You have the right to remain silent

A book meeting that I attended recently got me thinking about how Baha’is are supposed to behave with regards to politics. I found that my opinions regarding the topic are wildly unpopular, but that has never stopped me from sharing as I do so love to play devil’s advocate.

My feelings are that we are called to not participate in partisan politics because of it’s divisive nature in particular. Now, are we really abstaining from that down side of politics when we are constantly saying, “As a Baha’i I do not participate in partisan politics. I mean, look at all of the horrible things that are associated with it…(Goes on to list every smarmy thing that has ever taken place in DC)” I guess I see that as participating in the negative part of politics, the gossipy back talk, without participating in the potentially good parts. It doesn’t make us look like we are staying out in order to create unity. It makes us look like the gossipy part is too good to resist, but we’re all too happy to bow out of the rest on the basis of it being beneath us.

When I voiced this opinion at my book study, it was welcomed about as much as a burning cross at a church social. It probably came out all wrong (as much of what I say does) but I thought it was a fair point that deserved at least a little thought. But it seemed as obviously wrong to them as it seemed right to me. It always amazes me how 2 people can see things in such absolutely opposite ways. To the rest of my crew, it is necessary to highlight the negatives as a means of creating a common starting place from which to guide the conversation and EVERYONE knows how corrupt politics are. And what better way to get people to see why they should stay out of politics. I think this is a cop out.

My political views have never faired well among the masses, as I have never considered having seen the latest Michael Moore film as equivalent to being well informed. I like to question a little more than that. And even though I am trying my hardest to be good and stay out of the political circus, I am more interested than ever in what really constiutes being just.

I am drawn to the phrase “unenslaved mind” that we came across in our book study. What does that mean and is it really possible to have? Are we not totally enslaved by the media and the constant flow of agenda-mentaries (I refuse to call some of these films documentaries)? The answer cannot be to turn it all off completely and be completely ignorant of what goes on in the world. There’s no real nobility in that. But it is all too easy to be so seduced by one persuasive argument that you no longer even feel compelled to give the other side a chance.

That Kaycee Anthony girl comes to mind just now. She has been so tried in the court of public opinion already that it is virtually impossible for her to receive a fair trial. But people don’t seem to care about that. They only fight for the right to a fair trial if it is for someone they have already deemed innocent themselves. As for the rest, who cares if they get a chance to defend themselves. But what do we really know about her other than what the talking heads on TV want us to know? Is that really fair? Are our minds unenslaved enough to actually say for certain that she is so guilty that it doesn’t matter that she can’t possibly get a jury or judge who hasn’t watched her be degraded on TV in a most convincing manner?

I got a little off track, but my point is this: it’s not easy to think on our own. To not give in to media and animal nature and all of the other things that are so willing to let us substitute their thought for our own. And even when you try and free your mind, sometimes it’s hard to know what thoughts are truly yours and which ones originate with Rachel Maddow or Glen Beck. I don’t pretend to have the answer, I just sometimes know the problem when I see it and even the most innocent seeming negativity is just that…negativity.