The Myth of The One

Barrack Obama’s appeal to a minority of the Democratic Party is not entirely mysterious—especially his appeal to the younger set who have been raised, even moreso than their parents, on the Myth of the One. This myth, though as old as civilization itself, has been constantly reinforced by the Deadly Three of Culture Creation: movies, music, and video games. Being a lover of all three, I’ve embraced the conceit several times, but I’ve never mistaken the fantastic setting of, for instance, Neverwinter Nights, for reality. I fear many Obots have bought into the fantasy, however.

Most religions, of course, are based on the One-- The One True Messenger of the One True God. Again, I see no fault with that notion per se, after all it is religion and the whole point of religion is Faith. The causal link between divinity and any politician is nebulous at best, even less substantive than farts and global warming. The comingling of the two is dangerous to the extreme. Can you imagine some politician claiming to be the Third Coming and starting a brand new version of Islam? Death, taxes, or Barky?

The majority of single-player video, especially FPS games, center around, logically, one person who is going to save the city, the country, the planet, or maybe even reality itself. Needless to say, that’s a heavy burden and the player is lucky to have been born, spawned, hatched, or grafted with some, or maybe even a laundry-list of, special powers.

Music? Just Google “You’re The One” and see what you get.

However, the most pernicious of these cultural influences is the movie industry and its spawn, television. Many movies explore the theme of the single hero saving all, from old Westerns through modern science fiction. A few are really obvious with their portrayals, such as Jet Li’s The One . Again, there’s nothing wrong with the idea of one person saving us all; the problem is the inability to separate fantasy and reality. I didn’t realize how pervasive this affliction had become until I made mention of a gigantic, looming, colossal plot hole in The Matrix.* Well, several people informed me that I was too old to understand what was going on, like the rules of science change when you reach forty—or some other mystic plateau. I usually inquired at that point if any of them had read H.P. Lovecraft or could recite the mathematics behind string theory or even explain the science and character interconnection in The Cold Equations. That query was usually followed by rapid blinking and New Age babbling.

Perhaps the one media phenomenon that best encapsulates this entire mythology is The Matrix. It has it all—an oracle forecasting the rise of the One, the disciples spreading the wonder of the One, and of course the awesome abilities of the One himself. Sometime in the near future, expect Obama’s Oracle to appear, telling tales of how his Oneness manifested itself in poo-poo diapers of pure gold, or something. Obama already has the adoring throngs, albeit some are hired fainters and so forth, but even discounting those, he does have a cult following. The only fly in the ointment is his lack of accomplishment, though if he can avoid bowling alleys, his legend will eventually include skills like DeadEye Dick’s shot gunning skills.

The constant reinforcement of this myth makes the public vulnerable to the nonsense that any one person can solve all our problems and that is what many people are hoping for—an answer to all our problems that does not involve any effort or personal responsibility to the future, which is really what many UFO cults are about. Maybe the aliens will show-up and give us a cure for cancer, free energy, and pizzas that cause weight loss. Some people even hope to be kidnapped by aliens so they can—what? Become alien poodles or something? I think it more likely that Gort will appear than E.T. It is a constant fight to keep your intellect rational in this day and age. Sometimes even education conspires to delude us.

History itself is often taught around the Great Man theory, which is that each age is defined by some man of extraordinary vision and personal attainment. Thus, we get names like the Napoleonic Era. Even our founding as a country is sometimes referred to as the Age of Jefferson, though it is, thank goodness, difficult to pin the Revolution on any one person (rather like the Puma Movement, eh?) History is in fact causal with events creating other events in waves of change. (Read James Burke or watch Connections for a good sampling.) While I do not believe that a person has no control over history (destiny), the creation of an entire wave of history by one person is by far the exception, not the rule. Since there is no way to prove that eliminating Hitler would have stopped the rise of Nazism that discussion is moot to this central point: Obama is not the One. To be the One he would have to capable of some extraordinary feat, and I’m sorry, but the ability to delivery a speech doesn’t rise to the test. Perhaps, if he could deliver some soaring oration off the top of his head, I might be more receptive, though I still look at deeds rather than words, and his deeds do not match his words or his ambitions. Remember people—there is no spoon.

*That would be the same plot hole that allows Undead Zombies to stumble about for months with no energy intake. No. They do not digest the brains they eat; they’re Undead so that colon ain’t working. At least vampires take in some blood, though the mechanism for converting blood into energy has yet to be explained.