In 2007 a television series called ’Meet the Natives’ ran on the Travel Channel. It followed five hunter-gatherer tribesmen from the island of Tanna, Vanuatu, as they encountered the culture of the United States in a sort of reverse anthropology experiment. In one unforgettable episode they stayed in the apartment of a wealthy socialite in New York City. In their travels around the city they encountered an elderly homeless man, and were dumbfounded that no one was there to take care of him. In their society, they would have built him a hut and made sure that he had adequate food. I think the tribesmen felt sorry for us who have so lost our way.
They live in the time before the monetization of society, a time before debt and credit, a time where every tribe member, child or elder is as precious a commodity as can be. Let me repeat that, they live in a time where every tribe member is as precious a commodity as can be.
At the core of our western biblical mythology is Adam and Eve leaving the garden. What really was the transgression that led to the expulsion? Perhaps the phrase, money is the root of all evil has some relevance. History is the never ending story of conquering, plundering, subjugation, rebellion, and the establishment of new orders that then conquer, subjugate give rise to rebellion and so on and so on and so on. With the invention of money the machinery of war was simply modernized and codified. The collective wealth created by workers could now be efficiently siphoned for the purpose of making war. We need to understand that the modern, so-called, democratic societies we now inhabit are still constructed in many ways after the model of societies whose purpose was to make war - not to defend, but to conquer, plunder and subjugate. Nationalism contains not only the idea that we are special, but that we are entitled to be special at the expense of others.
In addition to smoothing the machinery of war, the monetizing of society had another dire consequence, the devaluation of the very members of the society who might have benefitted in some way from the activity of making war. In fact, the citizens became expendable units in the service of the almighty state. We have seen again and again how it is possible for even the elite to be sacrificed should they dare to question the machinery of state. This is serious business. But generally it is the 99% of any war making society who are expendable in one way or another, especially if they should question the machinery of state. When times are good there is a cushion that can prevent a good portion of the 99% from rubbing against the toxic underpinnings of their society, but when economies go south as they do from time to time, the cushion is removed, and the true nature of the beast we inhabit becomes apparent.
Now some interesting things have happened along the path of our evolutionary spiral:
1. Having ostensibly long since left the garden behind in pursuit of wealth and power and ego fulfillment, it has never really left us, or, left us alone. It pops up now and then in the form of a Buddha or a Jesus or, dare I say it, LSD dropping hippies, or a moment of pure empathy that creeps up on us unawares. So we have developed a sense of morality, a sense of social justice, which just might even be programmed into our DNA by nature and not a human invention at all, as can be seen by the extreme cooperation and understanding of right and wrong exhibited by the emperor penguins in “The March of the Penguins.”
2. The machinery of war became so powerful that the possibility of obliterating all life on earth has become possible either by design or mishap.
3. Human activity has become so toxic that it has already caused serious and some would say irreversible damage to the environment in the form of global warming, toxic waste from manufacturing and agribusiness, and radioactive fallout from history’s most stupid, dangerous and costly way of boiling water - nuclear power.
4. Another interesting development is the discovery that the world is not infinite. It used to be. A mere 300 years ago this continent had not been mapped. Now everywhere has either been filled with people or deeply affected by human activity. Save for space, there are no new physical frontiers.
The state we inhabit today came about as the result of a rebellion against another war making state. We instantly became one ourselves. Having thrown off the British yoke, the newly minted American elite now deemed it their birthright to commit genocide against the native inhabitants in order keep the wheel of conquer, subjugate and plunder in motion, and to ultimately roll it over the Philippines, Guatemala, Chile, Iran, Nicaragua, and on and on and on. So, even though the establishment of the US Constitution and the eventual repeal of slavery can be seen as potent and genuine steps upward on the ladder of evolution, we never really addressed the fundamental issues that gave rise to these magnificent developments. We can now see that they do not go far enough.
We now know that the monetized society is inherently violent. We only need look around us to see how we have all become debt slaves to corporate interests. This is the main prevailing, less than overt form of violence in our nation. The reason the Obama administration has taken no real meaningful steps to address the suffering of the 99% is that they too represent the 1%. It is either that or they are under its boot. How’s that working for you?
If we want to live in a society in which each of us considers each other the most precious commodity that can be, we have to begin to understand how the violence perpetrated by the monetized war making state permeates the furthest capillaries of our social fabric, and to first understand how we ourselves have been willing participants. We have to uncover violence that may even appear to be a form of violence at first blush. The Romans had Gladiators to distract them from their own exploitation. We have American Idol and the X-factor and all of the pharmaceutical commercials that go with them. Is this corporate led distraction a form of violence? (I personally enjoy American Idol, if I’m being honest. Not so sure about the other one.) If the courts are so overloaded that a civil case seeking justice may not come to the docket for years, can that be seen as a form of violence against the injured party, especially if their claim is against a large corporation, which can afford to keep an army of lawyers on retainer? Ron Paul asking why he should pay for someone else’s education - is that a form of violence, intentional or otherwise? If a large portion of the populace lives in poverty while our treasure is spent on dubious adventures abroad, that is violence twice over - no question. But we have to be honest with ourselves: If we want to step off of the cycle of conquer, plunder and subjugate, we have to first eradicate violence in our own behavior. A movement such as this can never ever succeed against a war making state if it engages in the slightest violence. Let’s not say that there has never been a time when violence was justified. WW II for one, but those conditions no longer exist. Today a movement may gain a temporary advantage through violence, but the repercussions must of necessity take generations to work through. Libya won’t be on my vacation list anytime in this lifetime. This doesn’t mean we shouldn't be angry at the state of affairs, but we should never treat our adversaries with anything other than the respect we are demanding for ourselves - even when they are behaving badly. The truth is that the war making state and its reactionary minions are the Romans and we are the Christians. I pray that none are sacrificed.
I think we should be examining how deeply we can practice non-violence in our daily lives. Rather than being stuck in endless and fruitless four-year political cycles, we should think about what it would take to build a world social order that will last for millennia. My take? It will have to be built on vision and love. The good news is that we have huge populations of intelligent and visionary people who would like nothing more than to set this wheel in motion and retire the old one.