The Greater Fool

It’s been remarkably too long since I’ve written anything, but I decided a long time ago that I wasn’t going to write just for the sake of writing. I actually wanted to be writing about something that I was inspired about. Well, clearly inspiration has been lacking lately, but tonight it was a little different. It’s amazing what a nice glass of Honey Whiskey and a couple of episodes of The Newsroom will do.

First off, if you haven’t watched The Newsroom you might not want to continue reading. Just fair warning.

It’s difficult to be romantic about America lately. Negativity and polarization reign supreme, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and the idea of the middle class has become an endangered species. It’s hard to find reasons to be hopeful and challenge the status quo. The system is so deeply ingrained in the expectations of society that we are no longer surprised by its unfairness. It’s easier to say, “Nothing is going to change, why even try.”

But that complacency is exactly what is killing the country. In the season finale of The Newsroom, the entire episode is about Will McAvoy being called The Greater Fool. He sees the term as an insult to his crusade to change the mentality of news. He sees it as a failure of his mission to bring dignity and truth back to journalism. It is not until the end of the episode that he realizes that The Greater Fool is one of the most important members of our American society. The Greater Fool is, as Sloan Sabbith puts it, “someone with the perfect blend of self-delusion and ego to think that he can succeed where others have failed. This whole country was made by greater fools.”

We are sorely in need of more Greater Fools in this country. We no longer believe that magnificent things are possible. We no longer believe that is worth reaching for the stars just for the sake of reaching. Now, there always has to be a reason or an endgame. People don’t do things just for the benefit of doing them anymore. The idealism and interest in making society better is gone and has been replaced by an interest only in the self.

So, how do we change society? It truly must be a Greater Fool who thinks they can change an entire country, but with enough of them, The Greater Fools can win. We can rise up and change the way society thinks. The challenge for us is to stop accepting the status quo.

If you consider yourself to be a Greater Fool, take the small steps every day to stand up to the unfairness and idiocy that is witnessed everyday. Don’t let things just slide anymore. Period.