Reflecting howsoever casually upon the broad topic of the animal kingdom – and recalling Darwin’s theory of “survival of the fittest” – it is difficult not to accept the fundamental proposition that there is a hierarchy of control and evolution, one universally affecting as well the realm of insects, fish and vegetation. It is Nature’s way to rid itself of pusillanimity and distortion. Even within species we have come to accept the utility of the “fight to the death” for community leadership. Is this visceral dialogue the answer to progress? Is it the unifying manner to defeat the complications of life? Is it the necessary alignment to sustainability? Is there really a King of the Jungle? A Lord of the Rings? A Tarzan in our midst? Or have we succumbed instead to a Heart of Darkness? A Lord of the Flies? The Handmaid’s Tale?
As the great political theorist and philosopher Edmund Burke said:
[Society] is not a partnership in things subservient only to the gross animal existence of a temporary and perishable nature. It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born. Each contract of each particular state is but a clause in the great primeval contract of eternal society.
Part of the worldwide associations which have evolved is the growing theme that equality and accommodation are the new rules of behaviour. Ignorance of the past – as convenient as it may be when cultivating that agreeable “uniformity” – is nevertheless proving to be more a repugnance and regrettable deceit than “the melting pot” or whatever vernacular preferred for conformity.
Yet blaming others is not overcome by blaming those who do so. If indeed we all have our weaknesses then surely the path is instead to negotiate and to compromise. The alternative of war and imposed paramountcy is not one readily supported; nor does it achieve lasting peace. But it is a steep hill. to climb. Given the options of life or death, I think we have time for the effort.
Attacking empathy is all the rage with the right, I point out, especially in the US. There are popular books called Against Empathy and The Sin of Empathy. “Well, in that environment, saying loudly and proudly that you believe in empathy and that you’ll govern in that way is an act of strength.”
“I think people swinging in the other direction [from America] is almost making the point. I don’t think that form of leadership is what people seek.”
The Guardian – New Zealand to USA and beyond
The Free Press – Medical Calamity
Medical calamity is isolating. Even limping along the sidewalk from the nerve pain that necessitated my back surgery, I became mere street furniture to the public rushing past; I was no longer part of their fast, efficient, functional world. When cataclysm strikes, friends and family may be sympathetic, but there’s no getting around the fact that this happened to you; both parties sit on opposite sides of a very high fence. Maybe they love you, but they’re still glad this didn’t happen to them, and they should be glad. In fact, if there’s any lesson in this, it’s for the well, who are still candidates for the euphoria of hitting a sweet crosscourt forehand.
Perhaps Kureishi’s and my stories provide less a lesson than a reminder: that each of us is always a horrifying half step away from utter devastation.
While it is initially compelling to accept the logic of uniformity and clarity – elimination of difference and uncertainty – it is helpful and sobering to ask oneself, “What if they were talking about me?” And if you have the overt advantage of capital, ask yourself, “What if I didn’t?”
Still there are those who are hogs at the trough. This isn’t Disneyland and there are those who unabashedly pursue their self-interest. Awakening to these realities is not being “woke” anymore than acknowledgement of incompetency is. Growth and progress depend not upon platitudes but upon forward thinking. Intelligence is a complex and at times perplexing formula.