LITR 4232: American Renaissance

Sample Student Research Project, spring 2006

Kyle Phillips

04.18.06

Strange Times

We are living in strange times. Our actions as a civilization and as individuals can/do have implications that will have an effect on others for many years to come. Our children, which I have no intention of ever having, or more correctly, your children, will have to live in the world that we leave to them, which includes most importantly, the type of government that will potentially oversee EVERY movement and every aspect of behavior that a human could possibly dare to envision. We are at pivotal moment in history, a line in the sand, if you will, where as individuals, we must protect our rights as individuals vigorously, as the rights we lose now, will be reacquired only through, I believe, great personal hardships. Perhaps, my fears reside in my personal issues with authority, and the consequences of an immature mind, rebellious by nature, fighting any and all authority simply because this authority exists. Many would have you believe this, and it indeed is a possibility! I readily admit this to you. This rebellious nature, I assure you, is not destructive for destruction sake, and I believe is inherently an aspect of true patriotic Americans throughout our brief history as a nation. As we lose our mistrust of encroaching governments, we lose our fundamental qualities as American Patriots. This country was built on a foundation of rebellious thought and on the concepts of independent thinking and decision making. Not on a foundation that expects the government to protect us at the expense of out own constitutionally guaranteed rights. I will hopefully express these same concepts through the words of two of our assigned authors, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. "Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility then most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another

"Damn.. why didn't I think of that?!

Although, there are issues and problems associated with the fear of terrorism, our own personal; safety and the role of government in our lives, I believe that there are some fundamental issues with Capitalism that have allowed for the erosion of the individual and the rise of intrusive government, creating the "if you're not doing anything wrong, what’s the problem..?." line of reasoning to reduce our privacy, and ultimately our individual rights. The loss of independent thinking and "destruction" of the individual can be linked, I believe, to unbridled capitalism and the rise of technology. As society evolves, and becomes more technologically advanced, many aspects of our lives have improved. The physical standard of living we enjoy is unrivaled by 99.9999% of every human being that has ever existed. This "rise" in our "standard" of living, is better described as "a decrease in the amount of physical labor, the increase in physical comforts, and the ability to waste as much as is fiscally responsible" for most of Americans. The implications for the rest of the world for our over consumption is obvious, and is in no doubt to those who bother to take a look. On the surface, it also appears that there are few immediate consequences for Americans to endure, but this is not the case. The rise of technology is one of the key factor in these "improvements", and technology has been spread by the "needs" of capitalism, and big business, not those of the individual. In fact the needs of the individual have been trampled by the needs of society to have an ever more and more specialized work force. It is rare that a man can find satisfaction in the super specific needs of an industrial/technical based society where he is a cog, an important specialized cog mind you, but more importantly, a specialized one. There is simply no way that a man/woman, who has evolved over millions of years having to do many different things in order to survive, can satiate this internal need by inserting the "whatzamadoodle" into the "widget", that supplies the "data main frame's internal cooling unit" Does that person really care about any aspect of the entire process? Perhaps if he designed it, but even then, there is room for doubt. There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried. Not for nothing one face, one character, one fact, makes much impression on him, and another none. This sculpture in the memory is not without preestablished harmony. The eye was placed where one ray should fall, that it might testify of that particular ray. We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents. It may be safely trusted as proportionate and of good issues, so it be faithfully imparted, but God will not have his work made manifest by cowards. A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace. It is a deliverance which does not deliver. In the attempt his genius deserts him; no muse befriends; no invention, no hope.1 The problem is, our decision for a career path is made relatively early in life, generally before any real self examination is genuinely possible. The ability to explore the complexities of life, how things grow, the cycles of the moon, sun and planets, how we ourselves grow as individuals when given the opportunity to explore, and not simply be told how life works, stimulates our ability to connect to the sublime aspects of the natural world and to connect us, rather than disconnect, us to the physical and spiritual/sublime aspects that surround us daily. First, the simple perception of natural forms is a delight. The influence of the forms and actions in nature, is so needful to man, that, in its lowest functions, it seems to lie on the confines of commodity and beauty. To the body and mind which have been cramped by noxious work or company, nature is medicinal and restores their tone. The tradesman, the attorney comes out of the din and craft of the street, and sees the sky and the woods, and is a man again. In their eternal calm, he finds himself. The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.1 These observations are obvious enough and are a greater factor than the simple restoration of "tone". As we separate ourselves from the world around us, we attatch ourselves to community, but unfortunately that community can be a facade, as we attatch ourselves to the "community of opinion" that is simply a group of people who are part of the same specialized, capitalistic comfort based society, not lending itself to individualized thinking or the perception of the importance of the individual rights. Emerson in "Self Reliance" discusses this lack of individualized thinking and some of the negative consequences to the individual as a result...The objection to conforming to usages that have become dead to you is, that it scatters your force. It loses your time and blurs the impression of your character. If you maintain a dead church, contribute to a dead Bible-society, vote with a great party either for the government or against it, spread your table like base housekeepers, - under all these screens I have difficulty to detect the precise man you are. And, of course, so much force is withdrawn from your proper life. But do your work, and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself. A man must consider what a blindman's-buff is this game of conformity. If I know your sect, I anticipate your argument. I hear a preacher announce for his text and topic the expediency of one of the institutions of his church. Do I not know beforehand that not possibly can he say a new and spontaneous word? Do I not know that, with all this ostentation of examining the grounds of the institution, he will do no such thing? Do I not know that he is pledged to himself not to look but at one side, - the permitted side, not as a man, but as a parish minister? He is a retained attorney, and these airs of the bench are the emptiest affectation. Well, most men have bound their eyes with one or another handkerchief, and attached themselves to some one of these communities of opinion. This conformity makes them not false in a few particulars, authors of a few lies, but false in all particulars. Their every truth is not quite true. Their two is not the real two, their four not the real four; so that every word they say chagrins us, and we know not where to begin to set them right. Meantime nature is not slow to equip us in the prison-uniform of the party to which we adhere. We come to wear one cut of face and figure, and acquire by degrees the gentlest asinine expression. There is a mortifying experience in particular, which does not fail to wreak itself also in the general history; I mean "the foolish face of praise," the forced smile which we put on in company where we do not feel at ease in answer to conversation which does not interest us. The muscles, not spontaneously moved, but moved by a low usurping willfulness, grow tight about the outline of the face with the most disagreeable sensation. 1 All of which has been exaggerated to an extent as a result of the forces that are put upon the individual in our modern society, and required specialization. This does not allow for an individuals growth, thereby, even subconsciously, directing an individual toward these facade group identities, lowering the value of the individual, creating an environment allowing for the destruction of individual rights, in lieu of the supposed security of the group.

It has been said that Henry David Thoreau was an anarchist, but this is simply not the case. He was simply responding to what he saw was a government that had advanced its own agenda, beyond that of what was intended by the people that had created it. I believe that our problems, the lack of individual awareness and integrity, the erosion of individual rights, governmental corruption and of a government simply being a shadow of big business ,are problems that he was warning us of.. Unfortunately, these warnings seems to have fallen on the deaf ears of the group mentality, who have bought into a self destructive system, one that is willing to exploit anything and everything to maintain "positive growth". The war in Irag, and the lies associated with it, is an example of the group think, and of a government who's foreign policy is dictated by the needs of big business, while we enjoy "free trade" with Mexico, as millions of illegal immigrants work jobs at wages that no American man could raise a family with. Please remember, however, there was once a time that a man could raise a family with the wages from these jobs that are now discussed by our government as jobs that Americans wont simply do...Its not that they won't do it, its just that they wont do it for $5.15 an hour. Thoreau warns us....Practically speaking, the opponents to a reform in Massachusetts are not a hundred thousand politicians at the South, but a hundred thousand merchants and farmers here, who are more interested in commerce and agriculture than they are in humanity, and are not prepared to do justice to the slave and to Mexico, cost what it may. I quarrel not with far-off foes, but with those who, near at home, co-operate with, and do the bidding of those far away, and without whom the latter would be harmless. We are accustomed to say, that the mass of men are unprepared; but improvement is slow, because the few are not materially wiser or better than the many. It is not so important that many should be as good as you, as that there be some absolute goodness somewhere; for that will leaven the whole lump. There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war, who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them; who, esteeming themselves children of Washington and Franklin, sit down with their hands in their pockets, and say that they know not what to do, and do nothing; who even postpone the question of freedom to the question of free-trade, and quietly read the prices-current along with the latest advices from Mexico, after dinner, and, it may be, fall asleep over them both. What is the price-current of an honest man and patriot to-day? They hesitate, and they regret, and sometimes they petition; but they do nothing in earnest and with effect. They will wait, well disposed, for others to remedy the evil, that they may no longer have it to regret. At most, they give only a cheap vote, and a feeble countenance and Godspeed, to the right, as it goes by them. There are nine hundred and ninety-nine patrons of virtue to one virtuous man; but it is easier to deal with the real possessor of a thing than with the temporary guardian of it. 1 The words still ring true today, and I believe that he was warning us. The novel "1984" combined with Thoreau, gives us good mosaic of how aspects of technology might be exploited for control, with terrorism, or bird flu, creating the fear needed for the effective removal of all of our constitutionally guaranteed rights. He also has a few other choice words for a friends involved with serving the State...  The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army, and the militia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, etc. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well. Such command no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt. They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good citizens. Others, as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders, serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God. A very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men, serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it. A wise man will only be useful as a man, and will not submit to be "clay," and "stop a hole to keep the wind away,"but leave that office to his dust at least:

then with some words from Shakespeare...

"I am too high-born to be propertied,
 To be a secondary at control,
 Or useful serving-man and instrument
 To any sovereign state throughout the world.

Good luck!!

Well, what is one to do? I believe that the way to change things is not through violence, but I also believe that the system is completely broken, and needs to have a major "overhaul", but if we are not prepared as individuals, we will be under the control of a system gone wrong. By preparation, I mean that we must explore ourselves, see ourselves in a new light, if we disagree in the system, we must be prepared to live without the system, and that is not easy, but if Thoreau can do it....The more one has bought into it, the harder it is to separate from it, but responsibilities can dictate to us what we need to do. Thoreau indicates his thoughts....It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support. If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man's shoulders. I must get off him first, that he may pursue his contemplations too. See what gross inconsistency is tolerated. I have heard some of my townsmen say, "I should like to have them order me out to help put down an insurrection of the slaves, or to march to Mexico;-see if I would go"; and yet these very men have each, directly by their allegiance, and so indirectly, at least, by their money, furnished a substitute. The soldier is applauded who refuses to serve in an unjust war by those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which makes the war; is applauded by those whose own act and authority he disregards and sets at naught; as if the state were penitent to that degree that it hired one to scourge it while it sinned, but not to that degree that it left off sinning for a moment. Thus, under the name of Order and Civil Government, we are all made at last to pay homage to and support our own meanness. After the first blush of sin comes its indifference; and from immoral it becomes, as it were, unmoral, and not quite unnecessary to that life which we have made. 1

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the situation that we find ourselves is in during the present time period. It is an exciting time to live. Every day has potential significance to effect generations of people into the future. Unfortunately, the effects into the future might be ones with negative aspects, and I believe we have not seen all of the fruits the present administration has to offer, and the reactions to 9-11 will ultimately have greater consequences than 9-11 itself. Some think that 9-11 was as a result of American foreign policy, but I believe the chicken has yet to come home to roost as a result of our policies in Iraq, and even more possibly terrifying, Iran. Thoreau and Emerson words have great relevance today, and have been warning us since the days of their writing. There have been problems before us, and there will be problems after us. Have there been any truly successful rebellions only non-violent in nature? Let us look at an important proponent of non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi, and the concept of non-violence itself as an effective means of change in the world today.

Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 studied law in London from 1888 to 1891, and went back home to India June 12^th 1891. There he met Raychandbhai, whom Gandhi considered as his Guru. Around September 1906, he began the Passive Resistance Movement. This is the beginning of a long list arrests and imprisonments totally to at least 13 times to spend a minimum of 5+ years in jail. He describes non-violence...

NON-VIOLENCE IN its dynamic condition means conscious suffering. It does not mean meek submission to the will of the evil-doer, but it means the pitting of one's whole soul against the will of the tyrant. Working under this law of our being, it is possible for a single individual to defy the whole might of an unjust empire to save his honour, his religion, his soul and lay the foundation for that empire's fall or its regeneration.

Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man. Destruction is not the law of the humans. Man lives freely by his readiness to die, if need be, at the hands of his brother, never by killing him. Every murder or other injury, no matter for what cause, committed or inflicted on another is a crime against humanity.2

These thoughts, however lofty, have a difficult path to reach the average American. For what reasons would an American consciously move towards purposeful suffering, particularly, their OWN suffering? Passive resistance requires little to nothing financial to lose. Given that that base nature of American society is in fact to "buy into" everything and anything, exploit all to simply improve "growth" with little to no self awareness to perceive the consequences of these behaviors, suffering will have to increase in order for there to be change, and it will not be self imposed suffering in order for change to truly take place. This contrasts greatly to the average early 20^th century Indian. When there is nothing to lose, ideals can take a higher priority. When there is wealth, one becomes a slave to it. Gandhi also says...

The rich should ponder well as to what their duty is today. They who employ mercenaries to guard their wealth may find those very guardians turning on them. The moneyed classes have got to learn how to fight either with arms or with the weapon of non-violence.

For those who wish to follow the latter way, the best and most effective mantra is: (Enjoy the wealth by renouncing it). Expanded it means: "Earn your cores by all means. But understand that your wealth is not yours; it belongs to the people. Take what you require for your legitimate needs, and use the remainder for society."

This truth has hitherto not been acted upon; but, if the moneyed classes do not even act on it in these times of stress, they will remain the slaves of their riches and passions and, consequently, of those who overpower them.3

Not a particularly American way of thinking.

Gandhi was clearly influenced by our friend Thoreau, and I believe that his attempts were, overall, successful. However, "conscious suffering" which is the foundation to passive resistance, is a total improbability in our day and age. We, as individuals will have to heed the words of Emerson and truly gain self reliance from our government in order to deal with our problems with our governments Imperialism based foreign policy in a non-violent manner. Unlikely at best. Those in power, have the money to control our system of "Democracy", buying control, and creating a form of government that is simply a "shadow" of big business, with our internal and foreign policy being dictated by the needs of big business, and not the individual. Until the individual is suffering enough to risk losing it all, will there be any possibility for change. This suffering will probably come in a very violent manner, from the individuals that have been exploited by our foreign policy, ie big business, or from those within, allowing for even more aggressive foreign policy, manipulating public opinion by either ignoring evidence of an impending attack, or staging one, as occurred with Pearl Harbor and Gulf on Tonkin.4

Our consumer driven way of life is indeed a very comfortable one. We live, ignorant of the worldly consequences, very comfortably. As long as we remain comfortable, there are no reasons for thing to change. The writings of Thoreau and Emerson were, if anything, the first red flags. Flags that have been generally ignored by the masses. Basically, it's going to be a waiting game. Waiting and speaking your mind. Trying top make a difference the best you can. Waiting for the "big one" to happen, when the comfort/suffering relationship leans toward suffering enough to where the average American starts to take responsibility for our government and our gluttonous way of life,.

Sources

Lauter, Paul ed.. Heath Anthology of American Litereature. New York, New York, Houghton Mifflen Company

Bose, Nirmal Kumar ed.. Selections From Gandhi. Navanajivan Mudranalaya, Ahemadabad-380014  India, Jitendra T. Desai

Gandhi, M.K.. translated by Mahadev Desai. An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth. Ahmedabad-380014, India, Navajivan Publishing House

Alterman, Eric. When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deceptions and its Consequences. New York, New York, Penguin Group