Sound Bite Nation

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

Americans have always loved slogans. Born around the time that TV found its way into living rooms, I grew up parallel to the medium and remember a few early examples from childhood. “I Like Ike” was an easy one to articulate, although the Ike in question turned out to be an old bald guy in grainy black and white. He won the first political nomination I ever saw televised, but at age four, I was most impressed by the silly headgear worn by constituents. Another slogan from those childhood years was, “Better Dead Than Red.” Yet another television show, I Led Three Lives, informed the viewing public of the pitfalls of spying and the dreaded infection of Communism in our midst, but I had very little context for red OR for dead, so I considered this slogan as silly as the hats. I was never much of a follower.

Still, after all these years, I continue to be amazed at how obtuse the public can be. I still find it hard to believe that more than a tiny cross-section of citizens can raise themselves on two legs and function as decent employees, parents and/or neighbors while believing the sheer nonsense that public employees are a threat to the nation’s economy, that giving tax breaks to those who are swimming in money will create jobs, or that turning back the clock to a time when everyone shifted for themselves could produce anything other than social chaos. These citizens have been influenced by sound bites that have replaced actual intellectual discourse.

I count some of my Pea Patch neighbors in this group, fusty old white folk, too religious to immerse themselves fully in 20th century lifestyle options, let alone 21st. I don’t want to appear callous, but it may be too late for them to do anything other than recycle, be reincarnated with a fresh perspective (perhaps darker skin) and a new set of sensitizing challenges. Yes, these folk are racist in a classic passive/aggressive sense, and while some admit it, most do not. They laugh at jokes and sound bites that would make a progressive’s hair stand on end. They are the standard-bearers for a white, Christian America where nothing ever changes, where everybody knows their place and doesn’t pull on the public tit.

If the polls are correct, the Baggers are less popular than Congress itself, but that does not stop them from garnering a disproportionate amount of attention. If you talk to them, they are confident that they represent the deep-seated wishes of Americans everywhere, with FOX News airing the sound bites to prove it. I’m not going to repeat any talking points, which get enough coverage already, but think how “death panels” muddied the waters over legitimate end-of-life issues and drove a stake through the public option in health care legislation.

Over the last year, sound bites have turned a marginally significant deficit issue into a shrill indictment of Obama for running up the deficit and breaking the government. If you really REALLY want that to be true, believing the talking points is a no-brainer, but for the rest of us, politics might make more sense if the general public didn’t swallow the bites whole, regardless of truth or falsity. In these confusing days of “fair and balanced” infotainment, there’s at least a 50 percent chance that they’re a lie.

At the turn of this century, we had to establish organizations like Snopes to vet what we heard. Now, given the alternative universe the Pubs prefer to live in, there are organizations to cross-check supposed “socialist” vetting operations that are a function of the “left wing media.” (And gosh, wouldn’t I love that to be true, even for a few months, to balance out the bullshit! Just an equal amount of televised Dem opinion to Pub would shock the nation out of its slump.) If you’re new to the information game, you have to Google to find out which vetting organization serves which political train of thought, all the while wondering which side Google favors.

Like having an easy enemy to rage against, sound bites reduce complex situations into simplistic take-aways that serve no one but politicians and the fringe. When people mention sound bites, I don’t think of the loud-mouthed Pubs and their cottage industry of quotes for the faithful. I think of Rodney King’s question to a horrified public back in 1992.

King, an alcoholic black man fearful that a DUI charge would violate his parole, made a poor decision and entered into a high speed chase with the Los Angeles police force. After being stopped and removed from his vehicle, he was repeatedly tased, kicked, and beaten with batons by four LA cops. All of this was caught on tape by a private citizen and became fodder for the evening news.

The sound bite? “Can we just get along?” muttered the battered Mr. King, standing before a mob of paparazzi, microphones waving and cameras flashing. The poignant irony of that question, and the hesitation in his voice, distinguished Rodney King’s statement in the face of brutality. The incident itself became seeming proof of systemic police brutality and racism within the LAPD. The question King asked is often remembered as an example of “go along to get along” consciousness. It wasn’t, but we’ll come back to that.

Times have changed since Rodney faced the cameras. In the last decade, we have lost so many personal freedoms and civil liberties in the name of “safety” that it makes the head swim. Safety itself is a sound bite, as is homeland, as is security: each prompts an emotional response. So too the war on terror, and the looming anguish of weapons of mass destruction, sound bites laced with Bushie fear-speak.

The easy enemy that brought Homeland Security into power wore a big turban, encompassing all religions that weren’t Christian and all skin that wasn’t white. Our nation was not newly xenophobic in its overheated response, merely led by those who still believed it was better to be dead than red and never left home without their flag-pins. Their jingoistic sound bites of shallow patriotism created a decade of shame and dissolution. The economic plunge is their fault, no matter how many talking points they offer to prove otherwise.

Freedoms were surrendered, yes indeed. Our freedom wasn’t taken: it was surrendered, a bit at a time and thoughtlessly. The man who filmed Rodney King’s beating from his apartment balcony could now be arrested, tried, and jailed for recording police interactions that seem suspicious or criminal. No warrant is needed to tap our phones or record our e-mail. Normal behaviors guaranteed by the First Amendment can be met with tasering from nervous cops now, and nobody questions their right to use this violent, sometimes deadly method as they please. We surrender all rights to privacy when we travel by plane or public transit, and the recent BART flap makes clear that whatever stands in the way of government or corporate authority will not be tolerated. And yes, the more that’s privatized, the more authority is transferred from government to the private sector.

After Rodney King was released from jail, largely due to the brutal video shown repeatedly around the world, the four police officers who were active in his assault went on trial. A circus from the beginning, the trial led to an acquittal that even Poppy Bush called into question. The verdict sparked race riots in Los Angeles and across the country. In LA, the result was more than 50 deaths, over 7000 fires set, and nearly a billion dollars damage. It took the National Guard, the Marines and Army to control the situation. On the third day of the riot, Rodney King was asked to speak. This is what he said:

People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids? It’s just not right. It’s not right. It’s not, it’s not going to change anything. We’ll, we’ll get our justice. They won the battle, but they haven’t won the war.

Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to work it out.

It has always impressed me that the man who acted the most mature and the least threatening in this passion play was the man at the center of the story, Rodney King himself. An alcoholic and felon, King still had every right to be angry or vindictive about his treatment, yet he took the high road, smoothing the way to resolve this incident in favor of the little guy. A subsequent monetary award followed, as did Department of Justice indictments for civil rights violations.

In 2012, the Rodney King incident will be 20 years old. I wonder if his question will be answered by then: can we all get along? Can those who follow the GOP’s top tier candidates — Romney, Perry and Bachmann — find common ground with those who attempt to steer Obama left of center as often as they can? What has to change before we can, like Rodney King, find higher ground?

I’ve told you before that I believe the times themselves are pushing us toward awakening and evolution, that the energies we track through the influence of the heavenly bodies are like the stage crew at a play, working behind the scenes to move everything into place for the events outlined in a script already written yet rich with improvisation. This week I’ve seen those energies peek out from behind the proscenium arch, flashing a smile as the thumps and bumps of shifting scenery make way for the next act and the next. Meanwhile, our president is lefty on the stump and moderate in the capital, but every time he opens his mouth, no matter what he says, I swear I’ve heard this sound bite somewhere before — the measure of a man walking the higher road:

We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out.