A Congressman screams, “You lie!” to the President during a Joint Session of Congress, and then ends up raising millions for his re-election campaign. It seems the weighty days when a shoe thrown at the President would get one tortured in an Iraqi prison are long gone. Now people get rewarded for their impropriety.
The groundswell of support for Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) within and outside of his district is worrying. People are not necessarily reacting to the issue that Wilson found so objectionable – the inclusion of undocumented immigrants into the health care bill – but are simply objecting to the changes proposed by the administration. The fact that a proportion of the populace believes that Obama is both a fascist and communist, and so want to “take back America” is bewildering. When did we Americans become so scared of change? Why are people so determined to defend the status quo on issues like health care, carbon taxes and education?
It may be that many people remain distressed being led by an African-American President. I think it is that we have become too comfortable and that we are scared of losing the little that we have amassed.
How did Americans become so complacent that we fear change?
It would seem we were not always like this. The powerhouse duo behind ABBA, created the musical Kristina fran Duvamala in 1995. A hit in Sweden, the show has recently been translated to English and a concert version was performed at Carnegie Hall for two nights in September. A Swedish village impacted by drought displaces to the American mid-west in search of a new life and potential prosperity. This is the classic American tale re-told through a Scandinavian lens – immigration, adventure, and re-settlement in a brave new world.
The music is archetypal Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with swelling choruses and catchy melodies enchantingly supported in the starring role by the songbird Helen Sjoholm – the voice of Agnetha Faltskog reincarnated. The show is a rousing reminder of how this country was established one family at a time. The protagonist, Kristina, crosses the oceans; establishes a homestead, rears eight children (losing one to sickness) and dies of fever in the end. The concept of picking up one’s life and livelihood and re-establishing in a new land seems so foreign now. No one takes those kinds of risks today – but almost every family in the US is descended from individuals who did precisely this.
Memphis: The Musical, opened on Broadway, yesterday on Monday, October 19. A fictional story of radio announcers from the time, it tells the story of a poor white boy (Huey Calhoun) who falls in love with R&B music and tries to introduce it to the mainstream despite the inherent prejudices of the society. Set in the 1950’s, Huey eventually gains broader (i.e. white people’s) appreciation for music that mostly was heard in speakeasy’s and “colored” bars around Memphis, but then loses it all when he is unwilling to play the politics of the music industry.
Set to the swaying and heart-pumping songs of the period, the show demands the audience’s reckoning of a racist US society, and the recognition that greatness can rise above discrimination. This is another great American story – the scrappy entrepreneur fights against insurmountable odds to gain success and fame for him and those who deserve it. The understanding that this person could lose everything at any point in the process is inherent. We innately accept the premise that high-risk is correlated to high-reward – it is interwoven into our story-telling.
Americans used to be the innovators, the risk-takers, the entrepreneurs. Europeans were the stodgy ones – the “old world” where the society never changed. After five decades of being mass-marketed to, plied with designer names, and provided every creature comfort, we have ended up just as risk-averse. We like what we have now – it may not be perfect – but better than not having anything. No desire to upset the apple-cart – even though half of the produce has gone bad.
We know that risky policy adventures may lead to great outcomes, but we have become more concerned about the downside of change than the potential upside. In some sense, we are outsourcing attempts at these new ventures to countries more willing to take the calculated risks and not so complacent about their position in the world – India, China, and Brazil.
Perhaps we can listen again to the tales that founded this country and take a chance on the President’s bold moves. What do we really have to lose?
October 20, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
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