Since When...?

I got to thinking the other day, about how things have changed since I was a kid. There's a lot of stuff we didn't have, like all the electronic conveniences that were fantasy to an eight-year-old me, there are corporate farms churning out genetically modified almost-food, and even a Europe that gave up all the beautiful country-specific money for a bland central currency. There's also an Internet full of porn and foreigners waiting to rip me off, thank you Al Gore. Amazing stuff. But somehow, some way, other things changed too. Things that bother me.

Since when did 'conservative' become a synonym for 'asshole?' Maybe I missed something, I was kind of young, but in earlier days conservative used to mean a more measured approach to government versus, say, a progressive. They may have wanted a smaller role for government but they did agree that we're all in the same boat together, their difference was just one of degree. Now 'conservative' means someone who's essentially a whack-job Libertarian as far as government's role in business, but - in a stunning contradiction - all for every kind of governmental intrusion in your private life. It must be mentally taxing to try to hold such contradictory views and still fight off Eisenhower's ghost every night.

Since when did 'liberal' become a synonym for 'milquetoast pushover?' Liberals gave us the Progressive movement and safe food and drug laws and women's suffrage and the Civil Rights Acts. That's decades of seriously bad-ass rabble-rousing for worthy causes. David going up against a never-ending series of Goliaths and winning every time. Now 'liberal' is synonymous with 'skinny-jean, fedora-wearing urban douchebag,' someone who just can't be bothered to stand up for what they believe in if it's going to make them spill their $5 cup of coffee. Where are the tough working men, where are the ladies with fire in their eyes and axes in their hands?

Since when did getting elected become the full-time job of our representatives instead of actually representing us? I remember when elections didn't start until May or June of the year the election was actually held. Now, as soon as someone takes office they start campaigning again.

Since when did the media stop reporting the news and start creating it? Time was you'd turn on the TV to find out what happened. Now you turn on the TV to find out what the media is telling us happened, and how to interpret it. Reporters are as much the story as the people they're reporting on, and they handicap elections like Vegas odds-makers.

Since when did it become okay to lie with a straight face? It used to be that when someone - businessman, public official, man of the cloth - was caught in a lie it was a scandal, something parents used as a cautionary tale to educate their children. 'Don't be a liar like Nixon.' Now lying has become so common, such a spin-doctor publicity tactic, that it's almost expected people lie their guts out before admitting the truth everyone knows. It's a terrible waltz, one-two-three 'I don't know what you're talking about,' one-two-three 'it wasn't me,' one-two-three 'okay it was me but I'm not responsible.' How can you trust anything when everyone you see in positions of authority is lying?

Since when did ignorant people become proud of their ignorance? And since when did educated people decide it was okay to coddle the stupid ones? Especially in this day and age, when it's a matter of a few button presses on a cell phone to find out the answer to almost any question, why do the idiots get a pass? It's time to call them on their bullshit and make them think twice before they fling their poison.

I don't know... something's gotta change. People need to stand up again, fight the power like Public Enemy advised us to do, and make a difference.