Seen today on West 93rd Street: a mother in a greengrocer’s buying a yellow apple. Her toddler was struggling with the concept. “Apples are RED!” he kept insisting. The patient mom took time and explained, “all apples are not the same. Here is a yellow one!” Clearly uncomfortable with the truth in front of him, the little fellow insisted on the old reality.
The maternal moment reminded me of the current political scene: About 20 percent of the electorate are having a rough time accepting realities that take them out of their comfort zone. Glenn Beck viewers, for example, don’t like that we NEED immigration in the United States; you CAN’T cut taxes during wars and depressions; human sexuality is NOT all the same; multinational corporations ARE the Big Brother you think the government is; and they ARE behind global warming, which IS real; Medicare and Social Security ARE government programs; etc.
What Glenn and the Beckerheads need, of course, is a patient mommy to explain reality to them. They used to have this when their media choices were limited to professional outlets. But now, why bother, when with FOX News they can see the “reality” they choose? And all apples can be red for always. ‘Night, Mother.