One is the narrative of empires, how they have conquered, maintained their control, and how the masses benefitted or suffered from their rule, and how their power came to an end.
The other is the history by literature, science, art and freedom of expression - which amount to the quality of life as it is lived by the common people.
This second narrative reveals that whenever the rule is centralized and the conversation is about making a society "great again", the quality of life for most of the people goes down. The ruling party uses violence, cruelty and fear to dominate the masses while claiming this is what the masses want. However the voice of the commoner has been taken away and replaced with an ideology that demands obedience, and the "greatness" is a rehearsed display of power over the masses - like marching armies, missiles displayed on wheels, displacement of aboriginal peoples, refugees, concentration camps and wars.
"Greatness" demands sacrifice and the health and happiness of people is seen as unaffordable. Bit by bit, day by day, the masses lose their freedom to a cause, and the chaos of democracy is sacked for the sake of fascism. Life is a resource to be used not celebrated, not lived for pleasure. Resources are taken from the masses and warehoused in the castle of the ruler.
Any political policy can be identified as moving towards centralized power by taking power away from people, or governing from the roots up, moving towards shared power and responsibility.
The less engaged the masses are the easier it is to lie about where the power is coming from. When people vote for authoritarian rule we need to look more closely at why or how oppression can be internalized as self-interest.
When people get involved in democracy by engaging with the problems and organizing change, it's not as easy to misinform the public. For example when people say they are against social services such as birth control, sex education, health plans, libraries, anti-poverty, affordable housing and community development - you will find massively funded campaigns from a ruling elite.
No matter how well meaning we are as members of a diverse society we are addicted to the promise of solutions, that mostly involve a power-over initiative taking power away from the people and giving it to an "authority". In that way we lose some of our agency, our compassion and the hope for progress.
Beauty is that unwelcome moment when I realize that I was wrong, the truth is available if I look for it, and my friends don't abandon me. It's okay to have opinions as long as I am not more attached to them than the truth. Beauty shines through those moments when I see that none are right all the time and it's more than okay.
No comments:
Post a Comment