civic geek

Civic Geek: The Enemy Problem

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One of the major problems, perhaps the problem, of American politics is the need for enemies.

This pretty much defines popular “conservative” thought, soaked and saturated in media methods and conspiracy theories.  It’s all about how things would be better except for “those people” – which of course means people who promise to fight “those people” can clean up with legislation, nepotism, favors, and contracts.

But when your whole life is about fighting “those people” with the assumption everything will be magically fixed when they’re defeated (and they’re never defeated because you’ll find new enemies) then you build nothing.  The “fight those people” mentality strip-mines the soul and the culture, until only the battle is left – and the people making bank off of it.  It’s a terribly meaningless attitude.

Way back when Bush Junior was president, I was concerned that he’d too easily become the Hated Enemy, and that dealing with his bad policies (and seeking good policies) would be obscured by people just hating the man.  This did not happen, fortunately, though part of it was probably how fast his previous allies tried to forget him.  I am concerned Trump may end up the bogeyman, even if he is, honestly, an incredibly shitty president and human being.

The key thing in this country – in any civilization – is building, strengthening, and connecting social institutions and people’s connections.  From education to social behaviors, building is what makes us who we are.

Building also provides us real satisfaction.  You can’t be satisfied endlessly looking for someone to fight in the vague hope some day life is better.  This gives us meaning.

A challenge – a true challenge – in America is to get to a building mentality first.  We have to balance that with dealing with a truly terrible administration and its enablers.

A further challenge is to propagate this “builder mentality” so it spreads.  Without it, even the most enlightened and forward-thinking society is endlessly fighting manipulated, angry people all the time.

  • Steve

 

Civic Diary: Everyday Stuff

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First up, my monthly civic geek roundup. Where am I?

  • First, still doing the local political group. Trying to do more, frankly, but we’ve had trouble coordinating. I do have my posting down to a system.
  • My usual calling and annoying my elected officials of course. Been a bit off on that, but overall keeping at it.
  • I’ve vaguely scheduled a plan to get more into doing Op-Eds and writing newspapers/news sites. There’s a class I can take and a book I found.

Now this month’s thought is on the fact that one big contribution you can make beyond your activism is keeping Shit Running.

This is a massive, MASSIVE, missed part of politics and society in general. Society requires the actions of so many of us, every day, to keep going. It requires driving your kid to school, helping a friend with a resume, cleaning up at your apartment complex, giving a friend a ride. A huge amount of a functional society is Everyday Stuff.

Do not shit on everyday stuff. Everyday stuff keeps things running. Everyday stuff creates ties between people. Everyday stuff is the foundation of so much that we can forget it. Doing it can remind us as well as keeping the whole shebang of society running.

One of the greatest failures in America, of our current crazy, conspiracy-theory-soaked, hating-our-fellow-Americans politics is people forget everday stuff. People are disconnected from action and reaction, from their neighbors, from real human concerns – and their politics are often a mixture of paranoia and abstraction and unawareness. There’s no visceral element except, perhaps, anger.

Ever have one of those friends or family members that seems spun off into their own world? You get the idea. They’re not only lost, they’re often not Getting Stuff Done (or as a much Stuff). They’re abstracted, disconnected – and easily manipulated.

One of my recent experiences – among many – has been having a friend in Puerto Rico. Trying to figure how to help them. Trying to keep in touch. You want hard reality, it’s right there.

So it’s up to all of us to Get Shit Done and keep society going. On top of all our other involvements.

  • Steve

 

Civic Diary 9/14/2017

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Yes, it’s time for my latest Civic Diary.  So where am I in my efforts to be a better citizen?

More or less holding the course still, but with a few changes:

First  of all if you have trouble bugging/talking to/seeing your representatives, do not forget email.  It’s not as good as the phone call, but it’s something you can timeshift and probably do cut-and-paste.  Also some local reps (like city and county) are much harder to call, so the email may be easier.

Secondly, I’m starting to track my efforts in a google doc.  This way I can check off what I do on my phone – much easier to keep track of, update, and more!  I take my various mailing lists and dump them in there.

Third, definitely keep track of news.  This tells you what others are doing, what you forgot, and maybe in a few cases when you don’t need to call/bug a representative if they do something you’re planning to annoy them on.  The latter helps so you can change a prod to a compliment.

And now some psychology and social callings.

Right now we’re more and more aware all the time of how people seek to divide us – not as if we weren’t aware there was assorted news playing on racial resentment and political divisions.  Remember you’ll always want to be aware of just what’s going on in efforts to divide the country and work to bridge gaps when possible.  You can’t always make peace with people who want to hate you, but you can build your community stronger to survive and prosper.

Secondly, though everything is political to an extent, some parts of our lives and communities are less political than others.  These “not-as-political” things like book clubs, conventions, and so on are important.  Work to cultivate these communities and your friendships to keep them strong and provide stability.  I also find it helps prevent divisions like above.

 

– Steve