The Subtleties of Knowledge Acquired in the Darkness

It is only in the light of day that we see what is before us. In the darkness, we can sense and know and understand, make judgments and rationalizations, but empirical data is collected and assessed in the physically obvious realm. The subtleties of knowledge acquired in the darkness require us to commit a broader range of our intellectual skill and spiritual essence in order to increase understanding and wisdom attained from what could be dismissed as vague or imagined.

In the contemporary political paradigm, expressed in the shamefully misguided words of Vince Lombardi, “winning isn’t everything , it’s the only thing”, we see the fruit of our willingness to compromise ethics, morality, compassion, brotherhood of man and other such saintly ideals, so often charged with the great aspersion of being “touchy feely”. It is the requirement to commit a broader range of ourselves to the understanding of subtleties in politics and in society as a whole that is exploited by those politicians and their advisors who have committed themselves in such astounding totality to the morally reprehensible Lombardi ethic. It is not unintentional, without malice or due to some lack of sophistication that these movers and shakers have adopted an approach which capitalizes on an understanding that the vast majority of voters have neither the time, inclination, will, financial freedom or political savvy to coherently separate subtle particles of knowledge from the abundant layering of disinformation upon smoke screen surrounded by red herring and summoned by dog whistle. In short, we all know when we are being misled, but when inundated with the growing demands of daily life in a modern age, most often, most people see no option beyond making rapid choices based upon increasingly little factually accurate data. This reality has not gone unnoticed or unexploited by politicians and the lobbyists they employ.

The ancient concept of democracy required a great many years and a great deal of effort to take hold and it was not until the courageous social experiment of a small group of “New World” colonials before making any real advancement from that ancient time when “democracy” was only available to the ruling class. In just over two centuries, we have seen the conversation that grew from the vision of a few well-intentioned advocates for social justice, flourish in the ongoing perfection of ideals such as equality and freedom for all. This almost unimaginably rapid expansion of saintly ideals, ethics, morality, compassion, brotherhood of man, is not and can not be protected by some patriarchal oversight of political leaders or by military means. It is not the strength and abundance of our weaponry that protects this way of life. Our greatest strength and our protection reside in our understanding of and our participation in this social conversation that is America. When accurate truth, understanding and hence clear-headed participation in the American conversation is subverted and obscured, by those who desire only to win, with little or no regard for the methods and means of doing so, then we have invested our faith in democracy, equality and freedom for all in a fraudulent scheme to acquire power and wealth for the few. When we relinquish the commitment of self-determination to some hollow “Father Knows Best” operating model, the American Dream is lost.

We must notice how those who would seek our votes speak to us. Examine who they surround themselves with and ask ourselves if they are enhancing or obscuring our understanding and knowledge. It is our personal responsibility to pay attention to and understand the subtleties of knowledge acquired in the darkness if we are to avoid being led into the abyss by those who would seek to deceive with the abundant layering of disinformation upon smoke screen surrounded by red herring and summoned by dog whistle.