We Are Our Own Saviors
The German writer, Nietzsche, said “Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.” What illusions might they have to give up? Some of those might be illusions about their country, themselves, their religion, etc. For example, there are many people in the US who believe that their country is the best one in the world — on every metric. While it is true that the US is the best place in the world for entrepreneurs and its lead in terms of technology and research is among the best in the world, the US also has some of the worst numbers on the planet when it comes child welfare, financial inequality and maternal mortality. Somehow those metrics about their country that picture the US in a less than flattering light these Americans simply gloss over or forget. If someone dares to bring up those metrics that person is often accused of being a Communist and not loving their country.
Now it may be the case that these people are unaware of the less flattering metrics (the US is not high on the list when it comes to how many of its citizens are educated to be critical thinkers) or it may be that they regard child welfare, maternal mortality and financial inequality as not that important, especially if they live a more privileged existence where none of those metrics impact them or their family and friends. They can live under the illusion that where it counts the US is the best country in the world because it is the best country in the world — for them.
Ok, what about other illusions many Americans have say, about racism in their country? It’s so easy for we white Americans to think that racism is no longer a problem. Black people vote. Hell, the US even recently elected a black man as president, twice. Yes, there are no black people living on our streets or in our neighborhoods but that’s only because they can’t afford to live there. And yeah, there aren’t that many black people at the office either but, you know, that’s because their schools are so bad. And anyway, we say, I am pleasant to black people when I do encounter them, unless it’s at night and I am in a bad neighborhood. Racists are people in the Klan who go out of their way to harm black people. We don’t do those things. We are not racist. Some of us will say things like “I just don’t understand why black people are protesting, to be honest. The police are just doing their job.”
On to religion. This one is amazingly effective at perpetuating all kinds of illusions about families, including our own, mental illness, poverty, and especially one brand of religion. Bad things happening? Don’t worry. Everything is happening according to God’s plan. We should not interfere. Who are we to disrupt His work? Yes, it’s too bad that many men are abusive and that kids turn to drugs to cope with what they experience in their families and that people fall ill and die because they don’t have the money for treatment, but you have to wonder why they don’t have the money and then mental illness is a tragedy but why can’t they pull themselves together? We certainly don’t allow that kind of nonsense in our family. Fortunately we live in a Christian country. We don’t make women wear burkas or stone people to death. We’re not like the Taliban!
Do you notice how these illusions are so effective at maintaining the status quo/the default? If everything is happening like it’s supposed to then there is no reason to get upset or do anything. If our species is tribal by default, what is the point of worrying about racism in the abstract or our own passive racism in particular? It’s not like we can do anything to change human nature! And yet I would posit that it is our illusions that are blinding us to the possibility that we can evolve beyond our default nature. Yes, we can take on racism, demagogues in our country, poverty, and stand up and protect women and children from patriarchal rules that see them as property. We can do all we can to slow down or even halt the climate crisis. We can do all of these things but only if we take off the blinders and see the world as it is and not as we want it to be.
The stark truth is we are the ones who must do the work. We must be our own saviors.
