Nothing screams inferiority quite like the ordinance, “Back of the bus!”. I can’t but think that the proclamation was geared in particular for the lower classes of American society which includes not only those of racial disparity but also what Hillary Clinton successfully identified as the “deplorables” of society, predominantly poor, uneducated white, racist people. At the mud sucking level of society it is perhaps acceptable that a persistent skirmish prevails among the competing ingredients. I say this not with disparagement but with the same conviction that I expect that many corporate business people conduct their own affairs; namely, people at any level of society try to get away with whatever privilege or superiority they can.
So the problem isn’t that people of every description can become embroiled in a fight for advantage. The problem is that people of every description would improve their lot if they helped one another to improve. If ever there were a case to be made for the paternity of government this is it! The “masses” – by which I mean people at every level of society – cannot be expected to conduct themselves with magnanimity. The same abhorrent practices (such as “back of the bus“) as separated and “segregated” people succeeded to create unnecessary divergence among the country’s population. What apart from arrogance, ignorance and stupidity could possibly promote what is destined to be a conflicting separation of people! Do the white people really believe they acquired some significance or heavenly beneficence by sitting at the front of a fucking bus! Pardon me, but if you’re lined up to get on a bus, you haven’t any basis for claiming superiority! It makes about as much sense as expecting cooperation from your staff if you remind them you’re the boss! It’s just not commercially viable! Not to mention the outright shallowness and rudeness of the observation!
The be clear the problem isn’t who is superior; the problem is that no one is superior. It’s a claim which has no foundation in psychology, anthropology, medicine or religion. What makes the point more accurate is that it is the deprivation of learning, food, shelter, health and opportunity which causes the resulting friction. The agenda of destitution works against its unwritten objective of safety and accommodation. It is a patent understatement that the failure to help others to achieve happiness will ultimately contaminate others whether through manifest hardship or simmering fear. Selfishness is a poor recipe for advancement of any order.
We are not educated to understand how to help others. The closest we often get to intellectual analysis is to stew about one’s self-awareness. Given the measurable lack of success of that particular project it might be better to decipher how cooperation can work its magic. I can hear the cries of “bleeding heart!” but I am not dissuaded. Certainly there will be instances where people on either side of the equation seek to discover unfair priority. Life is like that, nothing’s perfect. But there is a great deal more to be gained from cooperation than otherwise. The reward is not merely spiritual.