In Chapter 3 of the Green Boat, entitled “Our
Foundering Ship of State”, Mary Pipher
describes some of the dysfunctional aspects of our democracy. There are many
factors that contribute to this dysfunction and they all can be related to the
Unitarian Universalist forth principle, “a free and responsible search for
truth and meaning,” because this dysfunction can be attributed to the opposite
of that principle, namely, irresponsible spreading of disinformation and a
failure to name what appears to be the truth because it is opposed to vested
interests.
Pipher cites a professor from Stanford, Robert
Proctor, who coined a new term, “agnotology” for the study of ignorance deliberately
manufactured because of political considerations. George Orwell in his book,
1984, called it “newspeak”. In our every day, colloquial conversations, we might
describe it as “double talk,” “spin,”, or the more pedestrian, “bull shit.”
Pipher quotes Proctor as saying in a 2009 interview in Wired magazine, “People
always assume that if they don’t know something, it’s because they haven’t paid
attention or haven’t figured it out. But ignorance also comes from people
literally suppressing truth – or drowning it out – or trying to make it so
confusing that people stop caring about what’s true and what’s not.” P.59
In psychotherapy we often describe the marginalization
of local knowledge by oppressive, dominating authority figures as “silencing.”
People are made to feel that they are stupid, or their beliefs and opinions are
not welcome, and the tactics of silencing are too numerous to describe here,
but the most prevalent is those in power simply ignoring what marginalized
people have to say. If that doesn’t work some form of mockery and ridicule is
used, and if that doesn’t work some more aggressive, hostile attack will be
employed. History is full of examples of people who engaged in a free and
responsible search for truth and meaning that threatened the power structure of
the time, the so called “dominant discourse,” who were killed or otherwise
significantly punished to coerce their silence and eliminate the perceived
threat to the status quo.
Pipher goes on to point out that the media in the
United States is now owned by a handful of corporations with their vested
interests who chose what stories to present every day. As Pipher articulately
writes, “Our media don’t necessarily tell us what to think but they can and do
tell us what to think about, simply by what they chose to cover or ignore.” P.60
Or as I like to say, who gets to set the
agenda, frame the debate, skew the conversation in preferred directions? This
is the hidden power of the media as part of their editorial activity to decide
what stories will have what priority on any given day. And being passive lambs
led to the slaughter, American TV viewers, radio listeners, internet browsers
tend to watch and accept whatever they are dished out. Sometimes more media
literate viewers might question the content and format, but for the most part
Americans are easily propagandized as evidenced by the billions of dollars
spent every year on campaign ads, and other corporate advertising. Pipher writes:
“Journalism
uses the ‘Chad rule’ for topics. That is, don’t report on topics that don’t
interest most people. The thought is – how many Americans really care about the
African country Chad? And how many people are losing sleep over the earth’s
current CO2 levels? This all becomes a vicious circle, of course. It is hard to
care about what we don’t know about and difficult to inform people about what
they appear not to care about.” P.61
The first two principles of Unitarian
Universalism are the “inherent worth and dignity of every person,” and “justice,
equity, and compassion in human relations,” and neither of these principles can
be effectively applied in a person’s life without an element of curiosity. Are
we interested in the well being of other people, or only ourselves? There was a
time what it was easier to be self absorbed and self protected, but since the
mid 90s with the advent of the world wide web, and the global economy, this
attitude of national protectionism doesn’t work anymore and especially in the
age of the possibility of nuclear war and climate change we, homo sapiens, have
become more aware than ever that we are part of a global community on planet
earth.
Here in the United States we engage in
ritual rather than truth seeking. One of the rituals that Americans have fallen
into is that there are at least two sides to every story and political position
and so Fox news crows about its news coverage being “fair and balanced”, and
other media producers are careful to provide, ritualistically, “both sides of a
story.” This ritual creates an assumption that there are “two sides to a story”,
but are there two sides to truth, to scientific facts? There is great confusion over the types of
knowledge as outlined in the study of epistemology. When it comes to science or
logic there are not two sides to a story. Water is made up of a molecular
structure of H2O. 2+2=4. How could there be two sides to these stories? As
former New York Senator, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, said “A person is entitled to
his own opinion, but he is not entitled to his own facts.”
There is no scientific debate between evolution and
creationism. There is no debate about climate change. Both evolution and
climate change are scientific facts which are based on empirical evidence. A
person could have different opinions about what evolution and climate change
means for humanity, but a person can’t, in good faith, argue against the
reality of their existence. Pipher writes, “For an honest analysis of a
situation, we need the media and the talking heads to distinguish between
experts and propagandists and between objective analysis and public relations.”
P.63
Most Americans, unfortunately, are stuck at the lower
levels of wisdom and faith development. Pipher quotes John Hansen, president of
the Nebraska Farmers Union as telling her, “It’s virtually impossible to reason
someone out of a position they were never reasoned into.” P.67 Most Americans
accept what they are told, and never have acquired the skills of media literacy
and critical thinking. If there is any doubt about this, just watch our
political decisions and policy making. However we are at a point in our
evolutionary history where ignorance and stupidity are dangerous and put life
as we know it on this planet at great risk.
Unitarian Universalists while a very tiny
denomination in the United States are at a level of faith development, for the
most part, that provides an awareness of the interdependence of life on our
planet that leads us to a role of enlightened witnesses. We can tell the truth
even if no one will listen and they ignore us, or they are threatened and mock
us, or they become greatly disturbed that their vested interests are in peril
and they attempt to punish and even kill us.
Truth telling is a critical role without which
nothing else positive can happen in an intentional, constructive way. Turn off
your television, read the media critically, sift out the nuggets of wisdom, and
share them with your family, friends, and neighbors. Together we can make a
difference and save our world.
