I'm an Independent. Yeah, I don't belong to the Republican or Democratic or Green or any other political party, nor do I feel the need to say I'm a member of any church or other organization where the powerful concept of independent thought and actions may be encumbered by the dogma and ideologies of that organization. Oh, and it also means, according to a friend of my daughter, that I'm a hipster asshole.
You see, for most of my life I have been unable to understand what is apparently a fact of life for many people - that based on their beliefs, they need to surround themselves with groups of like minded people. Now I'm not referring to the natural grouping of friendships forged through years of being friends, or family members that have been raised to believe a certain way where love and familiarity trump differing views. No, I'm talking about the next layer of acquaintances beyond that inner circle, and even layers beyond that. And so with this lack of understanding, I've found myself asking the question: why is this need to collectively believe such a powerful phenomena in people's lives? Is it simply a need to reinforce the belief, or just a mechanism for socializing with others or possibly nothing more than the wearing of some label because everyone else in your outer circle does? Hardly a day goes by where I don't read or hear someone proclaiming their point of view is not just right, but it's so right it makes your point of view absolutely wrong and by God I'm going to tell you so and then very likely ignore your rational response. It's manifested in the embarrassing name calling on Facebook, or in countless letters to the editor, or on the political evening talk shows and sometimes in just an overheard conversation. Is this desire to be right then a basic need of most humans, like eating and sleeping?
My declaration of Independence is, I suppose, along the same lines of needing to label a belief system. For instance, I have contributed time and money to a movement entitled "No Labels" that seeks non-partisan solutions to our hopelessly partisan federal government. But that's about as far as the conformance thing goes for me since the whole meaning of the word independent is, in a way, just the opposite of conforming. As an Independent, I will not necessarily accept the herd mentality on a given subject. While this approach to critical thinking is, in a way, a pipe dream since no one is really above being human and influenced by all life's lessons and experiences and the resulting effects on mind and body. But the thought of just saying "OK, I can't be bothered with definitively figuring this out for myself, so I'll just jump on board with this somewhat like minded bunch and ride it out" is not just perplexing, it's downright frightening! Of course for many people, it seems obvious to me that a political or religious point of view that runs pretty much with the herd is not a scary thing at all. Certainly every political leader finds they must embrace the dogma of their party (whether they believe it or not) in order to get elected. And religious leaders thrive on this "conformance of the masses" as it is often their occupation in life and collections from their believers helps pay the bills. But what to make of supposedly critical thinking people like scientists who claim to believe in God and Divine creationism, attend a church every Sunday that reinforces this idea and then show up at work on Monday to complete their carbon-dating project! There's comfort in numbers and like mindedness - can't disagree with that. But what about the rest of us that wouldn't join a country club that would have us for a member (thanks Groucho)? Why does this idea of just joining and believing seem so foreign?
When I was in my early teens, the church I was basically forced to attend taught several great and noble concepts for living. One was called free-agency. This is supposedly how each church member is able to make the greatest of all great choices - to believe or not believe in God. Of course, if you chose the latter, your free-agency was quickly circumvented buy all those who chose the former - parents who worked the guilt trip angle; siblings who questioned your love for them and friends who could no longer be your friend. As a result, the seeds of my independent tree were planted early and over the years every opportunity to be boxed in became another sprouted branch until one day I suddenly noticed the tree had not only matured, it was bearing fruit. And this fruit of independent thought was surprisingly good. I mean, how could a tree fertilized with something as bitter as cynicism and skepticism and other isms be tasty? Wasn't I doomed to live a reclusive, unfulfilled life by not joining in?
Apparently the answer is no. My early efforts to not be a joiner have been rewarded with the ability to see other points of view, and experience other facets of living and learning and to enjoy experimentation with things that someone had once warned me to stay away from. Of course, this someone had never actually experienced this thing for themselves. "Just trying to save you a little grief" is the response. But how can one accurately formulate a belief if it's just based on the experiences and resulting biases of others? Isn't this the wayward result of the mass Kool-Aid suicide that Jim Jones fostered on his bunch down in Guyana? And don't get me started on the myriad interpretations of the man-made writings of the Bible and how it's used to manipulate folks. And so as time moves on, I have come to realize that this independent thinking thing is actually of critical importance, and weirdly in harmony with that " free-agency" religious concept from so long ago.
So in an ironic twist, independence is freedom, and I must thank everyone along the way of life that inspired me to question everything which, in turn, provided the freedom of thought I now enjoy. All the tea party masses crying out for liberty and freedom have, on a basic level, already torpedoed their freedom. Ahh, but I made the choice to belong to this party a member will say and this choice was made as a free thinking person! Okay, then why the bullshit line about needing freedom? You just stated you have it. What you are really proclaiming is I need YOU to be like me or my liberty will be in jeopardy! Yes, the more of you like me reinforces me and in turn makes me more right!
Which leads me to being a hipster asshole. While this was said with no particular person in mind, the message is still loud and clear - belong to what I belong to or you're something less than what I am. You see by not joining in, you are sending a message that you're either above it all (too cool to commit) or afraid to commit. But the other option of choosing to not commit as a result of careful consideration doesn't seem to occur to those that have already committed. And so I am a hipster asshole, which is hilarious as hell when you consider the following: I will never, ever be labeled a hipster again under any circumstances as I'm a 50's something suburban white guy with little taste for fashion or style or whatever else lands one in the hipster category these days. But more importantly, I actually am an asshole, just an independent asshole who happens to be right!
No comments:
Post a Comment