Sergio Leone’s sweeping four-hour epic with Robert DeNiro flooded my mind. Why should my subconscious thoughts pick this movie? My rational mind searched for meaning. Two answers rose to the surface. First, the America that this story of Italian immigration to New York describes ends in the 1970’s. Was that what I was being led to write about? A movie? Or something far more relevant?
As I scanned the movie’s reviews it hit me. The film was released in 1984. No coincidence here. George Orwell’s futuristic book 1984 was published in 1949. It chronicles a time where “Big Brother” rules and “The Party” controls every aspect of people’s lives. I speed read through to summarize Orwell’s themes…our privacy kidnapped, mass media tightly controlled, protestors smeared or punished, political opponents labeled as evil, and strategically planned events to distract people from asking questions.
From having written a college paper decades ago, I recalled quoting from Aldous Huxley’s 1932 published book Brave New World. It is a challenging read but I felt his messages hovered around “community, identity, and stability.”
Here we are in 2020 and science fiction is all too real. It is not just America, though much of the world sought to mirror some of its popular attributes. Have we evolved as societies since the 1940’s? Are our governing principles and systems changed in subtle or dramatic ways? HAS OUR SILENCE BECOME DEAFENING AND DETRIMENTAL TO PEOPLES LIVES? What don’t we want to recognize and seek to understand? Have cultural distractions numbed us into apathy? How has decades of wanting more things financially enslaved the majority of people?
I wondered if we are so programmed now that we’ve lost the passion to ask questions and wonder WHY? Leaders jumped to a virus driven lock-down before serious consideration was given to whether this action might be more harmful to people’s health (mentally and financially) than instituting a program of safe and sanitary practice with citizens taking responsibility for their actions. I get the feeling that leaders don’t respect our intelligence and ability to think critically. Or are they afraid of the very public they are supposed to represent? I want to believe the vast majority of people would follow reasonable and clear safety guidelines to avoid lost jobs/wages, family hunger and health concerns, more credit debt, bankruptcy, and rent or mortgage issues. Some people will always flaunt rules, demonstrating their arrogance by risking other people’s lives and their own. How can we best serve the interests of the majority of people who most need support now? Since there is no universal approach to coping with this virus globally, or even in single countries, we won’t know which approach worked best for people’s health and economic systems for some time. We can speculate on why leaders have taken certain actions? Wonder why the middle class falls further behind in times of crisis? Consider how the digital economy has decimated local community businesses? Be curious as to food and drug administrative policies that weakened people’s immune systems and fostered obesity, diabetes and leave us concerned that products such as artificial sweeteners like Aspartame is contained in so much of what we put in our mouth. Long-term important health issues like GMO food products are reported in studies of questionable source and motive.
In this time of deeper reflection, I am disappointed in myself for focusing too much attention on politician’s rhetoric and not enough observing my everyday life and health. I don’t believe societies can let these issues and questions slide by for another decade. We, as a dominant species, and the planet, with all its living organisms, need to heal and get better balanced. The pendulum has swung too far, for too long, in the wrong direction.
I remember my psychology-studying roommate describing theories on behavior. We, and the lab mice, are docile if “positively reinforced.” Calmer and compliant. When punishment was applied to alter a behavior, this was shown to be less effective. Give the people what they seem to want and there is less chance of revolt or rebellion. What did we get? Fast food, reality TV, crime, horror and erotic movies, sports players and teams making fortunes to our cheering masses, distilling beauty down to cosmetics, Botox and plastic surgery, more credit to buy more things, faster fancier cars, porn addiction, electronic gadgets for adult toys and a massive industry of video games to keep the youth entertained. What would you add to this list of distractions and superficial pleasures?
Western societies can boast of impressive innovations, wonderful opportunities for the entrepreneurial spirit, and technological tools we never dreamed of. Is this an embarrassment of riches? Or a formula to that needs to be re-evaluated? What do we want? Whom do we believe can best lead our institutions? How can we better balance the economic disparity between very rich and very poor? Is quality education for all children just wishful thinking? When drugs, weapons and sex trafficking are reported to be the largest revenue sources on the planet we surely can do better.
