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Once in a while, we here at Shalblog Industries® allow ourselves a political post. In the spirit of Shalblog Industries®’ policy of being all things to all people, however, this post will be merely descriptive rather than prescriptive.

And so…

The one incontrovertible fact about life in the United States is this: the standard of living that capitalism allows is built on the misery, torture, destruction, exploitation, and killing of millions of people around the world.

That one simple fact is really the centerpiece of our existence.

It’s a fairly impossible fact to live with.

How could we wake up every morning and function with that on our shoulders? The Shalblog Industries® Theory of American Political Ideology is simply a catalogue of the various strategies used to cope with this central fact of our existence. The style of denial a person chooses determines whether one is a conservative, fascist, neo-liberal, liberal, socialist, pacifist, anarchist, etc., or combination thereof. (And yes, certainly vice-versa is true as well—one’s political stance determines one’s denial technique.)

Why one person chooses one strategy and another person chooses another strategy is not something Shalblog Industries® is authorized to discuss right now. Our aim here is much more circumscribed. In this post we will merely catalogue the varieties of coping.

Without further ado: A Child’s Garden of Denial

1) Outright Rejection. “You’re lying. No one’s dying. At least not to make my life better.”

2) The New World Order Acceptance. “Yes it’s absolutely true–and that’s the way it must be. It’s right that people—my inferiors—should live to serve me, their superior.”

3) Life is a Game. “It’s unfortunate, but that’s life. There are winners and losers, and the losers haven’t done enough to become winners.”

4) Family Is Everything. “Life is hard enough as it is; I can’t worry about others, only myself and my family.”

5) As The World Turns. “Things will turn out all right in the end. The world is evolving slowly in the right direction. Patience.”

6) Poor Little Me. “Yes there is much injustice in the world, but I do not have the power to change things.”

7) I’m On It. “Yes, there is so much injustice in the world, and I am working to change it.”

8) It’s So Confusing. “Yes, there is so much injustice in the world, but what happens away from these shores is murky and vague to me.”

9) Not My Department. “Yes, it may be that people are not being treated well, but I’m not a political person.”

10) Pretty Please. “I see that there are injustices in the world, and if only we can get some people to be nicer, the world could be better.”

11) It Is What It Is. “This is what life is, unfortunately. No one said that life is fair.”

12) Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There. “Yes, it’s all terrible, but I have no idea what to do about it.”

13) The Beard Stroker. “Yes, it’s terrible, and if we study long enough and deeply enough to try to understand, then we can change things.”

14) God is Good.“The way things are right now is all going according to God’s will.”

15) Counter-Insurgency. “There are bad people who are spreading rumors that are just untrue. We must stop those people who are saying such things.”

16) I Gotta Be Me. “It may be true, but no one can function in everyday life with that knowledge in one’s rear-view mirror all the time.”

17) You Talkin’ To Me? “I am not the victimizer, I am the victim.”

18) The Artiste. “I’ll write a blog post about it.”