On “Truth” in the Triumvirate of the “American Way”
Dr. Tyson’s latest edition of Cosmos focused on leaded gasoline and a scientist’s unanticipated fight to stop it’s use as a side-effect of his work on cosmology. It’s a quaint, simplistic and, with the animation, almost naive approach to the story (although I’ve never seen an animated short quoting articles from Nature). While the primary important issue was Dr. Patterson‘s “aha!” moment on lead in gasoline, the subtext, as Mother Jones pointed out, was corporate greed.
In the context of many changes we Americans have encountered over the past twenty years, it’s worth revisiting Superman’s credo:
- Truth
- Justice
- The American Way
97% yes, 2% unsure, 1% no.
Truth: Hitler made the ‘big lie’ a key weapon in his propaganda and brainwashing of Germans and the rest of the world. That lesson has been learned well by those in the US who believe that the “truth” is the lie spoken most loudly.
The truth is objective, not subjective. Fact, not opinion. Data, not belief. In the America of 2014, this means… not much. Politicians big and small make poisoned statements, disclaiming their need to stand behind them. Cue President Obama.
Justice: Justice has always been a squishy thing. It’s injustice for the loser. And what is just? Sure, property claims, business liens, tort law… these all apply. Justice as in “let’s kill the murderer to serve justice” is a hairsbreadth away from “eye for an eye.” (Don’t get me wrong: if we had a working justice (sic) system, I’d see the necessity for putting down a human animal. Not for justice, but to keep them from hurting society.) Is it just when a court orders putting down a religious artifact on public grounds because the majority of the local powers believe it’s the just thing to do? Justice in the time of Superman was decidedly on the white, male savior side. While justice occasionally rears its head in the form of marriage equality, the injustice of perverted law claimed as justice is the travesty of our time on the public national stage.
Now we’re left with “The American Way:” Which should be interesting given that we’re teetering at the cusp of a white minority in these here United States. So what’s the ‘American Way’ going to look like in my grandchildren’s time? (Kids, please don’t get any ideas!) Apple pie replaced with flan? A chorizo wrapped in a tortilla? A quiet, calm Tesla in lieu of a muscle car?
Bottom line: TJaTAW is a product long past its expiration date in America circa 2014. A pure truth today invalidates many of the initiatives and their idiot religious sycophants on the Justice side. And practical demographics will lay waste to the white, male, Christian ‘supermen’ that keep minorities and women economically beneath them.