By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
It’s been a week of Shakespearean plot lines and Orwellian fear-speak. If life is but a play and all the men and women merely players, then we’re writing a fine fiction for ourselves, full of sturm and drang, high-blown drama in the tradition of the Grimm Brothers’ darker tales. It would be clearer if the populace had read either Shakespeare or Orwell, of course, but comprehending our national narrative requires familiarity with vocabulary, critical thinking skills and an eye to detail, which are no longer taught in our failing schools nor cherished by our dumbed-down citizenry. Too bad. And just when we could use a first-rate education.
As it is, we’re left with the either/or and us/them — in short, black/white — attitudes that mark our childlike belief in fantasy, in the unreality of magical thinking, both personally and politically. It isn’t literature that informs us, it’s fairy tales. Despite their entertainment value, you’d think we might have noticed that they are invariably less than believable. There’s always some essential piece of the premise that stretches credulity, like believing the Bible is literal truth and scientific thought is optional, or that big business and banks will police themselves. Continuing to believe such things after they’ve been proven wrong is the kind of dangerous delusion we face today. I’m not sure if this is the result of too much Prozac or too little, but we can agree it’s epidemic.
In fairy tales, the child-like characters are pure as the driven snow, while evil characters behave like cartoons drawn by madmen, the meaner the better. Think how many wee ones have nightmares over the Wicked Witch of the West and her flying monkeys (and if you’re thinking of Dick Cheney sending his evil minions out into the night, I’m right there with you). Fearful imaginings that go BOO! in the night were borrowed to terrorize us, and we fell for it. It’s doubtful that these stories can help us solve real 21st century problems, but we stopped doing nuance just when we needed it most.
In these simplistic tales, the unerringly naïve fall prey to wicked schemes and dark devices, ultimately rescued at the very last moment by the pure in heart. It’s a sweet and well-worn plot device, soothing to children, but one increasingly removed from today’s reality. The fair maiden, the witch’s apple, the charming prince? Still prototypes for behavior in this century, or whispers from an obsolete mentality? Any pure hearts out there willing to attempt a rescue of reality?