Long before the USA took that horrendous terrorist attack of September 11, 2011, 1988 in fact, Doris Lessing, who died at 92 this Fall, gave us in only 78 pages a series of essays which are profoundly apt for our time and for the future.
We were badly polarized when she wrote this book and matters have deteriorated badly since then.
As America has bungled its way through its longest war in its history, we know that compared to the 100 years war and the 30 years war and the war of the roses, we still have not set a record. However,
her descriptions of how disagreements are dealt with not only in times of war, but in our dealings with every day conflicts, show us that humans have basically behaved badly or irrationally since time immemorial.
It is so easy to start a conflict, initiate a life long grudge, or make an enemy. Correctly she notes that hostility is a trait well curried and lying close to the surface of human behavior. We like wars and the surge of power felt when we can get into them.
Oh, of course, now we bemoan such actions, but her book is rife with examples of how people can easy adopt beastly hostile behavior, especially in times of war or social conflict, behavior which later may be thought impossible by the very folks who enthusiastically behaved badly in those situations.
There's lots of talk about love, but the obverse is our built in genetic tendency to hate and act on that hate with various forms of violence, some of which is not physical, but psychological.
She points out that our researches into human behavior have long disclosed the above facts, but that the more enlightened societies, such as the US and other governments have not yet decided to incorporate such vital knowledge to foster better behavior from our government.
Lessing was in 1988 optimistic that a hundred or two hundred years from now, such learning might be commonly put to practical use in better governance and in general human relations, but many of us who are most concerned about the speed of population growth and environmental decline wonder if we will can avoid an apocalypse before such rational and sensible human behavioral improvements can be introduced.
And don't forget, we consider ourselves enlightened and yet as the world's then acknowledged super power the USA started this seemingly endless war by treating Osama's terrorists as a War instead of a criminal act of terrorism.
By invading Afghanistan and Iraq in the Middle East and sustaining our troops there, we set a new standard for stupid behavior, but our record of aggression has not proved strategically brilliant.
After being involved in the Cold War which started after WWII, we lead the overthrow of a democratically elected government in Iran, headed the Korean "Police Action" and conducted the Vietnam War to defend a corrupt regime in South Vietnam which posed no threat to us. Our empire building credentials are indeed impressive. And I bet if Lessing were to comment she would deem this behavior as both financially and morally disastrous.
Prisons We Choose to Live Inside (Cornelia & Michael Bessie)
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Last update: 01-24-2025
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