The Death of Moderation

I've been mulling over a topic recently that has been on my mind a great deal, trying to figure out how best to formulate a cogent blog post on my random and disparate thoughts when, out of the blue, a comment was place on an old blog post of well over a year ago that managed to solidify my thoughts and proved my yet-unformed thesis.  (Let's not get into arguing about how specious that reasoning is, please.  Or how long of a run-on sentence that was. I'm aware.  Just go with me on this.)

The original post, which can be found here, was all about a bumper sticker I had seen on a car, which stated, "Freedom to Smoke Without Harassment."  I went on to pontificate concerning the absolute idiocy of what I considered to be the only two meanings that could be derived from that bumper sticker.  One year and two months later, a "gentleman" by the name of "Yourmom" posted the following comment on the blog post:

Your rant shows just how stupid and intolerant you are of others. Are you "allergic" to blacks and hispanics too? I would hate to know you, or god forbid be related to you. People that don't allow others to have a point of view other than their own are a cancer on this planet. Have fun worshipping hitler,and if you don't believe in MY FREEDOM TO SMOKE, do us all a favor and die from second hand smoke.

Charming, right?  I thought so. 

Yourmom, while obviously unable to read and comprehend even the most simply written of arguments, still managed to prove one major point: Moderation is Dead.  I didn't want someone forcing me to inhale second hand smoke, and therefore I worship Hitler and deserve to die of second hand smoke myself.  That makes sense.

The idea of calm, moderated, and reasoned thoughts and actions has become completely foreign to most people.  We live in a world where only the most extreme views are featured on television or above the fold on a newspaper's front page.  I even fall victim to the extremism myself sometimes, when I disagree with an opinion or practice. 

Extremism is everywhere. The most atrocious behavior leads to the highest ranked television programs.  Politicos are no longer able or willing to compromise or reach agreements.  Food portions have ballooned out of control.  Credit card debt has taken over the economy.  Political correctness has run out of control, checked only by the most extreme hatred and prejudice.

Moderation is dead.

Take, for example, the current political climate and our sitting President.  According to the media, Barack Obama is either the death knell of the American Dream or he is Jesus 2.0.  He either wants to turn the United States into a Communist country or he will single-handedly fix the economy, provide us with perfect health care, legalize gay marriage, solve the housing crisis, and cause the sun to rise each day and the stars to shine each night.

Even those who are supposed to take a moderate or neutral stance are finding themselves unable to do so.  Helen Thomas, the long-time White House correspondent, was a member of the media, responsible for reporting on our governmental happenings, should have been a bastion of objectivity.  Yet, she couldn't help but spewing an extreme viewpoint on Israel.  Rand Paul, self-professed Libertarian, recently discussed repealing the Civil Rights Act on the Rachel Maddow show (who, in all honesty, isn't the most moderate of people, either.)

Or take, for example, the media itself.  On one hand, you have asshats like Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck, who equate Obama to Hitler (seriously…do these people understand what the definition of Fascism is?)  On the other, you've got The Bachelorette, The Real Housewives of Orange County, or anything by Seth McFarlane, who are more interested in shocking and pushing the boundaries of decency than they are in entertaining.  People have forgotten that comedy is supposed to be funny, not just offensive.

The left blames the right for being bigoted, closed-minded, prejudiced, and ignorant, while the right blames the left for being unrealistic, dangerous, aimless, and deluded.  Neither side realizes that, in acting and saying these things, they are themselves being exactly what they hate their "opponents" for being.  Each side is acting out the very stereotypes they project on the other side.

And the food world is no different.  Kentucky Fried Chicken recently released a "sandwich" called the Double Down, a pile of deep-fried putrescence in which the sandwich consists of two slices of cheese, three slices of bacon, and special sauce sandwiched between two fried chicken breasts.  Even the "normal" fast food has gotten out of control, with serving sizes reaching jaw-dropping proportions. 

Yet, on the other hand, are the whole foods army who pontificate the importance of eating only locally grown, organic food, no matter how inconvenient or how much it costs.  They aren't willing to rest until everyone and everything is a level 5 vegan (they won't eat anything that casts a shadow.) (Name that quote.) 

This constant extremism has gotten to the point where we are losing site of the important things in our lives.  How is it that we have gotten to a point where it is okay to threaten to kill another human being because they signed a piece of paper requiring health care?  Where it is okay to fly a plane full of people and fuel into a skyscraper because you disagree with the country's ideals?  How is it Obama's fault that the BP oil rig in the gulf exploded?  Yet sure enough, I have heard appeals for Obama's resignation over the way this was handled.  (And let's not even get into the whole hoopla over his citizenship status). 

The main problem lies with the fact that, as both the people and the media in this country and abroad continue to get more extreme, those of us who stand firmly in the middle and try our best to come to some compromise that will benefit everyone find ourselves increasingly unable to be heard.  When airtime is allotted only to the loudest and most ludicrous points of view, it is insanely difficult for the middle of the road to win any believers in the moderate way.

Those on the extremes can't seem to understand that you can disagree with them while not necessarily espousing their opposition's point of view.  They don't understand that sometimes, you just don't care that much.  And most importantly, they don't realize how much more effective they would be if they could stop pushing all the hellfire and damnation buttons at their disposal and try to create real discussion.

Actually, that's not true.  They understand.  And really, we have nobody to blame but ourselves.  Glen Beck wouldn't have a television show on the air today if he didn't have a rabid audience.  Bill Maher wouldn't be a bastion of late-night self-righteousness if there weren't a world of people willing to play along with his political masterbation (i.e., he's only pleasuring himself).

I think it's about time that those of us who stand in the middle need to raise our voices in a sort of Extreme Moderation.  I'm tired of being presented with an endless line of politicians who pander to the extreme left or extreme right.  I'm tired of the television shows that ridicule me or my personal beliefs.  I'm sick of pundits who use Hitler as their go-to comparison whenever they disagree with something.  I'm tired of a world where the only way you can be heard is to be the biggest crackpot, the meanest spirit, or the most wildly offensive is the one whose opinions get the most air time.

So moderates of the world, it's time that we stand up and make ourselves heard.  Spout your moderation at the top of your lungs.  Make sure everyone hears it.  Do you best to make spread your message of moderation to the world.  Let's see if we can't reign in the extremists on both side.  I'm tired of Black Holes and Blinding Snowstorms.  I'm ready for a few shades of grey.

Oh, and to the douchebag who told me to go back to worshipping Hitler…really?  Really?  Grow up.

MODERATES UNITE!