Entry tags:
Deeply Disturbed
Dearest readers, as you can tell by the title of this post…I am deeply disturbed. So disturbed, in fact, that I am writing of this incident mere hours after it occurred. Observe the following scene, where my mom and I are riding in the car, doing errands around town:
Mom: *Turns on Rush Limbaugh*
Me: *Puts in earphones and blasts A R Rahman’s “Jai Ho” because Rush Limbaugh Gives Me Hives*
Rush Limbaugh: “…pass through the two houses in Congress…”
Me: *hears a little bit of Rush’s words and pulls out one earphone to talk* Hey…Mom? Did he just say ‘two houses’? *snickers*
Mom: *casually keeps her eyes on the road and nods head* Oh, yeah. We have three houses of government. *holds up three fingers* The Legislative, the Senate, and the Congress.
Me: *blinks rapidly for several moments, then slips earphone back in* Okay…sure.
Mom: What? What’s wrong?
Me: Nothing! Yeah, we have…three houses of government.
Mom: *sighs* You’re just being sarcastic…
Now let it be said: we’ve had this conversation before, my mom and I. Several times, in fact. Once she was complaining about Harry Reid “not passing anything through the Senate when the Congress passes a bill”. And, admittedly, I became frustrated as I tried to explain to her that, to begin with, nothing passes the whole of Congress without first going through the House of Representatives and the Senate and even then, it must be signed by the President to become a law.
But she kept saying she already knew this, even as she continued to incorrectly use the words ‘Senate’ or ‘House’ and ‘Congress’ interchangeably.
And we’d had this conversation again when she ranted about how Obama thinks the 1% encompasses all the people who are millionaires and how he wants to take their money away from them. Once again, I became intensely frustrated when I tried to explain to her that the 1% are, basically, people whose annual income are in the one-hundred-thousands of dollars. I even tried to explain that ‘spreading the wealth’ doesn’t actually mean taking the 1%’s money, but merely taxing them more since, well…they have more money than the middle class, which we belong to.
My mother did not understand and, in turn became irritated with me. She called me a Democrat and herself an Independent (yes) and that I’m “just younger, so [I] have different opinions”.
My mother does not know that our Congress is bicameral-meaning it is made of two houses. She does not know that the upper house is the Senate and that the lower house is the House of Representatives. She does not know that the basic flow of a bill (before it becomes a law) is to [usually] originate in the House of Representatives, voted on to get into the Senate, voted on by the Senate to get to the President, who then either signs it into law or vetoes it.
My mother does not know that we have three branches of government. She does not know that they are Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. She does not know that there is a system of checks-and-balances to keep each branch in line and without too much power over the other [two] and over the people, for that matter. She does not know that the President is actually not “at the top” of all three branches, but only at the head of the Executive branch, or the branch that enforces the laws and deals with education, for that matter. She does not know that the Judicial branch-the branch that deals with justice-has the right to declare a law from Congress (for example, watch what’s happening with DOMA) as unconstitutional by way of the Supreme Court.
My mother does not know these things.
And this is the bulk of my disturbance:
This...all that I have just laid out above, is our basic government. Our basic blueprint. Our basic structure decided upon years and years ago. These are facts that have been taught to me and many other children as soon as first or second grade and repeated all throughout. This is basic knowledge of how our government works.
And my mother does not know these things.
Can it get more complicated? Absolutely-I took and toiled in Advanced Placement Government & Politics (best class in the world with the best teacher in the world, by the way). Is it always perfect? Hell to the fuck no. But it’s what we have and it’s what governs us.
Now, a concession: my mother is in her fifties and I am in my twenties. It is very, very possible that the grade school education we received are vastly different. Then there is the fact that my mother could have learned of these things as well, but she has had much, much more time than me to forget them. Meanwhile, I am more adept at researching and dissecting resources as either credible or not credible. I am aware of and use the Dewey Decimal System in the library and I understand that a ‘.gov’ or a ‘.org’ or a ‘.edu’ site usually has more/better knowledge available than a simple ‘.com’ site. My mother, on the other hand, didn’t grow up with the computer.
But she’s listening to Rush Limbaugh. She’s watching Fox News. She wants to read Glenn Beck’s books.
These people. These corporations. Who often have absolutely no credentials, education, and/or basic knowledge, etc. in history, politics, government, bureaucracy, and/or economics. Who are just talking mouths for the Great And Almighty Rupert Murdoch (by the way, so sorry about his third divorce). People who are paid to be actors and actresses and to say almost anything to get a rise out of the audience. People who know that they can tell bold-faced, outrageous lies and exaggerations and get away with it by the vast majority cleanly.
These are the people that my mother is listening to and watching. These are the people that she is trusting for information, current events, and yes, opinion. These are the people that she defends when I try and explain to her why they and their words should at the very least be taken with a grain of salt.
These are the people that have helped ensure that my mother-an otherwise intelligent woman-does not know and understand our basic government framework. In addition to that, they have helped ensure that she will not even consider looking elsewhere, such as Politifact because Embarrassing Cognitive Dissonance.
And as I type these words out, my mother still does not know these things and there is little to no hope of me trying to explain correctly to her.
So yes, I am very, very deeply disturbed.
Random links below, dears. Just for your entertainment.
http://www.congressforkids.net/Constitution_threebranches.htm
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2012/sep/21/redistribution-ominous-old-hat/
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/oct/27/playing-dirty-s-word/
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/13/us/rupert-murdoch-divorce/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otbml6WIQPo
And for your ultimate entertainment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxLSZoFK8EM
Mom: *Turns on Rush Limbaugh*
Me: *Puts in earphones and blasts A R Rahman’s “Jai Ho” because Rush Limbaugh Gives Me Hives*
Rush Limbaugh: “…pass through the two houses in Congress…”
Me: *hears a little bit of Rush’s words and pulls out one earphone to talk* Hey…Mom? Did he just say ‘two houses’? *snickers*
Mom: *casually keeps her eyes on the road and nods head* Oh, yeah. We have three houses of government. *holds up three fingers* The Legislative, the Senate, and the Congress.
Me: *blinks rapidly for several moments, then slips earphone back in* Okay…sure.
Mom: What? What’s wrong?
Me: Nothing! Yeah, we have…three houses of government.
Mom: *sighs* You’re just being sarcastic…
Now let it be said: we’ve had this conversation before, my mom and I. Several times, in fact. Once she was complaining about Harry Reid “not passing anything through the Senate when the Congress passes a bill”. And, admittedly, I became frustrated as I tried to explain to her that, to begin with, nothing passes the whole of Congress without first going through the House of Representatives and the Senate and even then, it must be signed by the President to become a law.
But she kept saying she already knew this, even as she continued to incorrectly use the words ‘Senate’ or ‘House’ and ‘Congress’ interchangeably.
And we’d had this conversation again when she ranted about how Obama thinks the 1% encompasses all the people who are millionaires and how he wants to take their money away from them. Once again, I became intensely frustrated when I tried to explain to her that the 1% are, basically, people whose annual income are in the one-hundred-thousands of dollars. I even tried to explain that ‘spreading the wealth’ doesn’t actually mean taking the 1%’s money, but merely taxing them more since, well…they have more money than the middle class, which we belong to.
My mother did not understand and, in turn became irritated with me. She called me a Democrat and herself an Independent (yes) and that I’m “just younger, so [I] have different opinions”.
My mother does not know that our Congress is bicameral-meaning it is made of two houses. She does not know that the upper house is the Senate and that the lower house is the House of Representatives. She does not know that the basic flow of a bill (before it becomes a law) is to [usually] originate in the House of Representatives, voted on to get into the Senate, voted on by the Senate to get to the President, who then either signs it into law or vetoes it.
My mother does not know that we have three branches of government. She does not know that they are Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. She does not know that there is a system of checks-and-balances to keep each branch in line and without too much power over the other [two] and over the people, for that matter. She does not know that the President is actually not “at the top” of all three branches, but only at the head of the Executive branch, or the branch that enforces the laws and deals with education, for that matter. She does not know that the Judicial branch-the branch that deals with justice-has the right to declare a law from Congress (for example, watch what’s happening with DOMA) as unconstitutional by way of the Supreme Court.
My mother does not know these things.
And this is the bulk of my disturbance:
This...all that I have just laid out above, is our basic government. Our basic blueprint. Our basic structure decided upon years and years ago. These are facts that have been taught to me and many other children as soon as first or second grade and repeated all throughout. This is basic knowledge of how our government works.
And my mother does not know these things.
Can it get more complicated? Absolutely-I took and toiled in Advanced Placement Government & Politics (best class in the world with the best teacher in the world, by the way). Is it always perfect? Hell to the fuck no. But it’s what we have and it’s what governs us.
Now, a concession: my mother is in her fifties and I am in my twenties. It is very, very possible that the grade school education we received are vastly different. Then there is the fact that my mother could have learned of these things as well, but she has had much, much more time than me to forget them. Meanwhile, I am more adept at researching and dissecting resources as either credible or not credible. I am aware of and use the Dewey Decimal System in the library and I understand that a ‘.gov’ or a ‘.org’ or a ‘.edu’ site usually has more/better knowledge available than a simple ‘.com’ site. My mother, on the other hand, didn’t grow up with the computer.
But she’s listening to Rush Limbaugh. She’s watching Fox News. She wants to read Glenn Beck’s books.
These people. These corporations. Who often have absolutely no credentials, education, and/or basic knowledge, etc. in history, politics, government, bureaucracy, and/or economics. Who are just talking mouths for the Great And Almighty Rupert Murdoch (by the way, so sorry about his third divorce). People who are paid to be actors and actresses and to say almost anything to get a rise out of the audience. People who know that they can tell bold-faced, outrageous lies and exaggerations and get away with it by the vast majority cleanly.
These are the people that my mother is listening to and watching. These are the people that she is trusting for information, current events, and yes, opinion. These are the people that she defends when I try and explain to her why they and their words should at the very least be taken with a grain of salt.
These are the people that have helped ensure that my mother-an otherwise intelligent woman-does not know and understand our basic government framework. In addition to that, they have helped ensure that she will not even consider looking elsewhere, such as Politifact because Embarrassing Cognitive Dissonance.
And as I type these words out, my mother still does not know these things and there is little to no hope of me trying to explain correctly to her.
So yes, I am very, very deeply disturbed.
Random links below, dears. Just for your entertainment.
http://www.congressforkids.net/Constitution_threebranches.htm
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2012/sep/21/redistribution-ominous-old-hat/
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/oct/27/playing-dirty-s-word/
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/13/us/rupert-murdoch-divorce/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otbml6WIQPo
And for your ultimate entertainment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxLSZoFK8EM