- David Brooks on the value of humanist studies;
- Shorter pieces on the psychology behind Trump; how evangelicals respond to the rise of the “nones”; measle rates rising in Europe; a David Barton case study; Fox News praising a vigilante who was wrong; and how Mike Johnson is even worse than Kevin McCarthy;
- But I think I need to shift my focus.
David Brooks, nominally conservative columnist for the NY Times, is a deeper thinker than most conservative columnists, but still spends an odd amount of time worrying about whether people are living their lives in ways he thinks proper. As conservatives do. What is he worrying about this time?
NY Times, David Brooks, 25 Jan 2024: How to Save a Sad, Lonely, Angry and Mean Society
Long piece. He begins by noting that Americans are visiting museums and attending concerts less and less often since the early 2000s. And how students focus on computer sciences rather than the humanities.
I confess I still cling to the old faith that culture is vastly more important than politics or some pre-professional training in algorithms and software systems. I’m convinced that consuming culture furnishes your mind with emotional knowledge and wisdom; it helps you take a richer and more meaningful view of your own experiences; it helps you understand, at least a bit, the depths of what’s going on in the people right around you.
No issue here. Yet aren’t conservatives the ones ready to abandon cultural and historical perspectives, in favor of ideological narratives? And to emphasize practical skills, to the point of disavowing the benefits of a university education? Never mind. Brooks quickly states his thesis.
I’d argue that we have become so sad, lonely, angry and mean as a society in part because so many people have not been taught or don’t bother practicing to enter sympathetically into the minds of their fellow human beings. We’re overpoliticized while growing increasingly undermoralized, underspiritualized, undercultured.
The alternative is to rediscover the humanist code. It is based on the idea that unless you immerse yourself in the humanities, you may never confront the most important question: How should I live my life?
Well, OK, sure, these are reasons we read philosophy, among other things (ahem). (And read science fiction, as I discussed at the end of this post.) But isn’t he begging a question by stating, without evidence, that our society has become sad, lonely, angry, and mean? By what standards? Conservative ones, presumably. He expects us to agree. This strikes me as a standard conservative woe-is-us therefore we must return to traditional beliefs. Perhaps it depends on who one hangs out with, or which news sources one reads. Note “undermoralized, underspiritualized.”
Let’s read on. He rhapsodizes about the humanist curriculum, i.e. the study of “the classics,” that he experienced. He considers a Rembrandt painting at length. He says things I can’t disagree with.
The message was that all of us could improve our taste and judgment by becoming familiar with what was best — the greatest art, philosophy, literature and history. And this journey toward wisdom was a lifelong affair.
The hard sciences help us understand the natural world. The social sciences help us measure behavior patterns across populations. But culture and the liberal arts help us enter the subjective experience of particular people: how this unique individual felt; how this other one longed and suffered. We have the chance to move with them, experience the world, a bit, the way they experience it.
And
The best of the arts induce humility. In our normal shopping mall life, the consumer is king. The crucial question is, do I like this or not? But we approach great art in a posture of humility and reverence. What does this have to teach me? What was this other human being truly seeking?
OK, fine. I think the point where I depart from Brooks, and other conservatives, is where they claim that the wisdom of the past is the only way to such enlightenment and to answer such questions. True enlightenment, in my view, entails rejecting traditional morals and spirituality, wherever they were apparently formed by naive, parochial forces, never mind however they affected the “subjective experience of particular people,” and instead find real truth and meaning in the understanding of the objective universe. Cue the best of science fiction. (This will be what my book will be about.)
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Necessarily shorter pieces.
The Guardian, George Monbiot, 29 Jan 2024: To beat Trump, we need to know why Americans keep voting for him. Psychologists may have the answer, subtitled “US culture is an incubator of ‘extrinsic values’. Nobody embodies them like the Republican frontrunner”
Some psychologists believe our values tend to cluster around certain poles, described as “intrinsic” and “extrinsic”. People with a strong set of intrinsic values are inclined towards empathy, intimacy and self-acceptance. They tend to be open to challenge and change, interested in universal rights and equality, and protective of other people and the living world.
People at the extrinsic end of the spectrum are more attracted to prestige, status, image, fame, power and wealth. They are strongly motivated by the prospect of individual reward and praise. They are more likely to objectify and exploit other people, to behave rudely and aggressively and to dismiss social and environmental impacts. They have little interest in cooperation or community. People with a strong set of extrinsic values are more likely to suffer from frustration, dissatisfaction, stress, anxiety, anger and compulsive behaviour.
Trump exemplifies extrinsic values.
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OnlySky, Captain Cassidy, 28 Jan 2024: The evangelical response so far to ‘Nones’ outnumbering them
Overview:
Pew Research just released a bunch of surveys and studies about Nones. At 28% of America’s adult population, they now outnumber both Catholics (23%) and evangelicals (24%).
Evangelicals have never taken their decline well, and they are not about to start now.
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It’s not *just* the US; there are anti-vaxxers everywhere. Which goes to my speculations about the decline in belief in both science and democracy, all around the world.
David Wallace-Wells, NY Times, 1 Feb 2024: The Monster Measles Outbreak in Europe Is a Warning
Right Wing Watch, Kyle Mantyla, 7 Feb 2024: A Case Study In The Spread Of David Barton’s Christian Nationalist Disinformation
Media Matters, 8 Feb 2024: Fox News praises vigilante group for a takedown of migrant “shoplifter.” Law enforcement say the man was neither a shoplifter nor a recent migrant., subtitled “Update: Fox guest Curtis Sliwa told the AP that he had believed the man was a migrant because he was ‘speaking Spanish'”
The New Republic, 9 Feb 2024: Dumb and Dumber: Mike Johnson Is Even Worse Than Kevin McCarthy, subtitled “Abraham Lincoln, this is your party on dopamine.”
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I feel a sea change coming. I’m not sure what the point of my compiling links like these is. I think perhaps I should spend the time being more productive, along the lines of my allusions to my book.
On the other hand, the famed science fiction Connie Willis has been posting summaries of the daily news, extensively detailing all the Republican shenanigans, almost every day recently. The problem is that I only see them via posts on Facebook from Lou Anders. Here’s an example.
Facebook, Lou Anders: CONNIE WILLIS, February 9: A Partisan Hit Job
I don’t know where she posts her daily commentaries originally. She has a couple websites, but these now almost daily comments aren’t there. Actually, there’s a Fans of Connie Willis page on Facebook, and Lou Anders’ posts of her comments are available there. –Well no. Some of them are, but not the latest ones. Haven’t figure this out yet.
