Kavanaugh hearings

I cringed as I watched the band of white haired Senators praise Judge Kavanaugh, slam the Democrats, pat themselves on the back for the jobs they did and proclaim their own expertise. It is very clear to me that this confirmation process must now be discussed and studied in every high school social science class in the country.

American government is broken. Congress and the President must take the blame. Little gets done in a flurry of partisan bickering. Compromise hardly exists. Money drives politics to the point of corruption and forces undue time fundraising. Both parties demand a loyalty and a control of thought that is almost Communistic. Election campaigns are nauseatingly negative. Power keeps elected officials isolated from their constituents. Women and minorities struggle to gain elected positions.

All of this revealed itself and more in the Kavanaugh hearings. It was all there for all of us to see. For as much as we can and should value our freedoms as Americans, we must be clear-headed about the failings of our government at this juncture in time, and ask ourselves what our responsibilities are and answer with action

Manipulated

It’s one thing to be manipulated. It’s another thing to be manipulated and not realize it. But that’s exactly what happens to so many of us when we are bombarded by political ads, consumer ads and entertainment media.

We are in a time when there is such reluctance to trust and such difficulty in finding anyone to trust. Can we trust our government? Can we trust the ones we elect to office? Can we trust social media? Can we trust that we are not being fed false online messages from foreign agents?

It’s up to us to decide. But that means we have to take responsibility. We have to do the work to educate ourselves. We have to be diligent. We have to listen and discuss. We have to resist being discouraged. We have to critically take these ads apart. We have to get our of our comfort zone.

Spin, half-truths, diversions from the issues, clever word play, pretty and petty distractions, celebrity salesmen, all need to be pushed aside to discover if truth is even there.

Who knows?

Maybe it was Donald Trump. Maybe it was Congress. Maybe it was just the folks. Maybe there was something in water. But we find ourselves in a disgusting mess.

Dividing is more important than healing.

Power is more important than compassion.

Men are more important than women.

Celebrity is more important than integrity.

Personal wealth is more important than economic equality.

Screaming is more important than listening.

Confrontation is more important than civility.

Surface is more important than depth.

Half-truth is more important than whole truth.

Coming back to balance is a job for everyone.

Worship

Praying at the bedside is worship.

Sitting quietly in a sacred space is worship.

But work, art, love and even gardening can be worship.

The worship is not in the activity itself, but in the way the activity is done.

Worshipful activity aims to stimulate the inner spiritual self—possibly but not necessarily through God—and becomes transformed into productive action or awareness.

Worship is a means of acknowledging awe before the bigness and mystery of life.

Slavery

Slavery is egregiously wrong in any moral framework. At root, it was a means for wealthy businessman to have a source of cheap (free!) labor. In this sense, slavery still exists, and will continue to exist, as long as business can find ways to manipulate human social circumstances to find low cost labor. Fast food workers don’t make a living wage. Many foreign workers work long hours for little in unsafe work places. Women are exploited as sex workers.

A moral code should demand respect and fairness for the workers who make business viable. Yet workers often get the leavings after the higher management and the investors take their winnings.

Low paid workers may be doing better than if they had no jobs, but there is often little humanity in the business decisions that hire them. High end fashion, expensive athletic shoes and many other products we purchase day-to day are made affordable on the backs of cheap labor. As consumers, we have a role in making what’s right for worker trump what’s right for profits.

Art in the social realm

Sexism. Racism. Economic inequality. Bigotry. Immigration. The list of problems in America that need solutions can seem endless. When we look for solutions, we focus on academia, government, think tanks, experts and journalism. But because of America’s persistent ambiguity about the visual arts, we rarely look to the visual artist.

This is unfortunate because the serious visual artist is, in most cases, after truth not notoriety. The voices of such artists are strong and articulate. Their images are direct and powerful. Artists like Theaster Gates, Tina Brugera, William Kentridge, Swoon, Kara Walker and more, creatively confront issues through visual work that educates and empowers.

We can read books and editorials. But powerful images have a way of seeding themselves in us.