PrintJune 25, 2009
Not Much Ado About Nothing
Each individual must make the disciplined, conscious choice to reject what may be the most threatening problem in U.S. culture -- the glib acceptance of meaninglessness. "Whatever..." we say, glossing over libraries of volumes of fact and evidence in our headlong rush to dissolve into relaxing nothingness. Constant chattering of inanities by the media has made the American mind a giant Jackson Pollock of disintegrating oblivion.
Discussion of conflicting ideas has become nothing more than a Seinfeld Moment, as exhibited by this now-infamous MSNBC interview. In host Brewer's meaningless reality, she is at inner peace after being publicly denounced as a slut. "I'm still here," she proclaims, with the same philosophical vacuity as Michael Dukakis discussing capital punishment. Although our culture is absorbed with emotion, lotus-eating Leftists offer a false intellectual calmness so removed from critical thinking the word ‘is' surpasses the limits of ordinary experience. Lack of emotion, unless ridiculing political opposition, is the hallmark of Leftist intellectual prowess. But without focused emotion there is absence of critical thinking.
While nihilism is a respectable philosophical school, it is best handled by those who actually think. In the hands of those who do not, it is an easy philosophy to practice but deadly to cultural advancement. Even the Republican Party is having trouble becoming a Randian man, an Adam, standing separate from the devolving popular culture. The situation is beyond apathy, as the apathetic at least have an inkling of the ideas they believe cannot be changed.
Slick, deceitful media and politicians easily control a population consumed with a marked ease and nonchalance in knowing nothing. An empty mind is a controlled mind.
Karen Carr, in her book The Banalization of Nihilism, discusses how the mindless consumption of meaninglessness "creates an environment where ideas can be imposed forcibly with little resistance, raw power alone determining intellectual and moral hierarchies." The mewling response to Obama's nationalization of banks and the auto industry is evidence of this trend.
The Left's constant attack on all things traditional has pushed the simple-minded to reject prima facie all things American. Without so much as reading The Bible, the Declaration of Independence, or The Constitution, these sanguine know-nothings dismiss such writing as mythology, fatally flawed, the ramblings of ancient evil men. The Left's attack has been so successful that the ideals of individualism and responsibility, as applied to traditional American values, are repulsed with the deathly vigor of an organ transplant rejection. By denying ourselves the very values that made the success of our country possible, we intentionally yet inadvertently seem willing to bring about our extinction as a unique people group.
In his essay The End of History?, Francis Fukuyama discusses the idea that it is our personal spirit from which productivity and profit are created. What drives one man to push himself to high levels of productivity and another to sloth? It is the spirit of the individual that determines our value system. Proverbs says, "The spirit of man is a lamp of the Lord, searching the innermost parts of his being." The truth is that without discipline our inner spirit never develops strength, becoming instead an atrophied muscle.
The Leftists now seeking absolute control have been very shrewd in their effort to destabilize American civilization. By intentionally and methodically discouraging the development of citizens' personal strength of spirit, they continue to advance their unrestricted power. Like the horse and bridle, for a population of overly trusting empty-minded nihilists, whoever controls their emotions controls their spirit.
To this end Obama speaks dramatic words for the cameras knowing that those watching are experiencing him emotionally, not rationally. His speeches implant dreamy ideas in the minds of viewers incapable of hearing the menace behind the dream. The yawning jaws of slavery are waiting to engulf a population of non-thinkers. Only our spiritual reawakening can stop our nation's willing step into the pit.
Rejecting this mentality requires effort and action. No nation in the history of civilization has willingly exchanged liberty for oppression. This is the greatest test of the American Spirit. Will we find the inner strength to acknowledge our existence as individuals and accept its attendant responsibilities? This is not something a leader can do for us. Each of us must make this conscious decision for ourselves.
This is what the Tea Party movement is about -- a public display of the strength of individual spirit. It took the choices of individual men to stand against the British army at Concord Bridge. In my state, it took individuals choosing to cross the line in the sand against the oppressive dictatorship of Santa Anna. I encourage you to make the deliberate decision to join in solidarity and strength of numbers in this movement. We must show the world the resolve and determination of the inner spirit of all men to live in freedom.
Nancy Coppock is the Bryan/College Station Texas Tea Party Organizer and blogs at The Jackalope's Voice
