There are times in my life when the universe seems filled with immense complexity and innumerable rules, systems, procedures and structures. There are times in my life when the world seems incredibly simple, reducible to just a few fundamental notions. I’m in a reductive mood today, and I’ve been thinking about people, politics, and morality.
I’d like to propose a sweeping statement, one probably made by someone else with a famous name already, but hey, here’s my version:
Most of the stupid things people do involve the triumph of ignorant fear over the free examination of empirical reality.
When the USA invades Iraq and opens a whole big can of worms because of non-existent terrorist threats involving a non-existent WMD program, that’s the triumph of ignorant fear over the free examination of empirical reality.
When Christian conservatives endorse a system in which frozen blastocysts are thrown in the trash rather than used to help a sick person grow a new pancreas, that’s the triumph of ignorant fear over the free examination of empirical reality.
When Matthew Shepard is tied to a fence and beaten to death, that’s the triumph of ignorant fear over the free examination of empirical reality.
When cultural xenophobes constituting a majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives move to strip voting rights from citizens who don’t speak English, that’s the triumph of ignorant fear over the free examination of empirical reality.
When George W. Bush beats Al Gore in 2000 by shouting in front of cheering crowds that Gore “likes numbers!”, that’s the triumph of ignorant fear over the free examination of empirical reality.
When we put gag orders on doctors so they cannot discuss accurtate information regarding abortion with patients, that’s the triumph of ignorant fear over the free examination of empirical reality.
When the Bush administration’s rebuttal of a reporter’s critique is that the reporter is gay and Canadian, that’s the triumph of ignorant fear over the free examination of empirical reality.
When we conflate experimentation with a non-addictive, non-lethal herb with addiction to psychoactive drugs, that’s the triumph of ignorant fear over the free examination of empirical reality.
When we use our power to keep not just our kids, but all kids, from having access to a book because it has religious ideas we don’t like, that’s the triumph of ignorant fear over the free examination of empirical reality.
When the Senate spends its time attempting to ban a variety of symbolic expression because it bothers some people, that’s the triumph of ignorant fear over the free examination of empirical reality.
The shield against all these instances of ignorant, fearful, restrictive stupidity is simple:
Let go of fear,
Let people do and say what they want to, so long as they don’t hurt others,
and
Attend more to observations of what actually is and less to suppositions about what might be.
Less fear. More freedom. More knowledge. In my simple-minded thinking this morning, I believe that just these three things would lead to a much better world.
