The Conniption Fit Diet

What happened to the idealism, the optimism and the entrepreneurial attitudes that were so endemic to the American Spirit? And is it gone forever or can it be restored for the generations that follow us?

As a kid I used to get really frustrated trying to fly a kite. The wind would shift, my kite would twist and turn, and in a few minutes my kite string would inevitably get tangled in tree branches or the line would tangle itself around my reel. Finally, I would have to bring down the kite and try to untangle the string ball. It was frustrating and sometimes it was just easier to get a new string reel.

We can't do that with our American culture. After 240 years it should be expected that any country, any culture or social management system would have lots of cracks in their facade and tangles in their historic string. It is impossible to evolve socially, to sail across the ocean on a ship of fools, without having conflicts and entanglements. Mankind has been trying to stabilize society for thousands of years and our unique experiment is certainly not perfect, but is better than any system in recorded history

Our melting pot of cultures (unlike almost anyplace on the planet), has been faced with the most challenging dynamics ever. Nowhere in history has a society embraced such diversity of culture and lifestyle. And no other dynasty has settled so many worldwide conflicts without subjugating its opponents. Our American benevolence extends to our own citizens too. We want the best for everyone. 

Some will say we have used slaves to build our dynasty, and there is some truth to that. But people forget that in that period of human history, the use of slaves was not viewed as cruel or immoral. It is a fake attempt to character assassinate an entire nation by using elements of a different era to undermine our current civilization. In the mid-twentieth century, we used lobotomy to resolve mental illness.

The slavery charge is a disingenuous effort to break up our family.

We do not live in that era. We are responsible for our era. And in our world, we want to free people from another kind of servitude. The servitude of misinformed certitude. The addiction of living in a state of dependence, waiting for an elite group of intellectuals to provide for us, to be our parents.

I am sure the various kingdoms and dynasties of the remote past had their challenges, but they also had much more barbaric ways of dealing with them. The one thing that has held us together, that has kept our kite in the air, is the Constitution of the United States of America. This is the legacy of our era. It has been a struggle, and it always will be, but in this system, the people make their own decisions, and they won't always be perfect.

So my goal in sharing my thoughts with you is to explore the reasons behind the situation we find ourselves in. Why do we see things in black or white, or confront each other with anger and vindictiveness, instead of a sense of reconciliation?

Why do both sides have no room for compromise?

And will we ever be able to find a new and positive common ground where we can return to a sense of national family without the negative connotation of being nativist and xenophobic?

In my book The Illusion of Knowledge, I suggested that our school system has, purposely or not, created a couple of generations of victims. We have trained an army of citizens who expect to be praised for their helpless attitudes, and are angry with the world their reckless parents have left them. And that those same students of progressive theory have matriculated into the mainstream. I will leave it to you to decide if I have made my case...

If my theory is correct, and our society is practicing the Gospel of Progressivism, how do we untangle this mess? How do we put the genie back in the bottle? This is a different challenge than fighting a war against the Progressive Jihad, because the warriors in that case are deeply committed and devout believers. They are bent on implementing a top-down management system. They simply use the tools of the Gospel of Progressivism to recruit their warriors.

I am focusing on the American citizens that have fallen into a codependency, a world of addiction to victimhood, that are actually aware that something is wrong and they are open to an intervention.

We have to do this while we all keep working, keep living, keep being engaged. The world can't wait for us, we have to keep on keeping on. We have to live for our children and their children. We are going up against a strong rip tide of cultural decay, but like losing weight, we just have to make the commitment to get the job done.

What do parents do when their kid has a conniption fit whenever they don't get what they want? Does anything work or should the parent just bribe them with a reward? Because for all intensive purposes, that is how we have been dealing with these unhappy, unsettled, unscrupulous "victims'' that confront our leaders, that promote idiotic ideas like "socialist democracy", like "sanctuary cities", or rewriting the constitution to abolish the electoral college or repeal the 2nd amendment.

Look at how the news media has contorted the way they distribute the "news". They readily admit that they use their pulpit to try to change the world. These ideological journalists are our kids! They use the power of their profession like a weapon that they were not properly trained to use.

Look at how most people communicate now: they text each other, using abbreviated language and avoid personal contact altogether. They share intimate information about themselves, then complain that no one respects them. Should we be surprised when they invent their own language and then impose it on everyone else? Should we be surprised when they have little or no understanding of law and how the legislative process works? When we can't communicate about serious personal or community issues?

Look at what dominates our culture: everything revolves around promoting personal images and benefits, around superficial entertainment and celebrity. Western civilization is drowning in narcissism and self indulgence.

The idea that we all live together on a small boat in a universal ocean is gone. When a critical parent delivers the message that each person has a responsibility to take care of themselves, the victims have a conniption fit. They attack! They scream invectives, threaten to boycott, or to destroy the messenger. They are like little kids, acting up because their specialness is threatened. 

We need to initiate a Conniption Fit Diet. A new approach to limit the consumption of conniption calories. To ban high calorie (threatening) foods from our menu. As a nation, we need to slim down our waistline, to restore our vitality and enthusiasm. We need to isolate victims from what triggers their conniption attacks.

We can do it! But we have to make a commitment to make better choices. To put aside the stuff that causes dyspepsia, that irritates our bowels, and triggers our anxieties. No more talk about xenophobia, islamophobia, racism, sexism, gender dysphoria, salary disparity, social inequity, election interference, climate change or alternative lifestyles. These are the calories/drugs that Progressives consume every day and that feeds their need for attention and praise, and causes them to crave "more of the same".

The hardest part of any diet is starting to change habits. That means we have to make hard choices. We have to stop watching fake news shows that masquerade as hard news shows. We have to distinguish what we need, not what we want. It has been too easy to choose to watch or read only what we enjoy, at the expense of real and unedited hard news. We need to financially support products that support our values and expectations. We need to limit our intake of calories from empty and demeaning video games that feed our minds sick images of depravity and death worship.

I know, you are saying, how do we do that when the entire FrankenMedia industry is based on making a profit, so they lure us by baiting their lines with stuff we can't resist and is contrary to our best moral character.

We have to fill our information and communications plates with healthy choices!

The beauty of the multimedia world wide web is that we do have control over that. We can choose which bait we bite on. We can change the market simply by abandoning those that refuse to give us what we want. If the public migrates away from fake news, profane infotainment style media, it will die on the vine.

Unfortunately many citizens are hooked on high calorie infotainment. They are essentially addicted to salacious video games, TV and Hollywood fantasy programs that have no connection to reality and paint the world as an insane three ring circus. But even addicts will tell you they know they are sick. 

They just have to hit rock bottom before they reach out for help.