Hype and Hysteria

With elections comes a lot of annoying hype. Especially when it concerns social media, friendships are strained because of the constant barrage of political opinions. The best approach to hype is to rise above it. So lets take a higher approach and look at what it is all about.

First and foremost, there is the subject of click bait. Now that newspapers and magazines are on their way out, advertisers cannot place adds in between each page. They hope you will click on that sensational article in your news feed. Advertisers and web hosts get paid for the volume of clicks they produce. If you share it, the clicks can be exponential. When a person goes to read most articles it contains the usual drivel that everyone hears constantly. The other side is crazy, a Nazi, had affairs, lied; just take your pick among soap opera dramas. Every political opinion will use extremes to get their points across. A leftist will characterize all successful people as uncaring and lucky. A person on the right will characterize the poor as unappreciative and lazy. This can be expected in every election and yet we click and share hype filled articles and annoy others by sharing. Since liberals represent those who want government expansion, it would follow that private citizens to them are corrupt. A conservative will want minimal government and so it would follow that the government is corrupt to them. If you are a liberal, you know that and so do conservatives. Posting articles will not convince anyone to change their opinion but it does fill the coffers of those who make a living off extreme views. These articles don't educate anyone.

The reality is that everyone has their gaffs and everyone has their good moments. But sound byte peddlers will try to put what will produce the most hysteria and therefore hits. Everyone says things they regret and things that can put them in a bad light. Gone is sticking with issues since they don't produce many clicks. Yet we should be looking at what strengths a candidate has and what they have to offer that will strengthen us together as a nation. No one goes into public office originally to hurt the people they represent. It is up to us to chose those who are more apt to show good leadership. No one really likes a good boss at work. A good boss will challenge us to do better and will make sure the business does well so our jobs will stay. These decisions aren't always popular. The best person is the one who will make hard decisions that will benefit everyone.

The Bubble

When I was driving the other day, a person cut me off and honked their horn as though I was the perpetrator. My wife started ranting about the driver so I told her that I was putting a bubble around that person for her and all their stress will need to stay there. It wasn't that I despised the person or thought less of them. I used to be that person with deadlines, late for picking up the kids or just feeling behind and wanting to be in control of traffic. But things happened in life that made my peace of mind too valuable for such things.

My life since I was a kid was ran by crisis. It was a continuous cycle of moving from one to another. There were family, work, political, and religious crisis that constantly demanded my attention. Everyone just ranted while nothing ever changed. I realized that if there wasn't a crisis, someone was going to make one up. I had become addicted to resolving them. This pursuit had taken time away from good relationships. The same went for most of the people I knew in the aforementioned areas.

Through experience I have learned that certain people are prone to drama, every job force has certain tendencies, politicians get elected on solving exaggerated crisis and religions make persuasive arguments out of nothing. I find substantive conversations to be a breath of fresh air. Many others I have met seem to feel the same way.

The way to deal with crisis is to look at life's obstacles objectively with confidence and determination while enjoying every breath of air. Time is far too valuable and scarce to be ground up in crisis cycles. This isn't an excuse for a lack of ambition or passion. I have plenty of that. But constructive behavior is all I am interested in any more. If there is virtue, praise or enjoyment, I am all in. Yet crisis mongers persist in every area. Staying above it is easier said than done, but the struggle to stay out of crisis isn't going to turn into a crisis either. My immediate environment is one thing that is always under my control when nothing else seems that way.

A Heart to Rebuild

I was looking at historical pictures from last year and came across pictures of middle east towns that had been demolished by militants. Having been a builder, it is disgusting for all the positive effort of these individuals over the years to be demolished by thugs with ulterior motives. I want to take these refugees by the hand and help them not only overthrow the thugs, but rebuild somehow. It is disgusting when the citizens of any country become so oppressed that they have to escape out of necessity to survive. Granted, there are always people who travel to other countries to take advantage of the opportunities available. Expertise in different areas should be exchanged between countries. We can't equate people escaping oppression with those who are offering their expertise in exchange for wages.

Ideology can either help or be a detriment to helping individuals have a good life. People get stuck on religious or political labels. There are two ways to acquire things in life, work or plunder. People will use deceptive words and work under the auspice of compassion to disguise their actions when they chose to plunder. Work consists of exchanges agreed upon by individuals as having certain value for both sides where both walk away satisfied that the exchange was close enough to equal. The definition of equal is the only area of conflict in these transactions. Someone who plunders wants to skip all the formalities of making agreements and just take what they want without working for it. Some do this through manipulation and others through force. Either way, the transaction is unjust since one party loses their ability to choose through deception or force of arms.

My heart goes out to all those who have to leave their homelands to escape oppression. It seems odd to me that those who have anger about the take over of North America by Europeans wouldn't have a desire to fight for those who are forced from their homes in other countries. There are two things we can observe about the successful rebuilding of the aggressive countries involved in World War II. The foreign enemy was forced to surrender and humiliated to the point where few wanted to support their ideology any more. Second is that armies went into the countries that were devastated, kept order and rebuilt them. They knew well that pulling out before either was completed would have caused a repeat down the road. They cycle of dependency and oppressive regimes needed to be broken. It can take a couple of generations before this can be done completely.

Calling attempts at helping others rebuild, Colonialism, is also a gross misrepresentation of what people are trying to do. One goal is to get people to the point where their transactions can be voluntary among themselves. Let value be set while labor and expertise are given by individuals in a free exchange so everyone can walk away with their families safe and fed.

This seems like a pipe dream in the light of the given situation in the world, but starting out in one middle eastern country was a good idea. I still think the only answer is to occupy to keep order and to help rebuild is the only real answer to refugee situations. We owe this kind of help to the rest of the world. Rather than feeling guilty about wealth to justify confiscating more, maybe we should be using it and our military to give others a good environment to succeed themselves. Once a place is safe, out of work people who have expertise can go over and help. It is this kind of exposure that wins hearts.