One of the many things that Republicans and other critics of President Obama love to point out is how the President doesn't believe in a concept called "American Exceptionalism". It's an idea that basically says that we are the best country in the world, and should never have to apologize for anything we do or have ever done. While it is debatable whether we as Americans should apologize for our past transgressions, most Americans do see our country as the best place in the world, and it is irksome to many that the President is hesitant to make this pronouncement. Now that we are in the middle of a measles epidemic, in a nation where measles were basically eliminated by a vaccine back in 1963, we can understand why perhaps President Obama isn't ready to crown us "greatest country ever", just yet.
Why may one ask, are we suffering through a measles outbreak when the vaccine was introduced over 50 years ago? Well, it appears that some people don't think the vaccine in necessary. Through the combined efforts of junk science, discredited medical reports, the internet, anti-government conspiracy/freedom nuts, and Hollywood ultra-liberal "experts", a small, but sizable minority has decided not to immunize their children against this perennial scourge of mankind. I will give credit however to the "anti-vaccine" faction for one impressive feat. It is one of the few issues that can bring together far-left liberals and far-right conservatives. Left-leaning liberals are against it because they feel the vaccine is filled with all sorts of unnecessary toxins that may cause Autism and other side effects in children. They feel it is another example of our society over-medicating, injecting too many chemicals into our children's bodies and ourselves. Far-right libertarians don't like the idea of the government making them do anything, even if it's something that could save their children's lives.
- "Americans are so lucky to be "free", they don't have to get vaccines if they don't want to." (Associated Press)
Which brings me to Jenny McCarthy. For those of you not familiar with her, she's a former Playboy "Playmate" and current "TV Personality". (Which is what you call people on television who don't have any particular skill, but continue to show up on a variety of programming) Some years ago, McCarthy gave birth to a little boy, who she announced was autistic. She then proceeded to go on a publicity tour basically stating that it was vaccinations that caused her child to become autistic. She and many others like her pointed to a paper that was written (that would eventually be retracted) as proof that vaccinations were linked to autism. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/health/research/03lancet.html?)
While it would be easy for me to call McCarthy out on the carpet for using her celebrity status to popularize a discredited theory which may have influenced people to forego immunizing and therefore endangering their children, I do have to give her credit for one significant achievement. So many beautiful women complain that men and even some women don't respect their intelligence because they are so attractive. McCarthy however due to her absurd ideas made people forget about her looks and concentrate on her intellect. (Though not in a positive way)
- "I received my PhD while chilling at the "Grotto", in between filming "Singled Out". (Times Union)
There is something far worse going on in our society that supersedes the fact that some are taking medical advice from Playboy "Centerfolds". We as a society have begun to lose faith in our institutions. In other words, many of the things we used to trust as a society are now seen as untrustworthy, unreliable, or tainted to the point where they can no longer be trusted. It would be easy to simply pin it on the Internet, or Facebook, or other sources of "fast-food" information, but this situation actually predates those phenomena, at least according to one expert.
Back when my eldest brother worked for a certain reference book in the 1980s, he managed to have several sit-downs with John Chancellor. For those of you too young to remember, John Chancellor was an esteemed anchorman for NBC. He was also a reporter for them. He is somewhat remembered for being physically thrown out of the 1964 GOP convention in San Francisco. (I wonder if the GOP would have another convention in "Liberal" San Francisco?) Chancellor wasn't exactly a colorful news anchor. He was the stereotypical Anchorman from the 1970s and 1980s. Chancellor had a solid if unspectacular tuft of "salt 'n' pepper" hair, thick glasses, a pleasant voice, (more like a high school Principal than one of those "deep-throated" radio guys) and the medium build of every middle-aged man who reported the news for generations before body-builders and "Victoria Secret" models...a.k.a., "Fox News Reporters" began to populate the screen.
- I do believe he could have easily been a high school Principal. "Smoking at the handball courts again...hmm Mr. Hoffman?" (Getty Images)
At any rate, my brother met John Chancellor for lunch several times. In their conversations, Chancellor said to my brother words to the effect that, "You're lucky, people respect you and the book you edit, we (the television news media) have lost that trust." What's fascinating about his statement is that it was said before the internet had even reached the homes of any Americans. (I'm not even sure Al Gore had invented it yet?)
The television media is only one of many areas in our society that we as a people, have lost our faith in. The New York Times used to be the official paper of record for our country, now, when you tell people you read something in the Times, they do a little snicker. Even if a paper like the New York Times is factually accurate, some people assume it comes with an "agenda", and is therefore not to be trusted. It would appear that we have become a cynical, conspiracy obsessed society, and it doesn't appear to be getting any better. I've even had people come up to me and tell me that they think the Super Bowl was fixed. How else could anyone explain Pete Carroll's horrible call as the Seahawks appeared poised to score the winning touchdown?
The areas in life that are no longer accepted as credible would fill thousands of angry bloggers postings. For example:
- Unemployment Numbers
- Baseball Statistics
- Presidential Elections
- Health and purity of our food supply
- The Holocaust
- Cable Companies
- Olympic Judges, particularly Russian Judges (I actually believe this one)
- Cancer Cures
- Oil and Gas prices
- And my all-time favorite, the JFK Assassination
Perhaps it is the JFK Assassination that began all of this distrust. The murder of President John F. Kennedy in November of 1963 ended the nation's innocence in a myriad of ways. Young Americans believed in JFK. They saw him as one of their own, and he inspired a belief in young people that they had the power to change the nation for the better by working through the system. Kennedy's shocking death in Dallas, Texas was a bitter pill that many Americans found far too difficult to swallow. It had a rippling effect that sent a message to the generation coming of age in the 1960s that if you couldn't work through the system, then perhaps you have to tear down the system. JFK was taken from a generation of young Americans who revered him, and now their faith in the system would forever be shattered. Whatever faith Americans may have had left in our institutions would be decimated once and for all by the lies of L.B.J. in Vietnam, and by the crimes of "Dick" Nixon in the Watergate scandal.
- "Trust is overrated, wouldn't you agree....Dick"?
It says a lot about our lost sense of innocence that as a people we couldn't accept the official version of the JFK assassination. The idea that one solitary "loser" could take down the leader of the "free-world" with a couple of "lucky" shots from a cheaply made Italian bolt-action World War Two rifle simply seemed too random for the American people to accept. It had to be a conspiracy! It had to be a sinister plot, launched from the bowels of our government in order to stage a coup d'etat and wrestle control from our democratically elected leader, (Although he probably cheated) and hand it over to the evil, nameless, faceless, Military Industrial Complex!
- One shot from a strip club owner, and a nation's paranoia is set ablaze! (You Tube)
Now we get to the really difficult part. How do we get this trust back? The President used to be the most respected person in America. My mother used to tell me that when FDR spoke on the radio in her home, her father would demand silence, after-all, the President was speaking. I wonder if there is person or institution today that could command that type of respect and that level of trust? It would have to be somebody who has delivered without compromise. Someone who produces results. An individual whose body of work has stood the test of time. Who? Who could that be? Of course....
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