We humans have a problem. The problem is that we are incredibly stupid. In fact, we are so stupid that don’t even realise just how stupid we are. Over the last few months I have been reading about the Flat Earth Society, a bunch of people who believe that the earth is flat. My original response was Pavlovian, how can they be so stupid?, but then I stopped reacting and started thinking. They think that the earth is flat, so what? What difference does it make? The most common response would be that these people are so stupid that they ignore scientific fact however, there are many people in the world who believe that the earth is round but also believe that the world’s problems are caused by and can be solved by killing Jews. But, they believe that the earth is round so they must be smart, no?
Yes, some of the ‘flatearthers’ are concerning in their stupidity (not to mention any names but do a quick search if you are curious) but what concerns me more, something I have eluded to before, is the profound stupidity of the human ego. When things happen, we instantly assume that we know everything and then set ourselves up as judge, jury and executioner. In the psychiatrist Carl Jung’s book Answer To Job in which he tackles the biblical story of Job being tortured by God as part of a wager with the Devil, (also in which, I believe, Jung tries to tackle the issues addressed by the movement from Polytheism to monotheism for if God is omnipotent and is everything then how can there be evil in the world, something explained by the humanistic and many gods of mythology), Jung writes that when Job is being tortured, instead of trying to understand why he is being tortured and offering support, Job’s friends ‘…moralise in an all too human manner, that is, in the stupidest fashion imaginable’. Or in other words, they assume that they know the ‘truth’ and therefore judge Job, not from the perspective of him and the, if you like, ‘facts’ of the situation (which they are not privy too as Kant wrote ‘What might be said of things in themselves, separated from all relationship to our senses, remains for us absolutely unknown’) rather they view the situation from their own limited perspective of: Job is being punished by God so, post hoc ergo propter hoc, Job must deserve his punishment.
In the brilliant Aaron Sorkin TV show The West Wing the secretary of the president dies in a car crash. After the funeral the president clears the cathedral and has a mono-et-mono with God in which he, the president, questions the will of God viewing the whole of God’s unimaginable will, or as he puts it, quoting Graham Greene, ‘You cannot conceive, nor can I, of the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God.’, as in relation to himself ending it with an act of rebellion, lighting a cigarette and then crushing it underfoot leaving in on the floor (presumably his moral outrage does not extend to his fellow man having to clear up the mess of thoughtless people). The brilliance of the scene (see below) is how lifelike it is, how often we, or others, experience, by proxy, the lives of others and then make it all about ourselves. Politics, economics etc. would be very different if people viewed the world, not as an extension of their self and of their will, but rather in relation to those whom their actions/and the actions they are proxy to, affect/effect the lives of others. Yes, we can say that not to believe that the earth is round is dumb, but surely we have bigger personal issues to confront before we condemn others for a stupidity which is inherent to all of us?
‘till next time
——–
BARTLET
Would you ask the agents to seal the cathedral for a minute?
…
You’re a son of a bitch, you know that?
She bought her first new car and you hit her with a drunk driver. What, was that
supposed to be funny? “You can’t conceive, nor can I, the appalling strangeness of the
mercy of God,” says Graham Greene. I don’t know whose ass he was kissing there ’cause
I think you’re just vindictive. What was Josh Lyman? A warning shot? That was my son.
What did I ever do to yours but praise His glory and praise His name? There’s a
tropical storm that’s gaining speed and power. They say we haven’t had a storm this
bad since you took out that tender ship of mine in the north Atlantic last year…
68 crew. You know what a tender ship does? Fixes the other ships. Doesn’t even carry
guns. Just goes around, fixes the other ships and delivers that mail. That’s all it
can do. Gratias tibi ago, domine. Yes, I lied. It was a sin. I’ve committed many sins. Have I displeased you, you feckless thug? 3.8 million new jobs, that wasn’t good? Bailed out Mexico, increased foreign trade, 30 million new acres of land for conservation, put Mendoza on the bench, we’re not fighting a war, I’ve raised three children…that’s not enough to buy me out of the doghouse? Haec credam a deo pio? A deo iusto? A deo scito? Cruciatus in crucem! Tuus in terra servus nuntius fui officium perfeci. Cruciatus in crucem. Eas in crucem! (“I give thanks to you, O Lord. Am I really to believe that these are the acts of a loving God? A just God? A wise God? To hell with your punishments. I was your servant here on Earth. And I spread your word and I did your work. To hell with your punishments. To hell with you!)
Bartlet turns away in anger. He descends to the lower sanctuary and lights a cigarette.
He takes a single puff, drops the butt to the floor, and grinds it defiantly with his
shoe.
thegreaterfool2016 