If enough people all face in the same direction and believe real hard, can they force a myth to be real?
Probably not...
A while back, an amusement park operator was getting his ballon ready to sell rides, when he got blown off course in a bad storm. He eventually came down in a land that had never seen a balloon before. The citizens of this land presumed the amusement park operator who came from out of the sky was a powerful wizard. The amusement park operator knew a good thing when he saw it, so he played on the people’s superstitions and beliefs, and let them believe that which he was not.
You have perhaps recognized this as the plot of the Wizard of Oz. Most fables and fairy tales get at essential truths. So, what is the truth, here? Are people susceptible to forming group beliefs that are entirely false, as a result of deliberate misinterpretation of the facts? Not just yes, but hell yes.
Why would they do this? Why would people not be more critical and analytical? My interpretation: They would rather believe the myth that reinforce their beliefs, than face facts which might contradict them.
In reality, the Wizard of Oz is just an off-course amusement park operator. But the people of Oz wanted a hero who would oversee their insecurities and assure them that if they did as told, he would fully protect them from everything, including the two wicked witches. Who wouldn’t want to believe that! It’s a total lie, but hey, it’s a great feeling. Just do as you’re told, leave the decision making and uncertainty to a great leader, and everything will be taken care of. You need not stress.
If only that were true. And really, do you want that to be true? Should adults put their lives and well-being in other’s hands?
At the end of the story, Dorothy and her compatriots learn the truth. The truth is that they must see to their own needs and concerns. In the end, they are better off being self-reliant than relying on phony leaders.
(It might be worth contemplating that, as Dorothy postulated that she wasn’t in Kansas anymore, she actually had never left.)
And today we have the federal government. Like governments generally, its leaders are mostly phony. They flew in on some balloon, with promises that, if you leave your problems in their hands, they will handle it all for you. You need not stress. You need not become self-reliant. In fact, you should NOT become self-reliant. Self-reliant people are reviled.
That, of course, brings us to Donald Trump. Did he fly in on a balloon? Or is he the one pointing out that the Wizard is just an ineffective carnival worker? Perhpas we shouldn’t make it so much about Trump. Let’s instead make it about the people of the land of Oz. What is it that they want to believe? And why do some see Trump as the answer to their beliefs, while some see him as a threat to their beliefs?
I can offer this: Trump is the only president in my lifetime who has campaigned on offering less, not more. He is not promising less, per se, just less federal government involvement. Less federal government involvement in the big three; education, healthcare, and retirement. The two parties have been having at it for centuries, but neither has done more than give lip service to reducing central government control. The plans of both parties concern themselves with ‘giving’ us more, by virtue of expanding the central government. Trump is the first president in my lifetime who is promoting LESS federal government.
That is huge. That is the essential issue. We all want better education for our students, but should the federal government, can the federal government, do it better and for less money than anyone else? Trump and his supporters say, “No, it can’t.” Anti-Trumpers mostly just go into shock that anyone would suggest such a thing. I hear little in the way of rational examination and logical conclusions.
We all need healthcare. No argument there. But how to provide it efficiently and at the least expense? One thing that we perhaps all agree on is, however it is that we’re doing it, it’s not working. Is more central government the answer? Based on what? It is federal law, policy, and programs that were central to making this mess in the first place.
Now that the layers of bureaucratic bullshit are being peeled back, we are finding the degree to which the social security system has been used and abused for decades. It doesn’t have to be as bad as it is. Mismanagement has made it that way. Interestingly, the very people who are teaching us how fortunate we are to have social security, do not pay into social security. Various government workers, including teachers, have their own retirement plans and are exempted from paying into social security. Wait a minute! If social security is so wonderful, why aren’t government workers and teachers insisting on being able to participate?
Now, let’s get back to that Wizard. There are those who want to believe, uncritically. They need not stress, they need not think. They need only to accept. I suppose it’s a warm, cozy feeling. But their belief is provably wrong.
There are those who see the figural Wizard for what he is, just another charlatan taking advantage. Every charlatan knows how to play the crowd. Charlatans do not deal in reality, they deal in illusion, in belief. Most of America now sees that the federal government is just an illusion. It is not all-knowing, all capable. It creates more problems than it solves. To the System, every solution must involve more government, not less.
Those who have invested their entire lives into this system desperately need to believe it’s real. To deny it is to very nearly deny their own existence, professionally, at least. I lived that life, to the ripe old age of twenty-seven. I have had no government guarantee of anything since I quit teaching at twenty-seven. Back then, I had a guaranteed career for the rest of my life. Guaranteed retirement. Guaranteed healthcare. I gave that all up, in order to have my own life on my own terms. Was it worth it? For me, yes. For others, perhaps not. But it can be done, and it makes life far more interesting and rewarding. (Guaranteed paychecks suck the life out of free will.)
Donald Trump taking a weedwhacker to the federal bureaucracy affects me not at all. Yes, I know, the EPA, DOE, CDC, DOJ, FBI, CIA, FDA will not all be able to operate as they have before. I’m looking forward to that.
Oh, what the hell…Here’s the song, The Wonderful Wizard of OZ.
Remember the Peter Pan movie with Mary Martin? When TInkerbell was "hurt" Peter faced the cameras and pleaded "if you believe real hard, boys and girls, Tinkerbell was all right regardless of what you said.
The desire to believe is a powerful thing, and we see it every Sunday, especially. What they believe isn't important; that you believe at all is what's important.
We do want to believe things that are not true. It was painful, through the years, realizing how we've been gamed by our leaders and The System. I'm surprised, and grateful our country is still standing. Perhaps we now have a chance to regain - Truth, Justice, and the American Way. : )
I thoroughly enjoyed 2084. I don't want to give away any of what was going on other than to say, "The System was involved." You did a fine job on the whole of it. Kudos, Chip!