Hillary Needs More Memory Food

My last post was about perception and how for some things, we need to be able to all come together and agree that there is one meaning. Hillary Clinton seems to have provided one of these moments I was hoping for.

To be fair, I'll start by saying I am not a fan of Hillary. I'm one of those people who amazingly finds it insane that we here in New York randomly allowed her to run for Senate here after she moved to NY only to do so. I don't know, I'll support the people who have been more active and actually know the people they are serving, thank you very much. And I also think as soon as she got into office, all she did was begin an eight year long campaign. Chuck Schumer seems to always be involved in something, or appearing with his constituents, or at least seemingly doing something that relates to his actual job, and I must say I'd much prefer a candidate like that.

Rant aside, Clinton's claim that she entered Bosnia as First Lady under sniper fire and in dire danger, then the release of video that proves she nearly had a welcoming parade on the tarmac, seems to be one of those issues where we just have to look at the situation and understand we are straight up being lied to. It won't happen - too many people will believe that she "misremembered". I say if you misremember every important issue and come up with an excuse for every contradiction you face, it gets to be the boy who cried wolf. Eventually, we need to either believe that someone isn't fit to run the country if he or she can barely remember what they did last week, or that we are being lied to.

Honestly, I get nervous if someone is questioning me about something and I know I did nothing wrong. How politicians (not limited to Hillary) can stand there and spin yarns for stories that go out to millions of people and think that they are going to get away with these tall tales in today's technological age astounds me. It's either blatant stupidity or blatant arrogance, and I don't like either.

Is there any way we can all agree this is a terrible, intentional lie that she should be held accountable for, especially as she criticizes Obama's lack of experience?

Probably not.

But a man can dream, can't he?

Divisions over a Speech on Our Racial Divide

What I find simply amazing is how millions of people can listen to or watch the same speech or event, and each will have their own interpretation.

Something in our human existence allows each one of us to craft our own belief about our experiences, and it makes each individual unique. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, because it's not. It's what has led us to advance throughout our existence, and is what will either save us or doom us in the end. I'm not passing any judgment on it - just noting it's significance.

The reason I bring this up is the response to Barack Obama's recent speech on racism in America, brought about by comments his spiritual adviser and close friend has made in numerous sermons. It's interesting how wide the range of reactions has been. Some, including my professor at Fordham, Paul Levinson, have suggested that the speech was a huge step in race relations , perhaps one day to be ranked with Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have A Dream Speech". Others vehemently declare that Obama's refusal to condemn the remarks is proof that he agrees with them, and that this will be his downfall. How can it be both one of the greatest speeches in history and the nail in the coffin of a campaign at the same time?

Human perception is truly amazing.

If you have a moment, take a look at this article from the History News Network. Whether you agree or not for this specific case, I thought it was an inspiring reflection on Obama's decision regarding this pastor, and how, in the grand scheme of things, we need to stop scapegoating others so we can lead better lives.
I'd like to take a moment to continue with the idea of perception in politics, but to step away from the Obama issue. While I was thinking about the statements I made above, I started thinking that while there might not necessarily be a one hundred percent truth in this crazy world of ours, we should be able to come to a consensus on SOME things. Obviously we all have our own biases and personalities that will alter how we understand our world, but we should be able to look at certain things and agree. It reminded me of a line from a Lewis Black comedy routine, when he was talking about this issue of how we can never agree on anything:

"...and there has to come a point where Democrats and Republicans... where we see a piece of footage and we just agree on what the fuck reality is. And the fact is, you cannot show video of a Land Rover running over a cat and then say 'The cat was trying to kill itself. I'm going to need at least 3 days to find the note that he left.'"

You can take a look here if you like

Yeah, it's a comedy routine, I get it. But it made a lot of sense. Certainly we are all going to have different opinions on almost every issue that comes up. But there does come a time when we need to stop allowing our elected officials to spin what's going on into a story that will simply calm us down and work to their benefit. This election has the potential to turn into one of these watershed moments, and we might indeed have the chance to hold our politicians accountable for their past actions, to send a message to anyone newly elected, and to make sure they understand that their promises need to be kept. Using our own perception is one thing - allowing someone else to tell you what to perceive is dangerous. We need to understand what is important for the American public as a whole, and demand it to happen.