Monday, July 17, 2017

Is There an Adult In the Room?


Barack Obama often liked to pretend that he was the only adult in the room.  As he saw it, he was the only one with the good sense and emotional control to make wise decisions.  Others were too caught up in the passions of the moment to put current events in perspective.
This, however, was a charade.  Our former president was an admirable speaker, but a juvenile thinker.  He could put words together better than most folks and do so with admirable composure.  As was said, he was no drama Obama.  Yet did this make him an adult?
Anyone familiar with Barack’s history knows that his political philosophy was formed when he was a teenager and underwent few changes as he supposedly matured.  He was always in favor of semi-socialist solutions.  He always regarded these as common sense.
Donald Trump, in contrast, is seldom thought of as an adult.  His language and demeanor are frequently those of an adolescent.  His penchants for name-calling and hyperbole unquestionably aim for the lowest common denominator.  They certainly do not inspire us with their penetrating insights.
Nonetheless, when our president called for “principled realism” in Riyadh and urged us to uphold our shared Western values in Warsaw, he conducted himself very much as an adult.  He also did so with a combination of restraint and determination in dealing with North Korea.
Members of the media, on the other hand, have behaved like a band of mischievous children.  They are so determined to bring down a hated president that they will stoop to any form of derision that makes him look bad.  Yet when they do, they do not stop to think about the best interests of their country—the way adults would.
To cite a small example from the recent past, mainstream journalists hysterically bemoaned Trump’s unkind dismissal of CNN while in Europe.  They complained this was unpresidential.  And yet they conveniently left out the part that he said this only because a reporter asked a question that virtually begged for such a response.
As for politicians, few of them have in recent years distinguished themselves as statesmen.  Thus, both Democrats and Republicans have amped up their mutual recriminations in the manner of schoolyard bullies.  The worst sorts of accusations are hurled without any concern for their accuracy.
Instead of quietly attempting to legislate on behalf of their constituents, congressmen nowadays preen for the cameras.  The problems we face are so complex and so vexing that mature thought would appear to be necessary.  This, however, is not what we get.  We get adolescent grandstanding.
Why is this so?  Perhaps it is because so few adults go to the voting booth.  Regrettably, not enough Americans think for themselves.  They are instead influenced by slogans and invective.  These provide easy answers that do not require them to exert effort.  This way they do not have to read, but can get solutions served up in digestible portions.
We see the same trend at the movies.  When I was an adolescent, I enjoyed reading my best friend’s stash of comic books.  The exploits of Superman and Batman were a secret indulgence that I even then realized was immature.  But today we see a comparable quest of empty-headed fun at nearly every theater.
It is currently summertime, with its tidal wave of computer-generated graphics designed to impress and excite.  The idea is to get our hearts racing, not our brains cogitating.  Throw in a dash of romance and a menagerie of monsters and we are happy as three years olds with two scoops of ice cream.
So where are the adults?  I am a college professor and I don’t see many of my students actively attempting to grow up.  For that matter, I have been shocked at how little serious reading some of my colleagues do.  They too seem to be in search of easy answers.
But guess what?  Childishness has a serious downside.  The world is too complicated for juvenile remedies.  Furthermore, the challenges we face require adult courage.  Without the clear-eyed collaboration of millions of determined adults, society is bound to become further disorganized.
Am I the only one frightened by this prospect?  I hope not!
Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Kennesaw State University


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