How Things Happen

I don't know much about the way things actually work, and its probably good for me that I don't, because if I did, then I might somehow feel that I should do something about it, and when I found that I couldn't, it might embitter me, which is not good. I don't much like saying that ignorance is a good idea, because I don't often think that it is, but in this case, yes.

What brings these dark thoughts to mind is a novel that I've been reading, in between the other stuff, called The Godfather Returns, by Mark Winegardner. I've never read the original novel by Mario Puzo, but like a lot of people I saw the movies, and I was disturbed by them --- by the ruckus before the first one came out, when there was much talk about how you could have a movie about Italian crime families and never use the word Mafia once; how the whole thing was just made up and sensationalized; how the whole thing was not only true but a pale shadow of the truth. The novel's pretty good, but it leads you pretty quickly to wondering if anything in life is on the up and up, particularly the big things.

You can see how that leads me pretty quickly to thinking about politics, and the quagmire that we're in in this country. Can we trust anyone? Can we believe anyone? Is there anyone who doesn't have an axe to grind, a hidden agenda? Is Firefox really morally superior to Internet Explorer? Did Detroit really kill the electric car? Is Bush really as much a buffoon as he appears to be? And thinking about whats going on leads me to thinking about how we find out -- about the manipulation of public opinion, and whether what I hear really is what's going on -- or if, like the line in the movie, if I knew the truth, I wouldn't be able to handle it. (Sorry that I can't deliver that line as well as Jack Nicholson.) The news that I hear is very probably a distilled version of reality, and is likely affected what powerful people want me to hear; sometimes, even, not so powerful so much as vociferous, like those bloggers who seem to always have something to say, usually something negative about one side, and positive about the other -- or negative about both. Who you can truly believe becomes something of a conundrum -- and then you think, what does it matter who I listen to, who I believe? I still have to handle my life; the best I can do it deal with the things from outside it like gusts of wind or forces of nature, whether they're man-made or not, as they touch me. I can't control them. I can barely anticipate them.

I should try to keep this in mind, the next time I get a burst of eagerness to change things for the better. Minor, incremental change is possible, but wide spread change? On the order of brining honor back to the practice of politics, say? Creation of a rapprochement between Muslims and the rest of the world?

Not in my lifetime. Not ever, possibly.