Getting Life in Balance, Partisanship in America

By Susan Koscis

“Koyannisqatsi” is a Hopi Indian word meaning “life out of balance.”   It means we have lost the ability to see beyond what is in front of us, and that we have encased ourselves in an artificial environment that has replaced nature itself.   It means we no longer live with nature; we live above it, or off of it.  

I thought of “Koyaanisqatsi” when I heard that “Avatar,” a film I enjoyed, cost between 1.4 and 2 million dollars to produce and market for each minute it was on screen.  The irony is that the film’s core message is that we must regain our reverence for nature. But when I balance the film’s exorbitant cost against the desperate need in Haiti and elsewhere, I can’t help but think “life out of balance.” 

That’s also what I think about a popular TV talk show that has a segment called “Pinheads and Patriots,” in which people in the news are put into one category or the other.  If you disagree with the host’s opinion, you are not a patriot. Why do we let this demonizing go unchallenged in our mainstream media? 

Life is out of balance when the national committee of one political party characterizes the leadership of the other political party as “The Evil Empire,” with cartoon images depicting President Barack Obama as the Joker, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as Cruella DeVille and Senator Harry Reid as Scooby Doo. This, in addition to the racial and sexual name-calling following the recent health care vote, is simply embarrassing. 

Surely we can disagree without being disagreeable.  I remember being sent out of the house with my mother’s instructions to “play nice with the other children.”  But can we tell this to our children today, when they see prominent adults belittling each other?

Increasingly, I feel battered by what is passing for political discourse – on TV, radio talk shows, in the press and in blogs.  I believe I am not the only one pained when I read a respected writer say that looking for common ground is a fool’s errand, because when the other side is out to destroy you, you either play by their rules or be destroyed yourself. 

Polls show that Americans feel increasingly alienated from and by the media and from their political leaders.  I suggest we no longer look to politicians, or to the media, to lead us into a new culture of civility in America.  My hope is with “we the people.”

A 2009 survey from the Pew Forum showed that, on average, 36 percent of the electorate identifies itself as independent, and that as a group, independents outnumber Americans identifying with either party.  You’d never know it from the extremist rhetoric on both sides, but most Americans are somewhere around the middle of the political spectrum.  And, increasingly, we are feeling disenfranchised and want our voices to be represented.       

The first woman elected to both houses of Congress, Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, wrote, ”it is time that the great center of our people, those who reject the violence and unreasonableness of both the extreme right and the extreme left… shed their intimidated silence and declared their consciences.”

I am not naïve enough to believe that we should all just get along, as pleasant as that might be.  But there is a great deal to be gained by learning how those who are different from us think, and find out how they came to their beliefs – whether the differences be across religious, ethnic or political divides.  It may be that we can never totally agree on some issues, but if we can understand each other a little, we probably won’t end up hating each other – and we just might find some areas on which we can agree.  

Seeking common ground is not for sissies.  Rather than being a fool’s errand, trying to understand the point of view of people with whom I disagree is the higher, and harder road, to take. We the people already know this.  Now if America’s political leaders could only follow our lead. That would be one way to move beyond “Koyaanisqatsi” and restore the balance that America needs and deserves.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susan Koscis is Director of Communications at Search for Common Ground. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service.