Grabbing Hold
For as long as there have been people,
there have been herds of people as well
(racial groups, communities, tribes, folk, states, churches),
and a very large number of people who obey
compared to relatively few who command.
So, considering the fact
that humanity has been the best
and most long-standing breeding ground
for the cultivation of obedience so far,
it is reasonable to suppose that the average person
has an innate need to obey
as a type of formal conscience that commands:
“Thou shalt unconditionally do something,
unconditionally not do something,”
in short:
“Thou shalt.”
This need tries to satisfy itself and give its form a content,
so, like a crude appetite,
it indiscriminately grabs hold and accepts
whatever gets screamed into its ear
by some commander or another
– a parent, teacher, the law,
class prejudice, public opinion…
the herd instinct of obedience
is inherited the best
and at the cost of the
art of commanding.
Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche, trans. by Judith Butler, aphorism 199
The news reports for days have been filled with speculation about Democratic candidate Biden’s physical and mental fitness for four more years, to perform as the chief executive of the country. The President is 81 years of age now. To my eye the signs of creeping decline are apparent: delayed response to questions, a slow less confident stride, the appearance of confusion and other signs not necessary to mention. Nevertheless the President is adamant, that he is not going anywhere.
Aside from this elephant in the room, President Biden asserts loudly that he alone, without condition, is best positioned to beat Trump. And the rest of us, we who fear the rise of White Nationalism, who fear autocracy…
We are quite helpless to resist that screaming in our ear…
“And so it goes” wrote Kurt Vonnegut.
2 thoughts on “Grabbing Hold”
I recently mentioned the book, The Social Conquest of Earth, by E. O. Wilson, who was an entomologist by profession and a studier of human nature through curiosity. In this book he makes comparisons between human behavior and that of other social creatures such as termites and ants. In the insect world, one is born into a certain status that is never questioned. Humans, on the other hand, have a propensity to follow (was you and Fred have noted) and yet we have an ability to question that authority though we most often choose not to question (it’s just easier).
To me, curiosity and healthy skepticism are the only means by which our species can survive and, unfortunately, I don’t see that happening prior to our extinction. As we have discussed innumerable times, perhaps that’s not such a bad thing for the planet. We seem to have overstepped our welcome. A number of scientists have suggested that intelligent life throughout the universe may not be sustainable. That it will ultimately reach a point of self-destruction before it can muster the ability to move beyond that bottleneck of ignorance that E. O. Wilson predicted would keep us from moving forward.
Again, as has been stated so many times, it’s just sad. We have done so many wonderful things over the past 5,000 years (a blip in evolutionary time) that to see it all go up in smoke for the sake of greed, stupidity, and egotism is more than frustrating. What a waste!
Your point bears saying over and over, often, in as many forms as our imagination can conceive. Requiem for an expiring planet?