Guest Author
I am beginning to think that taking an “ignorecation” from social media might be in order as we approach election season. Who am I kidding? Election season runs year-round these days; only the intensity of duplicity rises the closer we get.
Perhaps it comes with age, but as time passes you begin to notice the smaller, more nuanced things about people’s preferences, postings and politics. Contradictions and conflicting points of view begin to sharpen as the proximity to decision time approaches. The “I am so appalled” by this or that ripens as well, based on distance from when their preferred party or person was in control. You can see it in columns, postings, tweets and “likes.”
There is an old adage that states, “Where you stand largely depends upon where you sit.” These days I would place the location of where one sits more based on whether his or her party of preference is in control or out of control, although sometimes one can be pretty out of control while in control!
So many people post how offended they are by this or that — people who have been in the process or around it for decades, behaving as if the past was pure and only the now is tainted with issues.
A whole bunch of memories are distorted and cleansed, in my view. Lots of folks keep writing about the “good ol’ days,” as if politics in Florida used to occur in Fantasyland. Wait, it did! Huge family gatherings at Disney for extended weekends, legislative trail rides with ample food and beverages, free cartons of cigs, alcohol, and nightly dinners and libations at The Trailers — all free to the consumers. Maybe not enough were paying attention then so maybe they didn’t know, but there was a time when most of the Florida Cabinet and other appointed folks in Florida were in deep sand after being caught doing a lot worse than going on hunting trips.
I do not write this to excuse or condone anything done by any elected official. Elected officials are fair game for all to hunt as they wish. As has often been said, “politics ain’t beanbag.” However, righteous indignation smells like four-day-old fish, especially when coated with artificial sweeteners brought about by poor memories and a longing for the good ol’ days that perhaps were not as good as we wished them to be, both then and now.
Social media serves to distort much. Don’t get me wrong. I am as enamored with instant communication as anyone, and I truly love how it opens windows into the hearts, minds and souls of friends and acquaintances. You get to know so much more about people than one would ever have known, absent what they choose to write, share, like or post. It is a useful tool and used properly it brings us closer by widening the size of our capacity to interact with others. Having hundreds or thousands of friends and seeing what is important to them is far more than one could ever do using old methods of communication.
But you see a lot more when their windows are open to all. Some folks continually post diatribes against a singular politician, as if no one reading can see there must be more to their attitude than politics. You see people excusing the actions of other politicians, no matter how grievous and you struggle with how they can condone those actions. You read posts that slam one person for changing their position on an issue while endorsing others who change positions as if they are shirts.
I guess what I seek is honesty and consistency. Like Diogenes, I always have searched for the honest one, willing to take hard positions and defend them, while being willing to shape or modify issues or ideas once they are exposed to the ideas and thoughts of others. I seek elected officials willing to delve deeper into issues, working with others to construct possibly effective solutions. How often we forget that public policy is a lot like science. It is designed to be modified, challenged and evolve. We get better through challenge and our ideas improve through both the heat of the forge and the evolution and effects of time.
I just returned from a national conference filled with bright minds seeking ways to improve access and delivery of higher education in the United States. Often our conversations turn to elected officials and the impact of the individual drivers on public policy issues. The time spent, though, was replete with people frustrated with leadership from both parties, yet optimistic that tomorrow always brings hope for improvement.
While a break from social media might be useful for my own psyche, it won’t improve the discourse or the focus. Those are things we all need to improve. More so, we need to allow politicians to present policy ideas for public consumption without immediately pouncing upon them. Ideas for improvement take time and effort to come to fruition. They also take changes and amendments to become truly effective. I, like a whole bunch of others, need to develop more patience while keeping the pressure on for informed and thoughtful action by Congress and the White House.
We must be better than we have been. We must do better than we have done. But doing each requires both a civility of attitude and a dedication to policy that we are not often seeing in Washington these days. Where is the principled leadership we claim to desire?
Ed H. Moore resides in Tallahassee and is perpetually seeking a rebirth of wonder, civility and creativity. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
