Fervor: What it means and Who should be using it...
Fervor - the state of being emotionally aroused and worked up.
Over the past 5 years, the media and individuals representing us in congress and the executive have disagreed over many topics, ranging from the banal to the beckoning. The most important issues of our time reflected through C-Span and the 24-hour news system seem to be engineered around fervor. If we as a society can get worked up over something, than our representatives and the channels they pass their messages through get worked up over too. This, to many individuals, accompanies a striking sense of disappointment in the services these reporting entities provide. It appears less like reporting, and more like a sick synergy of "Okay, I'll say "Shooting that man in the face was the worst thing that ever happened to me" and then he'll respond with "I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the Cheney family has gone through"..." While the rediculous scenario used to qualify my point may be fringe, it does illustrate the control these entities have over our feelings on certain subjects, regardless of political leaning or functional beliefs.
Which brings me to my point, that if we are no longer in control of our own excitement over the things we read and learn, then why not be cognate of the things THEY are fervent about. The defense intellectual community's portrayal of our "new enemy"; those with the power to be so emotionally involved with their cause they would kill and die for it, is indicative of this systems fear of a people with that capacity for fervor. They indicate that it is precicesly that excitement about their political and religious beliefs that will push "the terrorists" to attack "the west" until either entity is wiped from the planet. Perhaps a first step toward breaking down this cycle of mis-understanding and disappointment stems not from a lack of involvment, or a stifiling apathy, but an new involvement in the things our leaders are fervent about. If the concerned individuals are truly excited about learning of and developing new alternatives to the perpetual discomfort we strive to disconnect with, then perhaps we can take back the swing of media, and mabye even convince a representative or two.
oh well.