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Occasional acts of moral courage
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by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News
April 4, 2006
Intellectuals are always able to relate to the suffering of other intellectuals with particular intensity, since, being so smart, we are led to believe, beyond any measure of verification, that we are somehow more important to the power structure and therefore deserve to be spared the worst of fates. We are the house slaves, after all, and not mere field slaves.
So we tend to sit around and divide ourselves into opposing camps to argue about important issues of the day, all of this discussion serving the underlying purpose of aiding us in our deep denial about the chances of one of us ending up roasting on the spit instead of some less superior type, as is the usual case. That is, until the shit really hits the fan and we find our group being the first to be rounded up wholesale and eliminated, once again, in some political takeover.
I know I am twisted in this regard (I blame my background) but I actually do find this amusing -- cosmically that is. The really funny thing to me is the observation that the mental gymnastics of class consciousness, and all the trappings of class, such as education, are so very superficial. People come to believe that they are their class status, that it is a reflection of their true selves, and then reality goes on the tumble cycle and people get tossed into other places in the class system and end up acting in exactly the same ways as the other people, with these same class role assignments, that we used to be so judgmental about.
Turns out that our true selves are everyone. We retain in ourselves the capacity to fill almost any role. Throw us into some spot and we become that spot.
Of course there is a moral dimension to the self, and some people, thrown into positions of abusive power, will choose to fail in the role, bless their hearts, and will opt to forego the ugliness. The ego is very resistant to the idea that we exist without distinction other than our measure of moral courage, that we are without an otherwise irreducible identity. Sad but true, and to my mind very, very ironically funny.
I used to carry in my wallet a copy of Rev Martin Niemöller's famous poem that starts, "When they came for the communists, I remained silent ..." and ends with "When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out." I would take out the poem and re-read it when I felt myself beginning to indulge in self-pity.
I also often think, along these same lines, of the experiments where subjects are arbitrarily divided into "prisoner" and "guard" roles with the inevitable result that the "guards" become abusive. While everyone needs to be responsible for telling the truth of their own suffering, loudly and clearly, everyone also needs to realize that there is no ranking of suffering.
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Dr. Herb Ruhs & grandson
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The really funny thing to me is the observation that the mental gymnastics of class of consciousness, and all the trappings of class, such as education, are so very superficial.
People come to believe that they are their class status, that it is a reflection of their true selves, and then reality goes on the tumble cycle and people get tossed into other places in the class system and end up acting in exactly the same ways as the other people, with these same class role assignments, that we used to be so judgmental about.
Turns out that our true selves are everyone.
We retain in ourselves the capacity to fill almost any role.
Throw us into some spot and we become that spot.
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There's much more than this at Unknown News.
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There is a reasonable ranking of injustice, however, and candidates for the upper reaches of that scale are currently living in Iraq under a hail of fire and destruction.
Think of the injustice of a mother being forced to watch her children tortured. I don't know about you, but contemplating this puts any personal injustices I may experience in a very mild light.
Such silly creatures we are. The only truly "dumb" animals, and the only ones, apparently, with the processing power to realize how incredibly dumb any of us can be, given a decent chance.
Against this dark and forbidding firmament, however, we are privileged to be able to witness the brilliance of occasional acts of moral courage that bejewel the darkness and have the power to bring tears of wonder to our sorry eyes. I am currently thinking of Rachel Corrie.
Is it any wonder that these occasional lights tend to shine most brightly in the humblest of our kind and that those of us with the greatest privilege tend to stew in the darkness of cowardice and shame? Maybe the purpose of human life is to contemplate these excruciating ironies.
But then, how would I know? I'm just a lousy intellectual and not even very well read at that.
© by the author.
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Previous articles by Dr Ruhs:
Truth and Reconciliation Commission, by Herb Ruhs, MD
Who "Them" are:
You can't tell
the players without a scorecard
by Herb Ruhs, MD
Global warming passes the point of no return
by Herb Ruhs, MD
In case you wondered why your doctor would sell you down the river
by Herb Ruhs, MD
Time to pull the rip cord
by Herb Ruhs, MD
Can the President legally
crush a child's testicles?
His lawyer says, "It depends ..."
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News
The great American misunderstanding
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When death is the proper penalty
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The revolution this time
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The good tidings and the bad
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Health care in America: An ongoing, massive con game
by Paul Krugman, The New York Times
with comments by Herb Ruhs, MD
Competition: Destroyer of character
by Herb Ruhs, MD
America without the myths
by Herb Ruhs, MD,
To dream the impossible dream
by Herb Ruhs, MD
Refusing to see the obvious
by Maureen Dowd, The New York Times
with comments by Herb Ruhs, MD
What can we do? Rhetorically speaking, that is.
by Herb Ruhs, MD
Banned in Cloverdale, by Herb Ruhs, MD
All of us are being fatally poisoned
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Daubert is the most influential Supreme Court ruling you've never heard of
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Enough already
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War is sometimes justified, often not, but always insane
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The bad news is the same as the good news
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Trying to control your emotions "can make you pretty stupid"
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The gangsters' mentality
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Nietzsche, New Orleans, and 'Nam
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Four decades in five minutes
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The masquerade of "civilization"
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Habits of successful modern cannibals
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Face these horrors with acceptance, equanimity, humor
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Yet another, higher dose of pain
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The war of one against all:
The roots of our enslavement
by Herb Ruhs, MD
Doctors, medicine, hospitals, and the rest of the story
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System of privilege expands in scope and overall power
by Herb Ruhs, MD
Highway robbery turns out to be legal after all
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Class warfare, anyone?
Why class war is not a fiction but a fixture of our lives
by Herb Ruhs, MD
Why the little-known news is the most important
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Why "Free Speech" does not matter
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Big pharma
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The genius fish and other comments
by Herb Ruhs, MD
When all else fails, try the truth
by Herb Ruhs, MD
Childhood abuse and the role it plays in maintaining coercive power
by Herb Ruhs, MD
Murder by medical device
by Herb Ruhs, MD
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