We Will All Become Barbarians
I presume that we would not want to be overcome by barbarians -- from without, or from within.
I learned the etymology of "barbarian" when I was just a boy, when I was interested in the meaning of my family's names, when I searched the origin of my aunt Barbara's name.
Greek barbaroi (n.) meant "all that are not Greek," but especially the Medes and Persians. Originally not entirely pejorative, its sense darkened after the Persian wars. The Romans (technically themselves barbaroi) took up the word and applied it to tribes or nations which had no Greek or Roman accomplishments. The noun is from late 14c., "person speaking a language different from one's own," also (c.1400) "native of the Barbary coast;" meaning "rude, wild person" is from 1610s.
The image of non-Greek hordes crossing Aegean is something we've lost in our era of zombies and inter-galactic invasions, but the idea of "othering" (HT Edward Said) has always been with us and infinitely becomes destructive when we permit ourselves to "other" that human being sitting across the room from us. Here, I note European philosopher and former member of the EU parliament Leonidas Donskis's framing of othering within the context of writing, especially writing that historically exacerbates alienation based on ideologies, but today can easily be seen in our hypertext markup language of anonymous bulletin board and news sites comments sections as hyper-barbaric, creating fear and hate because these amygdala-based emotional learning is the easiest way to socialize relationships and behavior. No, Donskis doesn't mention the amygdala, but this is where hate and fear originate, so far back in our species's evolutionary history.
Leonidas Donskis argues this about civilization being saved or damned through responsible "philosophy, literature, and journalism," which I extend to include writing of all sorts.
The new narrative is created in virtual space. That's why unifying thought and action, pragmatic openness and ethics, and reason and imagination becomes a challenge for [writing], which requires not only a constantly self-renewing strategy of representing and actualizing the world, of grasping and talking about problems, and of fostering dialogue, but also a kind of writing that does not create barriers where they have already ceased to exist a long time ago. It is a search for sensitivity, for new forms of acting in a manner appropriate to humans, a search that in close cooperation with the human and social sciences create a new field of global mutual understanding, social critique, and self-interpretation. Without the emergence of such a field it's just unclear what is in store for philosophy, literature, and [writing]. If they move closer together, they will survive and become more important than ever before. But if they grow further apart, we will all become barbarians.Without acting the doomsayer, most of agree that this country at least, parts of Eurasia, some nations in South America [cough: Venezuela] are more fragmented now than we've seen for some time.
The Pew Center report offers multiple reasons for this increased chasm here in the United States, so I wont repeat their work.
Barriers and Barricades
What I do find useful in Donskis's work, however, is his and Bauman's call for the renewal of informed, rational discourse among all individuals, and through writing:constantly self-renewing strategy of representing and actualizing the world, of grasping and talking about problems, and of fostering dialogue, but also a kind of writing that does not create barriers where they have already ceased to exist a long time ago.Donskis hearkens to an ideal, I realize. I read 18th century literature and newspaper and know for certain that the English and French writers certainly had their own barriers and cheap print and loose publishing laws made it too easy to claim anonymity to defame one's enemy. Here Donskis, however, is asking us to use writing to undo barriers that creep -- sometimes ambush us -- because of the writing of others that maliciously create new violence and anxieties where some sense of peace had existed for some time. One non-example would be police profiling and brutality of ethnic minorities in the United States -- this "barrier" has been with us for centuries and today's protests are long overdue. But what is renewed are the calls from corporate and well-paid pundits to rewrite American history to re-privilege the dominant culture when we might have been making some progress through critical inquiry over the past fifty years into the origins and maintenance of the hegemony. The arguments from multiple members of the Texas State Board of Education and their "expert" witnesses over the past several years such as David Barton are indicative of creating, or recreating, or reinforcing these barriers. It's responsible writing that must be called forth to address this sort of irresponsible writing.
Donskis continues:
It is a search for sensitivity, for new forms of acting in a manner appropriate to humans, a search that in close cooperation with the human and social sciences create a new field of global mutual understanding, social critique, and self-interpretation.This kind of writing requires a deep humility to admit within oneself one's own mis-education, both imposed upon us through family and peer groups, but also through institutionalized schooling which is designed to maintain the classist, sexist, and racist hegemony. This kind of introspection can be painful, and must be done in conjunction with reflective writing, honest writing, shared writing with trusted colleagues. That shared writing, however, opens us to our vulnerabilities, our hidden shame, our secrets. I'm not advocating psychotherapeutic writing (primarily because I know little about such), but I do advocate for honest, sensitive writing "appropriate to humans" -- not in the act of "othering" ourselves, ironically, with our writing colleagues, but to find the commonalities of understanding and self-interpretation that reveal our shared humanity. This is hard writing without becoming maudlin or even sanctimonious, and this hard writing takes practice. I'm fortunate to have colleagues who have walked me through these writing experiences, and hope I'm a better writer for it.
Life and Death
... it's just unclear what is in store for philosophy, literature, and [writing]. If they move closer together, they will survive and become more important than ever before.Some criticize the introduction of theory into our pedagogy of literature and writing. But theory essentializes our practices and reveals our basic ideologies that form the conclusions we have about literature and writing at large. Imagine trying to explain "Ode to a Grecian Urn" without some understanding of Attic philosophy, then Keats's personal philosophy and then his culture's ideology/ies -- it is otherwise meaningless Klingon poetry. But understanding that ideology, then understanding the political, literary, critical theory of today gives us a real connection, a connection of shared humanity that cannot be appreciated outside an understanding of philosophy and writing across centuries and oceans.
Thou, silent form! dost tease us out of thoughtBut lest we elevate Keats's ruminations of life and death, studying and sharing philosophy, literature, and writing from non-dominant cultures reminds us of Donskis's ultimate purpose -- the shared humanity of us all. From ten years after the Spanish Conquest, Xayacamachan, ruler of Huexotzinco (now the state of Puebla, Mexico) wrote:
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'
Vida Única
¡Alégrate en extremo, oh rey Tecayehuatzin,
valuador de joyeles florecientes!
¿Acaso una vez más vendremos a vivir?
Tu corazón lo sabe así:
¡Sólo una vez venimos a la vida!
Unique Life
Be as happy as you can, oh king Tecayehyatzin
You who appreciates the jewels that flourish!
Will we live again?
Your heart knows this:
We only live once!
Xayacamachan 1510 A.D.
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| Image from Rodríguez Alvarado, "Florida War" |
We can't let this happen again. We must write -- sensitively, and purposed to tear down the barriers that are being rebuilt around us. But write, we must.
References
Donskis, Leonidas. "Introduction: Towards a Theory of Human Secrecy and Unfathomability, or Exposing Elusive Forms of Evil." Zygmunt Bauman and Leonidas Donskis, Moral Blindness: The Loss of Sensitivity in Liquid Modernity. Malden MA: Polity, 2013.
Feinstein, Justin S., et al. "The Human Amygdala and the Induction and Experience of Fear." Current Biology 21.1 (2011): 34-38. PDF.
"Huexotzinco Codex, 1531." American Treasures of the Library of Congress. Library of Congress. 2010. Web. 28 Dec 2014. <http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trt045.html>.
Keats, John. "Ode to a Grecian Urn." Bartleby.com. 2014. Web. 28 Dec 2014. <http://www.bartleby.com/101/625.html>
Pew Research Center. "Political Polarization in the American Public: How Increasing Ideological Uniformity and Partisan Antipathy Affect Politics, Compromise and Everyday Life." 12 June 2014. Web. 28 December 2014. <http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/>
Rodríguez Alvarado, Antonio Fco. "Guerra Florida." Parnassus Americano: Investigador Veracruzano Apasionado de las Culturas Mesoamericana. 2012. Web. 28 Dec 2014 <http://afrarodriguez.blogspot.com/2012/05/guerras-floridas-xochiyaoyotl.html>.
Said, Edward W. Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient. 1978. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin, 1995. Print.
Xayacamachan. "Vida Única." Inside Mexico Publishing. n.d. Web. 28 Dec 2014. <http://www.inside-mexico.com/poema1.htm>.
Be strong, and courageous.
Dixi et salvavi animam meam
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