A while back I posted a topic on leadership. Check it out to get a gist of where I'm coming from. This is a variant of that theme...
We see it in the news, we see politicians say it, and we see other countries say it: America, they sneer, is acting like a "cowboy." It's a smear that's meant to convey a certain image. For these people the cowboy represents lawlessness and violence. This is the result of a cultural shift that has occurred over the past 50 or so years where pessimism, cynicism, and defeatism -which functions like a kind of mind parasite, draining you of life- has taken over our cultural psyche. At the end of the day heroes don't really exist anymore, traditional concepts are mostly myth, and the "cowboy" is relegated to brute and reckless irresponsibility.
Negativity has become chic. People tend to withhold good news and share bad news. And a prominent topic of everyday conversations has a negative tone: talking about grievances, bitches, and gripes. We share complaints about other people, we listen to complaints about other people, and we sympathize with the complainer. Our natural biological instinct of having a stronger reaction (and greater fixation) on negative images and thoughts has been completely tapped by modern society... we're totally manipulated. Society exploits this pessimism, cynicism, and defeatism, feeding on itself, growing like the snowball effect.
Next thing you know this distorted view makes us see the world as a far more dangerous and depressing place than it really is (think Terrorism! Global Warming! OMG___"fill in the blank!")... and makes us see traditionally virtuous ideas cliche, trite, and naive. Ideas that Man is courageous, intelligent, and capable and slowly drowned out by ideas that Man is ugly, stupid, and in the end, worthless. Nothing could be more damaging to the collective self esteem.
The prevailing wisdom today says real heroes are obsolete... well, we do have a kind of American hero these days: the celebrity. We elevate those who are beautiful, rich, powerful, athletic. We worship the famous. Our society creates the impression that sleaze is omnipresent, that no one is noble, that nothing is sacred
Pathography emphasizes the mundane, the neurotic, or the deviant; it offers an outlet for resentment and envy, and permits us to be voyeurs. Pathography forgets the glorious achievement and relishes the flawed life.
But to some Americans, a basic optimism still rings true. The "cowboy" is not a villain but a hero. We honor his willingness to stand up to evil and to do it alone, if necessary. The cowboy is a symbol of the crucial virtues of courage, independence and hard work. It's his unshakable moral confidence that gives others the willies that some people find inspiring. Heroes show us the way, energize us, keep us from the darkness. They remind us of how much more we could do, and of how much better we could be. They instruct us in greatness.
But it's a hell of a lot easier to just say "pipe-dream!" and go back to comfortable mediocrity. Screw heroes... who wants to raise the bar when we can just sit back and complain.
We see it in the news, we see politicians say it, and we see other countries say it: America, they sneer, is acting like a "cowboy." It's a smear that's meant to convey a certain image. For these people the cowboy represents lawlessness and violence. This is the result of a cultural shift that has occurred over the past 50 or so years where pessimism, cynicism, and defeatism -which functions like a kind of mind parasite, draining you of life- has taken over our cultural psyche. At the end of the day heroes don't really exist anymore, traditional concepts are mostly myth, and the "cowboy" is relegated to brute and reckless irresponsibility.
Negativity has become chic. People tend to withhold good news and share bad news. And a prominent topic of everyday conversations has a negative tone: talking about grievances, bitches, and gripes. We share complaints about other people, we listen to complaints about other people, and we sympathize with the complainer. Our natural biological instinct of having a stronger reaction (and greater fixation) on negative images and thoughts has been completely tapped by modern society... we're totally manipulated. Society exploits this pessimism, cynicism, and defeatism, feeding on itself, growing like the snowball effect.
Next thing you know this distorted view makes us see the world as a far more dangerous and depressing place than it really is (think Terrorism! Global Warming! OMG___"fill in the blank!")... and makes us see traditionally virtuous ideas cliche, trite, and naive. Ideas that Man is courageous, intelligent, and capable and slowly drowned out by ideas that Man is ugly, stupid, and in the end, worthless. Nothing could be more damaging to the collective self esteem.
The prevailing wisdom today says real heroes are obsolete... well, we do have a kind of American hero these days: the celebrity. We elevate those who are beautiful, rich, powerful, athletic. We worship the famous. Our society creates the impression that sleaze is omnipresent, that no one is noble, that nothing is sacred
Pathography emphasizes the mundane, the neurotic, or the deviant; it offers an outlet for resentment and envy, and permits us to be voyeurs. Pathography forgets the glorious achievement and relishes the flawed life.
But to some Americans, a basic optimism still rings true. The "cowboy" is not a villain but a hero. We honor his willingness to stand up to evil and to do it alone, if necessary. The cowboy is a symbol of the crucial virtues of courage, independence and hard work. It's his unshakable moral confidence that gives others the willies that some people find inspiring. Heroes show us the way, energize us, keep us from the darkness. They remind us of how much more we could do, and of how much better we could be. They instruct us in greatness.
But it's a hell of a lot easier to just say "pipe-dream!" and go back to comfortable mediocrity. Screw heroes... who wants to raise the bar when we can just sit back and complain.