American Closemindedness

Above: The U.S. Supreme Court, Washingtion, DC

The other day I pulled a book from the upper reaches of my bookcase – “The Closing of the American Mind,” by Allan Bloom. This 1987 gem was a lambasting of the progressive thinking that had gained prevalence on American college campuses. It has proven, unfortunately, prescient in its predictions of intolerance, misguided preference and misplaced anger now sweeping America.

I began by reading the highlighted sections. I have this habit, a remnant of old college days, of highlighting thoughtful books with the ubiquitous yellow Sharpie. Annoying to some, I usually feel obligated to apologize to anyone who chooses to read a book I have so thus tattooed.

It’s still a very timely and instructive book in these days of protests, demands for diversity and tolerance, defunding of authority and ultimately, anarchy. The protestors possess, however, anything but their stated high-minded ideals. In truth they are simply bitter thugs and jealous have-nots who want to steal from others what they perceive as unjust rewards for hard work and risk taking. It’s really nothing more than the old fascist theme played out by those with no idea how their actions erode the sanctity of free thinking and action, and the bill of rights they now so loudly and blindly proclaim as racist along with the rest of the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

They somehow believe today’s large and compact societies can function without government, without the rule of law, relying instead on man’s innate goodness and ability to self-police. This is really nothing more than mob-think. Emotions rule the day rather than any remote semblance of a thoughtful, rational approach to problem solving.

I have news: Man is too crowded together and too prone to temptation, jealousy, envy, hate, despair, depression and all the resulting evils to live without a form of representative self-government. If we could separate ourselves and live at distance from one another, peaceful co-existence might be possible. Tend to your own problems and mind your own business. But we are such a bunch of busybodies today; in our arrogance of knowing what’s best for everyone we cannot, we refuse, to believe our way is not the best way for everyone. With no tolerance for other views or lifestyles, this is the very definition of Fascism. To keep some part of peaceful co-existence the Ten Commandments will still need to be observed. After all, they came to exist as the most basic foundations for order and the rule of law. And, co-dependence will always be a requirement of existence for some, mandating we live in community settings. What then? We all live by our own set of rules? That’s chaos at its finest. Welcome to the Stone Age.

So I have mentioned the rule of law twice already. But, what is it? Simply put, it creates a standard and consistency of perceived fairness by which we treat each other. Perceived because as humans we are fallible; even the best of us are sometimes prone to emotional rather than rational reactions. The rule of law is intended to help us avoid, or at least mitigate, those unjust punishments driven by emotion. It helps us solve problems. It is far from perfect because we are far from perfect. Does that mean we shit-can the whole idea? That’s idiotic.

Where, how would we start over? We are still the same human race, still with all of the same weaknesses and desires, still often more emotional than rational. In that sense we have not evolved from ancient times; we still make war, we still repeat mistakes of the past; we still all learn as we go, rather than from history and the advice of our parents as we should. It means we usually don’t do any better the second time around than we did the first. Starting again is not the solution. Working together, peacefully, sincerely, proactively is still the best way forward.

We will always fight our undesirable proclivities. Not all of us will get a fair shake. Unfortunately, not all of us are treated kindly; we have disabilities both mental and physical, some we are born with, some others abused into us. We all have baggage; we are all flawed. When we work together, we can and have created a basis of fairness that progresses the human race to something better. But let’s recognize it will never be the best, it will never be perfect.

We are all a work in progress. Let other’s have their foibles and let’s tend to minding our own. Work on being our own best self. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Be respectful, but observe the rule of law and don’t let others disobey it. Be tolerant of other’s viewpoints; they may be unpleasant, but they most likely do you no harm.