Look Before You Leap

Questioning the value of a "one-sided perspective" seems rather odd to me, as virtually all perspectives are one-sided. We see things as either good or bad, right or wrong, positive or negative. Only very rarely, as in Dickens' famous "They were the best of times; they were the worst of times," do we ever encounter a point of view inclusive of more than one side.

As to how much influence we have on our country, it seems to me we have as much influence as we have, not as much as we believe we have. It's an objective thing: You either have the vote or you don't. You either have money to contribute to campaigns or you don't. You either work for political change or you don't. Where does belief enter into it?

"What is the value of staring into the toilet bowl?" Well, if you think it might need cleaning, it might be a good idea to take a good look first to see if in fact it does. The value of taking a good look at a most unpleasant situation, political or otherwise, is to try to come to some understanding of it. What are its dynamics? What is its structure? How did it get to be the way it is? What externally applied forces might impact the situation? Et cetera. Until we understand a situation, trying to affect it in any way can only yield partially effective results at best. And clearly the first step to understanding anything is to have a good look, what some might call "staring."

As far as "what is to be gained by only having our attention there," who ever suggested we only have our attention there? Taking a good measure of the situation is only a first step. First assess the situation, then calibrate one's response, then act to effect the desired change. But first and foremost, have a good look.

"What we focus on does indeed expand." Indeed. So don't get hung up on that first step. But we can't afford to overlook it either. We need to have that good look, without which we shall not understand the problem very well, and will not be able to come up with an optimal solution.

In addition to the above considerations, I think my first post, "The U.S. War Machine" was first of all rather interesting and provocative. That's value no. 1. Beyond this rather limited value, is the value of an accurate assessment of the current political situation. The idea that it's not Bush alone who is ruining the country, but the country itself, by virtue of the fact of 1) the general population mostly just going along with his massively destructive policies, and 2) the nature of our political economy, which has become to an alarming degree a war machine, this idea will need to receive wide circulation and be clearly seen by the American people if there is to be any hope of changing the situation. We are not going to be able to save our country if we don't know it's being lost, and we won't know it's being lost if we don't take a good, long look at it and what's happening to it. Problems cannot be solved if they are not recognized.