We have seen time and again the reaction of Oregon’s urban media to conservative political candidates, to business, to religion, to the traditional American values of hard work, sacrifice for family, community and nation, responsible personal behavior and modesty.   We have also heard the media stars refer to the Fifties as a naïve time in America. 

Is there a connection between the two?

Let’s see … what was the divorce rate in the Fifties?  What was the illegitimacy rate in the Fifties?   The number of driveby shootings?  The number of school murders?  The city parks in the Fifities – could one walk safely in them after dark?  If one’s car broke down, and one had to leave it on the side of the road, when one returned the next day was all the glass broken out, the upholstery ripped to shreds, the body dented and the paint scarred?  What was the welfare percentage in the Fifties?  The rape numbers?  The employment numbers?  The tax rate?  Academic scores?  Literacy figures?  How many students in the schools were on drugs, legal or otherwise?  What was the home burglary rate?  The murder rate?

I don’t need to answer any of these questions for you, do I? 

Even if you weren’t there, as I was, you know.  Somewhere down deep in your soul, you know how it was.  Because of that, you also know something else --  that along the way between then and now, something important has been lost.  You don’t know how it got lost, but it did. 

Watch the handsome and pretty news people on your local Oregon television station.  Study them.  Listen carefully to them – not in the way of the obedient child, but in the manner of the explorer.  What are these people saying?  What do their words mean?  What is the tone they use when making this point, and why did it change to a completely different tone when they made that other point?  Watch the line appear in their forehead between their eyes, as they put on the facial garb of “concern” for certain topics.  Listen to their banter betwixt themselves as they create their make-believe on-air community each night. 

Ask yourself why it is that these very people refer to the Fifties as naïve, yet recreate Happy Days on the news set with every show?

You’re getting it, aren’t you?  This rambling dissertation of mine, as it circles the topic like a a red-tailed hawk circling a field, is beginning to stir some ideas in your head.  You’re asking yourself some questions.  What does naïve mean?  You know what it means when it refers to youthful ignorance, but what does the term mean when applied to a cultural time period, an entire society?

Parks that are safe for children are the result of naivete?  Safe schools are the result of naivete?  High academic achievement levels are the result of naivete? Unbroken homes are the result of naivete?

There is the handsome and pretty television newscaster with a line between his/her eyes as he/she talks about another school shooting, and interviews another liberal about the need for more gun control to make sure that our children are safe.  Suddenly, you feel a rush of common sense overtaking you.  A  naive Fifties vision overrides the tele-vision in your mind.  You see Fifties America with church spires and family Thanksgivings – a naïve, Rockwellian  fantasy.  Everybody has guns.  But, nobody is shot in the schools.  Every boy has a pocketknife, but nobody is stabbed. 

Santana High did everything modern schools do to reduce the chance of violence. They had  counselors, conflict resolution, anger management  and the rest. We are finding that without basic morality these are useless. (From an early March column by Mona Charen)

You shake your head and look at the handsome/pretty television news star, and your world comes crashing down around your ears.  This idiot is full of crap!  His line of modern drivel has, day by day, year by year, decade by decade turned America from a decent land of individual responsibility and possibility into a  moral sewer where children shoot children and groups are pitted against groups almost like aboriginal tribes!  The ethos is no longer duty to God and country, cleanliness and honesty!  It’s no longer a spirit that soars toward creation of an ever better life based on the drive of those who accomplish! 

It’s a damned tavern brawl over who gets the dregs from the bottom of the beer barrel!  It’s a class warfare of economic jealousy and hatred!  That man is rich.  He is bad.  Rich is bad.  All must share equally, and if those with more refuse to do so, we will take away their guns and use the government guns to empty their vaults and give it to those who have been unfairly denied their rights.   Recognition of individual excellence creates lack of self esteem in others.  Excellence must be condemned.   (Darwin is handy for getting rid of religion in schools, but the idea must be abandoned where it conflicts with other liberal ideological goals. ) 

And, as your mind begins to open like the petals of a blossoming flower, you look at the handsome/pretty newscaster bantering artificially with the handsome/pretty artificial community on the artificial stage set, and realize that you’ve been asleep for years.

                                                      -- LL