Col. Nathan Jessup got it absolutely right.
Actually, in the interest of accuracy, it was Jack Nicholson who got it absolutely right.
Well, actually, in the interest of irrefutable accuracy, it was Aaron Sorkin.
Because it was Sorkin who, in writing the award winning play and, later, movie "A Few Good Men", put the words into the mouth of Col. Nathan Jessup, portrayed in the movie by Nicholson, words that became a catchphrase that has taken its place in the "hall of catchphrases" that include such iconics as "frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn", "here's lookin at you, kid" and the more contemporary, still timely and topical "go ahead, make my day".....a catchphrase still in use as we speak, by average Janes and Joes to the always eloquent and articulate George Costanza.
You can't handle the truth.
Americans, particularly Americans in the year of our discontents 2019, have what can fairly be described as a love hate relationship with the truth.
We love to think that we value it, respect it and honor it by telling it whenever we are faced with the choice of using it or not.
And we hate hearing it when it wanders even a skosh off the road leading to what we want the truth to actually be.
Again, to paraphrase Sorkin via Nicholson via Jessup.....
We want to hear that truth, we need to hear that truth....but we, very often, far too often.....say it with me.....
...can't handle the truth.
Then, we come to the truth's mischievous second, very possibly inbred, cousin....the myth.
Dictionary def: a widely held but false belief or idea.
The more popular pop culture myths include the continued belief that the Earth is flat, that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree, that Marie Antoinette ever said "let them eat cake" (that, actually, came from one of those folks at Entemanns), then, of course, there are your more high wattage myths like the Loch Ness Monster,, the Sasquatch and the belief that Trump will ever do anything, ever, that isn't about self gratification, glorification and/or a pathetic attempt to generate praise, worship and adoration.
Well, actually, that's not fair because I exaggerated a little bit.
There's some pretty good evidence that Sasquatch really does exist.
By the way, the dictionary definition of "truth" is worth mentioning here, if only for the irony present and accounted for.
A fact or belief that is accepted as true.
Ah. The old "accepted" disclaimer. That little asterisk has been getting a bigly, yuuuge work out in the past three or four years.
And proven to be especially useful, and used, by those who Sorkin was describing with the rhetorical plural edition of "you".
As in "can't handle the truth, you."
Well, here's some bad news for you who fall in line behind those who get in line at the sign marked "can't handle the truth line starts here."
There's a myth in our midst that is so massive as to be fairly described as monstrous.
And you'll just have to take on faith that I'm telling you the truth that I'm going to make public that misconception.
Momentarily.
Scott Jennings is a former assistant to George W. Bush, a former campaign adviser to Mitch McConnell and partners a public relations firm in Louisville.
He shares, in a recent online op/ed, his considered op that there's already, at least, one state out of the fifty which the Democrats can pretty much check the box labled "lost cause in 2020."
And, no, it's not a deep South, "hey, where yore red cap, yew ain't from around here, is ya, boy?" one out of the fifty either.
Here's an obscure, pop culture pop quiz hint as to this particular state's ID.
Tin soldiers / and Nixon's comin'.
For those not up to date with their total recall of the seminal protest songs of the 70's and/or their trivial expertise on the work of Crosby, Stills, Nash and/or Young, the song and the one out of fifty that Jennings suggests the Democrats should know they should fold em', are both entitled....
Ohio.
And Jennings' conclusion is drawn not from a long, windy wonk's delight of facts, figures, factoids, ruminations, theories nor does he require any bar graph, pie chart or polling analysis data stream to make his case or his point.
He boils the reason why down to two very easy to understand numbers.
450.
700 million.
Donald tweeted this past week that General Motors has agreed to invest 700 million dollars in Ohio and, as a result, 450 new jobs will be created around the state.
The tweet ended in the predictable, bombastic blowing hard.
"THE USA IS BOOMING!" (his caps, not mine)
Jennings predicts, not implausibly, that act will pretty much also seal the deal for Donald on a renewal of the lease at 1600 Pennsylvania.
Now, as promised earlier, here's that massive, monstrous myth.
America.
Doesn't exist.
Maybe, at one time, it did. Like dinosaurs.And drive in theaters. And dial up internet. And that rousing, but, ultimately, bromidic battle cry...E Pluribus Unum.
But, today, in the season of our discontent, 2019....
Naah.
America, as most of us are conditioned by upbringing and tradition to define it, is a nation, again, I'll direct you to the dictionary, "a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.
A quick check list seems appropriate here.
Large body of people. Check.
Inhabiting a particular country or territory. Check.
Common descent, history, culture, language,etc. Uh, check with a little asterisk here and there.
Uhhp. Hang on.
Here's where we get hung up.
United.
Uhhh.
No.
And without wandering off into a half hour on the sociological, philosophical, psychological and, hey, let's not kid ourselves, basically illogical sidebars we could wander off into being the complex, multi layered, hey, let's not kid ourselves, basically illogical creatures we are, here in the bleachers marked "human beings", let me just simplify this particular testify thusly.
Put five people in a room and ask where everybody wants to go for lunch.
There you go.
And that's merely the decision required to determine lunch.
As opposed to the future of mankind.
America, as an abstract concept of a large, powerful nation, is, has been, and will always be, alive and well in imaginations from coast to coast to sea to shining sea.
But America, as a reality of that concept, is, if nothing more than the stuff that dreams are made of, then, most certainly, a myth.
America, as it exists in the year 2019, is an assortment of groups, clusters, cultures and sub-cultures and sub-sub-cultures (and the subs could go on forever and ever with liberty and justice for all).
Again, by way of simplifying the testifying, let's once again call upon Mr. Webster.
A social division in a society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious and/or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognized leader.
The password is......tribe.
But, there's a more conventional, less ethnically evocative term for what we're talking about here.
State.
America is chock a block full of those suckers.
Fifty at the last count.
And coming in at number 35 on the How Big Are Ya Top 50 but bubbling up to number 17 on the When Were You Admitted To The Union Top 50.......
Ohio.
The musical muse of Neil Young. And, for those a little less politically involved, the inspiration for what become the theme for Drew Carey's sitcom more than a few years ago.
Cleveland Rocks.
Ohio.
Also the state to which Scott Jennings is referring when he tells Democrats "move along....nothing to see here."
And, to the point today, a quality example of the sure to break the Internet assertion here that America is a myth.
One state.
Out of fifty.
Pretty much, most likely, having made up its mind eighteen months before the next presidential election about who it will choose as their favorite to become, in this case, remain, President of the United States.
Without giving much if any at all, thought to what the needs of a nation might be. And who might be in the best position, be possessed of the skills, be blessed with the talent, wisdom and vision required to meet many, if not all, of the nation's needs.
Hey, we're getting 700 million bucks.
And 450 of our 11.7 million fellow Ohioans are going to get a job, baby.
E Pluribus Unum?
Yeah, okay, whatever.
Around here, we're thinking about going with "Surrexit Autem Vos Adepto Nostrum Tuum"
We got ours...you get yours.
One of the most oft heard slap backs when conversations about abolishing the Electoral College rears it's ugly is one form or another of this articulate analysis.....
"...uh, yeah, well, uh, we don't want those libtard Obummer snoflakes in California and New York deciding who our president is gonna be...."
Uh.
Yeah.
That notion, itself, actually qualifies for inclusion in our list of myths, but that point has already been made, so indulge me a retort from another angle.
It's not necessarily California or New York that you have to worry about "hijacking" the decision.
Take, for example, the state that's only 35th in size.
A state with 18 of those Electoral votes.
Electoral votes that have played, and can always play, a yuuuge part in the outcome of the election.
Eighteen months out, they're already ready to cast those votes.
With nary a primary or debate or even much in the way of speeches having occurred to give them the opportunity to listen and think and reflect and make the best decision they can in terms of what would be best for the nation, one nation, under God, indivisible.....
Uhhp. Hang on.
One nation?
That's a myth.
America is an assortment of tribes.
Also called states.
And some of those states can be bought for a song.
Take that state that's only 35th in size.
They're selling their power to decide what's best for the entire nation for the low, low....low price....of...
...450.
Jennings' predictions fall into the "time will tell" category.
Here's a prediction that's falls into the category labeled "bet the farm".
My prediction.
Lot of people are going to be unhappy about my assertion that Ohio is un-American.
That's not what I said and that's not what I'm saying, but that won't matter.
That's what they're going to hear or, at least, read into what my point of view here.
I'm pretty busy, though.
So, to save time, let me just say to all of those folks, thanks for reading, enjoy your day and as to the point of view itself?
I'd refer you to an acquaintance of mine.
Ohio.....
meet Col. Nathan Jessup.
No comments:
Post a Comment