Hear No Evil?
"The masses have never thirsted after truth. They demand illusions, and cannot do without them. They constantly give what is unreal precedence over what is real; they are almost as strongly influenced by what is untrue as by what is true. They have an evident tendency not to distinguish between the two." - SIGMUND FREUD
This is my rant. I would apologize for it, but I think it's necessary to be stated. I use the above quote from Sigmund Freud because I believe it adequately sets the stage for what I am about to say.
Anyone who has any doubt in the validity of Freud's words needs only to turn on the news and listen to any of the countless stories relating to the media-driven "controversy" that presidential candidate Barack Obama has been facing in recent days. The controversy is over the fact that the former pastor of the church Obama has attended for the past 20 years has made statements that don't tickle the ears of those who wish to fool themselves into believing that our nation has completely conquered the issues of race that breed fear, anger, distrust, bigotry, bias, and yes even hate.
This is not an attempt to justify the hateful words of Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ located on the South Side of Chicago. However, it is an attempt to get anyone who reads this to see that we live in a country where bigotry and racial inequality still exist. No, they are not as overt as in prior years. No, they are not formally written into law as they once were. And no, they are not as openly expressed in mixed company as was once common. However, they do still exist, and the angry words revealed in the sound bites of Rev. Wright's sermons prove that they still hurt and provoke anger and frustration.
The fact that Rev. Wright's words come as a shock to so many white Americans and are seen as the "norm" to many black Americans is proof that America, as a whole, has chosen to keep the necessary conversation of race suppressed, acting as if the issue does not exist. It is easier and more palatable, especially when it comes to politics, to evoke the concept of political correctness as a bandage that covers a festering wound than it is to take off the gauze and catch a glimpse of its grotesqueness in order to apply the appropriate antibiotic.
Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we prefer to live a lie rather than face an uncomfortable truth long enough to see it for what it truly is, having in mind the goal of healing it at the root? Any doctors, researchers, or patients who have been involved in any aspect of the battle against cancer have learned one of the most fundamental strategies proven to have the most success. That is early detection and early treatment. We are constantly inundated with ads on television, radio, and in newspapers and magazines urging the American people to see a doctor for regular checkups, especially at the first sign of anything that could remotely be related to cancer. The reason for this is that it is now well known that one can and most likely will survive cancer if it is discovered (or uncovered) in its earliest stages and then immediately subjected to the best treatment available. Waiting too long, will allow the cancer time to spread to other parts of the body, some parts that are not as accessible without evasive surgery. Eventually, left untreated, the cancer will spread to vital organs that cannot be safely removed and/or operated on, ultimately upgrading itself to a terminal illness.
Rev. Wright's words were hateful and difficult to hear by any American who wishes to envision a better America where racial tension no longer provokes such visceral rhetoric. However, in the same way that the human body is equipped with pain, anxiety, and fear as warning mechanisms necessary for survival, the fact that those sound bites have been made widely public, is exactly what is needed to shake this country out of its falsely euphoric sense of racial well-being.
The mass distribution and repetitive play of Wright's sound bites, however, is not enough. What is needed at this time was exactly what we heard from Barack Obama on the morning of March 18, 2008 as he spoke in Philadelphia. This speech was the ultimate display of what this country has been missing for too long now – a politician, with a voice that reaches across color lines, having the courage to go against the political norm. When faced with the reality of the festering wound Obama did not choose the conventional routine of further bandaging it with soothing words that meet our society's more accepted "ostrich head in the sand" criteria for political correctness. He had the courage not only to take cover off this particular wound, but he took other bandages off and exposed more racial wounds inflicted upon the body of America. Then he showed them to us on national television. And most importantly, he expressed, in terms easy for all Americans to understand, the reasons why we must treat this cancer now. He showed us how the cancer has spread and created complications that keep us from working together to solve the greater issues that affect us all no matter what color, race, or religion we label ourselves as.
In this landmark speech, Barack Obama showed us how Sigmund Freud's examination of the masses has been an unfortunate reality for this nation. But, more importantly, he resurrected a hope that we could one day prove Freud's assessment to be wrong. This is a hope that was very much alive and firmly expressed by the founding fathers of this great nation. This is a hope that need not die if we have the courage to hear the truth of evil's existence in our world, in our society, in our neighborhoods, in our homes, and in our churches.
I truly believe that this speech is one that will be quoted from for generations to come, regardless of the outcome of this 2008 presidential election. Whether or not Barack Obama is elected the next President of the United States - whether or not you believe that he is the best candidate for the position - it is difficult to ignore the significance of these words at this time in history. The presidential candidacy of Barack Obama and the bold and honest examination of this American society that has resulted from it, will unquestionably be marked as one of the most important bridges - built on a once dying hope - that connect this country's shameful past with a bright future that proves that we can truly live as a people united by our commonalities and undivided by our differences.
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