Cal’s comment on the blog below concerning social problems came exactly at the right time. As I turned on the radio this morning (Monday, August 5), all the news – and I mean ALL – was about the new round of mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. I am not sure exactly why these hit us so hard, for we have gangland mass shootings in many major cities every weekend, but they do. And when they do, they actually chill the spirit and make us question what the hell is happening in society these days, for this kind of shooting, at least on a regular basis, is fairly new. Has something integral changed about us? And if so, what has changed, and what can we do about it?
That is Cal’s big question, although it came regarding changes that the information elite are trying to make on gender identity. Cal’s comment compared social problems with global warming, and his answer to both was: we adapt to them or perish. What’s new about that?
In reply, I agree with Cal – there is nothing new about adaptation. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah happened almost 4,000 years ago because they did not adapt to God’s demands. But after a visit by Jonah, who had seen the light after spending three days in the belly of a fish, the city of Nineveh was saved because they DID adapt to God’s demands. So if we were to take a biblical approach to our problems, the answer would be easy. Obey God’s commands. Do not do evil, as defined by both the Ten Commandments and by great spiritual leaders such as St. Paul, who particularly hated sexual perversion. That’s it. If society were to take these things seriously, then, we would probably have fewer mass shootings and suicides and drug problems. After all, they had far fewer of such things in the 1930’s when evil corporations ruled over a hungry people and the KKK rode unscathed throughout the Jim Crow South. They did not, because the vast majority of people, even Klan members, knew that there was a greater law, even if they crossed it at times.
Or so the story would go if one were a believer.
I am a believer, but I am also an anthropologist. While I might write ‘epistles’ on some matters, on others I write as a social scientist with speculations as prone to error as anyone’s. Even though social science has been poisoned by political correctness in the past 30 years, we can still do the old time stuff if we want to, and this old time stuff tells us that societies react to massive change with violence and depression. This most would agree upon, but after that, the arguments begin. The progressives would say that the changes we are going through are good and necessary. Unfortunately, they would continue, the old White Male guard is fighting a doomed but desperate battle to retain its hegemony, or, as President Obama put it, is “clinging to their god, guns, and bibles.” Conservatives would say that the very changes the progressives are making are the reason for the uptick in mass shootings and suicides and other social ills, and that they should stop it and let society settle down, lick its wounds, and regroup. This view ties together social, cultural, economic and demographic (read immigration here) changes. There are too many changes in too many areas, they say, and they are happening too fast.
My view on this centers on aliens, but not the type that the El Paso shooter was concerned about. Space aliens. This came to me after I had called a friend of mine who is also an anthropologist. As we talked, the topic natural drifted to the rapid and unprecedented social changes we are going through. We kept in mind that these changes, unlike Cal’s global warming, are happening purposefully, not as a byproduct of production but as willful systematic attempts meant to fundamentally alter society. The question then came down to this: WHO is masterminding this assault on old cultural values? My friend quickly brushed away the standard bugaboos of the Koch brothers or George Soros and went straight to the Russians.
“Oh boy,” I said, “we’ve settled that issue. I’m not going to listen to this paranoid stuff.”
“No, wait!” she said. “It’s aliens! Remember when George “W” Bush said he had looked into Putin’s eyes and saw that he could trust him? Putin was using KGB mind control techniques. He had control of Bush after that, but Putin is a stooge for Aliens who are controlling HIM! You see, they want to destroy the societies of the West so that the world falls into chaos, like what happened with the Europeans and the American Indians. We will become easy pickings for them and be slaughtered or enslaved. After this, they will continue to terraform the world, just as we are being made to do now (unknown to our conscious mind) with our pollution, which will eventually kill us all off and make the world a paradise for them.”
It was a lot more detailed than that, but one gets the picture. She was saying it tongue- in -cheek, knowing that I would not buy it otherwise, but I think she really believes it. And that is the point. What the, let’s call them “changers,” are doing seems like an alien conquest to many of us, but from within, like Putin’s mind control. It is apparent to those like myself that the world- dominant culture of the West is actively and very quickly destroying itself for no rational reason. Charges of racism and sexism, etc, are simply covers for an underlying dissatisfaction bordering- on- hatred among the changers. Much of (traditional) social science is confused because the ‘changers’ are our own spawn. We have more rights and food and freedom and medicine and free stuff than any other cultural group in known history. Our enemies still lag far behind in power. And yet it seems we are destroying – not improving but destroying – ourselves. Why?
The changers, many of whom are social scientists themselves, would say that the destruction is merely of an oppressive old guard, a necessary step to allow a new and better society take its place. But measures that break up the family and weaken the military and economic strength of nations do not add up to “improvement” to me. So again – why? And what should we do about it?
This situation cannot be compared with the global warming hypothesis. We can adapt to that, but how do we adapt to a crumbling society? There are only so many people who can go to the far-off hills and live off the grid. Instead, the answer must be to first identify the cause of the social affliction, and then to find the antidote. For my anthropologist friend, the problem is so intractable that she half-jokes about alien invaders. I understand her confusion, but disagree with the conclusion.
Sort of, that is. In a way, what is happening with us could be blamed on an alien force. Drawing upon social science, I would say that the most influential ‘changers’ are situated in the universities where they teach to an increasing portion of the population. That is where the ideology is formed and disseminated, but as we dig deeper we head into alien territory. Why are these teachers so unhappy with their cushy and privileged lifestyles? And why do so many students actually swallow this propaganda? I believe this tsunami-like trend IS due to an alien force, but not one from outer space or even from across the border. Rather, it is a force that we have kept more or less at bay for centuries, one that is now being allowed to emerge from inner space, where it has always been – lurking.
To find it from the social science angle, we must go to its occult sibling, psychology. Here, the general belief (based on Freud) is that the spoiled, self-centered child that we all are at age two never really goes away – rather, he is gradually enculturated, caged by social restrictions and norms traditionally upheld by culture gods. He hates this cage, but calmer thought prevails with age, and with this he subdues his desires, for the social and spiritual good.
It is here where many intellectuals have increasingly diverged from the past: instead of perceiving this enculturating force as good, many profess that it is the “cage” that causes the rage, rather than contains it. Take away the cage and we get a happy, fulfilled society. This is not what Freud intended; rather, he saw enculturation as a necessary evil – otherwise, the little two year old becomes a demon predator.
Thus it is that the alien force is our suppressed ego unleashed, a selfish, irrational being that believes it is the center of the world and all that happens in it – that is, a god. It is a very jealous and vengeful god when it doesn’t get its way. This seems to be the popular spirit of the moment, where unhappiness is believed to be caused by others suppressing natural desires. Lift off the lid of oppression and bango!, utopia. The violent side of this inner child, this popular spirit says, is caused by all the “ism’s” we are so familiar with. Tear down the (white male or whatever) hierarchy and we’ll all be gentle and happy as little lambs.
This couldn’t be more wrong from the religions of the Book. From this perspective, it is Satan who is lurking. Our moral will and our God are what keep us from Satan’s enslavement, although we are never fully free, children of Adam that we are. To cast off the moral strictures of religion is to give in to Satan. With Satan, we get the object of our desires initially, but this sort of internal anarchy always leads to chaos, which leads to war and death and all manner of nasty things. With Satan, we find that satisfying our desires is never enough, because we have allowed ourselves to be like Satan – who wanted to displace God. That is, we have allowed ourselves to believe that we are our own gods, and so must continually try to prove it. To prove it, we must continue, that is “progress,” to dominate everything as God does. Since we cannot, our belief in our inner god leads to increasing frustration and rage and violence. Thus the trap of Satan.
Take your pick: what society is now dealing with is either Satan or a two year old megalomaniac all grown up and carrying a needle – or a gun. Different sides of the same coin. In the end, we always find that freedom can only exist with self-control. Without that comes chaos, whether from Satanic or psychological roots, and chaos can never last. And if we do not control ourselves, someone else will. Someone else will, and we will have less freedom than we had when we did have self-control.
There, Cal, is the root and the answer – in my opinion. We need not adaptation but internal control, based preferably (almost necessarily) on the wisdom of our spiritual ancestors. And there, then, is the debate. God or child? Good or evil? The answers are certainly written in epistles and in the Gospels, but that has never stopped the world from criticizing them.
RSS Feed