Dehumanization

The above comic by Scott Adams presents a humorous look at the reality of the modern world, the reality you face in every moment of every day.

Or is it quite so humorous?

Although these two-dimensional characters may bandy about such words as "souls" and "dopamine delivery systems" without repercussions, you do not have that same leisure.  Every action you take, however small, changes your three-dimensional reality, laying out the course of your future.

Now if that sounds melodramatic, perhaps you ascribe to Asok's view of reality rather than Dilbert's perspective.  You may prefer to walk each day according to the stimulation of dopamine responses to notifications.  You may believe your happiest reality consists of sitting with your eyes staring at a screen receiving responses to your latest spectacular photo or detailed description of some particular moment of your day.  You may choose the virtual reality before you.

"O brave new world!"

Yes, that world of virtual reality with its soma-like pleasure trips stares you in the face, demanding that you deny the contemplative nature of your soul and accept the new reality foisted upon you as the consumer.  Why would you ever choose the painful world of suffering against that realm of virtual pleasure?

Only if you know its emptiness will you have the courage to make that stand.  It is the action of a hero to step out on the path that leads to fight the dragon rather than remaining in the inn with food and beer aplenty.

Seeing that choice clearly does not ensure one will choose the right course.  The pull of pleasure is strong.

Oedipus listened to the oracle that he would kill his father and marry his mother and set out on a course that had him do precisely that.  You must be clever if you want to correctly follow the path of righteousness and not meet the destruction foretold for you life.

Even the Savage could not fight against the whole world that rose up against him.  He saw through the facade of the brave new world that claimed that everyone belonged to everyone else and that the only thing that mattered was pleasure.  He tried to regain the purity of his soul.  That drew crowds to him: they viewed him as a spectacle that defied understanding.  It fascinated them.

They did not see his suffering.  They did not see him as a person.

For they had long ago ceased to view each other as persons.  They had been conditioned from their inception to behave as automatons: their life consisted of completing their duties, believing wholeheartedly in their group, and treating each other as objects.

Aldous Huxley might well have looked into the future as into one of Tolkien's palantiri, the seeing stones.  His science may be rudimentary, but his reason and foresight demand respect.

Next time you choose to allow the social media companies to control your actions perhaps you may think of a man standing alone in a valley, flogging himself to atone for the evil he has done, or believes he has done, while crowds gather to laugh and stare.  Perhaps a face of one tormented by the horror of living for pleasure alone will rise up before you when the same temptation tugs at you.  Yet biology is a strong factor.  You must be strong indeed to turn the sword of truth against that dragon.

There are a few strong voices that still ring out clearly against the tide of postmodernism with its pleasure-based culture of want makes right.  One of these is Dr. Jordan Peterson who has been grappling himself with the idea of suffering and what to do about it.  In his words:

"Life is suffering, and suffering can make you resentful, murderous, and then genocidal if you take it far enough.  So you need an antidote to suffering.  And maybe you think that you can build walls of luxury around yourself, and that that will protect you from the suffering.  Good luck with that.  That isn't going to work.  Maybe you think that you could build a delusion and live inside that.  Well, that's going to fall apart.  What is there, then, that's going to help you fight against suffering?  That's easy: It's the Truth.  The Truth is the antidote to suffering.  The reason for that is because the Truth puts reality behind you, so that you can face the reality that's coming straight at you without becoming weak and degenerating and becoming resentful, and wishing for the destruction of Being, because that's the final Hell.  The final Hell is your soul wishing for the destruction of everything, because it's too painful, and you're too bitter.  And that happens to people all the time."

Hell is quite the empty life.  But it is always a choice.

You Voted Him In

Although perhaps the steady rush of time and the busyness of modern life has dulled somewhat the outrage regarding the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, media coverage helps to keep the flame of hatred alive.  After all, that is the right of every civilized person in this country of liberty: to hate the leader of its government.  How do you prove your freedom better than to mock your own president?

Now I have little reason to defend President Trump on any basis other than his office.  For if we make of that office a laughing stock, then how can anyone ever hold it without expecting a barrage of rotted vegetables in his face, if only metaphorically so?

Still, I will make no paltry defense of that once noble office for I doubt that anyone cares.  It is more satisfying to tear down than to build up.  It gives one a feeling of greater power to denigrate another for his stupidity than to compliment the other's good points, however few they may be.

I cannot claim vast knowledge of the actions of our current president.  I prefer to spend my time upon other more beneficial endeavors.  The actions of the president, no matter who he happens to be, make very little difference in my day to day life.

So, go ahead, cast your stones.  Burn your buildings.  Express your displeasure in all the mature ways of an educated society.

But I will point out that you voted him in.

You can argue with me if you wish.  You can tell me you voted for Hillary Clinton.  If you should chance to make such a foolish claim, however, I must correct your misunderstandings: if you voted for Hillary Clinton, you voted for Donald Trump.

They like to tell you that a vote for a third party candidate is a vote for the candidate of the party opposite the main party you prefer to support.  That, however, is slightly flawed logic.  It may happen to carry some weight when it passes from the theoretical world of statistics to the world of reality, but very little. 

The greater reality is this: if you vote for a candidate in the two-party system, you vote for the system.  You give your assent to the victory of the majority candidate whether or not you wish him to hold the office.

(And in truth how much difference is there these days between Democrats and Republicans?)

It is remarkable how little it would take to break that system so firmly entrenched.

Yet I doubt it will happen.  I have little confidence in the American spirit of independence as anything other than a choice to exhibit opinions on social media sites about everything from food to film.  I believe you are free to say what you want about your dog and look pretty in your favorite pose, but forgive me if I think the likelihood that you will think independently upon the most important issues of our time rather than merely bashing your favorite roasting candidate are not worth mentioning.

In fact, what are the odds that you will even bother to look up what must be done to implement more choices into our supposedly-democratic election process?

Of course you have two years until you have to worry about it again.  So perhaps you might say my "time is out of joint," but if so I will respond that "something is rotten in the state" of America.  You have been fair warned.

So prepare your 2020 vision!