Skinny Branchin' It Again

So I just found out Glenn Beck didn't go to college. Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh also apparently didn't graduate from college. This explains a lot.

I don't think one has to graduate from college or even attend college to be an intelligent, productive person. It's not that. It's the tendency of these people -- in fact usually the smart ones who might have been accomplished in higher education --to be so reactionary and intolerant and eager to pick a fight over, well, nothing.

I had lunch with two of my smartest friends yesterday, and their analysis of this was rapid and made a lot of sense to me. They talked about how the environment of respectful debate grounded in arguments that were expected to be based on research held to the highest standard shapes a person. How spending at least 4 years in a culture that trains you to only have serious arguments in this realm trains you not to take things personally, to stay focused on ideas, and to understand the problems of philosophy and false argument (the straw man, the slippery slope, etc.).

The dudes listed above are well known for being among the worst offenders when it comes to making everything personal, attacking people and not examining ideas, and gloating and profiting off of pitting people against each other instead of trying to solve problems. I honestly try not to pay any attention to them. They are like clowns to me, but beligerant, ignorant clowns, and who needs that? Some folks have outright phobias against that kind of clown, and for good reason.

Eventually, it does seem they out themselves for what they are. Beck recently ranted and raved against the government collecting taxes from the people, then puffed himself up and crowed that he taught himself that, "in the library!" Um, hello. Do you understand how libraries are funded? Apparently not. They teach you that in college.

My precious home state of West Virginia has 17% of its population with a 4 year degree. I don't care if you have a college degree because I think it's a status symbol. I care because I need you to have one. I need you to be part of a world where you understand ideas, and can hear criticism without going off the deep end frothing at the mouth. There's a lot of criticism that we need to hear in West Virginia (and our personal lives) so we can climb out of a heapin' mess of hurt and trouble.

I'm worried that across the board we don't have the training to hear important ideas and act on them before it's too late. I'd like to reexamine this line of thinking that says "college isn't for everyone." I think it should be.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8078381@N03/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Sex on the Beach: Finding the Sneetches Today

Theodor Seuss Geisel holds an honored place in my pantheon of writer/illustrator gods who got into my heart in childhood, took up a place in my head, and never left. Thank goodness for Dr. Seuss! (My other deities are Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein, and Charles Schultz).

Geisel had a special technique, a way of communicating with children about critical adult issues long before they had to wrangle those issues in the real world. As many of us know, he explained the follies of racism gently and masterfully to a generation of both children and adults in the powder keg dawn of the 1960s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sneetches_and_Other_Stories).

You know the story: Some have stars, some don’t, a social struggle ensues to define which is superior and worthy, and a capitalist extraordinaire rolls into town to make a profit off the – pointless – argument. He does; the sneetches are physically, morally, psychologically and financially spent; and in their mutual exhaustion and confusion, find they can’t remember who was better and why, and decide they really don’t care. They have a shared perspective on what they all have lost to their fight for status.

An earlier post, “An Unexpected Place,” examines the Adam Lambert phenomenon. Lambert became more interesting to me as an illumination of the ongoing -- and in my humble opinion, ridiculous – cultural obsession with each others’ sexuality. (See this truly fun piece in the Baltimore Sun, Ricky Nelson vs. Elvis, http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-zontv-column-0517,0,2532025.column) The rumor is thousands of folks spend hours in the American Idol voting process trying to defeat Lambert because he is gay. The best part is he has made no such claim.

He’s got a lot of drama, he wears eyeliner, and he’s been seen kissing boys. Good for him. I hope he keeps it up and makes people’s heads explode, in true spent-sneetch fashion. I hope he makes all those crazed anti-voters so confused about who he is and what he’s doing that they forget to remember who they are and what they are doing and why, and decide the whole thing is a complete waste of time and energy.

"I'm quite happy to say

That the Sneetches got really quite smart on that day,

The day they decided that Sneetches are Sneetches

And no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches.

That day, all the Sneetches forgot about stars

And whether they had one, or not, upon thars."

Whether he’s the next American Idol or not, I don’t think I’ll forget him.

An Unexpected Place

I have a couple of friends who are obsessed with American Idol this season, especially the charisma and talent of one Adam Lambert.

I don’t “do” Idol. I’ve become so creeped out by celebrity culture I just can’t go there. But I have taken a look at Mr. Lambert’s performances on YouTube, and he does seem to have a certain something that breaks through even the manufactured drama of Simon Cowell. (I thought this interpretation of Tears 4 Fears’ “Mad World” was hypnotic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djn3ItxukbE Give a listen…..)

In their ongoing conversion efforts, my friends sent me a post from an Idol fan board. I think this excerpt speaks for itself. Sometimes a life changing contact can come from the most unexpected place.

"For me, it’s almost like in addition to adoring his musical abilities and the 'person' (however limited our view of that is) he portrays, he kind of took me to a place I hadn't been in a long time - one where I was in touch with my real feelings for the first time in ages. Music hasn't moved me in a long time, but his has taken me out of numbness and for this I owe him a debt of gratitude. It’s like he somehow busted through a dam in my heart, and now the floodwaters of good feeling are coming out. This sounds like a cliche, but it’s true. And how, exactly, would one NOT become a wee bit obsessed with someone, real or in Adam's case fairly 'imaginary' that did something so important? Not important to anyone else, but massive in my little life!

But more than that, he is a kind of symbol for me, he inspires me to great depths and I know not why. There is something so singularly unique about him that makes ME feel brave to be MY OWN singular, unique person. There is no greater gift that someone can give than that.”