by Martha Quillen
Sometimes it seems as if nothing works the way it’s supposed to anymore: banks, economies, Toyotas, airplanes, oil rigs, Microsoft Windows, America’s health care industry, and America’s food supply.
Cell phones snap, crackle and pop – then drop your call.
You turn on the news, and the satellite signal gets lost. Finally, twenty minutes later, the signal returns – just in time to catch the anchors signing off.
But you don’t have to watch the nightly news to know that America has a wealth of problems, including exorbitant health care costs, unnecessary surgeries, unsafe pharmaceuticals, ineffective schools, bankrupt states, bacteria in our food, and estrogen-mimicking chemicals in our water.
About five years ago, our three-year old washer died and the repairman recommended replacing it with a Maytag – because in his experience they lasted “forever.” But three years later – just a few months after the warranty ran out – the Maytag broke down (and, once again, replacing the part – the drum – would cost as much as a new washer). The repairman was apologetic about his prior recommendation. “But,” he concluded, “they just don’t make them like they used to.”
Which certainly seems to be true about the last few vacuum cleaners I’ve bought – and coffee makers.
Living in a 125-year-old home, Ed and I expect to have maintenance issues. But it seems like our new stuff is demanding equal attention. Take my e-mail for example. My e-mail at work has been misbehaving for years. After the second or third time it died, I asked what I was doing wrong. “Nothing,” I was told. “These things just happen sometimes.”
Except with my e-mail, they happen often. Over the years, I’ve been told, “It’s the server.” “It’s the IP address.” “It’s just a glitch that arose when we changed the Internet site.” “I don’t know what it is, but our guy’s working on it.” “Hey, it’s not just you, A’s is down, too …” And that’s true. But unlike other people’s e-mail, mine seldom survives computer breakdowns, software upgrades, installation of new equipment, or even the new moon.
But at least my home e-mail always worked – until Ed changed our ISP (because we were still using our old Colorado Central set-up and it was too expensive). Now my home e-mail is on the fritz, too.
Ed has often accused me of being an e-mail bigot, and he’s right. I don’t see how people who blog, Tweet and e-mail get anything else done. Electronic communication is too seductive; check it in the morning, and half the time you’re still pursuing it in the afternoon.
I try to check my e-mail at least twice a week, but lately I’ve seen the error of that plan. Sometimes there’s so much, I leave important messages languishing with the fluff. Ed, on the other hand, is an e-mail devotee, who has always maintained that it’s cheap, convenient, and indispensable. Now, however – after spending days trying to get mine up and running – even he’s a little disillusioned.
New technology: When it works it’s amazing; when it doesn’t it’s infuriating. Today, you can phone people from mountaintops; watch Hollywood movies at home, and use one little hand-held machine to make calls, movies, and photographs, and also text, Twitter, connect to the Internet, and check your GPS.
Glory be, it’s a miracle.
Yet Americans don’t seem happy, and polls show that most of us are upset with our government. Some claim Obama is the worst President ever. Others say Bush busted our economy. And others, including Oklahoma Senator Randy Brogdon, U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (MN), Texas Governor Rick Perry, senatorial candidate Sharron Angle (NV), and countless Tea Party Patriots seem to think armed rebellion may be in order.
But are things really that bad?
Columnist Robert Samuelson suggests that our situation isn’t, but our attitude may be. In the June 21 Newsweek, Samuelson claims our gloom is “hobbling the economy.” He points out that the 9.7% unemployment rate reported in May 2010 wasn’t as high as the 10.8% rate in late 1982. But our pessimism, he says, “feeds on itself” and may lead to “dreaded `double dip’ recession. Companies won’t hire because they fear customers won’t spend; and customers don’t spend because they fear companies won’t hire – or may fire.”
Samuelson blames economic woes for fueling American pessimism, but our anger and cynicism are older than this recession. It’s not as if we were happy and congenial a couple of years back when we realized we were losing two wars; nor eight years ago when Bush proposed going to war. Way back in the 1990s, Republicans despised Clinton, even though the economy seemed to be sailing right along, and in the 1980s liberals despised Reagan.
So why are we so contentious and disillusioned?
I think it’s because nothing ever seems to work right, and I suspect that has very little to do with politics. Although public policy has failed to fix things and may have exacerbated some problems, Obama didn’t put poison in my water, and Reagan didn’t break my washer. In fact, I wonder if Americans are making things worse by insisting that lousy political decisions are to blame for everything.
What if our problems are bigger than that? What if they’re societal, cultural, and perhaps even inescapable?
Americans have ample reason for anxiety. Many of us have lost pensions, savings and homes. Most of us are worried about whether we have enough money for emergencies, health care and retirement. We don’t know whether Social Security, Medicare, or even our savings will be there for us in the future. And Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, and the oil spill have made us realize that our government can’t always fix things.
That’s scary and disconcerting. It’s as if someone pulled aside the curtain and revealed that putting too much faith in being a modern superpower may be as delusional as putting your faith in the great and powerful Oz. But infighting probably isn’t helping, and all of those hoary old solutions we keep arguing about – cutting taxes, expanding benefits, lowering the deficit, and improving education – may be largely irrelevant.
We live in an era of wonders, an amazing time and place. If a child is born today with what used to be a lethal condition, chances are fairly good that doctors can keep him alive. But that doesn’t mean they will.
If you have a rare disease today, or are about to lose your home to foreclosure, or are having recurrent problems with Social Security or Veterans benefits, chances are very good that somebody can save you. But will you find that person in time? Or will you rely on the wrong person? Or consult so many people who can’t do anything that you just give up?
Today we have so much – so much junk, and so much information, so many choices and options, so much to keep track of, and so much to fix – that it’s too much. We can’t consider everything; or process, manage, and organize all of it.
At this point, our technology is changing our lives and institutions so rapidly and completely that we’re operating in a whole new arena. Be they economists, bankers, engineers, doctors, or political advisers, our trusted experts may already be obsolete.
Think about the global economy, the European Union, deep sea oil drilling rigs, pharmaceuticals, Chinese industry … today, so many things are complex, interactive, constantly evolving, and frequently transformed for foreign markets, that it’s not surprising that nobody knows how to fix anything.
So what can we do about it?
Don’t ask me. I’m having enough trouble coping with my e-mail. Besides, Ed says he’s figured out what’s wrong with it, and will fix it tomorrow, so I’m going to be busy.
Martha Quillen would like to extend her apologies to John S. and Milt W. who sent e-mails. She appreciates their input, but didn’t originally open their mail because she went on vacation in May and when she got back, she thought they were just the pro forma acknowledgments Colorado Central usually sends. By the time she realized her error, her e-mail was down. She hopes to be e-mailing again soon, but isn’t counting on it. Such is life in the information age.