In “That Ol’ Black Magic,” in reference to the Ol’ Black Magic of love, Robbie Williams says he’s loving the spin he’s in. Love isn’t of course, the only “Black Magic,” that puts people in a spin. In the U.S., we’ve grown increasingly aware of the “spin” used by major corporations and politicians to influence politics and consumer behavior. “Spin” is basically a biased interpretation. While some form of “spin” has undoubtedly been with us throughout human history, the “father” of modern political spin is usually thought to be Edward Bernays, who developed what we now think of as “public relations.” Some would argue that Ivy Lee deserves the credit.
Whoever gets the credit, the end result is the presentation of “evidence” that spins public perception in a particular direction. Instead of “making mistakes,” politicians now say “mistakes were made.” Humans have, of course, been using similar techniques to deflect responsibility for thousands of years. When God asks Cain where Able is, Cain replies I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper? Still today, when parents ask kids with crayons in their hands, “Who wrote on the wall,” kids will say “Ida Know,” echoing the Gremlins in “Family Circus”. If you are old enough, you can remember early TV commercials featuring doctors promoting smoking.
These days, it’s very hard to tell who is being paid what to promote products, services, and beliefs. Even what we are told is “science” isn’t free from “spin.” In recent years, many (and I have no idea how many) articles supposedly written by scientists are, in fact, sponsored by corporations who wish to shift the blame to the “Ida Know” character. Coca Cola, for example, wants Coke to be identified as a product that helps families get fit. One of the best-known recent examples is VW’s diesel emissions scandal. Monsanto repurposed Agent Orange, a defoliant used during the Vietnam War, as a general purpose herbicide by genetically modifying crops to withstand the herbicide. Monsanto and other companies then developed neonicotinoids to control insects. Crop yields did go up.
One of the problems is, of course, that bees are needed to pollinate crops, and birds and bats eat insects. Meanwhile, numerous articles have appeared supporting GMO products as “perfectly safe” (for an example, see Unhealthy Fixation). Yes, indeed, we can eat them (and doubtless have) without getting sick or joining the walking dead. That isn’t, however, the “Big Picture.” And that’s a problem.
Too much of our current life is based on short-term thinking, and short-term thinking cannot solve long-term problems. Short-term solutions almost always cause new problems. There was a time that humans cut down trees and burned wood to heat their homes. That (and the use of lumber for construction) led to deforestation. Coal became the standard for heat and power generation. Oil, gasoline, and “natural” gas were added to the mix. We are currently discovering that what seemed solutions to common problems may be creating global climate change, which may prove a difficult problem to solve. In the “old days,” miners would take canaries in cages down in coal mines so that, when the canary died, the miners would know to get out of the mine shaft. Coastal cities are the current equivalent, as they will be first to suffer the consequences of global warming.
Dead canaries did not solve the problem of gas in coal mines. Ventilation systems helped, although they did not make coal mining an especially safe occupation. Currently, the plans for Miami and other low-lying populated areas are essentially short-term. Some short-term thinking is necessary to provide time for long-term solutions. Emergency first-aid usually starts with stopping the bleeding (military combat injuries) or clearing the airway (most civilian trauma). Long-term stuff for recovery comes later. Without long-term care, however, the short-term is not sufficient for continued health and well-being.
War is a short-term solution. When I went to Vietnam in 1968, the sentiment was that we should bomb the North Vietnamese back to the stone age. It didn’t work, but we have similar thoughts about bombing in the Mideast as a way to subdue the Islamic State. Will carpet bombing solve the problems we face containing the Islamic State? I don’t think so. What might work? I’m not sure, but I agree with the sentiments expressed by Mandy Patinkin when he was interviewed by Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show”:
We really do need to find a better way, don’t we…. We have to learn to recognize the self-serving motivation behind short-term solutions so that we can escape the spin we’re in, and we would do well to ask what about the “Good Samaritan.”
