It IS possible to be a positive progressive visionary while at the same time taking on, confronting and fighting right wing cretins, crooks and criminals-- in other words-- kicking rightwing ass.
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I've been an advocate for positive psychology for over 20 years. But I find myself taking a very negative tack when it comes to politics.
I struggle with this contradiction. My spirit wants to be positive, but my gut goes negative.
In the world of psychology, I've worked through this inner conflict. At one point, I argued that it was possible for any "problem" to be dealt with from a positive perspective. You could develop a strategy to move towards a positive mental, emotional, spiritual state, develop positive skills, techniques, etc.
But gradually, I was convinced that, while positive psychology is a great idea, a powerful approach that could make a huge difference in individuals' lives, that could take them to better places and mental emotional states than they'd ever experienced, you still have to deal with the negative. You still have to confront childhood trauma, abuses and suffering. You still have to face fears, anxieties, bad habits and unhealthy mental or behavioral patterns.
In illness, exercise and good nutrition can get you so far, but if you are infected with a pathogen, you have to kill it. You have to identify the pathogen and then treat it with an antibiotic, antiviral-- something that will kill it and stop the infection. Then, the good stuff-- exercise, healthy living, good nutrition can all do their work to make you healthier, more vibrant.
I want to see the United States and the whole earth and all of humanity at peace, healthy, with fairness and justice, absence of suffering, absence of hunger, poverty for all.
I want to see children from all backgrounds given good educations, educations that support diversity, tolerance and understanding and respect for other cultures and beliefs.
I want to see a USA and a world that supports making the environment healthier and safer, that does all it can to treat the earth and all its creatures with respect, that values life, not just unborn fetuses, but all living creatures.
I want to see a USA and a world where living beings are treated better than corporations, where corporations are put in their place as servants and creations of mankind, not as feudal purveyors of favors to humans. I want to be sure that the USA does not participate in any treaties that favor corporations over humans, or that take away human rights or invalidate laws passed by democratic processes-- like the WTO, NAFTA, CAFTA, IMF, WB and others do.
Now Republicans look at my list and use their well worn and effective talking point, saying that I'm complaining, and not suggesting anything new, not coming up with plans. But they say that about any progressive or Democratic idea that is not consistent with their vision of smaller government and pro-corporate environment. They ignore actual proposals, focus on criticism of their destructive, anti-human, soul-less policies and label us negative.
I've realized that we progressives are the new conservatives. We seek to maintain and restore the values of the founders, of the constitution and even of the bible, where the people were reqarded with the land of milk and honey, not oil and de-regulation. We progressives are defenders of the old ways. We also have visions of positive futures, with clean renewable energy, greater freedoms and equality for all, better use of our shared commons-- education, ecology, public areas, natural resources, human resources.
The right wing labels many of these "visions" "big government and they attack or ignore them.
That's where my dark side starts to wake up. Maybe I should reframe it to be my political counterpart to an antibiotic-- an anti-right-wing-extremist-nutcase-corporatist medicine. Maybe I should see it as the strong, aggressive approach one must take if a patient is infected. You kill the pathogen. In this case we're talking about a toxic right wing philosophy that is anti-human, anti-democratic, criminial, thuggish and totally toxic to the American way that millions of brave heroic soldiers fought to uphold.
Yesterday, I watched Al Gore's movie, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, and tears welled up, repeatedly. I kept thinking what a brilliant, heartful, moral man Gore is, that he could have been positively leading the US into the future, and that instead we've had the despicable, pinheaded, shallow, immoral, criminal we've had thanks to the supreme court's coronation of king george. I cried and I grit my teeth in anger, thinking about the stupid white southern men, the dishonest politicians and the members of religious groups-- people who have become traitors to the USA, traitors to the constitution, traitors to the America we've loved.
And it's not that I'm totally anti-corporation. I am, after all, an entrepreneur. I've made my living as a small businessman for the last 25 years. I've written about progressive approaches to business. There are good ways to include businesses big and small in a positive progressive vision. Corporations COULD be a part of the solution, part of the evolutionary progress. But the only way that will happen is if laws-- national and international laws are passed that require corporations to function in ways that benefit humanity. In 1940, master science fiction and science writer Isaac Asimov created his three laws of robotics:
Isaac Asimov's 3 Laws of Rootics (1940) First Law: A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Second Law: A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
Third Law: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
These laws should apply to any human creation, and the rules should be applied to any humans who operate any human invention. And the corporation is perhaps the most dangerous threat to humanity and the planet earth than any human invention ever created. But that's another essay, which will soon follow this one.
Bottom line, I will continue to hold positive visions of America's future-- but they will be visions that right wing extremists, and Republican spinmeisters in particular will attack as negative.
Bottom line, it is consistent with a positive view of the world and an intention to be positive to fight, to want to kill off toxic pathogens that attack democracy, that attack our freedoms that threaten our constitution, the environment, humanity and the planet, Gaia, herself.
I've been struggling with this dilemma for some time. I've looked at my op-eds and many of them really are nasty, negative attacks on right wingers. I could fairly easily put together a collection, into a book, and I worried I might come off like an Anne Coulter type. That conflicts with my image of my self as a person who has spent over two decades pioneering and championing positive psychology. This op-ed has been a useful exercise in working this through. Now I'm ready to take my gloves off-- to fight the disease, and to paint the big picture of a positive future. I, we can do both.
Rob Kall is an award winning journalist, inventor, software architect,
connector and visionary. His work and his writing have been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC, the HuffingtonPost, Success, Discover and other media.
He's given talks and workshops to Fortune
500 execs and national medical and psychological organizations, and pioneered
first-of-their-kind conferences in Positive Psychology, Brain Science and
Story. He hosts some of the world's smartest, most interesting and powerful
people on his Bottom Up Radio Show,
and founded and publishes one of the top Google- ranked progressive news and
opinion sites, OpEdNews.com
more detailed bio:
Rob Kall has spent his adult life as an awakener and empowerer-- first in the field of biofeedback, inventing products, developing software and a music recording label, MuPsych, within the company he founded in 1978-- Futurehealth, and founding, organizing and running 3 conferences: Winter Brain, on Neurofeedback and consciousness, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology (a pioneer in the field of Positive Psychology, first presenting workshops on it in 1985) and Storycon Summit Meeting on the Art Science and Application of Story-- each the first of their kind. Then, when he found the process of raising people's consciousness and empowering them to take more control of their lives one person at a time was too slow, he founded Opednews.com-- which has been the top search result on Google for the terms liberal news and progressive opinion for several years. Rob began his Bottom-up Radio show, broadcast on WNJC 1360 AM to Metro Philly, also available on iTunes, covering the transition of our culture, business and world from predominantly Top-down (hierarchical, centralized, authoritarian, patriarchal, big) to bottom-up (egalitarian, local, interdependent, grassroots, archetypal feminine and small.) Recent long-term projects include a book, Bottom-up-- The Connection Revolution, debillionairizing the planet and the Psychopathy Defense and Optimization Project.
To watch Rob having a lively conversation with John Conyers, then Chair of the House Judiciary committee, click here. Watch Rob speaking on Bottom up economics at the Occupy G8 Economic Summit, here.