The Oppenheimer Report 3/18/19

Last week, I made reference to an interview with a Stanford University biologist/neurologist who had done research indicating that the human brain is hard-wired to create an “us and them” mentality. In other words, we are hard-wired to mistrust certain people who seem different from us. There’s a scientific reason for hatred! Is it a sign of the times that we are rationalizing our bad behavior? Let science work for you. We’re wired to mistrust, so maybe it’s just human nature to become hateful and discriminatory. I heard a statistic on the news this morning (and cannot attest to its veracity), that about 70% of the terrorist attacks in the United States after 9-11 were carried out by white men. The Orange Emperor would have us believe the greater threat is from Muslims and Mexicans, but the white supremacists appear to be the bigger problem here in North America. This past weekend, the nonstop bad news was that some right-wing white power extremist nut ball slaughtered fifty innocent Muslim worshipers at a mosque in otherwise peaceful Christchurch, New Zealand. Last October, it was a synagogue in Pittsburgh. Whether it’s Muslims, Christians, Jews, Tutsis, Rohingya refugees, or just a bunch of country music fans in Las Vegas, there seems to be a lot of hate-filled murdering going on. Of course, the issue of gun control crops up again, but there has also been a lot of discussion in the past week about how social media has fanned the flames of hatred.

How crazy is it that we live in a world where any lunatic can video stream his or her murderous rampage and post it in real time for hundreds of millions to potentially see on Facebook? I love watching Facebook videos depicting zipline adventures through the Amazon jungle, but the same medium that allows me to do this also broadcasts a lot of moral pollution. While this may be the golden age of information, it is also the golden age of disinformation. The internet takes the crowd mentality and pumps it full of steroids, and it can stir up a hornet’s nest faster than Donald Trump can hoover a Big Mac.

I watched an interview with a reformed skinhead, who now fights for the hearts and minds of the vulnerable and alienated, radicalized by well-organized hate groups who spread their filth on the web. This guy works to turn vulnerable souls away from hate, and he warns that the bad guys are getting stronger, amped up by the vast marketing potential of social media. I see an ever-widening cavern between what people will believe and reality. Hell, I’m getting confused. There are so many conflicting agendas, it’s hard to know what the truth is anymore. I understand how a guy like Rump could get elected, in a world where reality television is anything but, he can say whatever he likes, and the disenfranchised want to believe him. I might not understand how misguided people might choose to hate a group about whom they know nothing, but people see their quality of life eroding, and they want a scapegoat. History is full of examples of propaganda-inspired hatred, it’s just getting easier to incubate.

I wish I could change people’s minds, but when I look at the big picture, I am as overwhelmed as the next man. How do you eradicate hopelessness and poverty, how do you make governments accountable for their failures, how do you teach men and women the benefits of trying to understand and love each other? The very religious institutions that were supposed to instill these qualities in their believers have been turned into weapons of divisiveness. Maybe stupidity is contagious. I heard Republican strategist Rick Wilson, author of the book “Everything Trump Touches Dies” say that Trump had the IQ of a room temperature cup of yogurt. That was the best laugh I had today. The Orange Emperor isn’t really the problem here, he’s just an overweight canary in the coal mine. I suppose that the best I can hope to do is set a good example in my own community. Hatred is as old as the hills. I can’t make it go away, but maybe I can help the people in my community, and maybe  that’s a start, even if we are all  hard-wired to hate.

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED