Letters to the Editor
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Surf CDs
I suggest The Mermen for your surf CD shopping list. Especially The Amazing California Health and Happiness Road Show, if you can find it.
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Addicted to Belief
Reading Wil's essay reminded me of an article by the science fiction writer and physicist, David Brin (http://www.davidbrin.com/addiction.html). In this article, Brin discusses current research on addictive behavior that looks at which pleasure centers in the brain get stimulated when subjects engage in various activities. Such research has shown that the same pleasure centers that light up when someone takes cocaine also become active when a gambler at the slots gets a payout. Other research has shown that compulsive rage will activate these same neural pathways. Brin's essay then goes on to speculate about the addictive nature of self-righteousness and suggests a program of research that could investigate the neural hard wiring and activation of pleasure centers that accompany strongly held beliefs. I highly recommend this essay.
For my own part, I have found humor a reliable antidote to these sorts of family political moments. I have often congratulated my dad for raising a fine set of liberals, and the attending coginitve dissonance seems to move us to a more amicable place. But it works if I am willing not to cling to my own sense of self-righteousness.
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Wil Wheaton
I hope Wil becomes a regular contributor to Salon. His well written, self-reflective blog has entertained and enlightened me over the past year or so.
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I feel you, dude
All I can think is that I'm staggeringly lucky. My mother voted for Nixon in the 70s and Reagan in the 90s, and used to have little patience with my Chomsky-inspired collegiate rants about how America was the Source for All Things Evil. But as the country's gone steadily more nutso, she's grown ever more disgusted with the Republican right and we've ended up watching the nation's transformation with equal bewilderment. I can't imagine how much harder it would be to watch current events unfold if I had to listen to the person I'm closest to espousing the same virulent viewpoints.
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There's no equivalence, Anthony, not even close
You wrote: "But I don't see that the trend is any less apparent on the left than it is on the right. Yes, Bill O'Rielly is a demagogue who reduces complex issues to oversimplified schemas that reinforce the self-satisfied prejudices of his audience. And this makes him different than Michael Moore... how?"
Bill O'Reilly lies, for one thing. He tells people to shut up. He call people traitors. Rush Limbaugh compared Chelsea Clinton to a dog. Ann Coulter said the only way to talk to a liberal is with a baseball bat.
If Michael Moore systematically distorted the truth, picked on his opponents' children and advocated violence against conservatives, and if there were about 10 of them broadcasting for several hours every day on national television and on hundreds of radio stations, the there would be equivalence.
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Deja Vu
It happened to me as well Mr. Wheaton. My Dad was a liberal Democrat who voted for Kennedy, collage educated, that gradually mutated into a conservaclone after he went bankrupt at 62.
We live in seperate states and keep in touch by phone. I tried to be civilized even though I knew he was madder then a March Hare, tip toeing around subjects that we did not agree on, but no go. It was like he was determined to start a fight. One day he accused me of insulting his god when I told my younger brother exactly what I thought of the "Promise Keepers". My old man also tried to treat me like a child, and I had it, then and there. I told him in no uncertain terms what he could do with his conservative, homophobic, paranoid BS. It was a non stop shouting match for a half hour that accomplished nothing.
We still talk, but not much beyond hello and how are you. My dad does not have cable, so his only TV is over the spectrum, usually of the religious variety. When he gets a chance to look at cable at my sister’s house, it is all Fox News all the time. I normally am not a vengeful person, but if somebody wanted to give me a nice Hanukkah present, they would flush O'Reilly and other right-wingers done the nearest sewer treatment plant.
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Why so passive?
Someone expresses their opinion with ferver. Why is your reaction, and the reaction of many liberals, that of a shrinking violet. What happened to people with convictions. Stand up to the political bullies. Make your opinion known in return. Wil's stepson witnessed something that afternoon. Wil would like to think he witnessed his level headed step-dad courteously avoiding conflict. I would suggest he experienced something more base and primal. He witnessed an opinion sticking. Sticking by will of force and overt conviction. An idea, and the subjugation of an idea. One man walked away with a feeling that he is right, the other just wanted to wish the whole thing away. Oh the bad men on T.V. who have lead my poor parents astray. Where are you the whole time they are falling prey to rightist propoganda? Avoiding conflict? Why aren't they already very clear on your position regarding capital punishment? Probably because you are not clear yourself. Stand up for what you believe. Don't just believe. That's not enough! Wil... walk like you got a pair.
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As usual, nonsense...
Anyone who blames TV for the dickhead behavior of their parents should have their head examined. Wil's father acted like an asshole because he's an asshole: I disagree with people all the time - often on issues of politics, and I don't scream or yell. If the person I'm talking does, I shut the argument off right there, though I sometimes enjoy when my neocon brother-in-law sputters incoherently on social issues. Something tells me that Wil's father has always had a temper - that he was always a dick, because TV doesn't change a man's personality - certainly not over the course of a year or two. My brother is big into talk radio - left and right - he's become quite the conspiracy monger, and though his ideas have changed, his delivery is the same as it always was. Don't blame Bill O'Reilly for your bad Xmas, blame bad genetics, bad upbringing or a general lack of class. Full Disclosure: I come from a family of loudmouths, so I've learned how to handle my business with this type of personality.