By Collin Reischman
You’re all freaks and weirdos. You’re all out of your minds. But hey, at times like this, it’s a compliment, I promise.
I’ve been here one semester and found myself comfortable with the level of fiends, drug addicts, activists and malcontents I see here every day: a place leaking with positive energy and artistic self-indulgence.
Our last columnist left us for greener pastures, no doubt weary of fighting the liberal freak-outs that populate Webster University.
He was a registered republican, and an identifiably outraged member of the moral majority. In spite of this, I happen to respect him. This brings me, after a tangent, to my point this week.
We’re shallow people. Twisted self-centered mammals. General agreement on basic political and moral principles shouldn’t be some kind of prerequisite to conversation.
Our sense of national identity is constantly at risk and requires frequent maintenance under the guise of reasoned political discourse.
Too often, our leaders willingly lead us into “battle” against people who have done nothing more than have the audacity to disagree.
Us and them; it’s the fracturing of our national unity over pointless political quibbles. It would be easy, stupid and irresponsible to point fingers at this trend, but that wouldn’t be fair.
It’s not even the politicians to blame, convenient as it is. It’d be fantastic to dump this kind of awful polarization of our national discussions on the likes of Sarah Palin and Dubya.
The reality is that we, the people, make mistakes. We buy things we can’t afford, we start fights we can’t finish, we kill people.
We’re decadent, self-absorbed and simple. Until we raise our expectations, look for the same band of millionaire thugs, twisted moralists and fringe nut-jobs you are used to seeing.
What do you tell that silly girl you know who serially dates losers and abusers? What do you tell the buddy on your floor who is constantly sick, but never goes to the doctor? It’s something about the definition of sanity, and repetition.
Again with the tangents. Apologies, reader. The point is that we can’t expect things to magically improve without making an improvement in ourselves.
For the same reason that everybody seems to disapprove of negative campaign ads that for some reason work so well.
The reason is that citizens who care far more than is considered rational are the only ones who ever make a damn bit of difference.
Share this post
