The Chris Moeller Archives

The cocoon people

Are Americans just checking out completely? What the hell is going on? Two separate polls released this week have me shaking my head. First, in a CNN poll, 1,047 adults were asked this question: "Based on what you have read or hear about the actor Mel Gibson, do you think he is or is not anti-Semitic-- that is, prejudiced against Jewish people?" A whopping 52 percent of respondents said he "is not anti-Semitic." Twenty three percent believe he is, and 24 percent said they were unsure.

More surprisingly, though, the same people were posed this: "As you may know, Mel Gibson made several negative comments about Jews after being arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. Which of the following statements comes closest to your view? I was never a fan of Gibson. I was a fan of Gibson before this incident but am not a fan now. I am still a fan of Gibson." Twenty-three percent never had love for Gibson, which seems about right, but 58 percent say they're still a fan, and only 7 percent say they've changed their minds during the last two weeks. (Eight percent unsure.) Are these people ape-shit crazy? If Mad Mel's isn't the behavior of an anti-Semite, what conceivably is? Does the fourth beer of the evening cause some sort of supernatural change in your worldview? Not after the Australian League of Rights. Not after "The Passion of the Christ." It's frightening to think such despicable statements could have such little impact on America's celebrity worship.

That's not the most confounding poll, however. Americans have been busy punching the knobs on the way-back machine over Iraq. A Harris poll released July 21st finds that despite all of the lack of evidence to the contrary, a full 50 percent of Americans believe Iraq had weapons of mass destruction before the US invaded in 2003-- and that's up from 36 percent since last year. Huh?
"I'm flabbergasted, " says media critic Michael Massing, who has written at length on the media's failure to challenge White House WMD assertions during the ramping to war, "This finding just has to cause despair among those of us who hope for an informed public able to draw reasonable conclusions based on evidence."

I don't think it's stupidity. I think it's that the people are truly checking out. They're building tiny cocoons large enough for just friends, family, and shitty television shows. They're even shutting out their local communities. People aren't not just cranking up the A/C to clean the warming, putrid air, they're using the noise to shut out the outer world. Bush Cheney, Inc. has torn from us our ability to even be outraged anymore. It's too exhausting under a baking sun. After the morphing of bin Laden into Saddam Hussein, the corporate lootings, Lynndie England, Abu Ghraib, Jeff Gannon and the paid commentators, Guantanamo Bay, New Orleans, Teri Schiavo, and the failures to constructively engage North Korea and Iran, Americans hardly blink when the Vice President shoots a guy.

The most heroic sacrifice in the new millennium will be the one made by the people who simply stay engaged.

posted by CM @ 9:12 PM