i have commented upon this idea of myths and biases
and prejudices and superstitions…and I have commented
upon them negatively…but why? what does it matter that
we have such codes… in fact, these things, myths and biases
and prejudices and superstitions are a good thing…
they help us follow the past and in doing so, we don’t get
carried away with modern notions that have no basis in
traditions or facts or logic…the old ways, the old myths
are the basis of our society and we should always follow them
for they are the only true basis of society that is possible…
the traditionalist argues from the basis of, the past having served
as the collected experience of our ancestors, are the true basis
of society… in other words, the past, because it works and has
work well, is experience we should follow because it did work well…
the new stuff hasn’t been tried and lacks experience and thus is theoretical…
it hasn’t been tried and true like the past experiences which are embodied
in our institutions and politics and history… this stuff works, which
is why we should keep and maintain the past, knowledge of
the past which is based on experience is better then will oh wasp of
modern thinking that is based on unproven and untested theories…
the theory is because the past worked for our fathers and grandfathers,
it will work for us…the past being our laws and institutions and political
methods and ways of doing things… stick with these things, says the conservative,
because they have worked in the past…the new is unproven and untried…
so the conservative argues from the principle of experience… we have experience
with the old ways which have worked, so let us stick with them because we
know they do work… look at society today… it works… that is the conservative
argument…
the liberals says, look around you… see the conflict and damage done by
the old ways… it can be improved… and it must be improved because
we evolve in such things as technology and science and we have such
a growth of population that we must, we must engage in the evolution
of idea’s and in the improvement of laws and institutions and
political methods to match the evolution of our society and culture…
we must engage in the evolution of our activities because they have
evolved… we no longer exists in a world of horse drawn carriages
or of authority given by the church… we must change and adapt to
the current environment we find ourselves in…
the conservative says, no, the old way was good enough for my father and
it is good enough for me…neglecting the fact that your father
also adapted his institutions and society and actions due to the changing
environment and changing conditions… and we must do the same…
as the environment changes, we must change…
one of the things that conservatives fall trap to is this…
because of their faith in habits and myths and biases and
superstitions and that they don’t challenge or attack them…
they see things through the eyes of those habits and myths and
superstitions…
what does this mean? well, let us try this…
one argument for god is, every tree is an example of god
creating the world… when I see a tree, I see god…
that is childhood training and habit working…
we see things through the eyes of our childhood habits
and myths and biases and prejudices and superstitions…
we see something and we interpret it in terms of our childhood
myths, habits, bias, prejudices and superstitions…
if we are taught that liberals are evil or troublemakers or
wrong… we see liberals through that lens of the myths
we were taught… some around here have proclaimed
that “being liberal is a mental disease”… those are not
responding to liberals, but they are responding to their
childhood training… they see liberals in terms of their
childhood bias and prejudice and myths and habits…
they haven’t freed themselves of their childhood biases and habits…
and everything is seen through the lens of their childhood habits and beliefs
and biases…Liberals are evil… and they were taught this as children…
and they see liberals and liberalism throught this lens…
“it is not enough for the courage of your convictions,
you must have courage enough for an attack upon your convictions”
and conservatives don’t have the courage for an attack upon their
convictions…
they see life through their myths and habits and prejudices of childhood…
and not through eyes that have been opened by new realities and the
evolution of such things as technology and science and the ever changing
enviroment we find ourselves in…
we must adapt and change with the new realities of our life…
we must evolve or we will die… that is the lesson of nature…
if animals don’t evolve to adapt to the changing enviroment,
the animals die… it is just that simple… and we too must
evolve and adapt to our ever changing conditions… and that means
seeing our evironment without the preconceived notions of childhood
myths and habits and biases and prejudices and superstitions we were
raised with… to see our world with eyes not prejudice with old
habits and superstitions…for if we do see with eyes of
habits and myths and superstition, we will see the world wrongly
and with the prejudices of ages past…to see the black man as
inferior, is to see the black man with the prejudices and superstitions of the past…
we must see everything with new eyes and eyes that haven’t been
determined by past myths and habits and biases and prejudices
and superstitions of the past…
to see clear, we must see with eyes of experience that
aren’t clouded by the myths and biases of the past…
my experience is that the black man is equal to me in every respect
and that women are equal to me in every respect and
any bias or superstition from my past that says otherwise, is wrong…
but to see without bias or habit or myth or prejudice, we must search
who we are and we must see with new eyes and we cannot accept without
understanding where this habit or this myth comes from…we must
engage in understanding who we are and this self engagement is hard
and lenthy and not without risk… but it must be done…
for to be human means we must engage without our past
myths, habits of childhood giving us a wrong understanding of what we see…
to see clear is hard… but to see wrong is to see and act upon
information that is bias and prejudice is even harder, for it
leads one to have the wrong information and the wrong course of action…
in other words, if we hold to our childhood bias and prejudice that
black men are evil or wrong, we will be wrong in our actions in regards to
black men…or if we learn that liberals are evil, then any action we take
in regards to liberals will be wrong because it is based on the wrong information
regarding to liberals…or said another way, garbage in, garbage out…
so, what bias or habits or myths do you act upon?
you don’t even know because you have never engaged in an attack
upon your convictions… exposing the myths and habits and prejudices
you act upon every single day…the wrong myths and wrong habits
and the wrong prejudices…which leads one to the wrong actions…
if your map is wrong, any attempt to use that map will lead one astray because
the map doesn’t have the right information to use to guide one through the area…
you will become lost… and we have become lost as a society… and this is why…
we are using the wrong map and you are using the wrong map…
so what map should we be using? or said another way, what ideology
should we be using as our guide into life? ism’s and ideologies are just maps…
so what isms and ideology should we be using?
Kropotkin