Forward, Backward, Unite, Divide!

I dont know about you folks, but some of the political ads and spin doctors mantras are starting to get to me. Whenever some talking head "boils it down," for me ... explains to me that, "the choice is simple," I start to smell some bad sandwich is being unwrapped. 

It doesn't matter to me who is speaking the words. The implication of many political ads is that you and I are stupid. When one candidate claims that all the other is trying to do is to divide the state ... frankly, I get edgy. When another claims that "it all comes down to this: Do you want to move forwards or backwards ..." — I get insulted. 

Forward, backward, left, right, unite, divide ... what the heck is going on? Do they think this we are on a drill team? Is this zumba class for the conceptually challenged? Are these catch phrases working on you? It is as though the candidates believe we are seals, ready to do their tricks ... but ... if we are, I ask, "where are all the fish?" Cause they aren't tossing any!

Maybe we have all dumbed down. Maybe, slowly, intractably, our brain cells are draining out of our heads, or getting fried by proximity to our blue tooths and laptops. Maybe our phones are getting smarter by draining IQ through our skulls, while we actually come to believe political opinion is either only left of right, good or bad, liberal or conservative, progressive or regressive. My lord, in many countries there are lots of candidates from lots of parties! What would Americans do in a situation where there were three viable parties? Yikes!

Let's see, we would have to start thinking in terms of three sides to the questions ... right, wrong and uh ... what? Sort of off base? Imagine five parties that had a chance of fielding a winner ... OMG! We would have to scrap the model of that sort of balance beam or ruler in our head with a far left side and a far right and a zero in the middle .... and go for what ... a star ... a five dimensional whudjamacallit? Our brains might explode! 

No, there is simply no way there can be more than two sides to any issue ... right (meaning my position) and wrong (meaning all others). The concept of left necessitates a right as sure as light requires dark, good requires evil, Punch needs Judy, Hatfield needs McCoy. When you start thinking in terms of shades of grey — when you start admitting to the subjectivity of human truths ... when you start cognizing the right of each human being to have her or his own unique opinion and respect that the diversity of thought (meaning more than just two monolithic slabs of ideation) is not only the truth about how this planet is and will be, but ADDS to the richness of life ... well, it gets real tiring. You have to think a lot more. 

So just hand me that old fashioned mental joystick with the four directions on it. Thats my kind of game. Forward or reverse, left or right. Yeehah. This is fun. Give me an S ... Give me a T ... give me a U .... give me a P, I, D! What does it spell??? 

I don't know ... please ... tell me!