A Different Perspective: 5/15/2024

Boy, oh boy, oh boy! What better time to write about perspectives than an election year? Especially this one.

I hardly know where to start. Local? State? National? Present, upcoming, or lingering on from the past? Events? Issues? Personalities? Real or perceived? All are integral in our lives, whether or not we’re directly affected or have any ability to make a difference. Some of the topics are front and center in our thoughts, while others are just too abstract to be worth thinking about.

We elect representatives at every level of government to deal with all of the above based on how each of us feels that person will support our opinions and beliefs. Now, like never before, the election process has become a churning cauldron of controversy, such as we used to hear about only from dictator-led countries.

Few things get people as fired up as politics. Any issue will attract very reasonable and intelligent people with strong and completely opposing viewpoints and passionate beliefs. Personal perspective is everything when it comes to politics, and very often, emotion takes precedence over logic.

In times past, news was passed by word of mouth, followed by newspapers, radio, and television, each increasing both the audience and the speed of spread, so to speak. Likewise, the opportunity to respond went from talking to close neighbors or travelers to live interviews and talk shows seen by millions.

With the advent of the internet’s various social media sites, many people have a free venue, with huge exposure, to express almost any opinion. Perhaps the key element of enjoying something like Facebook is the inner strength to keep scrolling past a post or comment that pushes all your bad buttons.

The opportunity exists to consider, perhaps appreciate, and learn from how others regard a subject. At the same time, it has become almost impossible to find the basic truth about anything, as most internet searches are polluted with paid investments to slant opinions in a desired direction and with just plain false information with the same goal.

Where we get our opinions and the perspectives we use to run our lives is a recipe of many ingredients. We each come into the world with a given level of intelligence and observational skills. Our first thoughts are as impressionable children from family, then from our early life experiences. With only rare exceptions, peer pressure worms its way into our minds, along with societal acceptance, political correctness, personal desires, and even herd mentality.

Back in the past, there were certainly famous, popular sports and entertainment figures and the enviable, beautiful, and wealthy, but they were much more remote than today. Their role in shaping opinion was very minor, and there wasn’t the force of emotional opinion-shaping there is today.

Commercialization of individuals and organizations, like sports teams, was very minimal. Distant events had much less impact or influence by the time slow news reached the masses, who then had little opportunity to respond.

There has been a huge shift in society, where anger (and even craziness) is easily expressed and reacted to far more publicly than ever before. The charisma of Taylor Swift can be much more influential than the wisdom of any thoughtful person, which gives power rather than competency to the best image. Even in a third-world place like Montana, campaigns cost millions, and the rich dominate the races. We have all kinds of controversy on how and who can vote.

Do your best to make your perspectives thoughtful.