Immediate Gratification – Void Of Critical Thinking
Deborah Venable
08/27/06
Where
was everybody else when we were told that the war on terror would be a long and
arduous task? I certainly heard
it. Now we have Democrats and Republicans
alike making stupid statements that the American people were not adequately
prepared for a long and drawn out conflict in the Middle East and that is why
so many are wanting to turn tail and run.
I know I live in a society that worships immediate gratification, but
this is ridiculous!
On
September 11, 2001, America was dealt a hand to play for the future of liberty
in human existence. It should have been
a winning hand, but too many tossed it in and sat around waiting for the next
deal. Not content with the fact that a
few decided to play their hands, so the game was going to drag on, these folks
are now screaming “misdeal” and trying to convince those determined to win the
game that the dealer is bogus. The
chips are already down and the game will be won or lost depending on how the
game is played. Changing the rules in
the middle of the game is not an option.
Tossing in the hand is not an option.
We can bluff, but the dealer isn’t about to cave in, so playing it like
we’ve got it is the only thing left.
If
you want to believe that things are not going so well in our theaters of war in
the Middle East at the present time, blame yourselves and those others who
haphazardly throw barbs of self-hatred at America’s efforts to root out the bad
and give hope to the good. Damn the
message of loss of confidence in the honorable intentions of the decision
makers in the real conflict. Shout down
the antipathy laden comments of those who should know better telling the
American public that their country is no better than any other and especially
as dangerous as the terror supporting nations of the world. This war will not be lost by the soldiers
who fight it or the generals who strategically command it, but it could be lost
by the very people who have the most to gain when America is victorious. Those who demand freedom to disagree but
refuse to stand firm in defending the country that most fosters those liberties
are directly responsible for putting both liberty and lives in the greatest
danger.
We
think that we are an increasingly more highly educated society while the exact
opposite is true. Graduating from our
government schools and our over-priced, degreed institutions of learning does
not guarantee a useful or useable education in today’s America. Too many of these degrees are not worth the
paper they are written on when it comes to gauging one’s literacy,
intelligence, or critical thinking abilities.
This has been true since campuses were overrun by socialist agenda
behavior modifiers instead of dedicated human educators. And it’s been true since our “fourth branch”
of self-government capitulated to the whims of that socialist agenda that gave
it license to operate our schools of journalism.
Those
who argue with the contention of a “liberal leaning media” are quick to point
out that media is being conglomerated under big business corporations run and
supported by conservatives. It sounds
so convincing in light of all the sell-outs and take-overs of various media
production mills and distribution points.
One has to do a double take to realize that this is merely an attempt to
enforce an unfair Fairness Doctrine to an imaginary “balance” of some
sort. Or worse still, to create a
totally government controlled, (answerable to the “people” after all) press – a
PBS nightmare that would rival Orwellian prediction. So far, liberals have not been able to “fairly” balance the
effects of conservative dominated talk radio and Internet publication networks
that sprang up to truly balance the liberal media, so the natural response by
the typical liberal is to cry, “foul.”
I’m
not believing that liberals do not know how to manipulate the free market as
well as conservatives – many of the most wealthy in this country most
definitely fall into the liberal column, so the liberal mantra of fighting big
business and corporation take-over of the media comes off sounding either
ignorant or fictitious at best.
So
what are we, the people, to believe?
The
left and the right tell us we certainly can’t believe the mainstream
media. The left tells us we can’t
believe the alternative, (conservative or “balanced”) media, and more and more
people of all stripes are demanding the PBS nightmare alternative that we all
have to pay for in more ways than one.
Meanwhile, the socialist education mills keep turning out so-called
journalists that have no moral base or understanding of traditional rooting in
the purpose of their fourth branch. Is
it any wonder that Americans can’t make an educated choice in political
candidates, important domestic issues, or foreign policy actions? Unless, that is, they take it upon
themselves to do the hard work of rooting out the truth for themselves and
fertilizing the fourth branch of government with their own efforts.
In
this year of those oh, so important mid-term elections we must do the hard
work. Our politicians all have their
fingers in the air to test the winds of public opinion before they spout their
intentions. The media – all limbs of
that “branch” are concerned with protecting their own leaves and shading different
areas of that public opinion. Our
enemies are rejoicing in all the domestic subversion that puts them in a better
light. And the voting American public
has tired of the game and merely wants it to end – honorably or not. No one seems to care enough to have a finger
on the pulse of good old-fashioned American tradition – that which supports
good over bad and victory over defeat.
We sell our votes and our freedoms to the highest bidder with no thought
except immediate gratification for our efforts. We’ll believe what is most convenient to believe about wars and
ramifications – just as long as we are not called on the carpet to defend those
beliefs, for that would be unfair in a world that has rendered critical
thinking all but obsolete.