Quote of the Week...from Brooks Atkinson

People everywhere enjoy believing things that they know are not true. It spares them the ordeal of thinking for themselves and taking responsibility for what they know.
                                                                      ---Brooks Atkinson

In his heyday from the early to mid-twentieth century, Brooks Atkinson was a famous figure, writing influential theatrical reviews for more than three decades for the New York Times and serving as an overseas correspondent in China during World War II and afterwards in Moscow.  I don't know the context and origin of the above quote (nor do I know Brooks Atkinson for that matter), but I know where I found it: a book of cryptograms!  But whatever Brooks Atkinson may have originally meant by this saying, I thought it had a very broad application to myself, others around me...and the way the world in general works. That having been noted, though, I'm going to specifically apply it to something that's been eating at me for years: "parrot politics"...

Parrot politics is a term I coined myself, although it should already be a commonly used expression.  It's meaning is self-evident: the ever-increasing tendency for people to "parrot" whatever they hear or read from others they are following in the media, be it talk radio, the Internet, television, printed media, etc., as if it were something they had thought up for themselves.  I see a lot of this phenomenon on Facebook, and from BOTH sides of the political spectrum.  It's easy to detect: somebody around you suddenly goes off on a detailed rant that they obviously couldn't have reasoned out for themselves but is rather a repeat of what they got from another source.  The content is usually like this: "our" side is ever-so highly principled with its advocates being people of honor, wisdom, and good intentions who deserve respect while the "other" side is slimy and deceitful with its advocates being full of ulterior motives, selfish, stupid, and corrupt, half of whom belong in jail and none of whom should be in politics.  It's not the media people who formulate and present these opinions that I have the major problem with (although they should know better)...no, it's the unquestioning "believers" among the general population who may not even understand what they are passionately regurgitating to others but choose to do it because they know it promotes "their" side and slams the other.  It's kind of like watching a game and your team just got away with a penalty but you expediently claim there was no foul committed. Wouldn't it be ultimately more productive to take each issue and discuss it on its pros and cons...and leave out the personalities?

I have my own political perspectives and tend to lean toward one party over the other...I've made no secret of that here on this blog.  But when I'm listening to the opinions of others, regardless of their political orientation, I do try to think for myself and discern the difference between what is true and what is just a rehash of twisted propaganda. Unfortunately, the trend, with some folks at least, seems to be going in the opposite direction...