And speaking of political turns of events, those of us here in the over-educated belt are kind of shocked to see that a good-looking "regular-guy" defeated an older, not overly charismatic, but very articulate and intelligent woman. There were lots of factors that led to his victory, and one of the major ones was his "No new Taxes" pledge -- the pledge of every conservative since Reagan. The pledge that has led to huge deficits, and then, under Bush W, to huge differences between the sinking middle-class and the fewer and fewer who have more and more.
But brains do that -- us humans are somewhat programmed to take the short-term over the longer term. We always seem to have a sense that there may not be a long-term so lets take what we can right now. That is part (again, only part) of the reason people have affairs. When the heat gets turned up, it is very easy to convince yourself to enjoy what the moment has to offer. Your mind can jump to the idea that it won't matter, you won't get caught, or simply that you will deal with it later, but right now is RIGHT NOW!
This is certainly the thinking (and lack of logic) that goes with addictions. When something is what you want, what you crave, the future consequences seem to diminish, if not disappear entirely.
So it isn't surprising that people who feel that they have less money in their wallet, will vote to keep it there, and try to avoid thinking that we are all turning into California, where even their great university system, which is part of why Silicone Valley was so successful, is crumbling, and they still don't want to pay.
Long-term planning takes maturity. Even Freud defined part of being mentally healthy as being able to delay gratification. But, we can always do that later.
1 comment:
you should have seen--and perhaps you did see--chris matthews' "hardball" with howard dean a couple of nights ago . . .
dean said, in so many (silly, illogical, inarticulate) words, that the reason brown won over coakley was that voters were not seeking immediate gratification, but rather were trying to send a message to washington that obama's healthcare package didn't go far enough . . .
as matthew's pointed out, then why vote for NO healthcare, which is what brown represents.
(insert uncomfortable, perplexed laughs)
i'm from california. i've lived here all my life. went to UCLA. i love this place. and i agree with what you're saying, but this isn't just about gratification . . . it's also about ignorance.
you touched on it at the beginning of your post.
see pretty boy.
oooh, me likey pretty boy.
hear 30 second soundbite that sounds appealing, even if there's no depth, no real thoughtfulness, or future for follow-through.
oooh, me likey small bits of information that don't require time, thought, research . . .
we are a nation of soundbites.
we don't think anymore.
our brains can't chew anymore. we feed ourselves on the baby food equivalent of intellectual information.
mush.
you think the east coast is the only hotbed for intellectuals? we've got stanford, berkeley, ucla (i'd say "usc", but my religion forbids it) . . .
and yet . . . AND YET! we're the same state that struck down gay marriage. and do you know why?
well, obviously it's complex . . . a lot of issues, but . . . soundbites.
"prop 8 will allow teachers to instruct students on how to BE GAY!"
"prop 8 will destroy marriage!"
"prop 8 will increase the gay population (AS IF it were contagious!)"
people didn't even bother to research the matter.
they heard just enough to feed into their ignorance and fears and VOILA! an entire segment of the population cast aside.
welcome to the united states of soundbites . . .
ps: amazing blog. been reading for a while. love it.
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