The other night while discussing media stuff, one of the people in the room brought up Iraq, as in "We never hear anything about the good things happening there." It wasn't about the war per se, more about the way some things are news and others are effectively invisible to the media.
Nonetheless it is an argument that comes up time and time again and it is hard to answer, because good things ARE happening - it's just that they're irrelevant to the larger
trends. But, try to argue that, and the next you know, you're being dismissed as just being negative. It's as bad as playing the Blame Game.
Darn toxic memes. Well, here's an idea or two to counter them.
(more below the fold)
Anyone who tries to dismiss honest indignation about needless loss of life by repeating over and over again "It's only a game, a blame game." deserves what happens to them. Ditto for people who don't want to burden their beautiful minds by looking too closely at their surroundings.
Alas, a straight-forward appeal to reason has gone out of fashion. Trying to confront these mindsets head-on is like charging right at a fortified position. Maneuver warfare suggests it makes more sense to atttack where they are weak or in ways they are not equipped to resist. So, instead of blame or negativity, agree with them right into a corner! Here's how it works:
When people complain about never hearing about good news from Iraq (or any other Bush-related disaster), smile and agree with them. Tell them it's just like that thing with the Titanic. If they go "What?" (which they may not, depending how deep they are in denial), continue with these points.
"Yeah, the Titanic wasn't the disaster everyone says it was. Look, some people DID get into lifeboats, some women and children actually did get to go first. But no, everyone just focuses on the people who drowned. Look at all the heros, the ships that raced to the rescue. Why, it even brought the survivors closer to God, what with the hymn singing they did while waiting to be picked up.
Pointing out that the ship was racing at top speed to set a record when they'd been warned there were ice bergs in the area, well that's just playing the blame game. Nobody could have predicted there'd be an ice berg right in the path of the ship. Pointing out the original design of the ship called for more life boats but was changed to save money, that's just negativity. It does nothing to help the victims.
It's not like the Titanic went right to the bottom. It stayed afloat for hours. Everyone just sat around waiting for someone else to save them. It's the kind of thing you see in 'nanny' states. There had to be plenty of stuff aboard the ship that would float. Didn't anybody think about making rafts? It's too bad it happened before the Boy Scouts had really gotten started. I'm sure some scouts could have come up with something.
Now maybe it was terrible about the poor being trapped below decks - but they wouldn't have been down there if they hadn't made bad choices with their lives. Really, people need to be responsible for their actions.
Sure maybe the government should have been tougher about approving the plans, but the ship would have sunk at the dock with all the safety stuff they would have loaded it down with - it's not like all that extra paper work would have kept people afloat after all. What about the shipyard workers who would have been put out of work by burdensome regulations? Does anyone ever think about them?
That should give you the general idea. The Titanic is just one example - develop your own. If you can make this kind of case case with a straight face and lots of earnest sincerity, well there's no telling what might happen.
Maybe the people you're talking with will start experiencing enough cognitive dissonance to start thinking again. Maybe they'll just stop repeating spin. Maybe their heads will explode. Maybe it'll go right past them. Either way, it's worth a try.
Enough of my poor words: there's some Kipling that's right to the point. These three poems all deal with some aspect of living in a reality-based world - and dealing with those who don't. (What, you thought Kipling was the exclusive property of the Right? What better way to mess with their minds? )
http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/fabulists.html
http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_copybook.htm
http://www.mindspring.com/~blackhart/The_Sons_of_Martha.html