Pacific Views

The Biggest Lie

Many discussions have gone on recently concerning the 'big lie' theory of government. Which is that if you lie often enough, and big enough, people finally believe you. They just get inundated and worn down, hearing the same thing from so many sources that they assume it must be true. The people who continue to disagree can even feel cut off, like wandering madmen.

And the big lies of modern day politics are impressive for both their active dispersal and variety. But there's one lie that beats all of them. One lie that makes it not only possible, but inevitable, that these lies will be accepted by so many. And this is it:

You don't matter, you can't understand what's going on, and you couldn't make a difference if you did.

And to this ridiculous lie perpetuated on people around the world by their governments and popular culture, I say to hell with all that. It doesn't serve or enrich anyone. It's beneath our dignity as a species.

What Doesn't Matter

Your community needs you. Not someone who's had more practice talking to people. Not someone more influential, attractive, smarter, richer, better educated, or in possession of more leisure time. You.

None of those other things are at issue. Thanks to the magic of television and nationwide print media, we all get constantly presented with the opportunity to compare ourselves to fictional paragons. People whose rough edges have been smoothed away by speaking coaches and make-up artists. We don't see the mustard stained tie, the laundry day clothes, the beat up car they drove nervously to their first job interview, or all the years of struggle and mistakes.

There are probably a thousand or more people whose names, with a little different luck, you would know instead for each Whitney Houston, Jack Welch, or even Alan Greenspan. That isn't a tragic waste of potential fame, but it's probably a tragic waste of talent. Chances are that most of us are living lives far below our capacity, and we're all poorer for it.

Assume your competence, and take responsibility for developing it in the most effective direction. Don't wait to be discovered, it's a mug's game.

Informed Consent

While it takes work, most people are in a position to manage being reasonably well informed. And in a democracy, it's written into the job description.

But voter participation has seen an alarming decline in recent years, with the major parties chasing after smaller and smaller segments of the electorate. In all likelihood, everyone reading this knows at least one person (probably more) who's said that they don't bother either to vote or to keep up with the news.

A book called "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell may shed some light on this phenomenon, and something deeper than apathy may be at work:

...One of the most infamous incidents in New York City history, for example, was the 1964 stabbing death of a young Queens woman by the name of Kitty Genovese. Genovese was chased by her assailant and attacked three times on the street, over the course of half an hour, as thirty-eight of her neighbors watched from their windows. During that time, however, none of the thirty-eight witnesses called the police.

...[New York City psychologists] Latane and Darley [staging a series of experiments to try and understand the 'bystander' phenomenon,] had a student alone in a room stage an epileptic fit. When there was just one person next door, listening, that person rushed to the student's aid 85 percent of the time. But when subjects thought that there were four others also overhearing the seizure, they came to the student's aid only 31 percent of the time. In another experiment, people who saw smoke seeping out from under a doorway would report it 75 percent of the time when they were on their own, but the incident would be reported only 38 percent of the time when they were in a group. When people are in a group, in other words, responsibility for acting is diffused. They assume that someone else will make the call, or they assume that because no one else is acting, the apparent problem -- the seizure-like sounds from the other room, the smoke from the door -- isn't really a problem. In the case of Kitty Genovese, then, social psychologists like Latane and Darley argue, the lesson is not that no one called despite the fact that thirty-eight people heard her scream; it's that no one called because thirty-eight people heard her scream. Ironically, had she been attacked on a lonely street with just one witness, she might have lived. ...

We are today watching the mugging of our democracy, and the collapse of informed consent. But it seems too many people have assumed that with 300 million people watching, nothing too bad can happen. But maybe we need to suggest that because so many people think someone else will handle things, that it's someone else's job to participate and stay informed, we are at far greater risk.

Don't buy the subtle lie that anyone else is working on your behalf to keep you informed, or to tell you if your participation is needed. The media is a business, and their goal is to stay in business. Even bloggers who are gathering information for a hobby each have a personal agenda regarding what interests and concerns them. And all information outlets are prone to missing things that may be of crucial importance, because they can't cover everything there is to know.

There's nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't leave any room for shifting the burden of informed consent to someone else. It doesn't leave any room for assuming somebody else knows what needs to be done in your neighborhood or city to ensure that our democracy is well guarded at every level, or that they'll know to enlist your help to do it.

As I became more informed about the issues that directly interested me, it became far easier to branch out into other concerns. I stopped being intimidated by subjects that I thought only experts deserved to have an opinion on, and started seeing them as resources instead of unquestionable authorities. I have to vote on these things, or at least for stewards who will make good decisions on my behalf, so I'd better know something about what I'm deciding.

All it takes is patience, practice, attention, and a willingness to learn.

Making A Difference

Chances are that if you can identify a problem as needing correction, you can think of something positive to do to fix it. It's long past time when we could assume that an elected official or business will take care of things without us having to do anything.

You may need to enlist neighbors and friends to help, and your efforts may not succeed. But every step towards an active and engaged public is a good one. It creates community leaders (iow, you, and anyone else who takes an active role) and puts government and business interests on alert that someone is watching them. Unlikely allies might spring up, and possibly, fun could be had by all.

The type of commitment necessary to make improvements to our society is the kind that people make when they think no one else in the whole wide world is going to lift a finger to help.

Charge!

So, that's my take on the lie, and on why people buy into it. I've had it with political apathy, and public despair is standing on my last nerve. Every time I hear someone say that their vote, letter, or action doesn't count, I just want to scream.

The only time we don't count is when we decide that we don't. Then our fate is sealed, and no one can help us. But on the plus side, it also means that we have it in our hands to snap out of the delusion any time we choose.

And hey there, I'm talkin' to YOU!

Posted by natasha at September 10, 2003 05:13 PM | TrackBack