Roseann Runte

The Age of Irony

The earth has come through the Ice, Stone and Bronze Ages, the Age of Agriculture, the Industrial Age. Today we live in the Age of Irony. It is ironic that we have the wealth to eliminate much poverty, the power to save the planet, the means to communicate, the science and technology to extend life, the art and words to make life agreeable, but not the wisdom to succeed.

Human history can be measured by a litany of disasters, a text punctuated by wars, natural and human violence. We can describe history as a pendulum moving between extremes, actions and reactions, all negative with small periods of stability, peace, and hope. Voltaire described history as a series of tsunamis natural disasters, which in turn cause strife and suffering (for example, the earthquake in Lisbon, in the 18th century). History may also be viewed as a series of small explosions (man-made disasters), smaller in scope but which have repercussions around the world ever more rapidly. The shot heard around the world today reverberates and is heard with an impressive immediacy in the living room of each family, the heart of every individual.

Today, it is sadly ironic that mothers willingly send their children to war - to immolate themselves with bombs and that people kill and maim innocent children. Such acts are against all sense of humanity, how can they be? The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights affirmed that all humankind is joined in a common bond of love for children. On this sentiment was built a universal declaration of tolerance, respect, and human values. The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights said the love children bound world together. How can mothers offer their children up as suicide bombers? How can militants plant land mines in school yards? The only answer I can find - beyond anger - is the lack of hope. The total absence of hope. When life is so terrible that death is preferable, when people believe that life has no value, and when humankind forgets its responsibility to self and others, then, humankind loses its sense of humanity and ethics. Universal values are discarded. The conditions which contribute to this lack of humanity are extremes: the extremes of the pendulum, the tsunamis, the eruptions of violence. These conditions exist the world over, and thanks to the media, are instantly shared. In this regard, information technology is a tool, not a savior. It is a most useful tool which could be employed to:

• bring scientists around the world together with a greater capacity to solve problems more rapidly
• bring people around the world together, sharing knowledge and concern in a positive effort to solve problems
• bring North/South together in sharing resources and in protecting/conserving them for future generations, creating new dialogues and sharing teaching as well as linking caring with technology and binding the world together

Information technology is also a dangerous tool - providing misinformation, creating heroes and villains, choosing which details to delete, which stories to publish, excluding stories of human achievement, including negative stories. Former Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbacher used to say, 'Nobody will print the story of the dog who came home.' The press likes to believe it is neutral. But even the words they use indicate a bias. That slant is usually subtle in North America. However it is evident. For example, a story was reported in two papers: in one, the headline read: 'Government loses to Unions' in the other: 'Labor wins landmark decision.' News is cut up and sprinkled among the advertisements. It is enough to distract the reader's attention. The news may also be hidden in the space beneath the obituaries or sandwiched between columns. Reporting is rarely in depth. We have barely complete explanations. We all know this. And yet we rely on the press. The press knows this and they still publish stories which are not true or fully researched. The press can make/break careers and countries.

We should never forget the power nor the responsibility of the pen.

On this occasion we need to discuss the role of the press in the context of the days preceding the election. I see the press playing a role in the division of America, for I think the U.S. is more sharply divided than ever - perhaps since the Civil War, the drawing of the Mason-Dixon line.

This discussion has occurred because the press encourages simplistic dichotomies, blaming officials or candidates who try to give nuances or to explain. They are then called Aintellectuals (a bad word), Aundecided or Aunclear (2 more bad words).

Today in America we find Red or Blue states. Normal differences are exaggerated in times of election, but in 2004, we are right or left or far right and slightly right of center. Candidates are for or against tax, for public or private education, for accessible health care or not, for closed or open borders.

The division between rich/poor is more evident in the U.S. today than it has been for many years. The middle class has shrunk. The prevailing feeling is not a reflection of Mills, Keynes or Galbraith's Good Society. It is a selfish attitude which will end in the choice to build prisons rather than schools and gated communities rather than open neighborhoods. Unless we share wealth, we will lose our own enjoyment of it, our own liberty. This is not only true of the U.S., it is true of every nation in the world.

The reduction of information to sound bites creates superficiality. Sound bites are like oral cartoons and cannot, but do, replace thoughtful discourse.

There is an enormous quantity of information available but what is actually reported makes one wonder. Last week, the headlines in my own local paper were on one day, my salary, and on the next, an impertinent zebra who attacked a rhinoceros in the local zoo.

Media coverage is reduced to reports on the competition of charisma vs. intelligent leadership, visual image vs. substance - and, if that is not enough, we then hear interviews of people about their opinions on appearance and that replaces the news!

Perhaps more sinister is the suppression of information. Our government decided we should not see bodies of soldiers or caskets any more. In any case we face the closing of the viewers/readers' mind (we cannot stand to look anymore - perhaps we are numbed with horror). Then there is fear, the delicate inappropriateness of voicing critical opinions in a time of war - - which, I am pleased to report, has been largely overcome by our late night comedians who have delivered a healthy dose of satire on all sides).

There is also the controlling effect of the poles - election by prediction. Rather than being simply a measure of public opinion, polls actually become the means to form opinion. We are like patients with a fever. When told we are feverish, our temperature often rises with concern or stress.

In America where we once carefully separated church and state, it is ironic to observe that extreme politics begin to resemble religion. Politics are not logical but passionate. For example, when one views the other party members as bad, immoral simply because of their affiliation, this is indeed a matter for concern.

This is truly an age of irony. America is a leader in the global economy and wants to play the role of an international leader. All Americans like to see themselves as riding white horses and wearing white hats. I do too! Yet we are rarely good at crossing borders or learning languages. Todorov in La conquête de l'Amérique reminds us that there are three ways to react when first encountering Other - confront and destroy, swallow up, or negotiate a compromise.

America has had no need to confront for some time. We are surrounded by oceans and peaceful neighbors, with hostilities hidden behind a curtain of iron. Immigrants were swallowed up in the melting pot. But they were not alone. Europeans came to America seeking gold, glory and God - or like de Soto, the Fountain of Youth. Perhaps Americans imitated this behavior. Now, however, we all need a new quest. A quest for renewed hope.

Beyond politics, the U.S. and the world need some solutions:

1. Education is the principle solution, giving hope that people can improve their status. It gives them the ability to participate actively in government by and for the people. Thomas Jefferson and the forebears of our nation founded universities and schools, knowing that the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness depends on education. Education provides a means to live, to participate, to seek the joy which comes of using one's mind, as Huber Reeves, the Nobel laureate in physics said in his book, l'Univers a-t-il un sens(?). But today we need a special kind of education.
   1. We need a global education, where we meet the other, where we gain the ability to see ourselves and to see ourselves as others see us.
   2. We need an education which includes global issues: the environment, the economy, work, health, transportation. The curriculum must not only be interdisciplinary but demonstrative of the fact that we share the future and are interdependent.
   3. We need an education which transcends ethnic and cultural divisions.
   4. We need an education which uses and fosters the creation of new technologies. American poet Wallace Stevens called our frontiers a geography of hope. Today we need to recreate the geography of hope in the minds and hearts of young people around the world.
2. We need to pay attention to information and information technology.
   • Open access to information is important. It is not just knowledge which is power, it is the person who controls the search engines, who organizes knowledge, who will have power in the future.
   • We need to continue decreasing costs so information technology is accessible in both the North/South.
   • We need good, reliable information. This will free us from fear of unknown, our greatest fear.