Journalism traditionally has served to act as the immune system of our country. Its job has been to attack untruths with the white blood cells of truth. To much alarm, this has been eroded away in our country at an exponential rate over the last few decades.
This is a result of something I call, "love of theory". Plainly put, love of theory is the root of all evil. Notice I didn't say that theory, alone and by itself, was evil. Actually, quite the opposite is true.
The spectrum from which you can judge all events is now staked out: an overwhelmingly good thing at one end of the spectrum, and an incredibly evil thing, at the other. One judges results; the other defines itself only by its intent.
Theory: brainstorms, undertakes action that tests a hypothesis, asks tough questions, learns, reassesses the situation, applies what was learned and advances humanity.
Love of theory: brainstorms, undertakes action that tests a hypothesis, fails to question results, becomes insecure, purposefully fails to report results that contradict the original theory, and attempts to assassinate the character of anyone who questions any inconsistencies.
As an example, in the case of despotic governments - the communist bastions of Russia, China, and Cuba - they have all stayed committed to their theory beyond all reproach and beyond all results. Their record of staying committed is impeccable: love of theory has led them to execute about 100 million people over the course of the last century.
The people who openly question the tenets of our capitalistic society fail to acknowledge that capitalism, by its very nature, questions itself daily - perhaps by the minute. The evidence of our success is clear - compare the lifestyle of a person considered below the poverty line in America to a poor person somewhere else on the globe. Compare poverty in Soviet bloc countries throughout the cold war to poverty in America during the same period.
So why do our elites, to this day, still throw their admiration behind men such as Che Guevara, romanticize men like George Bernard Shaw, and talk about the magnificent "democratic" revolution in Venezuela? Because love of theory is so pervasive that it fails to question the results of the tested hypothesis called communism: back-of-the-head executions, the designing of genocidal schemes based on class, and dictators who are "elected for life."
We have wasted tens of thousands of lives and trillions in treasure on a largely ineffective strategy in the War of Terror. We have simply treated symtoms - epic-level attacks on our own soil have been mitigated, but we have not addressed the disease itself with which we are at war. We are only treating symptoms of the secondary conditions that are resultant of a major underlying problem.
While our men and women have produced many decisive outcomes on the battlefield, we are losing the war of ideas. We don't have leadership - if America is to prevail, we cannot to so by pushing a rope. We have been led to believe it is morally superior to condemn one's own values and give ground to people who intimidate with threats of overt, massive violence - if even for the smallest of transgressions.
To the extent that we have taken on our enemies in open battle, few are willing to admit that our strategy has failed. We have never truly capitalized on our successes. Reaction to real-time intelligence is sloth-like because we have 11 years worth of bureaucrats that cause us to miss narrow, but vital, windows to take immediate action on the battlefield. We've opted instead to declare victory prematurely because that's what our script said we would do - when we did this we jumped from executing theory to latching onto love of theory.
Important issues have not honestly been addressed for years and are obfuscated through mouthpiece spokespeople. More recently, our leadership seems to think that we might be able to win without getting dirty with the people spreading the dirt, that our pathway to victory can be enhanced by simply omitting any mention of our enemy by name, or that we are really only fighting a small number of people. We have failed to consider the number of people globally that do not physically take up arms against us, but that are damn sure to celebrate when watching footage of a successful attack against us. They finance, they inform, and they aid and abet those who take up arms.
Our soldiers and honest leaders know better, but they are at the mercy of a dysfunctional system. Unqualified bureaucrats stay committed to their love of theory and are the ones who've been in control for the better part of a decade - they have micromanaged military efforts in all aspects beyond the first few months of both Afghanistan and Iraq. Eleven years is more than enough to judge the results of their efforts. Obviously their intended outcome has failed.
We must always remember that we are best served when we judge people not on their intentions but rather only on their results. What have we gained - what is our status? What of our enemy? Enter Lara Logan.
This woman is bold, courageous, and is one of the only pillars of journalistic integrity remaining in the body of this country. From events in Libya to the overall status of Al Queda, Americans are not being treated as adults. Instead we are treated like a timid patient who is told by our doctor that everything is fine, when clearly everything is not fine.
"Our way of life is under attack....if you think that's nonsense, if you think that's war-mongering - you're not listening to what the people who are fighting you say about this fight. In your arrogance, you think you write the script. But you don't. This is two sides. And we don't dictate the terms."
~ Lara Logan, October 9, 2012, Chicago
No comments:
Post a Comment