politics

The Matter-Eater Lad Principle

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I am fond of the infamously ever-continuing (and lately ever-rebooted) comic tales of the Legion of Superheroes.  Set in the 30th century, it’s about a group of young people who revive the superheroic ideal, band together disparate races and cultures, and have grand adventures.  It’s kind of it’s own genre, but is probably closest to the Japanese Anime trope of “bunch of people with abilities have adventures.”

Now it may sound weird, but this series actually had a moment that I find is a great thought provoker.  It happened when Tenzil Kem, aka Matter-Eater Lad (Yes, the names were a bit lame) was drafted to run for office on his homeworld.  Yes, imagine a political system where anyone could be in office, wether you wanted to be or not.  I suppose it was a bit like the Drazi of Babylon 5.

Now, this rather humorous incident in comics actually made me think; imagine a society where office was that random.  Imagine a society where at any moment any citizen could end up with political power.  As much as there’s humor in those statements, it’s also a thought-provoker.

See, we live in a high-tech democracy here in America.  Yes, we can certainly criticize the system, the media, the candidates, and . . . well everything . . . but people can still have a voice.  That voice may be carried by single vote or by blog or whatever, but it is a voice.  Certainly in the age of Joe The Plumber (OK he’s neither Joe nor a Plumber, stick with me), any of us could end up a political focal point.

We all have some amount of political power, and might end up with quite a bit.  We’re all a bit like Tenzil Kem, only with less of a publication history.

So are we ready?  Are we, like the inhabitants Tenzil’s homeworld of Bismoll (yes, it is a lame joke, but that’s the real name), ready to exercise our political influence?  Are we ready to have our words put into action?

Are we ready for the repercussions?

When someone makes a political statement, says what we should do, etc. I always like them to spell out their plans.  How will their idea work?  What are the repercussions? What are the side effects?  What did you base your ideas on?  Someone who can’t answer that – or who responds with snide comments and accusations – isn’t ready for political power of any kind, from a blog to a position.

We can have influence at any time.  We should be ready.

Of course judging by the sorry state of our politicians, pundits, preachers, and media people supposedly with political power are in no way ready to wield it.  Or express it.  Or in a few cases I doubt they can tie their shoes properly.

So maybe we should be holding everyone to higher standards.  Including ourselves.  In fact, starting with ourselves, since it’s too easy to just accuse others of being wrong.

Do it.  Do it for Matter-Eater Lad.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Politics and The Psych Degree

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I got a degree in psychology back in college, looking for a science career, though I eventually went back to my first choice in computing.  Still, I don’t regret the degree at all (a psych degree is actually good as a minor or a complimentary degree for most anything), as it helps me get some great insights into human behavior.

One insight that comes to mind this holiday season is that Freud would have a field day with U.S. politics.

First, there’s the bizarre sexual issues, issues that indicate a kind of regressed or immature sexuality for so many people.  We’re actually to the point where rape being a bad thing is something people discuss as opposed to going “yeah, it’s bad.”  People are freaked out over contraception, something you think we’d be used to by now.

Secondly, there’s the daddy issues, and the press is really bad with this.  There’s the bizarre fawning over machismo which is often false machismo – and then just as soon as people show any machismo, there’s fear of angry daddy.  There’s an acceptance of adolescent posturing on war, and little thought on actual repercussions – I mean seriously, if there’s a war with Iran there will be impacts we have to cope with, whether a war is, was, or will be necessary.

Third, and related, there’s really little talk of long-term planning.  How do we get from A to B?  What of the repercussions?  What of sustainability?  What do we really want to do as opposed to say we’ll do.  Is this policy or that real long-term planning or a dodge?

Now I could have a Freudian field day with a lot of politics, but I suspect one of the big issues is that we don’t want to take a look at the pathological state of our own politics.  We don’t want to confront the immaturity, the parental issues, the regressed adolescent sexual issues, etc.  We know it’s there, but it seems we’re happier playing the games.

I’m not.  A lot of people aren’t.  Perhaps we need to get the media and politicians to catch on . . .

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Frustration Friday: Can The Recession Keep People From Hating the Unemployed?

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One thing I'm hoping about in the Great Recession is that people will finally get over the idea that The Unemployed Are Bad People.

I know that's probably a naive hope, since people without jobs appear to be the favorite whipping boys/girls of any politician who wants to score quick points in the "personal responsibility" category, or preachers who want to single someone out as worthy of their god's wrath.  But I'm hoping, perhaps beyond hope, that people are going to learn the valuable lesson that people without jobs are not Bad People.

I'd like to hope that this comes about from empathy.  As people see their friends and family suffer unemployment, they will understand that the unemployed are all of us.  As we find ourselves encountering the unemployed, we will realize they're like us, they're trying, and things are hard.  As we see more of this suffering, we will come to understand it.

Of course for the case of some people, that is a terribly naive idea on my part.  So I also figure that some people will learn that the unemployed are not Evil Incarnate by joining their ranks for awhile.  It's hard to claim some legion of people are a faceless bane on existence when you're part of them.  If anything, it'll at least take a few egos down a peg and humble them a bit.

Sadly that may be naive as well.  I suspect those who need to believe that others are Bad People will cling to the idea the unemployed are Bad since they make such easy (and powerless) targets.  Those who wish to paint the unemployed as bad people, even if they are unemployed, will find ways to claim they're different.  Their egos can't handle anything else.

But, hey, I can hope – and write rants like this with the hope of helping people change.

– Steven Savage