I recently saw a stage adaptation of William Golding’s classic novel, Lord of the Flies, a story touching on timeless themes showing just how tenuous a thing civilization can be. I first read this story several decades ago when I was in high school. Seeing that recent production brought back all of the feelings and thoughts I had about it all those years ago, while reminding me of the present with a great deal of urgency.
Golding’s novel was published in 1954, a time of high tension in various parts of the world. He’s quoted as saying that writing this story was “like lamenting the lost childhood of the world.” He knew of whence he wrote having lived through both world wars, served in the Royal Navy in WWII, and spent several years as a schoolmaster. At the time it was first published, less than a decade after the end of WWII, the evil he described therein was drawn from parallels leading up to WWII and the intoxicating and deadly effect that one “out of control” leader could unleash on the world. Not surprisingly, we seem to be in the throes of our very own Lord of the Flies “adventure” today.
Golding’s story follows a group of schoolboys who are stranded on a tropical island without adult supervision after a plane crash. As might be expected in such a situation, socialization gives way to instinct rather quickly, and survival is not guaranteed. Humans are tribal by nature, which explains the need to constantly categorize everyone into a version of us and them. Instinct underlies all animal behavior, including humans, and only awareness and diligence can keep it at bay. That necessary awareness and diligence appear to be all but lost in the incessant attacks on our democracy by the administration and the GOP congressional leadership.
In Golding’s story, Jack is all id in psychological terms. He is the choir prefect of his school, and he has an air of entitlement. He’s bigger than most of the other boys, he likes to win, and he is a hunter. Jack foments rage in several other boys who fall in line and do his bidding, some very enthusiastically. He demands loyalty from his followers, and he is immediately at odds with anyone who crosses him, seeing them as “beasts” to be quashed, and taunting them mercilessly. He wants to do what he wants to do because he can, and he relishes in the violence he inspires.
Does this sound like anybody we’ve seen in the news and on Twitter sending those ubiquitous, threatening tweets that lash out at anyone he perceives as a voice of criticism or dissent?
Our real-life “Jack,” AKA Trump, also has henchmen in the form of his cabinet, his advisors, and of course the GOP leadership in Congress. The threats are real, though slightly more diffuse than strictly hunting his adversaries with a sharpened stick. He prefers a pen or a keyboard to flood cyberspace with vile tweets putting real people at risk from the violence and financial attacks he incites.
Keith Olbermann’s Resistance videos provide some hard-hitting summaries on the continual saga of the abuses our “Jack”/Trump flings. At the time of this writing, Olbermann’s Resistance series was up to #104, and there will be more. Through his reports, he not only lays out a convincing argument on the case for impeachment, he also examines the extent of Trump’s bullying including:
- Firing anybody who gets close enough to expose his wrongdoing or doesn’t praise him enough
- Obstructing lawful investigations
- Threatening Senators and Congresspersons with financial harm if they don’t support his health care assault legislation
- Threatening other world leaders with ill-conceived attacks if they don’t kowtow to him
Beyond Olbermann’s videos, there are also reports of Trump’s bullying from other sources related to:
Back on the fictional island of Golding’s creation, after two of the weaker boys are killed, and as the gang hunts Ralph (the one boy trying to trying to lead an opposition on the grounds of humanity), they are rescued by a naval vessel and brought back to civilization.
The analogy to our current situation is striking, although we are still waiting for our rescue at this point. Our opposition is going to have to continue to come from within because no outside entity will be able to stop this madness, but with continued citizen pressure, the DOJ and Congress can. We have to continue to speak up and convince those representing us to step in and act in the best interests of the country – the whole country. Congress has to stop defending this “Jack.”