A heads up, before you take the time to read the following
opinion piece today. I’m right. The ideas expressed by me in the aforementioned
essay are correct, spot on, exact, true and even guaranteed. You may think
you have a legitimate rebuttal or alternative to the rhetorical argument I will
weave in the next 750 words or so but…think again. You see, I alone have the answer, the
solution and the remedy, to whatever we might be discussing. Trust me. I got
this. Don’t even bother telling me what
you think.
I’M JUST KIDDING! REALLY!!
Please keep reading.
I hope I’m never that smug, in my writing or preaching or
living. I pray that if I ever got that way a loved one would give me a swift
kick, to bring me back down to earth. Not that smugness isn’t sometimes tempting. To be convinced you are the smartest guy or
gal in the room. Feeling superior to
others. Offering an opinion about any
issue with the surety that only the convicted muster. Smug: ultimately being so self satisfied as
to zoom right past confidence and veer into downright arrogance.
Smug. I’ve got smug on the brain lately, because I made the
mistake of actually watching “highlights” from a Presidential candidates’
debate the other night. I’ve tried my
best to avoid these red hot rhetorical wrestling matches, not wanting to
witness oversized egos battle mano e mano,
egged on by raucous acolytes who want so much red meat and the media who covets
a perfect sound bite, with which to later bury a candidate. It may be democracy in action but at times the
debates feel vapid, empty of any real substance or humility, instead filled
with enough self righteousness to inflate a supersized hot air balloon.
I’m the only candidate
with all the answers, no one else. This is THE solution to the problem. My way
is the only way. My party is the true American one, no others need apply. I
wonder: if any one wants to be President that much and is convinced so fully of
their abilities…should they really be considered for the Presidency in the
first place? President Smug?
It’s not just on the political stage we get to witness
smugness. Spend any time on social media and you quickly discover that Facebook
and Twitter and the Internet are filled with a blizzard of opinions, an
unrelenting torrent of partisanship that cuts across all political and social
lines. No one party or movement has a
lock on smugness. So many citizens are
nowadays sure that their opinion is the tops.
Conservatives crow. Progressives pontificate. Liberals are in love with themselves. Libertarians
lament that not everyone sees things their way.
Smugness is getting lots of play in the wider culture too. Watch
a professional sports event and see the athletes preen and dance,
even before one play actually happens.
Last week I watched video of a former drug company executive testifying
before Congress about his decision to raise the price of a lifesaving drug by 5,000
percent to $750 a pill, all in the cause of profits. His demeanor throughout
the hearing? A smirk and a smile and
smugness for all to see. Then he tweeted
that the Congress men and women were “imbeciles”.
Even religion can fall into the trap of being so smug. All faiths must confess that a lock on the
truth too often underlies their selling points.
Only we get into heaven. God loves us
best. Judgment for the many but
salvation for the select few. As one infamous bumper sticker proclaims: “The
Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it.”
The problem with smugness is that no one person, no one
party, no one religion, and no one philosophy finally has a lock on “the
truth”. (OK, God may, but something tells me God is never so quick or trusting as
to actually hand deliver that truth to a mere mortal.) Instead the world is a very complicated
place. Always has been. Always will be. The challenges we face are huge, with
the best solutions most often coming after compromise, thoughtfulness and
dialogue. That’s where I actually listen to what you have to say. The person I perceive as an opponent? He
might actually have something to teach me. She might know something I do not. But to actually believe this? I’ve got to let go of smugness. Got to open my ears and shut my mouth.
So is my opinion about smugness “right”? “True”? Maybe. Maybe not. Let’s sit down over
a cup of coffee and really talk about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment