The Problem With Americans

I have a friend who writes an atheism blog, and recently, his "Ask an Atheist" section has warranted a whole lot of replies. Although it's intriguing, I still haven't come up with a question of my own. But in the last week, I've been slowly wondering if the situation between Tiger Woods and his wife has exposed the ugliest side of Americans, and if God really intended for there to be civilization as we know it.

I know my friend's first argument too well: God is a product of civilization. And based on knowledge, facts and faith, I can either argue that point all day, or choose not to. We live in a country that allows arguments and ambivalence. I could have chosen not to pay attention to Tiger Woods this week. I could have ignored every opinion. But the implosion of the American media has been too great to ignore. Our media has been incredibly consumed with gossip, and the particulars of an individual's life. The fact that it's thrown upon us is even worse, and the fact that so many care is proof that unimportant things are officially at the forefront of American thinking.

But even the term "American thinking" seems like an oxymoron. Americans are examining this domestic situation through perspectives that involve no thinking, and no reason. What escapes this generation of gossip-media enthusiasts is that they are not new. One hundred years ago and one thousand years ago there were "common people" and artists, royalty, tycoons and clergy in positions of grace and power over those common people, and that's always been how they've made their money. The separation and the fascination has always been there-the commoners obsessed with living vicariously, and the powerful looking to capitalize. But within those most powerful individuals, there are those who are the absolute best at what they do, or the most important. There has only been one Benjamin Franklin, or Michael Jordan or John F. Kennedy each. There will be only one transcendent, dedicated and skilled golfer like Tiger Woods, and to get to that level, like with all other in history like him, there was a glitch in the way he saw the world. These people are just different. They see a different set of possibilities and impossibilities than we do. The notion that they are human in the same mental way we are is silly. We like comfort, and like like being the best. There is no settling in them. It's difficult for them to understand that something in life can't be had, won or bought, and even with that, satisfactions come few and far between.

The way regular men buy cars to impress women, they buy women to impress the public. They marry them and have children. They cheat with exotic women like they drive exotic cars for the weekend. These women aren't like their wives and shouldn't be. When you're buying the world, and winning the rest of it, and charming your way into whats left, you might treat everyone differently. Many don't understand that. They condemn the lives they allow. What's worse though is that there's media coverage of all of it. There was no TMZ in 1975, so we didn't know about Muhammad Ali's mistresses until the biopic with Will Smith was released. And for good reason. Any opportunity for Americans to act like commoners or worse, an opinionated mob; to act like those in history who burned accused witches at the stake or spent more votes on the American Idol finale than the Presidential election, would have been too much to bear.

The evolution of technology and media has renewed the common person's spirit for engaging in gossip, and if we knew every instance of infidelity or if it was plainly thrown in our faces that famous people are not like us, it always crushes and intrigues us. When Charles Barkley told us that he wasn't a role model, he was taking for granted that people understood that those who are the best at what they do have to be good parents to their own children, and good husbands and wives. We usually only worry about that person's image. If we were really worried about the person, we'd leave them alone and understand that we will never, ever be them.