Accentuate The Negative

Welcome to 2014.  Well almost.  When the calendar flipped the page 14 years ago to the year 2000 I doubt any of us would have predicted the world to be what it is today.  Mired in political unrest, global conflict, economic collapse and growing hatred for everyone, our world seems to be spiraling into the abyss.  And no one seems to care enough to stop the process.

Those who know me and at least marginally like my writing skills generally know that I do my best work when writing with emotion.  If that is indeed the case, expect to enjoy this article.  Oh wait, enjoyment is a thing of the past.  That’s not what sells anymore and certainly not what gets the most attention on social media.  Instead we need to focus on our disdain for those who do not hold the same political views as we do, for if as a conservative or liberal, someone has a different philosophy they must be the cause of all the world’s problems.

We also talk much tougher these days.  There’s no need to attempt any peaceful solution with the enemy when it is so much easier to send an army to fight on our behalf.  I know people will die, but that’s of little consequence since I’ll still be safe at home and able to proclaim my militancy on social media.  After all, we can’t really trust anyone today, can we?

I am the son of Holocaust survivors.   The knowledge and clarity I believe my parents gave to me has lead me to an understanding that the Jewish people always have some form of a target on their back from someone.  Understanding that we have been murdered, terrorized and attacked in the past does not give me a persecution complex.  It just gives me insight.  However, believing that anyone whoever says anything bad about the Jewish people wants us all dead does indeed mean I have a persecution complex.  This is a statement that can apply to anyone who belongs to a group that has suffered some degree of persecution on any level in the past.  Not all contradictory statements are signs of bigotry.  Sometimes they are signs of ignorance, sometimes they are incorrect statements, and here is the hardest one for people to come to terms with, sometimes they are actually correct.   But they very often do not constitute attacks on an entire group of people.

Of course there have been those who jumped to the side of bashing Nelson Mandela since he passed away, and although I am not one to think someone is great just because everyone else does, I do indeed recognize the behavior and actions that made him great.  As a Jew, I don’t think he is an anti-Semite because he hugged and made nice with Yasser Arafat.  This is the same man who made nice with the men who imprisoned him for 27 years in the name of what he considered to be the best strategy for his nation moving forward.  I guess that means Nelson Mandela was actually in favor of apartheid.  Interesting since by standing next to Fidel Castro he automatically becomes a Marxist, right?

I remember the days when even if we hated the president, we still respected the office.  Even when we hated the president so much that we could claim a president’s behavior didn’t show respect for the office, the people still maintained their respect to some degree.  Today is different.   Whether it’s calling George W. Bush an idiot or insultingly calling Barack Obama a Muslim Mullah because his middle name is Hussein, all respect for the office has gone out the window. 

Today another popular approach is fear mongering.  Beware of the impending martial law or New World Order.  Soon we can expect everything to change and our entire world will go to hell and the very fabric of our society will crumble.  The good news is, and this is very important, when it does, we can make a nice post on Facebook and bring to everyone’s attention what a visionary we have always been.  After all, it’s more important that we are right and look heroic to our “friends” than that we actually say or do the right thing.

I’m not bitter. I’m really not.  I actually feel quite good about the future.  I’m just trying to write a post that will appeal to the masses.  Good tidings and positive vibes are just, well you know, not realistic.  So I might as well call this article the sell out, because who is actually going to “Like” your post on your blog or your thread on Facebook if talks about optimism for the future.  That would be lame.

So with all of you who feel resolutions are important on New Years and not so important the rest of the year, here’s an idea.  How about being resolved to find some good in the world instead of constantly focusing on everything that is wrong with it?  Who knows?  In the process you might actually find the good you’ve been missing and make something good happen.