Living In A Black
& White World

When I was a kid it was easy to see how it might be a black and white world…and I’m not just talking about early 1960s television reception. Among my friends at school there was always a lot of peer pressure to take firm stances on issues and make the hard decisions that would mark your character.

For instance, in The Beatles vs. The Monkees issue, I backed the boys from Liverpool. Sure, The Monkees had a hit television show and, if you listened to our female classmates, there was no denying Davy Jones’ high score on the cuteness meter.

In 1967 Mattel introduced the astronaut action figure Major Matt Mason. It instantly became one of its most popular toys. By 1971 it was gone. Conspiracy theorists believe that either aliens, NASA bureaucrats or G.I. Joe enthusiasts are to blame for Matt’s disappearance.

But, like other kids in second grade, I had heard rumors that The Monkees didn’t even play their own instruments! Not only did The Beatles play their own guitars, but even their throw-away songs like “Dr. Robert” and “And Your Bird Can Sing” were ten times as interesting as “Last Train to Clarksville.”

When the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in the summer of ’67 the debate was officially over and we Fab Four fans had won.

Similar debates raged in my elementary school over the merits of Batman vs. The Green Hornet television shows (I preferred The Green Hornet because his karate-chopping chauffeur Kato was much cooler than that dorky Robin). Later we took sides over which action figure ruled: G.I. Joe or astronaut Major Matt Mason. That was an easy one. Would you rather have German and Japanese machine guns aimed at your head or have the chance at to walk on the moon?

The tendency to see the world in black and white is a definite characteristic of childhood. chocolate vs. vanilla, Coke vs. Sprite, camping vs. swimming, those issues will forever be part of the debate agenda among eight-year-olds.

At some point, however, we grow up and notice that there are a lot of shades of gray out there in the big old world. At least we’re supposed to.

I’m afraid that this era in American history will be remembered for our unwillingness to see those shades of gray that represent compromise and an ability to find real solutions to our philosophical differences.

For instance, in the aftermath of the terrible tragedy at Virginia Tech, I have heard two loud voices. One says guns are bad and people shouldn’t be able to have such free access to them. The other voice says that if more people wore guns on their belts, the massacre might not have touched as many lives as it did.

As a journalist, it surprises a lot of people to learn that I’m just as much in favor of the Second Amendment of the Constitution (the right to bear arms) as I am for the First Amendment (freedom of speech and freedom of press). I thought the revelatory scene in Michael Moore’s cinematic exposé on guns Bowling for Columbine was his trip to Canada where nearly everyone owns a gun but the murder rate is much lower than in the United States. Of course, the guns those Canadians own are generally hunting rifles as opposed to the automatic assault weapons and sophisticated handguns that seem to be proliferating in the U.S.

It makes you wonder what the framers of the Constitution would have thought about guns that shoot dozens of rounds a second, and hollow-point bullets that leave an exit wound the size of a grapefruit.

Abortion is another one of those subjects where the people who try to find some kind of center ground are pummeled by the folks on the extreme sides of the issue. Is it so hard to fathom a public policy where we educate our kids about sex and human reproduction in an effort to decrease the demand for abortions while at the same time keeping the procedure safe and legal for every woman, regardless of economic status? That’s one of those shades of gray that gets shouted down, except when politicians decide they need the votes of women.

As a solution to the abortion problem, abstinence is an idea that will succeed on the day that teenage hormones stop showing up for work.

Illegal immigration is another issue where the middle ground is negated by extremists. Did you know that there are over 15 types of legal immigration statuses? In many instances, the difference between a legal immigrant worker and an illegal one depends on the accessibility of the proper paperwork.

The gray area in this issue is the streamlining of the process so that everyone—workers, employers, landlords, etc.—knows the rules…and pays the proper taxes. The idea that we can build a wall to keep out foreign workers and/or deport the 12 or 13 million illegals already living here is a bit of a stretch.

The War in Iraq is another one of those issues where the American public is being given only black or white options. The White House wants us to “stay the course” and be part of the “coalition of the willing,” whatever the heck that means. Democrats in the House and Senate are threatening to rescind funding for the war and want to set a concrete timetable for complete troop withdrawal.

I think the gray area in this issue is for Democrats to stop believing that Iraq can survive without help and for Republicans to realize that our country’s military can’t be the only source of that help.

We need to ask the world community for help in stabilizing Iraq, even if it means coming to the table with countries we don’t exactly trust such as Syria and Iran. It is in their best interest to have a stable government in Iraq and the sooner we realize we can’t do it all by ourselves, the sooner our military personnel can come home.

As we approach presidential campaign season, listen to the opposing viewpoints offered by the candidates to see if any of them can see shades of gray. Beware of those who only offer you a black and white world.