Karl Klockars

See all the way up there? Yep, 40 million.

I was engaged in a conversation with a conservative individual recently.  A person that lives, eats and breathes the Philosophy of Conservatism on a daily basis, but I didn’t know the extent of it until one moment in the very short conversation.  You see, that morning there was a story in the newspaper about the guy that created Beanie Babies – apparently he was going to drop a solid $40 Million to live at the top of the Chicago Spire, currently semi-under construction.

When I think about heights like the Spire is going to climb to, and then I think about what it’d be like to live up there every single day, I get a little bit oogly.  The vertigo starts to kick in, and my stomach starts to do that quivery-thing that reminds me of trying to ask girls out in 6th grade.  Out of nowhere, before I even know I’m saying it, I blurt out:

“Man, you could never get me to live up there.  No way.”

To which Conservative Gentleman says to me:

“Why – because it’s a target?”

Cue Trumpets of Doom. Dun-dun-dunnnnn. 

It only took a few seconds, but I later realized:  That’s how he sees the world.  Something that didn’t even occur to me is the absolute first thing he thinks about.  It’s a completely different prism than what I’m used to thinking through, and I found it interesting.  When I consider living (or not living) in a very tall building, at this point in history, I don’t think about terrorism.  Some would consider that a victory, I suppose.

So what does it say about the person who, seven years past September 11th, still looks up at tall buildings and sees bulls-eyes painted on them?  A well trained psychoanalyst could probably write books about the subject, but suffice it to say that their brain is locked into a pattern that my mind couldn’t comprehend.  It seems to me to be a brain focused on Fear, on Vigilance, on a constant Enemy Presence, and one that sees Danger and Trauma around every corner.

I started to wonder – if a building is instantly “a target” in your brain, what other sort of associations does that brain make?  What do schools look like, or churches, jails and doctors offices?  Do you start to see eyes behind framed paintings and men in fedoras peeping out of alleys?  How far does that kind of mindset go?  And once you start changing your perspective to associate that frame of mind – what else happens?

That short, five word exchange – Why, Because It’s a Target – said more about the internal workings of the mind of a Conservative Gentleman than a year’s worth of programming could ever reveal.  I think it’s mostly because it was unintentional on both of our parts.  I didn’t mean to reveal my fear of Things That Are Too Tall, and I’m sure he didn’t mean to reveal what he actually thinks about Towers and things resembling Towers.

If at this point you’re thinking to yourself, “Oh, he probably didn’t mean it like that.  You’re just trying to mine a thousand words out of whole cloth.  I’m sure it was sarcasm.”  No, sir.  It was not like that at all – it was a heartbeat response out of a place of pure truth.  Trust me.

Because It’s a Target.

Not kids - targets!

I hesitate to paint politics with a wide brush, because it’s so often inaccurate and just unfair, but in this case I think it might be safe to do so.  Isn’t it possible that the total difference between the Liberal mind and the Conservative mind, in a post-9/11 era, is the way they observe conflict?  Could it be the way they percieve War and the Enemy and the Constant Threat of everything?  Could it be that the Conservative convinces themselves that they must be afraid at all times, and then impart that intensity of emotion into everything else, coloring it with a strange mix of paranoia and rage?  And that the Liberal has decided that there’s nothing to worry about except for those Conservatives who are now the enemy, the ones that see snakes everywhere and we’re really fighting against them?

Maybe that’s the kind of mindset you need when you’re fighting off the Liberal horde on a daily basis.  When your life is so wrapped up in politics that you ignore culture of all kinds, when you can’t laugh at any sort of self-skewering, when everything you see has to be filtered through the sieve of The Mainstream Liberal Media, is it any surprise that one would start to see the world through the black & white gun-sight view of existence?  You’re under attack or you’re not, you’re a target or you’re the weapon, and the End Days are here?  Or am I completely out in my own field on this one?

I personally don’t know necessarily where I fit, but I think it’s telling that I just don’t like heights.  I don’t like guns but I understand where they can be used and how, I don’t like war but I understand that sometimes you have to fight, I don’t like a lot of decisions on schooling but I like that we as a people put a value on education beyond an invoice, I don’t like taxation but I don’t believe that Government is Entirely Evil and Wrong.  There’s a lot of in-between with most people, and I choose to believe that most people don’t exist in that Left And Right Only kind of world.  (Echoes of “We’ve got a lot of hunters in the blue states, and yes, some gay friends in the red states.”  Paraphrased, yes.)

Heritage, my ass.

But a lot do.  I can see it in every pickup truck with a Stars N’ Bars sticker on it.  I can see it in every joke that’s told solely because “you can’t tell me not to be politically correct!”  I can see it in every offhanded insult to women, every use of the word “gay” or “fag,” every verbal assault on The Different.  And there’s a lot in that terrified worldview for a lot of people, and there’s a lot of comfort in having yourself surrounded by Targets.  If they’re aiming for something, then the randomness and chance in the world is reduced exponentially.  The only thing that suffers is your entire perception of reality.