{"id":348,"date":"2013-11-08T03:40:52","date_gmt":"2013-11-08T03:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=348"},"modified":"2013-11-08T03:40:52","modified_gmt":"2013-11-08T03:40:52","slug":"the-gray-area-hate-the-player-not-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2013\/11\/08\/the-gray-area-hate-the-player-not-the-game\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gray Area: Hate the Player, Not the Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

By GRAY WHITSETT<\/strong> – COLUMNIST<\/em><\/p>\n

The \u201cCentre bubble,\u201d as we all know, is a very real phenomenon. And as we also all know, it cuts us off from the world at large. I couldn\u2019t be guiltier of this. As such, when the recent government shutdown began I hadn\u2019t properly followed the story and short of a general picture, I wasn\u2019t terribly knowledgeable about it. So I took the best action in times of ignorance \u2013 I asked. And it was the answers to my inquiry that prompted this article.<\/p>\n

The most common (quite nearly the only) response I received was something along the lines of \u201cIt\u2019s just politics\u201d or \u201cYou know how Congress is.\u201d When I pushed for more all I got was \u201cThere\u2019s just too much gridlock\u201d and \u201cIf you ask me they all deserve the axe.\u201d Further questioning produced similarly shallow explanations.<\/p>\n

Maybe this is true. Maybe Congress, and the presidency, and maybe the Supreme Court as well, are all compromised. Maybe the entire system of American government is fundamentally flawed, hopelessly outdated. Maybe we do need to fire literally every senator, representative, judge, cabinet member, and postman in the government. Maybe our model just sucks and it\u2019s time to accept that reality. Maybe they\u2019re right. But I don\u2019t think so, and I don\u2019t think anyone really thinks they are either, including themselves.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s become customary, acceptable, and rather encouraged to explain political issues by rejecting the enterprise itself. And I can\u2019t stand this. Bashing politics, and being ignorant of the problems, is nothing new in America, or the world for that matter, but now it seems to be particularly popular. I want to be perfectly plain \u2013 I didn\u2019t do anything remotely close to an empirical study or conduct serious interviews.<\/p>\n

Without disclosing names, when I asked my peers about the matter, people whose opinions I respect and knowledge I trust, I was met with unsatisfying, uninformed, and unhelpful answers such as I\u2019ve described. And even when I\u2019m not seeking information about a specific event, this tends to be the attitude I\u2019m presented with \u2013 a total dismissal. It\u2019s not a conservative or liberal approach, it\u2019s not certain age group or ethnicity, and it\u2019s not based on gender. It\u2019s arguably the most bipartisan topic in politics.<\/p>\n

But nobody really believes this. It\u2019s just become an easy way out of an engaging conversation, a method by which feelings are spared and peace is maintained. And that\u2019s all good and well at Christmas dinner with grandpa, but when I\u2019m genuinely asking about a national event like the recent shutdown, don\u2019t give me some vague, halfhearted, screw-the-system answer, because you don\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n

If we truly thought this, our incumbency rate would be slim to nothing and our two ideological camps wouldn\u2019t be impenetrable bunkers. If we truly thought this, our government would represent it.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the issue with which I\u2019m concerned. We live under a representative government, a government designed to emulate the people. If when an average citizen like myself asks a question of national interest and is met with useless answers such as \u201cThey\u2019re all just too corrupt,\u201d then what will our representatives represent?<\/p>\n

If I can\u2019t get answer, or even really an honest opinion, then how do we expect our leaders to debate healthcare, the Syrian conflict, and welfare reform? If our whole system is predicated on giving life and voice to the masses and the masses barely maintain a pulse and refuse to speak, then we will only result in precisely the chaos our Congress has become.<\/p>\n

I guess we\u2019ve developed a severe case of \u201chate the game, not the player,\u201d and to a degree I understand. The representative from your district or the senator from your state is your guy. He or she is on your team, and you want your team to win.<\/p>\n

I know the premium we place on individuality. I know the system functions by each taking care of himself, to a certain degree. I get that. But this logic falls in on itself quickly. Blaming \u201cpolitics\u201d or \u201cthe Republicans\u201d or \u201cCongress\u201d is like declaring war on poverty or terrorism \u2013 it doesn\u2019t mean anything. It\u2019s shouting to the heavens, it\u2019s punching a wall \u2013 it\u2019s pointless.<\/p>\n

If we\u2019re going to obsess over individuality then let\u2019s do it. Understand that Congress is made up of individuals. It\u2019s made up of particular people making particular decisions at particular times. Be angry with them. Be impressed, be disgusted, be indifferent, be whatever you wish, but be it toward specific people. That is the only way any level of accountability, change, or progress will be had.<\/p>\n

Unless we are seriously prepared to shut down the government permanently, write a new Constitution, or deport all our current leaders, I would suggest making some serious intellectual, emotional, and proactive investments in our current system.<\/p>\n

If you think the shutdown was caused by Mitch McConnell\u2019s gridlock strategy, then say it. If it\u2019s due to Obama\u2019s poorly executed healthcare plan, then say it. You don\u2019t have to run for office or work on a campaign or even write a letter. But have some conviction.<\/p>\n

Have motivation enough to have an informed opinion. And have the gall to say it. I\u2019m not talking about Occupy Wall Street or the March on Washington. I\u2019m not calling for \u201cGive me liberty or give me death.\u201d I\u2019m advocating for simple public discourse. I\u2019m just begging for some serious conversation.<\/p>\n

In all actuality, my point boils down to a reversal of the adage I\u2019ve already used \u2013 hate the player, not the game. The game is here to stay. It might need some editing, but we\u2019ll deal with that as it comes. For now, it\u2019s the actors on stage, not the theatre itself, that need critiquing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By GRAY WHITSETT – COLUMNIST The \u201cCentre bubble,\u201d as we all know, is a very real phenomenon. And as we also all know, it cuts us off from the world at large. I couldn\u2019t be guiltier of this. As such, when the recent government shutdown began I hadn\u2019t properly followed the story and short of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}