American Pathology

As a culture, we spend nearly all our time, energy and money in the search for comfort, convenience and entertainment. This is not the sixties, baby. We don't want to be bothered by protests, letter-writing campaigns, and political involvement. No sit-ins for us. We have couches as big as trucks, TV's as big as small cars and remotes in hand. If we don't like it, we click it off.

It's a derivative of a mental state I've called "Flushing's Syndrome." If we don't see it, it doesn't exist. If we flush it down a toilet, throw it out our window as we drive by an open field, dump the toxins down a river, blow it out a smokestack, it's gone. As long as we don't have to see it, smell it, or clean it up, we don't have to worry about it anymore.

Our political leanings and whether we think it's absolutely critical to add more troops and act more aggressively in Afghanistan or not, is not the issue at all here. I believe both sides of the political fence are culpable in this situation. None but a fervent few care to deal with the issues that will be shaping our futures both individually and collectively.

It's emotionally much easier to leave it to a few politicians and give our attention over to Tim Tebow, Bruce Springstein, Diane Sawyer (who are among the current top ten yahoo searches). It's so much less stressful to think about little ol'Tiger and his drunken hookups than it is to contemplate the consequences of a military build-up and a nuclear fallout.

We are a tired and weary country, sometimes. We just want to rest and watch TV.

But his is also a country of great contradiction. We are simultaneously courageous and cowardly. We are more heroic and helpful as a nation than anyone, anywhere else in the world, but we are also far more entitled and slothful. We think we're religious, but we can't keep a sabbath or stop shopping, eating or working.

So, I told him it was simple to understand if you understand individual pathology. It's the same thing, only the scale is changed. We are an addicted country. We're hooked to feeling good, getting what we want when we want it, and avoiding consequences.

Who wants to hear about war when you can talk about sex? Who wants the hard realities when you've got a soft couch and a meaningless scandal?

We can't lay all this in the media's lap. If we didn't scoop up thehog swillthey dished out, they'd search for something we would. Peddlers can only sell what junkies are willing to buy.