Of Lipstick and Pigs and Testosterone Poisoning

O ye politics, how entertaining thou art.

Sarah Paylin. Barack Obama. He used an expression -- like putting lipstick on a pig..and it is still a pig -- that made no reference to Mizz Paylin; and the Republican commentariat jumped in with all 48 feet, crying Sexism! Anti-woman! What an terrible thing to do to Our Lady of Alaska, Queen Sarah. 

Politics reflects our nation's adversarial model which bleeds into every aspect of culture. May the best man (woman) win. The cream rises to the top. To the victor belongs the spoils. Free market capitalism is driven by two (or more) entities in a pitched battle to win: the most votes, the highest poll rating, the largest sales volume, the highest market cap. No. 1 in the Fortune 500. Winner of the World Series, Stanley Cup, Super Bowl. Roger Federer wins the U.S. Open! "Friendly" competition. To the victor... belongs the most testosterone!

And our dominating entertainment is equally thick with competition, often to the death of the enemy, the assailant, the antagonist. "The Dark Knight," the most recent Batman offering, featured death and destruction, giant explosions in most every frame. The audience loved it! Blow them up! Kill those sons of bitches, those evildoers...and we will win! Yesss! And the movie was, yes....No. 1 at the box office! Boffo ticket sales! We've won!

We compete to win, to slay the other, psychologically, physically, mortally. This is our business/social model, in the USA: kill or be killed. It is in our DNA, lodged firmly in the back of our eyeball so we cannot see it. And we have exported it to most of the rest of the world.

It hasn't worked. We're sliding inexorably toward what will work, though. The business model is...we are all one. Together, we can. But we must first acknowledge our one-ness, the unity of all things. We ... are ... fam ... i ... ly. 

This is the final challenge for humanity. Can we do it?

Together we can. The challenge is huge. It means: all religions are a path to God. Many paths. One God. It means: all men and women are my brothers and my sisters. It means: adopting a model that is collaborative, not competitive.

Death to testosterone poisoning. It hasn't worked. It won't work. It never will.