Over on my sports/gambling blog, The Public Money, I wrote about the recent kerfuffle between University of Houston Football Head Coach Tom Herman and John Lopez and Nick Wright of AM 610.
I stated in that article that who you sided with is largely dependent on your feelings toward the University of Houston. In short: If you're a fan of UH then you think that Herman did no wrong and if you're of the opinion that the put-down "Cougar High" is witty and meaningful then you sided with Lopez. If you're of the belief that idiocy is a character trait to be aspired to, or you have the mental capacity of a 18 year old Bro, you sided with Wright.
We do this in life all the time, ignore context (and consequence) in lieu of our predetermined scripts. Because of this our reactions to events like this often have little to do with the facts. In this case, the fact is pretty clear that Lopez, acting on "sources" from Texas aTm, reported incorrectly that Allen, Herman and some UH Boosters met in Houston. Amazingly, this morning on his show, Lopez doubled down on the lie that the meeting still could have happened despite evidence that Allen was in Arizona at his mother's house when this meeting supposedly took place. Fans of Aggie are STILL insisting that this meeting happened.
But why?
Part of it is because, too often, we tie our sense of self worth to outside influences. If you attended, or graduated from, a certain school you tie who you are to that school. Therefore graduates from Texas aTm or UT-Austin view themselves as somehow elevated over the rest of the State because their universities rank well in paid-by-the-same-universities studies.
In reality, almost all university education is equally horrid these days. The true benefit of college choice is found within the patronage system. Where a manager from aTm is more likely to hire a college grad out of aTm, rather than from Houston, because of a shared educational experience. If you've been out in the working world for any period of time, you know that there are both geniuses and idiots emerging from all schools.
Unfortunately it's the idiots who are sucking up all the oxygen.
For some odd reason "Bro" radio has become a thing in a society that, rightly, directs a lot of derision at "Bro" culture. While most of the derision is justified some is not. In some cases the ideas of "male bonding" can be a good thing for the young developing male psyche. Like anything, the problems result when excess levels of exposure are reached. We know all of this, but we let AM talk radio plumb the depths of Bro culture with little to no consequences. Then we let them turn-around and claim some sort of journalism purity that they have not earned. It's ridiculous for sure, but we do it in other areas as well.
The most egregious example of this is in politics. If you're a hard-core partisan, then one of the requirements is to have the cognitive dissonance to fake the fainting vapors every time someone from the other party does anything remotely resembling a slight while acting as if identical transgressions by your party are no big deal. As an example of this: The same people who chastised Nixon (correctly) for the Watergate scandals give Hillary Rodham Clinton a free pass (wrongly) on thousands of e-mails. Many of them of a classified nature.
Why do they do this? For no other reason than that she is a Democrat and they want, desperately, for their side to win the office of the Presidency in this next election. Because their self-worth is so tied into these politics, they are willing to ignore serious signs of malfeasance in order to say that they are on the winning side.
Republicans do it too. Do you think there's any difference between the lies that Trump fans are telling themselves versus the lies of Clinton fans? How about Rubio fans as they come to terms with both his immigration policies and policy on economic favoritism? Cruz Fans? They ignore the fact that he's turning out to be a crass opportunist who will say seemingly whatever it takes to get elected? Sanders? Do you really think it's OK that someone running for higher office doesn't understand basic economics?
To make up for the pain that this might cause we lie to ourselves, and our self-talk often includes just how delusional the 'other side' is, whether or not they really are.
This type of self-delusion has darker tones as well. Not only do we build up fake constructs of the other side, but we then pile on them the worst of motivations. In short, in order to preserve our sense of superiority, we make them evil instead of just different.
The problem with relying on good/evil as a filter for your life, is that quite often a majority of people don't operate according to the scripts you've assigned to them. It also serves to blunt your attentiveness to real evil. Do you think it's a mistake that President Obama truly believes the "strongest rebuttal" to ISIS was the Paris Climate Change Conference?
Obama's biggest problem is that he can no longer differentiate real evil (ISIS) from his scripted evil (Climate change opponents). It's clear during his time in office that he's lost the cognitive ability to determine true enemies from political opposites and now views the latter as the former. In case you're wondering, this is not a good thing.
One of the reasons this is such an insidious problem is because it's almost impossible to eliminate. Many people have zero self-awareness, so some of the biggest labelers of false-evil would read this and sagely nod in agreement. "You're right!" they'd say, "Those folks on the other side are demonizing me for no reason!" Then they'll go on their way merrily secure in the thought that they, and those who think like them, are superior in every way.
To end I'm going to provide you with a short example that has the benefit of being absolutely true.
I am, as you probably know, a Michigan fan. No, I did not go to the school (I attended University of Houston-Downtown, which is about the most looked-down upon school in Texas) but I grew up a fan and (as is the case with the 49ers) I never left them behind. Bo Schembechler and Lloyd Carr and you get the picture.
Probably because I wasn't smart/wealthy/organized coming out of high school to attend Michigan I root for the sports teams but I never developed a hatred for Ohio State, Michigan State etc. Sure, they are rivals and I want to beat them but I don't "hate" people who attended those schools. As a matter of fact, I don't hate anyone for choosing to attend a particular college.
My wife, is a fan of Ohio State because she grew up in Ohio, before moving to Texas and attending Sam Houston. Obviously, we have fun with "The Game" and joke about it but it's really no big deal.
On one trip to Las Vegas we decided to spend a College Football Saturday inside a sport's book. At 8 AM (the games start at 9AM in Vegas) we started walking over, me in a Michigan t-shirt and my wife in her Ohio State t-shirt. As we approached Mandalay Bay we passed a guy in a Michigan State t-shirt. As he walked by both my wife and I said "good morning". He paused, looked at the two of us and said without a hint of humor:
"I hate both of you"
Then he walked on and we never saw him again.
That's a sad way to live life. Try and do better than both Michigan State Guy, the Bros on Bro radio and Hyper-Partisans. Your life will be better for it.
