Off Topic: Prospects for the Human Race

[Greg Peisert <gpeisert@jamesgregory.com>]

Dear Margaret;

  Well, I feel like I understand you much better. You made a number of 
excellent points.  I don't have much time here...lots of work to do today, 
but it's not "work" work... I'm the treasurer for a rather large non-profit 
educational organization associated with our local "Discovery Museum" and I 
need to catch up on my duties here. So, I won't respond to everything you 
wrote here. You did, however, raise some fascinating issues that I would 
like to discuss more in future posts.

  The issue of Darwinian vs Social evolution is a deep one. My very 
possibly false premise has been that overall, a few hundred or even a few 
thousand years of social evolution will not be able to overcome tens of 
thousands of years of Darwinian evolution. While your words in your belief 
that we really can, as a race, change our behavior, cheer me some, I must 
admit, I'm somewhat pessimistic about it. It seems that the "normal" 
condition for the human race is one of poverty, misery and suffering. But 
maybe I'm just too gloomy in my outlook.

  Margaret, (and Laura and others) I look around the world today and I 
shake my head. It doesn't look good. That abyss you talk about is looming. 
One reason I'm so enthusiastic about democracy and free markets is that 
historically, as those numbers point out that I posted some months ago, the 
numbers of people killed by their own governments, and the numbers of wars, 
are far fewer with free-market societies. I was assuming that that was in 
part because this seemingly insatiable need for power and gain on the part 
of some was satisfied in the marketplace, as opposed to on the battlefield. 
At any rate...those are deep subjects. Lots to talk about there. One thing 
I like about this privacy issue is that it is so pervasive...so fundamental 
to how we think about human behavior and social organization.

  Your message was excellent. As I read it, I recalled a book which I found 
at Amazon.com listed as out of print. It is:

Adjusted American: Normal Neurosis in the Individual and Society, by Snell 
& Gail Putney

  A dear friend of mine who is a psychotherapist told me it was excellent 
and I've never gotten around to reading it. So, I'll see if Amazon can come 
up with a copy, and check the library in the mean time. I don't know if it 
addresses the pathology of excess that you refer to, but I have to 
admit...I agree with you on that too. Obsessions are obsessions, and they 
tend to be destructive to individuals, and to the extent individuals have 
power over others, to others as well. And they are pathological, whether 
they have to do with work, sex, alcohol, drugs, money, power, whatever. 
[You will notice that I conveniently left "e-mail" off that list! ;-) ]

  I want to share with you an experience I had yesterday. I had the Rush 
Limbaugh show on in the background while I was working, and he got on the 
religious/conservative thing and it caught my ear. I ended up on his show, 
kind of through the back door.

  It was a fascinating show yesterday, because a lady whom Rush labeled a 
"brainwashed soccer-mom" wrote him a fabulous e-mail message. In it, she 
brilliantly articulated why she has left the ranks of the Republicans and 
the threat she sees from the "Moral Majority" and right-wing crowd. 
Naturally, that did not sit well with Rush, but, interestingly enough, he 
read the entire message with very little comment, and he read it with 
passion as I imagine she might have written it. It was a good 
"performance." People asked him to post it. I hope Suzette (the author) 
gives him permission to do so and he does. I'll send it along to this list 
if that happens. It was superb. Rush went on to attempt to show why she was 
just plain wrong about conservatives, and why she was just parroting the 
"liberal line." I was furious with him.

  The callers started coming in on it, with about half of them, all 
"conservatives" or Republicans, saying she was right on the money. The two  
 callers I heard who called in and agreed with her damn near started 
quoting scripture and talking about how it is right for them, and for their 
party, to stand up for what they believe is moral and "right." I could hear 
the storm troopers marching in the distance. Rush, of course, still wasn't 
getting it. So, I fired off an e-mail. The e-mail was titled: "Rush, the 
'Brainwashed Soccer-mom' is RIGHT!" In it, I told him I was a former 
Republican, Reagan was one of my heroes, I'm a small business owner, yada 
yada. So, he knew it was coming from someone whom he could not simply write 
off as part of "the left." Then I said:

  "The Soccer-mom was right! ... Rush, here I am a former card-carrying 
Republican and I refuse to associate myself with the term 'conservative!'"

  I went on...

  ******* Short Excerpt ********

  AND RUSH, (I'm sorry to "shout", but...) HERE'S A WARNING!! ...YOU ARE 
NOT LISTENING! Wake up, and listen to what the "silent majority" like 
myself and Suzette are saying.

  The term "conservative" has come to mean "religious right" or as I call 
them, the "righteous right." If Republicans are to succeed, they MUST 
dissociate the Party Platform from the Christian Coalition and the 
religious, moral agenda. They need to take a stand for liberty in every 
way...economic, social, personal...and COMPLETELY dissociate it from the 
Judaeo-Christian religion. The Republicans are about to "abort" themselves 
over issues of abortion and personal choice. It is NONSENSE to buy into 
this false premise that MORALITY somehow proceeds from the Christian 
religion. It does NOT.

  Your callers are deeply misled if they believe that Americans by and 
large don't buy into "basic values." They do. The basic tenets of morality 
that we all hold dear are universal and are recognized as vital to the 
happiness and survival of the human race. And what we fervently believe in 
is to be LEFT ALONE TO LIVE OUR LIVES. Republicans, because of the mess 
they've made of it, must GET RELIGION OUT OF THEIR VOCABULARY.

  When a schmuck like Clinton goes to church and totes a Bible along, 
nobody pays any attention to it because everybody knows it's just a 
photo-op. The guy's a miscreant and everybody knows it. When the Democrats 
talk about "God's guidance" everybody knows they don't mean anything by it, 
and that it's just a disingenuous nod to try to shine a "moral" light on 
themselves. But, when a REPUBLICAN mentions something about God, the sense 
is that he or she really MEANS it, and they will ram it down our throats, 
if given half a chance. Why? Because in embracing the righteous right and 
pandering to their moralistic tripe, THEY HAVE GIVEN VOICE AND CREDENCE TO 
THAT POLITICAL AGENDA.

  Do I think that a lot of "conservatives" would like to have what amounts 
to a "theocracy" as Suzette described it? Damn right they would. It is 
indeed a threat...

  ******* End of Short Excerpt *******

  At any rate, some guy called in and began to voice essentially this same 
position when Rush interrupted him. "Yeah," he said, "I just got an e-mail 
from a guy who will no longer associate himself with the word 
"conservative." He then quoted some salient points of my message. The thing 
I most liked about it, was it seemed to shake him. It seemed to rock him 
back on his arrogant heels a bit.

  Oh well, it probably won't make a difference. But it felt really good. 
And, I must admit...it felt a little like the "Broadcast News" scenario...I 
typed it here...it came out there! (A little vanity there.) But, it was the 
right kind of message. [Okay, the bit about all Democrats who refer to God 
being disingenuous about it was not fair and was an unjustifiable judgment. 
But as a humanist, I have a hard time seeing how anybody who toutes "God" 
and who is somewhat enlightened could really mean it. But, that's my 
pathology, I guess. ;-) I do of course hope and trust that when the 
Democrats refer to "God" in their speeches, they don't mean it the way 
Republicans usually do.] One thing Clinton has done for me is provide me 
with an excellent reply when people ask me, "WELL, do you believe in GOD?!" 
And I reply, "Of course, but you must understand...I depends on what the 
meaning of the word 'god' is." ;-)

  At any rate...gotta run. Take care, and thanks again for the excellent 
post.

Best,

  --Greg