Politics of the Apocalypse
How we treat others in times of civil distress
In simplest terms, politics is about how people living in groups make decisions for their collective well-being and an Apocalypse is a grand revealing.
Let me be clear from the onset. I love people. I love the people I know in particular and I love the people I do not know in general.
Part of this is due to my faith as a Christian.
Part of this is due to my profession as a mental health counselor.
It would be impossible to be either a Christian or a counselor without loving people — in the former, it is a command (though often forgotten) and in the latter it is a fundamental principle for why the profession exists (or, at its best, it should be).
With that being said, people suck sometimes.
Call it selfishness, call it self preservation, call it sin, call it the “selfish gene,” call it consequences of our upbringing (or lack-thereof), call it tribalism or nationalism, call it what you want.
People have a disposition or propensity towards looking out for themselves by looking past others. Not exclusively and not exhaustively — but enough.
Works of Fiction
Our mild obsession with the end of the world as a culture is what it is. I am in no place or position to critique it. This is due in large part to my own affinity for post-apocalyptic works. In my most recent reading/watching of The Road by Cormac McCarthy, I was struck with wonder about how humanity reaches such a place of hell-on-earth where people are only seen as the provisions they carry and the meat on their bones. At the heart of this, it is the propensity to look out only for ourselves by looking past others.
“Perhaps in the world’s destruction it would be possible at last to see how it was made. Oceans, mountains. The ponderous counterspectacle of things ceasing to be. The sweeping waste, hydroptic and coldly secular. The silence.” -The Road
We see this play out in other works as well such as The Book of Eli, Max Max: Fury Road, A Quiet Place, The Three Body Problem, I am Legend, any many more. So why do we like movies and books like this?
We are attracted to these because they, hopefully, overplay what we are all capable of if we are pushed to the edge — we are all capable of looking past others and only seeking our own good. We are drawn to this because, somehow, not being a cannibal makes hoarding basic goods seem like an okay action.
When we witness the extremes, we can use them to justify our subtleties: “I may have done this, but I would never do that!”
Works of Fact
While we are not experiencing the apocalypse (clearly), we are in the middle of a pandemic — and even this has been enough to get people acting selfishly without abandon. Of course, most people are hoarding toilet paper (regardless of the fact that this virus has little to do with our digestive system) and not eating each other but we are seeing how people respond to panic even at a relatively small level.
When people panic, we act outside of our values if we are not careful to remind ourselves of who we are and who we want to be.
During this panic we have seen people hoarding good and price gouging basic goods in order to make a quick buck.
We have seen the bipartisan political system continue to rip each other the part for political gain (but that is not really new, we don’t need a pandemic to make that happen).
In the midst of panic, people have resorted to utilizing fear tactics in marketing of goods in order to capitalize on hysteria meanwhile people are out of work for at least a month — who knows how much longer after this.
All over the world, people are looking out for themselves by looking past the welfare of others.
But not everyone and not everywhere.
Carry the Fire
When we talk about propensities or dispositions, this does not mean determinism. This does not mean that we have to, by default, act in certain ways. We can choose another way. We can choose innumerable ways of looking out for ourselves while loving others and not using them or looking past them.
“You have to carry the fire.
I don’t know how to.
Yes, you do.
Is the fire real? The fire?
Yes it is.
Where is it? I don’t know where it is.
Yes you do. It’s inside you. It always was there. I can see it.” -The Road
If it is sin that causes us to look past others, there is a thing called grace.
If it is selfishness, there is a thing called selflessness.
If it is the “selfish gene,” there is a thing called altruism.
If it is nationalism, there is a thing called our common humanity.
In each of the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic works mentioned above, there is always a group — however small or seemingly powerless — that is carrying the fire.
In the midst of chaos, we can choose peace. In the midst of selfishness, we can choose to help others for the mere act of helping our fellow human.
“So act that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means.” -Immanuel Kant
Will this make the news or make for a good movie? No.
But should we choose it all the same? Yes.
Carrying the Fire
During times of civil distress, we can love our neighbors. Collectively, we can distance ourselves as an act of love while still reaching out for connection.
Call your parents and tell them you love them.
Make art and share it with others (digitally, for now).
Email your missionary friends.
Spend time with your children.
Wash your hands.
Pray.
Listen.
Do a puzzle.
Garden.
Read.
Write.
Finish your taxes.
Meditate.
Cook.
Make a TikTok.
Sing Disney songs.
Be kind.
Start that thing you have to do.
Finish that thing you have to do.
Politics of the Apocalypse
Major events will always shatter and splinter humanity into extremists of every sort — hoarders, cynics, hypochondriacs, defeatists, fear-mongers. But there will always be the peace-loving, calm-cool-collected bunch that rides the proverbial wave and loves their neighbor as they wish to be loved.
We are living through history right now and how we respond during this event, and all others to come, will define us as a people.
The more literal/traditional meaning of the word Apocalypse is “a revealing of things that otherwise would not have been known apart from the revealing.” So an apocalypse does not always have to be apocalyptic and consist of fire and brimstone. It can be a revealing of anything. This hectic time can reveal in us some of our deepest values and passions. It can reveal in us our need for closeness. For each other. For our families and friends.
As an abrupt ending, one apocalyptic aspect of this pandemic has revealed that life is always able to bounce back and thrive even after tumult. Following the quarantine in Italy, specifically in Venice, inhabitants are beginning to see clear water and canals teeming with fish for the first time in decades.
Perhaps once the curve flattens and we grieve a world-wide tragedy, we can see what things we must truly value as a people.
