Reevaluation of Values…
Reevaluation of Values
It has been quite an eye opening experience teaching political science at the local community college during the year 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 election, environmental disasters (fires and hurricanes), and the economic hardship have combined into a cocktail of doom and gloom. Only those cushioned by wealth have enough resources to not feel worried about how they are going to acquire next week’s food (I will consider myself as part of this fortunate group). Witnessing all of this turmoil from the perspective of an academic has enticed me to purport a bit of an awkward thesis: that the current cognitive and social stress being caused by the pandemic has encouraged many people to commit to a reevaluation of values — let me explain.
With most people being restricted to their homes for the majority of their day-to-day lives, and forced to social distance from other humans, it has been a psychological rollercoaster for many, myself included. Spending at least 12 hours a day no closer than 6 feet to anyone else has encouraged some deep introspection into my mind’s inner realm. This introspection has allowed to me stumble onto some psychological and sociological ethical values that have been hidden from modern Americans do to our religious devotion to conspicuous consumption and avariciousness.
My most critical realization is that we are going to be better off due to COVID-19 in the long run. Viruses do not discriminate based on class, race, culture, or gender. It certainly attacks certain at-risk populations — such as the elderly — with much more ferocity than it does with the most of the populace. Despite its focus on the vulnerable, every one of the nearly 8 billion people across the globe has been impacted by COVID-19. Hell, Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, has contracted the virus and has been hospitalized. He seems to be in good condition, but he is an older man, so you never know. People of various colors, creeds, and world views becoming infected and dying like this has clearly demonstrated how equal we humans are in the ultimate nature of reality. No amount of xenophobia and classism can protect us from the ill effects of nature; only science can do that.
Pursuit of knowledge, and in turn, wisdom, will allow contemporary humans to persevere through this pandemic. Embracing this pursuit of knowledge at the micro and macro level is going to be extraordinarily challenging due to the essential ingredient that hedonism has in this 21st century capitalistic, neo-liberal social system engulfing the world. Mass consumption has become the heartbeat of our reality in present day USA, and much of the rest of the world for that matter. Without a reevaluation of values in the very near future, humans may be careening towards a place of social suicide.
Pursuit of the unknown; profound discoveries that shift our view of reality; and the evolution and development of the arts have been paramount for the human psyche throughout recorded history. However, with the technological tools and collection of knowledge available to modern humans, we can reignite the cognitive flame that engulfed the Egyptians during the Old Kingdom, leading to the Great Pyramid of Giza; or continue down the path that the Apollo space missions pioneered. Delving into the ultimate nature of reality is going to require a lot of input from the human mind; it will be much more productive and enjoyable if many more of us join this exploration of values. Incorporating millions — or even billions — of minds into this reevaluation of values will take us on a journey into nature we could never imagine.
The COVID-19 pandemic has provided us with the perfect opportunity to alter our values, and engineer them in just the right way to demolish the religion of consumption and replace it with a fortress of scientific literacy and discovery. So, does modern humanity want to explore the wonders of reality and continue to grow? Or do we want to continue to gaze into the abyss of mindless consumption and fizzle out of existence with the other 99% of lifeforms that have ever existed on the planet Earth? I hope it is the former.
Thanks for your time and attention!
Best,
DS
