ZEUS RUSHING TO VICTORY CELEBRATION? A COALITION OF RUST, AIRHEAD APATHY, NEA AND OTHERS

Etherzone.com | August 23, 2002 | Joan E. Battey

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ZEUS RUSHING TO VICTORY CELEBRATION? A COALITION OF RUST, AIRHEAD APATHY, NEA AND OTHERS

By: Joan E. Battey

In Greek mythology, reputedly, those whom their god Zeus would destroy, are first made "mad" in the earlier politically incorrect sense of the word. It's true that many today may be getting "mad" in the more modern sense of the word -- angry that things are not going the way they should. Correction: not going the way that previously made the country run in a pretty good sense of "like clockwork"!

But, overall, what we are seeing is both definitions of the word "mad" keeping us working at cross-purposes to one another. Our cross-purposes approach has aided "Zeus" in his coalition building. The Rust we have allowed to accumulate, the Apathy we have nurtured, the Air-headedness we have looked on indulgently, the very real and insidious NEA incursions into ordered societal reality, might all just as well have been an organized band of Americans carrying petitions to ensure Zeus' Line A position on all the ballots in all the voting districts in the country.

Those among us who are "mad" in the more modern sense of the word serve a purpose in clanging the cymbals to try to get a rejuvenating parade started. But, angry-mad activists often turn off needed potential supporters. Angry-mad activism also invigorates the opposition, which soon generates effective media barrages of words like "fanatic," "radical," extremist," "intolerant." Vulgar terminology, even if justified, is like the Shakespearean advice about borrowing. It loses both itself and (many potential) friends.

Barring some attention to the huge band of frustrated Americans who are milling about, beginning to question whether they have been transported to some alien planet while still receiving mail at the numbers-not-names boxes at their homes and offices, we may never get the parade moving by gaining enough new units to determine and hold the main American route to the future.

Let us forget politics for the moment -- even though politics and Zeus seem to be joined at the hip in recent years. Let's spend some time listening to those Zeus has already driven half-way round the bend by redefining reality of daily life, reality of logic, reality of common sense. That is, those who saw the very real and present dangers inherent in numerous acceptances of envelopes pushed to the breaking point in the culture and in personal lives.

Let's listen, at least briefly, to those whom Zeus has already pretty well neutralized in the public arena. Let's say "wait a minute -- we should have paid attention/ Maybe we're barking up the wrong solution tree, pinning the blame on the wrong targets." (Notice, I didn't say pinning the tail on the wrong donkey, because the jury is still out on zoo-symbol analogies!)

Pick a current topic. What is the REAL reality of the background of the issue? Let's begin with the corporate scandals. America is shocked, shocked, SHOCKED! at the lack of ethics among just the first of the corporations already exposed, while dozens more are in the wings, ready to have their turn in the barrel of newly-discovered outrage. How long before some little child (the preferred news tip source for America's mainly clueless media) asks, "But, who taught them to 'choose' such mean and greedy ways of running their business?"

EXACTLY! Who TAUGHT them such unethical ways of running the businesses of America? They had to be carefully taught -- they didn't all wake up one morning and decide to throw ethics overboard and go for the jugular of the lifeblood of the country's economic stability. So many people couldn't possibly just suddenly all independently adopt the idea that greed is good, that lack of ethics is normal, that concern for those whose jobs and finances they control is an out-dated business practice!

A clue here perhaps, "throw ethics overboard"???

Should Americans have listened to the little voices here and there before they were silenced and banned from public attention? The scattered little voices of parents and others, who complained about the long-standing non-academic school classroom activity: The Lifeboat Game? Beginning in the early 1970's, students were given various descriptions of the ages, beliefs, lifestyles, relationships of a fictional group of passengers transferred to a lifeboat lowered from a sinking ship far out in the ocean. Soon it becomes apparent that not enough room, not enough supplies, not enough rowing power exists among the group on board. Who is expendable? More insidious, who is worth saving at whatever cost others must assume in saving the worthy ones? With variations on the scenario, the game is reported as still being "played" in classrooms.

The run-up to the "new" teamwork concept which eventually replaced the work ethic/achievement concept in the workforce was first long-ago called into play in this "game" in the classroom. Which person on the list of the lifeboat passengers should be the first to be tossed overboard? Which personal attributes are least valuable to the rest of the passengers? What subtle psychological indoctrination was being practiced in teaching students that the survival of the fittest, survival of the most productive, survival of those most worthy of sustenance depends on going along with the majority, ethical or not?

How many voices were silenced along the way to today's societal chaos, for trying to point out that young people must be taught the difference between right and wrong or else they go on to claim that "making choices" is the correct way to act maturely. How many of them learned that "no right, no wrong; only choices" lesson and ran with it? Count them in your daily news reports!

Here is just one example. Our area has long looked indulgently on mass gatherings of under-age drinking parties, steadfastly silencing any warnings of what they would lead to. . "After all, WE were young once, and WE broke rules, too. Don't spoil young people's fun with their friends." Younger parents and "professionals" excused the behavior with those exact words. As often happens, one recent party got far out of control, and six among a gathering of about 50 or more, assaulted an 18-year-old at the party -- putting him into a vegetative state, from which he may or may not even partially recover. The rest of the attendees, including the very young daughter of the city mayor, were praised in public for "making the right choice" and "being mature" in "cooperating with the police" investigating the tragedy, and answering questions leading to the eventual arrest of those who allegedly committed the assault. One of these alleged perpetrators is identified as the daughter of a police officer and the step-daughter of an assistant police chief, according to delayed news reports. How has our society been allowed to change? Who is influencing young people in their actions?

"Making right choices" is the right thing to do, not doing the right thing in several options leading to the final choice: like not drinking at ages 14 to 20 in a state where the legal age is 21; like not standing by and permitting a potentially-fatal stomping of another party attendee; etc., etc. How many years have we accepted the increasingly amoral standards that have led to so many of our current news topics and personal tragedies? No city or town, it seems, is exempt from the results of many wrong choices by many of its inhabitants and those who are only "passing through town."

Those who complained -- and there were many -- about the violent, sexual, heretical, sick entertainment that is targeted especially at the youth market, are told that it's up to the parents to teach morality to their children, and that entertainment doesn't cause them to imitate in life what they see and hear in entertainment. So how come the violent, sexual, heretical, sick entertainment is being replicated in real life in heretofore unbelievable numbers? One of the movies with the highest box office opening weekend gross sales had a PG-13 rating. Reviews of it in our area. in the table of brief synopses and dates of local movie choices, gave the cautionary reasons for the PG-13 rating. The list of "caution, may contain..." items was lengthy and disgusting to anyone not yet co-opted by Zeus. His coalition of Rust, Apathy and Air-Headed supporters were knee-deep at the box-office across the country.

How many people upset today about societal chaotic and amoral tragedies remember the other non-academic teachings over several decades, that being the time and attention given to "situational ethics." It sounded so "reasoned," so indicative of an educated person's way of approaching everything in llife! It should have been called what it was: learning to justify wrong behavior by finding an alibi, a person to shift blame to, a grasping at a nice-sounding purpose for a wrong choice.

It's great that many people are concerned about the loss of privacy with the new Homeland Security plans to try to ferret out potential threats to the general population by people intent on committing acts of terrorism. Would it be politically correct, or politically incorrect to remind people of all the losses of personal and family privacy by the long-standing school projects of such things as students documenting the details of whatever recycling is practiced by their parents, whether their parents have alcohol or guns in the home, whether their parents smoke, what is in medicine cabinets in their parents' bathrooms? How much did mainstream America hear about these non-academic activities taking place in schools? Were they concerned? Should they have listened to those who complained when personal journals were to be kept by students, filled with their feelings and concerns, to be kept from parents, but shared with teachers and sometimes even fellow students in "tell and discuss" exercises in class?

The point of all this is that we have nurtured many societal-destroying Trojan horses in our midst for many years. If you'll pardon a comment with religious overtones, we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and we have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we are reaping a whirlwind that is only beginning its gigantic whirl. None of us, in any one commentary, can do more than hint at all the Rust, Apathy, Air-headedness, and overall educational wrong-turns over decades. And, that doesn't even touch on the political involvement in all four.

We're growing concerned over the blatant plans of the NEA to utilize the Sept. 11th anniversary to intensify their long-ignored destruction of loyalty to America, downgrading of history, redefining of culture and literature and adding now the unwise urging to view Islam as a benign entity, equal to the Christianity and Judaism that educators have removed from education. That, in itself, is cause for concern.

Of greater concern should be the vast numbers of young adults who have already been convinced that America is to blame for the ills of the whole world. The NEA gave them their certification of demonstration of having learned the "goals" of today's education. Their voices are already heard across the country.

Will they welcome terrorists? Would they welcome any invaders, should such appear in the future? Would they aid an enemy in turning on their fellow-Americans because they view them as impediments to the "peace" that has been preached at them for decades?

Rust, Apathy, Air-Headedness, Education. Formidable and well-fed Trojan Horses!

More attention needs to be given to what we overlooked, how we got here, what needs to be mended and how, than needs to be given to kicking sand at real or imagined opponents. We can't long survive by continually opting for deciding who gets tossed out of many national lifeboats to lighten the load and make life easier for those escaping the first wave of teamwork agreement on who is most expendable.

[ecomcon]

Bump it.