Two friends of mine are extremely right-wing, born-again, evangelical Christians who believe Glenn Beck is knowledgeable and Rush Limbaugh is always correct in his statements. Both are Fox News fans, and neither spends time reading or listening to dissenting opinions. Any point or idea that differs from their two favorite opinion moguls is immediately ignored or labeled as false. They both are absolutely positive that Beck does his homework and Rush is a superior thinker. It is irrelevant that neither completed college and their opinions change with the wind.
The other day I asked one of them to explain the role of doubt. His answer expresses why his future will be controlled by corporatists. The answer also explains why you will be controlled, too, unless you check facts on your own. He answered, “I have no doubt.”
If you accept all that you are told, all that you read, and accept all that you repeat – then you are bound to rot in a coma of non-thought and non-sense. This is a truism for most absolutists – those who absolutely accept that socialism is bad, that President Obama is a left-wing radical, that deficit spending is out of control, and that cap and trade would be the ruin of this nation – the truism is a future recipe for brain rot.
During the discussion, and reflecting on it for a few days, I realized that absolutes can be spun in a direction that harms future thinking. For example, President Obama has instituted center-right policies over the past year-and-a-half. Glenn Beck will not tell you this because the policies are to the left of his beliefs. Rush Limbaugh will also argue that Obama’s policies are left because they are left of his policies.
But this supplants an obvious question, are the policies to the left of Rush and Glenn or to the left of center? My friends believe left of center because their thoughts are so far to the right that they believe the center is also to the right.
Quite obviously, center is the middle ground, and does not move simply because the Republicans have been pushed further right by corporatists, rhetoric of the non-sense, or even the fascist statements from the tea-party. Worse, there are no strong voices on the far left capable of grabbing media attention – balancing the radical right – and keeping the center in the center.
In fact, if you fall for the rhetoric – you’ll believe that the Obama White House policies are left of center. If you stop and realize that each major reform has been nothing but center-right and a money-grab for corporations – then you’ll be upset you voted for President Obama.
It’s the rhetoric of the dishonest that all citizens of the United States must fight against. If you hear or read something that you immediately believe – then without wavering – you should question the soundness of the statement.
And it is for this reason – the reason of doubt – that you must cast your votes with caution. You must go beyond the rhetoric of the simple-minded and read all dissenting opinions. Cast your vote with wisdom and not as a follower of non-thought.