Much of the meeting was boring or tedious, honoring random people and companies who had done such-and-such. Nevertheless, I was there to speak in favor of diverting mentally ill people away from our jail system and towards treatment options. While the following is more a summary than a quote, I heard one comment that reflected this feigned evenhandedness: "On the one hand, mentally ill people are being warehoused and beaten in LA County jails, but on the other hand, we don't want people going out and stabbing some stranger. So what can you do?"
Instead of analyzing a problem, clearly prioritizing where people are being mistreated or dehumanized, an easy equivalency replaces the harder, sometimes uncomfortable work of naming power that oppresses. In our culture at large, mainstream media sources like CNN are probably some of the worst offenders. Avoiding false equivalencies means you have to make a choice, but that is precisely the kind of decision that affects ratings.
Maybe that's where we all get it from-from parroting the sources we see on TV-but I also think it's a basic anxiety over conflict. We have our own internal measurements that, like ratings, often trump taking a stance. We want to seem evenhanded. We want to appear neutral. We want to show our independence.
But friends, such indecisiveness just supports the status quo. Without clarity, you can end up equating human traffickers and Central American refugee children: "Deport them all!" Without examining power, you can say: "Well yes, we did steal the land from Native American nations, and force them onto reservations, but then again, they were attacking and raiding pioneer communities." Without insight, one can lament: "There are grave injustices in our world that we are called to speak to, but on the other hand, it's uncomfortable and I might lose a friendship or two over it." So what are you going to do?
Deciding,
Timothy Murphy
Executive Director