In a few hours of May 30th, 2020, the US's highest highs and lowest lows were exposed to a planetary audience. On that day, the SpaceX Dragon capsule sent two astronauts to the Space Station marking the first time-space travel could be done by a private startup competing with others at a fraction of the cost of the first NASA taxpayer-funded missions.
Not only that, the booster rocket Falcon 9 returned to a launching pad ready to be reutilized with astonishing precision.
While the country celebrated the technological achievement in the skies, an outburst of a century-old tradition of racial violence brought all Americans (and the world's) attention back to Hell in the well-known tradition of police brutality against blacks and rioting and self-defeating looting afterward.
Left and Right-wing politicians -helped by an intentionally divisive President- added fuel to the flames by justifying unacceptable behaviors -police brutality and looting- with equally flawed rhetoric and slogans.
Left and Right coincided in blaming the victims with stereotypes -dangerous black men, a racist cop, white privilege neighborhoods, the "poor" looting- that flew in the face of watchable facts. Our lying eyes could see helpless black man choked to death, cops (white and black low income) letting rioters burn their cars and beat them up following orders, looters filling the trunks of their own cars, and even rented U-Haul trucks.
So much for cable "news" -an oxymoron for anybody who watches hour after hour of endless repetition of the same (one or two for each hour is enough for Fox, MSNBC, and CNN) "news" twisted and washed with partisan talking points.
Left and Right coincided in blaming the victims with stereotypes -dangerous black men, a racist cop, white privilege neighborhoods, the "poor" looting- that flew in the face of watchable facts. Our lying eyes could see helpless black man choked to death, cops (white and black low income) letting rioters burn their cars and beat them up following orders, looters filling the trunks of their own cars, and even rented U-Haul trucks.
So much for cable "news" -an oxymoron for anybody who watches hour after hour of endless repetition of the same (one or two for each hour is enough for Fox, MSNBC, and CNN) "news" twisted and washed with partisan talking points.
The country remains struggling with its own power, between astonishing creation and divisive self-destruction.
Add to the picture the pandemic tragedy -which already has caused more deaths in 4 months than the combined wars in Corea and Vietnam in many years-. In this case, partisan politics have added a secondary infection to the virus by dividing those who want to work from those who want to live as if these two were exclusive options.
It's time to stop watching cable "news" networks to stop their toxic partisan misinformation and look at the skies for inspiration to work more sensibly on Earth.
After all, looking up always helps find the better angels of our Nature.
Add to the picture the pandemic tragedy -which already has caused more deaths in 4 months than the combined wars in Corea and Vietnam in many years-. In this case, partisan politics have added a secondary infection to the virus by dividing those who want to work from those who want to live as if these two were exclusive options.
It's time to stop watching cable "news" networks to stop their toxic partisan misinformation and look at the skies for inspiration to work more sensibly on Earth.
After all, looking up always helps find the better angels of our Nature.
