Wednesday, May 16, 2007

The Pop of Culture

I guess it is just part of my quirky personality or something, but something in me doesn't like the popular. I remember back in 7th grade I was listening to Rush (the rock group not the radio guy) and I loved it. None of my friends knew them, and then a few months later I saw the rush t-shirts showing up at school and just like that...I moved on. (I actually still listen to Rush now, but back then they were shelved). But I can think of several other things that this is not true in my life (I'm a huge u2 fan...with millions of other people...oh well)...back to the point.

I am tired of politics, global warming and the war in Iraq. They are all tied together, and they are all popular topics. I think the later is what I hate about them most. I really didn't like Clinton as a president. Not because of his views, or what he did or didn't do. It's because he put his finger in the air to see what way the wind was blowing, and then ran to get in front of the wind....this was his style of leadership. I still remember reading an article that he talked about how important it was to keep public opinion pollsters busy and employed in the white house. Is this the leader I want? Is Bush any different? After 911 we all wanted to see the government do something...to find the killers and anyone associated with them. So Bush jumped into Afghanistan and then Iraq. In his situation, how much can a president do? If you find out your children are beaten and bruised by someone in a house down the street, you go to the house and find the culprit. And I think he (like Clinton) thought he was doing what was best. I'm not a huge conspiracy person...so I will leave all that for someone else. But now pop. Democrats want out of the war. IS that because of "moral duty" or just the opportunity to show up Bush even more? The war already won them congress. Why not take it all the way to the white house?

My problem is that it doesn't really appear that anyone is asking the right questions. It is popular right now to say the war is bad. More republicans are joining that sentiment (they're not completely stupid to realize there is always an election coming). I just read to articles that quoted middle east experts (not from the US) that if the US gets out of iraq now, it will create larger problems in the future than we have now. The answer is not just to leave iraq. They can all blame bush for getting us into this mess, but just up and leaving the mess is not a solution. They voted to support Bush in the first place (I know...he duped them with WMDs...see other blogs for that discussion). They can't just say no, now.

It is similar to global warming. It is not that I do not believe the globe is in a warming trend. I just don't believe the same reasons as Al Gore. But it is so popular to follow his line of reason and calamity forecasts in the future, that even in writing that I do not believe his ideas, I am against the environment and am not green. I have watched Inconvenient truth and also the BBC documentary debunking Gore. I have read articles. I am also aware that when I was little (back when I was listening to RUSH) the world was going to freeze over unless we figured out a way to increase CO2. That was only 30 years ago. The temps dropped from 1940 to 1975. And now they are climbing.

So what is my point. The point is that the problem with following the popular, is that it does not take into account a larger few. It is myopic in nature. It is the here and now. The globe has been warming and cooling for thousands if not millions of years. Wars have been won and lost for just about as long. How can we judge Iraq after such a short period of time? How can leaders make decisions about what is popular at this moment. The popular gives us American Idols, Bud light, and McDonalds. Is these the same that we should look to to lead us? I want leaders that are not afraid to do what is unpopular, if it is the right thing to do. But then, there is the problem...what is the right thing to do?

2 comments:

Jack of All Trades said...

here is a link to an article that I find very interesting on this subject...public policy and science.

kk

http://www.crichton-official.com/speeches/speeches_quote04.html

Katie said...

write more. i'm reading.