As November approaches and the always-tedious white noise of political ravings grows ever louder in the US atmosphere, I find myself musing once again that so little is what we think it to be. Clearly, if you read my post the other day, I am seldom content to accept the appearance as the reality, but it is never more significantly the case than around the time of elections. For all that Americans love to crow about being the truest democracy in the world and having the power to determine our own destinies and that of our nation (never mind our meddling globally), what’s most notable around voting time is how little anyone really does his or her research and how thoroughly gullible, petty and narrow-minded most of us are on our best days. It’s really kind of miraculous that, young as America is in the way of being a nation, it still exists as one. We’re all on our own paths, wavelengths, and possibly planets around here.
And those who rise to power in our country are no less prone to manipulating that sort of foolishness than those we claim to abhor elsewhere. We give things whatever ‘spin’ we prefer and, by golly, hordes of similarly spun fellow denizens jump right into the vortex with us, leaving reason and, ultimately, hope far behind. One might think that the current age of electronic wizardry would make us more aware, if not more cautious, of all sorts of trickery and monkey business, but alas, we cling to our ignorance and wilfulness with just as much dimwitted fervor as always. Knowing that the camera sees only what the photographer aimed it at and the recorder hears only what the engineer had it turned on to hear–and that the results of both operations can be almost endlessly manipulated after the fact so as to be something entirely new and different from the initial truth, however truncated that might have been, we still choose to stand with facing our own chosen suns while right behind us, out of frame, utterly different realities are carrying right on with their appointed happenings.
So in honor of this form of deception, whether imposed upon us or self-inflicted, I give you my image of the Grand Canyon. Or, as it was before a little Photoshopping hocus-pocus, a dirt pile under the freeway overpass, whose ‘magnificent agaves’ are small tufts of grass, whose brilliant coloring is all hand-applied, and whose vast open sky is a digital blanket pulled down to cover the abandoned storefronts looming behind the little hillock. What you see is what I get, my friends. Keep it in mind on the way to the voting booth, won’t you?
Art-Colored Glasses 
Good post! You’ve put things in perspective and your observations can apply to a lot of different fronts, especially in the area of manipulation……There’s a “lot of meat on that bone” as my father used to say.
Clearly there *must* be, since the topic is as old as recorded time! 😉
Ain’t it the truth, sister? And amen.
As for electronic trickery, I dedicated myself during the debates last night to a half hour’s worth of following the proceedings on Twitter, just to see what was up. I saw, and quietly departed.
Have you read Jaron Lanier, author of “You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto”? I think you’d like it. There was a good profile of him in The New Yorker in July, 2011.
No, I haven’t read JL yet–but I certainly will look him up now! Thank you for the referral!
Until you explained the photo, I thought you’d taken a shot of a diorama at a local museum! 😉
As for Politics (yuck!), they ALL lie to get into office, and refuse to make choices that might get them un-elected the next time around…
I’ve made up my mind – they can all stop calling my house, now. And advertising on my tv. And trying to shake my hand at the grocery store….
I think I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that I’m not just *non*-partisan, I’m *anti*-partisan when it comes to American politics. As you say, there’s nobody willing to say just what they mean and follow through with it (with the unfortunate exception that I’d add of extremists of any sort). Lots of ‘what’s wrong in the world’ and precious little of ‘how to fix it’.
I love your diorama reference–yes, it *does* look like one!! 🙂
I kept looking at your photo and wondering what was wrong. Something just didn’t seem right. When will I learn? 🙂
I have always been a politics junkie, feasting on every tidbit made available. Not all that long after the last election I declared, “Uncle!” There is something seriously wrong when proving the other Party wrong is more important than what is good for the Country; when the focus, Day One after the election, shifts to making money for the next election and not on fulfilling campaign promises; and, worst of all, when a candidate’s Faith is the litmus test for his viability as a candidtate.
I’ve not given up hope. No, not at all. I just wonder what it will take before a real reform agenda is presented and put into law. If not, what kind of Land will our grandchildren inherit?
Well said, my friend. I have what I think of as a sort of self-insurance policy: I’ve decided I will strive to live long enough to vote *for* someone for a change rather than always against persons and things.
Photoshop is an excellent tool for Vanity– makes a good liar out of me when feeling the need not to actually see sags & wrinkles of history…
Heh-heh, it’s cheaper than Botox!