The Oppenheimer Report 9/24/18

For almost 27 years now, I’ve been waking up Monday mornings and writing down a page of my thoughts about what was going on in the world. In the early days, I mailed the report out on postcards, and in later years I reached my 12 loyal readers on the internet. Sometimes I’ll jot down some notes from the previous week to remind myself of what I want to say, but usually it’s just off-the-cuff brain farts. I long ago gave up the notion of writing for a larger audience, because 1. I’m too lazy and undisciplined to market myself, and 2. and these “reports” are more of an ongoing effort to improve my communication skills; I do not want to be in the line of fire for my sometimes irresponsible, off-color opinions. In the early years, when this report was called The Hyman Report, I was more mean-spirited and judgmental. I went for the cheap laugh, because it was easy, and because my readers were all friends of mine. They all knew and accepted that I could be edgy.  

Last night, I was watching John Oliver’s very funny show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. He did a15-minute bit on the dark side of Facebook, and about Facebook's tendency to propagate hateful rhetoric. He jokingly warned Third World countries, just now being introduced to the scourge of social media, about the dangers of believing everything one reads on the internet. While it was a tongue-in-cheek bit, there was a lot of truth to it. In fact, there is in a lot of truth in this comedic news reporting (Daily Show, Colbert Report, etc), and  I think I got a better read on current events from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert than I ever did from CNN or any other of the other “legitimate” news sources. Sarcasm and irony can be powerful weapons, and are often an effective way to reveal the truth.

My octogenarian friend Ben Harrison, who broadcasts a show weekdays on Hunters Bay Radio called Tech 5, did a story recently about kindness, and about the attendant health benefits of being kind and generous. That old adage “it is better to give than to receive” may actually be true, and as I watch the world take a nosedive in the practice of good will, I am more and more mindful of that homespun wisdom, even if I struggle to put it into practice. I look at all the nonsense going on in the world today, and I find myself wondering how it got this bad. Celebrities and politicians act shamefully, and we shake our collective heads in disgust.  Still, some of us  can’t look away from the train wreck. We judge, and we tell ourselves we are better than that. Haters abound and provide lucrative fodder for the grist mill, while the good guy stories are buried on page 10 of the newspaper. A prime example of this is the CTV 11 O’Clock News, which nightly bombards us with the worst news our world has to offer. Then they offer us a very short but hopeful story at the end of each broadcast. Corruption, hatred, natural disasters come first, and then there is a touching story about a child bravely facing some incurable illness, or two holocaust victims who are re-united.

There is no question in my mind that things are going in the wrong direction, and there seems to be a domino effect with regards to ill will. I don’t think our elected Commander-In-Tweet is our biggest problem. Certainly, he is a symptom, a very big canary in the coal mine. He might be an outrageous, immoral human being – after all the spin and scandal has settled, history will record how bad he actually was – but almost half of America voted for him. Now, this ill-advised and under-qualified leadership is spreading like wildfire throughout the world. I sometimes quote the wisdom of Pogo, the world’s wisest cartoon possum: “We have met the enemy and he is us!”

  

We the voters let this happen, didn’t we? When are we going to look in the mirror and own up to this reality? What good is righteous indignation, and what happened to doing the right thing, regardless of the consequences? Where are our heroes? Buried on page 10. The next time I am inclined to say something derogatory about another human being, I am going to try to check that impulse. I need only read some of my earlier reports to realize how mean and judgmental I have been. While I regret this, I can’t change who I have been. I can learn from it and strive to improve myself. Maybe a little gentle humor is in order, and yes, at times maybe even a little sarcasm. Maybe I need to exercise a little humility, something to chip away at the armor of I’m-right-you’re-wrong. Regardless of my opinion, if I can’t find common ground with my fellow man, then I am ultimately doomed. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think that half of America is comprised of mouth-breathing cretins, easy as it is to make that generalization. Like any country, America is made up of complicated human beings. Perhaps some of them are uninformed, but most are simply frightened and disgusted with the status quo. It doesn't help to have a predatory media fanning the flames.

Getting back to John Oliver’s cynical rant about Facebook: it was very funny, and partly true. We must be mindful that not all information is factual. For me, Facebook is a recreational drug; it feeds the narcissist and the voyeur in me, but it can also be an amazing tool to connect me to the world around me. This morning I watched a video providing me with a bird’s eye view of an eagle’s flight over a rocky coastline. I’ve watched my nieces and nephews grow up on Facebook. I have been apprised of wonderful music and songwriters with whom I was unfamiliar. In fact, I’ve made contact with some of those people. I have seen horrible things as well. The trick is figuring out what is real and what is nonsense. That can be difficult.

Destructive tornadoes recently tore through Ottawa and Gatineau, Quebec. Hurricane Florence just hammered the Carolinas; a mega typhoon just struck the Far East. Mother Nature is sending us a message I think. As we sift through the wreckage of our mistakes, the message seems to be wake up!  Much of the adversity we face is out of our control. Instead of looking for someone to blame, why not take our lessons from the wise and unsung heroes all around us. We may or may not be able to solve every problem, but it sure beats focusing on the negative and the divisive. There is good in everyone, and while it may be hard to see or extract, I wnat to focus on the best we have to offer, not the worst. It’s my choice to take the high road or the low road. I take joy in the aerial view of an eagle, or a story about some unsung hero, and hopefully I marginalize the oafish, the boorish, the hateful, and the unkind. Those people have always been there, and they always will be. These days they are just a little more up front and center. Be nicer to each other; and laugh at yourself, because I’m laughing at you ... I mean with you.  

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2018 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED