Skewing Ourselves

The Year of Living Seriously ( Skewing Ourselves ) --- Part Two of a Series

When did we lose the ability to laugh at ourselves? I’m guessing it was sometime close to when the term politically correct came into our vocabulary. That was it kids, the beginning of the end. All of a sudden we had to watch what we said and did because even the most innocent of comments or the most innocent of gestures could be skewed to fit our individual biases. Concessions, these days, to special interests are made so fast that Linda Blair couldn’t follow it even if her head really could do a 360.

In the meanwhile the status quo is left to surmise just how it was that they became the second-class citizens and the first generation immigrants all of a sudden got all of the perks. Now what, you may ask, does all of this have to do with naughty boys on the radio and thinking for ourselves? Well, I’m a gonna tell ya.

They are all symptoms of the same disease, and that disease is complacency. That’s right complacency, with a capital C and that rhymes with D and that stands for disease!! We’ve grown so complacent in our thinking that we have failed to realize that said complacency will lead to our downfall. In other words kids, we’re skewing ourselves into nonexistence. Yes skewing, not screwing.

We’re skewed so far to the left and skewed so far to the right that the common ground has been left for sarcastic bloggers, shock jocks, philosophers and poets and let’s face it folks, no one listens to them. The general population is taught to not speak out against anyone who could find your words offensive. We teach our kids to follow the golden rule, which is indeed a good rule, but leave the alternatives buried in ambiguity. We’ve become such a nation of babies that we’ve forgotten the addendum to the golden rule: Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me, unless you let them.

Well guess what kids, I’m here to tell you, I speak out but I expect that some will not agree with me and I expect them to speak out against me as well. I can dish and I can take. I sling the mud and relish the day that I will myself be caked in wet dirt, ‘cause I like being a dirty boy. The best part about it all, though, is that even when covered with mud, one still possesses the ability to wash it off and start anew.

We are all entitled to our opinion. We are entitled to like weird stuff, just look at the Trekkies and the freaks that line up at Star Wars conventions and tell me I’m wrong. We are entitled to scrutinize those in power because no one is above scrutiny. We are all entitled to say what the hell we want and we are all entitled to face the consequences, which should never exceed a counter slinging of verbal abuse. As Americans we are entitled!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, irreverence and audacity are necessary parts to a happy but flawed existence. What the fuck does that mean, you may say. Well, speak out if something doesn’t seem right but don’t do so at the cost of someone else’s right to do the same. In other words, grow a set and say what you’re thinking kids, ideas lead directly to change and change, generally speaking, is a good thing. It is what brought us to be, to exist and to create this crazy but beautiful thing we call the USA.

*to be continued