An Extra Helping of Optimism
After an historically tense Thanksgiving around the family table, a reminder to remain firm in your resolve, no matter where you reside on the political spectrum.
“I’d maybe take Twitter away.”
A cousin of mine firmly, but quietly, offered up this response as the sun went down on another family Thanksgiving at my home. The question to which she was responding, a loaded one, came from one of my uncles. “What would you honestly want to see changed? I still think Trump is better than the alternative.”
He wasn’t asking anyone in particular. It was just one of those rhetorical questions that only someone entrenched in the political machine would ask. It was impossible not to be struck by the exchange. Two members of a neatly sprawling family tree, attending the same Thanksgiving party year after year, for decades, convinced they are correct in their view of the world.
There are plenty of thinkpieces out there if you need more play-by-play analysis of the tectonic shifting of family dinner tables during the holidays. I had no intention of writing about it, its akin to coworkers sharing stories about their respective fantasy football drafts. There may be familiarity in the subject at hand, but no one can truly bring themselves to care.
A selection of news stories from the holiday weekend, coupled with the general tenor of the past few days, however, got my wheels turning.
Both headlines are, in one way or another, linked to a Tweet from Donald Trump. Even the Republican stalwarts among your inner circles have to be perplexed, at best, at what the President’s Twitter profile has become. He unfurled this particular banner on November 24.
In an unending sea of nonsense, threats, and fireable offenses for lesser blowhards, this Tweet is perhaps his strangest yet. Time responded:
So it was with this information that made the impending sale of that very magazine to a Koch Brothers-fueled enterprise all the more unsettling. The fiscal lubricant that greases the wheels of the conservative locomotive is said to be purchasing a media outlet just days after a goofy, and seemingly unprompted, Twitter spat. It may be 2017, but that doesn’t make money any less green.
For his next act, Trump set his sights on an even shinier object: CNN.
The President is doing promotional junkets for a cable news channel, discrediting another, all while laying the responsibility of international diplomacy and decency at the feet of that same network. CNN responded:
Time and CNN offered firm but measured responses in the face of Oval Office bluster. Strange a position as they may now find themselves in, they appear more than happy to be in the business of trading punches. The First Amendment strikes back, and the people defending it are still working on how to create as compelling a defense as their compatriots have for the Second Amendment.
The lurching storm cloud of polarizing news extends far past the President’s furiously texting fingers, as you may have heard. In less than one month’s time, you’ve probably read visceral take downs on everything from the insensitivity of sports talk radio personalities to the hopelessly grim portrayal of Superman on the big screen. An observational humorist once coined the phrase, “outrage economy,” to frame this reactionary position of anger our society has found itself in. It is an excellent term that aptly describes our reality. It was Louis CK who said it.
Damn it.
This percolating disdain for anything and everything underscores and amplifies the current reckoning taking place in Hollywood and Capital Hill. As sexual misconduct allegations come to light, the court of public opinion is more interested in the strength of the apology, or, in many cases, how the infractions stack up against others. We’re all building a sexual harassment power ranking big board, like we’re running a draft night special on ESPN 2.
The pursuit of escapism has become a more focused and challenging task. NFL games bear the weight of debates regarding patriotism and force viewers to determine just how many brain injuries they are comfortable with. Reexamining the quasi-autobiographical nature of Louie on FX veers from radically empathetic to something resembling voyeurism. American Beauty and House of Cards aren’t just plumbing the depths of humanity’s darkest drives, their plots offer commentary on their star actor, and force the audience into revulsion, or complicity.
The bad news has been so rampant, so break-neck fast, that it has almost toppled over into comedy. Roy Moore actually has defenders. A lot of them. Al Franken has forced Democrats to figure out how to maintain credibility on the subject. Net Neutrality is basically out the window. Kellyanne Conway is still employed.
And yet, I can’t stop thinking about my cousin’s hushed defiance. Take Twitter away. The spark of optimism can come from anywhere. It’s such a jaded world, optimism seems, I don’t know, outdated? Naive? Quaint? Corny?
Maybe so. But it is the lone remaining bastion of sanity we have left. I’m choosing to put my faith in the institutions that got us to this point. Forget the people. Or, at least, forget the bad people. Trust the might of a free and independent press to rage against the dying of the light. Believe that karma and justice still have a place in our lexicon, even if they don’t show up until decades later.
Believe in your family and friends to fight with you, argue, contest, support and try to figure out the world with you.
Go out and talk to somebody. Give them a little spark of optimism.
For the love of God, take Twitter away.
