I wrote a post on Jailhouse Rock that apparently was a
"riddle" to a few members of the list. I will attempt
to explain my "middler riddle" one more time.
I believe the riddle faced by all middlers is a riddle
shared by many of our immediate neighbors to the right
and left of us. That is, what path does a follower of
the left or right take to achieve enlightenment?
Enlightenment in this case being a state whereby they
achieve knowledge giving them the correct answer to
all politcial and social issues. A second part of the
riddle, and this one causes us middlers intense
consternation, can there be enlightened ones on both
left and right, all at the same time?
For purpose of convenience I labeled those enlightened
ones on the liberal side as "Leftists". Those on the
conservative side therefore would be "Rightists". I'm
not sure what you call it when it happens to someone
in the middle, but I, being a self-righteous middler,
would probably call that sanity.
When someone reaches this position, on either side,
the correct answers to issues become so clear, that
they know their beliefs are the only proper, moral
position. Their belief becomes a "religious" one,
where any disagreement becomes sacreligious, or for
lack of any other four letter word, evil. Since the
other side is evil, they no longer really listen to
the other side, they usually skip past making logical
arguments and slip into an attack mode with an
emphasis on scare tactics and intolerance of any
dissent. In this mode you don't need to make
arguments, you can just use "key" words. Jesse "Helms"
is a key word, and was used by two members in their
posts. When you're on the left and any argument is
connected to "Helms", discussion ends. Rightists have
their "key words" as well.
One respondant wrote in response to my first post that
"There's a huge difference between censorship and
protesting injustice." Yes there is. When someone
challenges my thinking that is censorship. When I
protest their thinking that is protesting injustice.
She went on to write "It is not an act of censorship
or right wing extremism to deconstruct the ironies of
this situation and make the conclusion that it's a
party thrown with questionable judgment....Besides,
right wingers would probably love this party because
it exhibits the same sort of throwaway attitude many a
right winger has toward the people who will soon dwell
in this jail."
Apparently she is able to "conclude" what others
thoughts are, make a judgment on their intent, and
label it questionable. I look at the article in the
paper and a quote by Mike Opat that says "I thought
that maybe for one night, before it begins operation,
it might contribute to something other than public
safety." In R.T.'s post he says, "The county spent
millions on a building to lock people up...It's great
there is an opportunity to spend one night raising
money to attack the core issues that land people in
jail." These two certainly don't exhibit that
throwaway attitude. My opinion as a middler is that
Mike and RT's thoughts make some sense to me. Although
there might be ironies in the situation, the motives
don't seem that questionable.
Mark appeared offended that I implied he was a
"liberal mirror image of the Jesse Helms brigade." He
is correct, I should have not made that analogy
without knowing him better. I interpreted his thoughts
expressed in one post to reach my conclusion that he
was exhibiting a degree of "leftist" thought.
I do have a few comments for Mark however, to point
out how I might have been led astray in my evaluation
of his position. I know he doesn't like my cookie
cutter categories, but then it seemed he was using
them in his post as well. The title of the post
concluded it was the "rich" (key word) that were going
to the affair and his condemnation of those in
attendance did not seem to leave a lot of room for
rational response. Mark also thought I was confused as
to how he thought one should protest the party but I
thought it was clear when he closed with "Stay home
and send a check, for God's sake. And with that check
send a message....that the opening of a new jail is
not something for any thinking, feeling person to
celebrate." Mark concluded from Hawaii that the
people going were "rich", and that they were not
thinking, feeling people. I might have errored in
judging his original position, but why is it all right
for him to judge people this way?
Here is the hard part. Sitting in the middle, being
accused by the Leftists and Rightists as being
moderate, and "mushy" in our beliefs. They all want
our votes but they are bothered that we do not embrace
their orthodoxies. So what does one do? I guess the
best route is to try and ponder the "riddle" until we
too find enlightenment. Then pershaps we will
understand.
Until that time we can at least have some fun with it.
One of my favorite times is to enter a conversation
with an enlightened one, leftist or rightist, and
bring up a popular hot button topic, like abortion.
Once I've convinced them I accept their enlightened
view of abortion, lets assume they are pro-choice,
then I let them know that although I am pro-choice on
some abortion questions I am pro-life on others. An
honest face and excellent timing are important here,
but if it is done right the effect is wonderful. You
can almost begin to see cracks in their armor, but
then they just say something like, "You must listen to
Limbaugh" (key word) and then drift back to wherever
it is they go.
I appreciate the attempt to explain the riddle, but
the purpose of my original post was not meant to be
about any specific "leftists" or "rightists. For those
offended I apologize. It was meant to be about our
government in St. Paul. A government whose leaders
seem more intent on placing blame, demonizing
opponents and scaring the citizenry then engaging each
other in an intellectually rigourous debate with the
goal of reaching some common ground.
If anyone has further thoughts, I give you the last
word.
Bob Gustafson
MMM
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