest and the cycle continued.

But then something critical began to happen inside my head:

I began to see little CONNECTIONS between what was happening "out there" in the big world and my personal life.

What a game-changer that was! After that, my interest became personal and I began to actually emotionally respond to what I was watching around the country. I no longer consider myself just some innocent bystander in the big world of events out there. That stuff really does impact me, my family, my way of life, and everything I believe in and stand for. I am discovering that there is nothing that is left untouched by current events. It all matters.

And that brings me to this blog. In so many ways, I do not like what I see and am concerned for the future of this country. I can no longer stand by idly watching, worrying, hoping that things will get better. I must act!

I am not sure what that will look like yet, but this blog is a start. I must work out for myself what my role is in the great big world and I would love to have others join me on this journey.

Here's what you can expect from me:

• Honesty. I am, in part, taking a personal journey. To me, this must be honest for it to be worth it.
• Challenge. I have a lot to say and I'm sure that not everything I say will be comfortable (for you or for me!). That's okay.
• Imperfection. Right off the bat, I want to say that I am not claiming perfection in anything. If I am wrong, I want you to call me on it!
• Opinion. I have lots of opinions on lots of things. That's what makes life fun, yeah?

So this is me and my blog. Let's see where the road goes!