Watching TV news these days is a depressing experience. I know that many of you are genuinely worried that we are on the verge of societal collapse. It’s not a trivial concern, nor one that is completely unwarranted. The veneer of civilization is thinner than many suppose.
But I’m not more worried than I need to be. I don’t think we are anywhere close to descending into anarchy just yet. America is a remarkably resilient nation — and history is on my side when it comes to this.
Just in my life I’ve lived through polio, measles, the Red Scare, the Cuban Missile Crisis (while living in South Florida — replete with daily duck and cover drills), mutually assured destruction, the riots and unrest of the 1960s, the Cold War and many other turbulent times — including Vietnam.
You kids think that things are scary for you right now? Try getting a draft notice in the mail.
Yet despite it all, we’re all still around — and actually doing quite well. Perhaps even because of it all. Tough times make strong people. It’s all a matter of perspective.
Generations before mine faced even greater challenges. My parents and grandparents lived through two world wars, a major conflict in Korea and the Great Depression. When most men my grandfather’s age were in their late teens, they were quite likely to find themselves involuntarily sent to Europe to fight in a war. Many of them never returned.
Going back further, our ancestors dealt with the the Gilded Age — when wealth distribution was so upside down that one was generally either doing very well or was decidedly not. Some of the “robber barons” of this era were sufficiently horrified at their own excesses that in the end they bequeathed great fortunes to the public in fear of the fires of hell.
Before that, we fought a civil war that would have irreparably divide most nations. But not us. We are, if nothing else, resilient.
Right now is the golden age of America. We enjoy the most wealth, the best health care, the best standard of living, the best access to information, and pretty much the best of just about everything else humans have ever known. The distribution of resources is better than it’s been since the Stone Age. Life is not perfect, but it’s better than it’s ever been. And it’s way easier to achieve justice through peaceful and lawful means than ever.
The only exceptions to contemporary greatness are politicians, parts of academia and the media. Most of them are terrible. But that’s easily fixed. And you can do it without war, murder or violence.
Let me ask you woke social justice warriors something — exactly what do you think is going to happen when you toss a brick through a window, or torch a car, as a form of protest? Do you actually think that’s going to make anyone see the error of their ways and embrace your cause? Because if you do, you are an idiot.
Right now reminds me a lot of the late 1960s. The riots, protests and political unrest over war and social justice feel very familiar. Since history is not a particularly strong suit for many these days, let me explain to you how that worked out.
There isn’t much evidence that a single brick thrown through a window, a single ROTC building torched, a single riot or political speech had much to do with getting us out of Vietnam. What got us out of Vietnam was the American middle class growing disenchanted with their sons coming back from Vietnam in body bags.
There’s also no evidence that violence advanced the cause of social justice during the same period. There is plenty of evidence, however, that when half of a city gets torched as some roundabout and incalculably stupid way of agitating for social justice, the people left behind when the TV cameras leave suffer for decades.
Fifty years later, I’m watching the same things play out again. The only real difference is that TV news these days is mostly fiction. You can get your fiction from the left or from the right.
It’s nonfiction, played down the middle, that’s hard to get from TV news.
TV news no longer informs, at least impartially; it agitates and pushes narratives. It’s reality TV on a grand scale. And it’s done to monetize your genuine concerns about current events.
But here’s why we are going to get through this. Most Americans are better in the pocket than you might think. For every Ammon Bundy wannabe or antifa knucklehead making a spectacle of themselves on TV, there are 10 more Americans who want to do the right thing.
Most people in this country value what we’ve built in over the past 250 years. Most people in this country understand that maintaining that thin veneer between civilization and chaos requires some work and some patience.
It’s the media that gives oxygen to the crazies, not reality. What you see on TV news is not an accurate look at reality; it’s a distortion of reality specifically chosen to deliver you to advertisers.
My best advice? Turn off the damned TV, and go hang out with folks in your community. They are are better than you think. You might even learn a thing or two you’d never get from TV.
But if I’m wrong, and we do soon descend into anarchy, if Anderson Cooper sees me coming, he’d better run.
Associated Press and Idaho Press Club award-winning columnist Martin Hackworth of Pocatello is a physicist, writer, consultant and retired Idaho State University faculty member who now spends his time raising children, llama farming, riding mountain bikes and motorcycles and playing guitars. His video blog, “Howlin’ at the Moon in ii-V-I,” may be found at facebook.com/HowlinattheMoonin251 and on YouTube at bit.ly/2SN745k.