American Schizophrenia and How to Avoid It
In Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut pens an entire chapter describing a Nazi sympathizer living in America with a backstory so ridiculous and opinions so hideous, that it is meant to make the reader laugh or weep. His example of the sympathizer, Lionel Jones, illustrates that commonplace opinions and “reasonable” thinking by Nazi standards are completely outlandish to Americans. Below is a quote about Jones’ writings while studying dentistry in college.
They began, sanely enough, with whatever subject the examination required Jones to discuss. But, regardless of that subject, Jones managed to go from it to a theory that was all his own — that the teeth of Jews and Negroes proved beyond question that both groups were degenerate. -Vonnegut, Kurt Mother Night (p. 65)
Many of Mother Night’s most scathing pages critique the intersection of racism and nationalism. Moreover, Vonnegut is critical of the humans that choose to use racism and patriotism to blindly hate their way through life. Vonnegut believes there is “no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty Himself hates with you, too. Where’s evil? It’s that large part of every man that wants to hate without limit, that wants to hate with God on its side.” This is where America went mad. We use God, history, science, and anything else we can get our grubby minds on to cement our delusions — our American schizophrenia.
American culture percolated to a boiling point of hatred without reservation. Religiosity and patriotism commingle perfectly to inspire a self-righteous hatred from conservatives. A disdain for anything that resembles conservative ideas and doesn’t conform to an impossible standard of sensitivity drives liberals to use hate against the unlikeminded. We’ve become schizophrenic about “the other side” and we’re destroying free speech because of it.
Schizophrenia is the failure to know what is real, which drives you to abnormal social behaviors. We see this behavior daily in the media. Donald Trump is the prime example of American schizophrenia. He calls for Americans to be weary of immigrants and Muslims because they’re violent, but then talks about killing families of “terrorists.” He’s a textbook liar, authoritarian, and wannabe fascist. And a lot of Americans identify with him.
One can even look beyond politics and to the entertainment industry for schizophrenia. Casting women as leads in the new Ghostbusters film evolved into the same violence against reality. “Fans” were willing to fabricate fictions online to get people to skip the movie because they hate women. We’ve dug ourselves into a cultural pit of vipers where the loudest, dumbest, and most venomous seem to be striking the meek and sane.
What are normal and sensible people to do in a time where tweeting a mild opinion can get you harassed? I have a few suggestions.
Realize you are being lied to
Have you heard of fanboyism or brand loyalty? These things can be great for companies, political parties, and people in leadership because they inspire you to believe your choice in a product is right and better than the competition. I’m a Playstation guy. I tweet things making fun of Xbox, but I’ve never played one. Have you heard an Apple fan talk about Microsoft or Android? You’ve seen and heard brand loyalty permeate culture, because it makes you rabid about their philosophies and products. Politicians and organizations use this against you, so you become an unquestioning vapid form of your rational self. They make you believe all the junk they sell you is a reflection of you being a smart consumer. You always choose the option that makes the most sense!
In reality, you are just being marketed to and often misled. This blind loyalty to the GOP, DNC, Fox News, Apple, the NRA or Donald Trump turns you into the perfect vessel to sell their fictions and punish the non-believers that won’t be sold. You turn yourself into a schizophrenic buyer or voter that destroys your ability to think constructively about reality.
Your product and philosophical choices are mostly inconsequential to the world. This makes people feel insecure; they want to believe that their choices and ideology are better than alternatives. Marketing preys upon this need by selling a brand to burn the insecurity deeper into your flesh. Who doesn’t want to feel different? Why not do it with an Apple product? Ignore that you (and millions of others) are paying a company that receives government dollars for R&D and American talent, but pays next to no taxes to the society it generates its wealth from. Who doesn’t want to make America great again? Why not vote for Trump? Don’t wake up to the fact that you are being fooled into being a xenophobic asshole and America’s “great period” was one of violence against minorities and suppression of women.
Question your assumptions and the “things” you find yourself compelled to fight for. If you are going to spend your life believing in things and hating people that don’t feel the same way, skepticism will at least keep your beliefs honest.
Stop being a reductionist
Reductionism is a dangerous habit. We all do it. We see a group, person, or company acting a certain way and say things like “well, they’re just (enter a stereotype to package up a complex social order).” This type of labeling makes it easier dehumanize others through language games. It’s also a schizophrenic way to fool yourself into thinking that your beliefs are superior.
The first problem with this type of thinking is that it marginalizes and discounts people just because they are different than you. Think about how a lot of men talk about women. You hear phrases like “She’s just on her period” or “She’s a woman, so she’s a very nurturing manager.” This reduces women to biological and cultural irrelevancies. It dismisses their human complexity with language. You care less about their complex makeup (which you believe you have for yourself) and focus on easy ways to brand their behavior.
The second problem is that it excuses terrible actions and communication. Let’s think about racism for this one. How many of you have laughed away the ugly things older racists say with, “Oh that’s just her generation,” or “That’s uncle Jim for you”? You can take that a step further to generalize groups and say things like “They are just uneducated, of course they are racists.” Or, “They’re evangelical christians, so they are a little quacky.” This explains away the bad behavior and hatred that we should all be combatting. By attaching a label to the nasty actions and words we hear, we subside to apathy and become complicit in inaction. It’s easier put something in a abstract box and ignore it, rather than face its ugliness directly.
Admit when you are wrong
American schizophrenia is largely a side effect of everyone wanting to be right. We often use our beliefs as a filter to gather facts about the world, instead of gathering facts about the world and then coming to conclusions. The conclusions most people make aren’t rational. They are deeply influenced by media, culture, and social groups. Understanding this can help you admit when you are wrong. Admitting when you are wrong is the first step in seeing reality. It takes some responsibility to admit you are wrong, because it means you have made the wrong choice in your belief system, which is tough. I think this why so many people believe in an afterlife or religions hone in on something “next” rather than now… It’s a way to escape the full responsibility of being proven wrong in the most fundamental reality of being alive, which is that you will one day die.
“The experience of sitting there in the dark, hearing the things I’d said, didn’t shock me. It might be helpful in my defense to say that I broke into a cold sweat, or some such nonsense. But I’ve always known what I did. I’ve always been able to live with what I did. How? Through that simple and widespread boon to modern mankind — schizophrenia.” -Vonnegut, Kurt Mother Night (p. 180)
Vonnegut understood our ability to lie to ourselves about beliefs, opinions, and the actions that evolve from our inability to think rationally. All the fictions we create and the hatred we spread give us a sense of purpose. We’re right even when we’re wrong, because it feels good to be crazy and angry.
