Have we lost our ability to express outrage in a constructive and timely manner? Do we even know what we should be collectively outraged about anymore? That didn't seem to be a problem 30 or 40 years ago when U.S. citizens took to the streets over wars, environmental issues and civil rights. Our music, literature, movies and news reports reflected what was going wrong in society so that we could apply the pressure to fix it. But now, even when we do organize, our causes seem less substantive and often focus narrowly on self-serving interests or political ideologies. It's not that America lacks big, moral issues worth fighting for or against, it just seems everyone is preoccupied by other pursuits. Distractions abound in modern society.
We have a great opportunity to righteously scream bloody murder over the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The screw-ups and lies coming from the oil company and slow-reacting government officials should be enough to draw similar public outrage to the post-Katrina cries and protests. Yet, I don't see tears, raised fists or politicians demanding anything of themselves or BP. I want to see some anger and good old-fashioned finger pointing. I want to hear our president raise his voice. There are some things in life that people have a right, even a responsibility to scream about, particularly when it is relatively clear who and what is to blame. This man-made crime against nature is one of those things I don't need wait on a Congressional panel to tell me what went wrong.
I fear many people are only casual observers of what is going on in the gulf. The news in general, for whatever reason, just doesn't interest people like it did in the 1960s when folks gathered around the television to watch Walter Cronkite or picked up a copy of The New York Times to read about what they needed to know versus what they wanted to know. We now live in a Twitter world, where substance is sacrificed for immediacy. Our attention span is down to 140 characters.
Where is the organized outrage about over-development, unemployment, dangerous coal mines, polluted bays and corporate greed? Injustice should be easy to spot, particularly when people die, go broke or have no quality of life because of the actions or inaction of elected officials or corrupt business leaders. What's going to happen to the fishing industry in the gulf states, and shouldn't that concern us all? Why aren't more people bothered by Goldman Sachs or age discrimination? Do you have to get cancer before you begin to question why a cure hasn't been found yet?
We have a rather huge problem -- a leaking oil well that will rip through our economy in ways we don't even realize yet. Entire habitats are being destroyed as I write this post and I read one report where the Atlantic Ocean, not just the gulf, might be in jeopardy. And when all is said and done, I doubt anything will change to prevent this from happening again because the public outrage won't be loud enough or sustained. It seems the only time we become outraged is when problems are on our doorstep. By then, it's too late. Make no mistake about it, the problem in the gulf will impact us all, just as the 9/11 attacks rippled well beyond the World Trade Center and Pentagon sites.
The people causing these environmental disasters and economic assaults need to go to jail, whether they are from Wall Street or in the corner offices of big oil. Plain and simple, they need to be accountable. Whether it's a CEO of a car company that allows for unsafe vehicles to reach market or an oil executive that lies to the public, there has to be consequences for acting badly in big business. Not just monetary penalties, but time behind bars. These people can afford the fines, but few would want to risk 10 years in prison for acting irresponsibly.
There is a lot to be outraged about in our world, from corporate corruption to raping of the rain forest. And I understand one can't go through life fighting city hall 24/7. But we have migrated to such a point of apathy and distraction that virtually nothing gets fixed anymore because our collective voices aren't being heard on matters of energy, education, crime, the economy and the environment. We just keep repeating the same mistakes over and over either through neglect or misguided solutions. Heck, most people won't even bother writing a letter to their Congressman when they are upset. Perhaps some voices aren't heard because they aren't speaking loudly enough.
My thoughts go out to all the people in the gulf states who are breathing oil fumes and worrying that their livelihoods are gone. The images of birds and marine life covered in oil are heartbreaking. And unlike the destruction from earthquakes and tornadoes, this has been a tragedy created by and made worse by human beings. It was containable, if not outright preventable. But human beings in leadership positions failed.
Through it all, there will be some very good folks cleaning off sea turtles, washing down birds and volunteering to assist with the cleanup. There is always a segment of mankind that tries to undo the misdeeds of others. Unfortunately, this time the challenge is enormous and an entire industries such as fishing and tourism might be lost for decades.
Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, I was driving through a small town in Maryland. I was at a four-way stop in my brand new Ford Explorer. To my left was a police officer in his cruiser. The light turned green and I drove on. Within a half a mile, I was pulled over by the cop. He asked to see my license and registration, which I presented to him without question, and he let me go shortly afterward. I don't know why I was pulled over that day. Was it my new, black SUV with the tinted windows that somehow raised his suspicion? Was it that I looked like someone who might have stolen the vehicle? This wasn't a checkpoint where everyone was being stopped, nor did I commit any traffic violation. So was this some kind of errant ethnic profiling in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks? I can tell you that as an American citizen, it was a very unsettling feeling for me.
In essence, this is what is wrong with the new Arizona law that tries to curb illegal immigration based on how people look rather than how they actually behave. This was the same problem that Prince William County, Va., faced in 2007 with its push for tougher laws that eventually had to be curtailed. If you get a chance to see the film 9500 Liberty, you will see what these types of laws do to communities. In Prince William County and Manassas, Va., even the police chief was against the tougher laws for reasons he outlined to a county commission that didn't seem to listen. The chief made a strong case about how the law would make policing tougher and actually result in more crime.
Eventually, the county's economy began to collapse because so many people left the area. Hispanic kids, even the ones here legally, weren't going to school out of fear of being targeted by authorities. Community policing efforts became fractured because of a lack of trust. This is what Arizona will face on a state-wide basis.
I have included the 9500 Liberty trailer here, but it doesn't totally capture the complexities of what went wrong in Northern Virginia when misguided politicians tried to push the law to its limits. The documentary is currently being shown in various movie houses in Arizona. Perhaps it will provide some insights on why laws like this often make matters worse and why the authors of these bills sometimes have less than honest or honorable intentions.
There are functional and fair laws already on the books to address certain problems created by illegal aliens, or anyone else, who violate the law. Federal enforcement and immigration policies do need to be beefed up to curtail the flow of illegal immigrants from all countries, not just ones from south of the border. But Arizona, like Prince William County, should not take matters into its own hands by creating laws that go against common decency. Arizona has embarrassed itself enough in the past by doing things like not recognizing Martin Luther King Day. And it paid an economic and moral price for it.
Despite the highest profits in six years and a plan to increase automobile production, Ford officials are not committed to hiring workers anytime soon. That is representative of what is keeping the economy from a true and sustainable recovery.
Many companies are making money again. The federal stimulus funds are beginning to work and certain business practices are improving. Some companies, such as Ford, are reporting huge profits. Even the newspaper industry, where I worked for nearly three decades, seems to be on the mend.
Yet, there is one thing missing from all this good news. Jobs.
Whether it's due to a lack of confidence in the fragile recovery or just pure greed, corporate America does not seem inclined to hire at a rate sufficient enough to put a serious dent in unemployment figures. That's a major problem for the country as a whole as we try to reduce the deficit and restore the hope and spirit of the middle class.
If companies don't begin to show some faith in themselves and the economy by creating more jobs, whatever gains that have been made in recent months will be quickly lost in a second and deeper recession -- maybe as early as this fall, according to some economists. Whatever sense of optimism that has been generated in real estate sales and through other economic indicators has to be supported by the generation of a significant number of new jobs. Simply halting layoffs isn't going to get it done. We have a lot of catching up to do in order to bring laid-off folks back into the system.
So far, it appears the majority of new jobs have been low-level positions. That is feeding into the underemployment rate, which is around 18 percent. Until jobs are available that pay decent wages, foreclosures will continue. Consumers will cut back again. The negative rippling effect will resume once the stimulus funds are exhausted.
The formation of good jobs remains the key to everything. While $50,000 jobs being replaced by $20,000 jobs might be good for short-term corporate profits, it does little to strengthen our economy for the long haul.
I think it's fair to assume that saving the state of Alabama a few bucks isn't the only motivation behind the position stated in this Republican advertisement. Look what happened in Arizona last week with the new state immigration law. There seems to be a growing "us-against-them" movement, which is a very dangerous thing for politicians to perpetuate, regardless of whether this specific English-only idea makes sense or not. I like for my political leaders to find ways to bring us together rather than tear us apart. But maybe that's just me. It will be interesting to see how Alabamians react to the ad and to the Tim James candidacy.
We went to a Washington Nationals game on Saturday. It was my second visit to the Nationals Park since the stadium opened two years ago. The stands were fairly empty. Granted, the weather forecast was dismal, which probably kept a lot of folks away. But still, the team isn't doing too badly these days and I expected more people cheering on the local baseball squad.
I also expected to see more revitalization of the area around the stadium. That, however, was not the case. Southeast D.C. is a bad section of town. It's where several people were recently shot in a drive-by incident. There isn't much to do yet around Nationals Park. But the potential seems to be there, with views of the monuments, river and other landmarks.
I suppose the recession has slowed down the revitalization efforts that the stadium was allegedly going to spark. That's too bad because the stadium itself is nice and the team is certainly playing better than the one up the road in Baltimore. Almost every seat in Nats Park is a good one, and some are pretty darn inexpensive compared to other professional stadiums and arenas.
Nationals Park is a nicer sports facility than FedEx Field, where the Washington Redskins play. It's an urban ballpark, with fairly good access by car or train, whereas FedEx is out in Maryland and is a nightmare to get to. It's also far too big, making it difficult to watch the game, especially from the noise-bleed seats.
We cheered on the Nats, who lost in extra innings to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and enjoyed walking around the stadium. The Red Loft in the outfield is a great hangout area if you aren't the type who is inclined to stay seated for nine or more innings. A nice place to stretch your legs, mingle and enjoy some food and drink while keeping tabs on the game.
I hope the team continues to improve. I think the area around the stadium will eventually get better and game-day experiences will be enhanced. But if those things don't happen, and fans continue to stay away, Washington could lose another major league baseball team within a couple of decades. It is crucial that city and team leaders continue to work to upgrade the roster and the streets around the park.
Have we lost our ability to express outrage in a constructive and timely manner? Do we even know what we should be collectively outraged about anymore? That didn't seem to be a problem 30 or 40 years ago when U.S. citizens took to the streets over wars, environmental issues and civil rights. Our music, literature, movies and news reports reflected what was going wrong in society so that we could apply the pressure to fix it. But now, even when we do organize, our causes seem less substantive and often focus narrowly on self-serving interests or political ideologies. It's not that America lacks big, moral issues worth fighting for or against, it just seems everyone is preoccupied by other pursuits. Distractions abound in modern society.
