a phenomenological approach to current American Politics:



so many words, too many really.

noise mostly, as the Bard said: Sound and Fury signifying nothing.

lots of lies of course

hard to find the truth in all that chaos of words

worst part the words meant to inflame

for example, a conservative celebrity just published a book
calling all liberals traitors.

as someone following this word war for many many years, it
is sad to see people, more and more frustrated that the world
is not how they want it to be, then escalate the language, making
the gift of the word itself more and more violent

lies then, and inflamed words,
smoke and fire,
obscuring the truth

all made worse by the fact that the media finds profit
in smoke and fire, in lies and inflamed words,
for truth to tell (or hear)
there are plenty of folks who have much to say that spreads
light and warmth, illumination and understanding,

but not too much of this gets past the filter profit puts on
words, so for us who are listening to the world song,
a lesson then, perhaps, to take the gift of the word
to even greater heights, and perhaps even to more public forums.

Yeats may have had it right a long time ago - "...the worst are filled with
passionate intensity, while the best lack all conviction ..."

So life offers us a choice, to be passive in our citizenship - our contribution to our shared public life - or to be active and
creative - to participate - understanding that the real need is not passionate intensity, but finding in our own will (conviction)
how to provide light and warmth

making new our politics, and raising it up from lies and inflamed words, to a new social art through conversation.


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