The Greek godfather of Western philosophy, Plato, famously wrote
that the relationship human beings have with reality can be
compared to prisoners chained up in a cave. The story goes like
this: The prisoners have no way to turn around and their stare is
fixed at the cave wall. Their only view of the outside world is the
shadows cast by the objects humans are carrying by on the ledge
above the cave.
Even though Plato was writing thousands of years ago, his
allegory is still relevant to President Bush’s America
(He’s just about the only philosopher apart from Jesus Christ
whose work still is.)
This was demonstrated in the clearest terms a week ago, when
Attorney General John Ashcroft resigned from his position as the
leading member of the Christian right in the Bush
administration.
In a handwritten, five-page letter to the president, Ashcroft
made the awesome declaration that “the objective of securing
the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been
achieved.”
What? Did I just read that right? Americans are now safe from
crime and terror? Surely this is a clear inversion of reality.
Surely this is a Platonic shadow cast by Ashcroft to disguise the
reality that the world (and in particular the United States) is
infinitely more dangerous and vulnerable since the war on terror
began its clumsy path through the Middle East.
I have only been in the United States for two months, having
transferred from England, but the lie articulated by Ashcroft that
the Bush administration has succeeded in its job as protector of
the American people seems to have wide currency.
But it is simply unreasonable under inspection by any sane
person.
A slight turn of the heads by our prisoners in Plato’s
cave would reveal an Iraq recently declared a “state of
emergency” because the Iraqi death toll has started to hit
the hundreds week in and week out; it would reveal an Afghanistan
slipping back into Taliban-era warlordism; and, perhaps most
ironically, it would surely reveal an elated Osama bin Laden
enjoying Bush’s continuing celebratory violence in Fallujah
as it ““ like all American violence against Muslims ““
helps to provide the perfect justification for the bin Laden
army’s next round of reciprocal violence.
But I only scratch the surface. American shadows and the
delusions they embody are rotten to the core. A substantial number
of Americans I speak with continue to believe they inhabit a
country dedicated to the same noble ideals laid down by the
Founding Fathers: dedication to democracy, the rule of law, freedom
of speech and civil rights ““ all the ideas so aggressively
driven into children throughout their schooling.
Well, maybe that great American ideal of “democracy”
will one day cease to mean the contest of two politically
homogenous mainstream parties that unabashedly represent corporate
interests while ignoring the downtrodden. Maybe “human
rights” and “rule of law” will one day cease to
mean the illegal incarceration of hundreds of uncharged and
unrepresented Muslim men in Guantanamo Bay. Maybe one day
“racial equality” will cease to mean the racial
division of labor in America where ““ in a university setting
““ the only time you see black faces is when your get dinner
served at night or go to watch a game of football on the
weekend.
For the moment, however, the Founding Fathers and Martin Luther
King, Jr. can still be found turning in their graves.
But as America’s perception of its influence on the world
continues to veer dangerously off course, the rest of the world is
becoming more clued in. The reason for the stark rise in
international enmity toward America is that the people of the world
can no longer ignore the palpable realities of American aggression
and environmental destruction.
It is too dangerous to cozy up to irrelevant platitudes when
bombs are dropping on Baghdad and people across the globe are
worried about their grandchildren having clean air to breathe.
This is not high-minded preaching from a British hypocrite (I
know we’re your strongest ally). My country deserves
condemnation equal to that which I have dealt to the Bush
administration and perhaps even more.
But at home there seems to much be less illusion about our
government’s malfeasance. The Iraq war is widely considered a
catastrophe in England.
Americans who ask Dubya’s plaintive question ““
“Why do they hate us?” ““ would do well to look
beyond the reflex answer ““ “They hate our freedoms,
they hate our democracy.” If America really wants to avoid
another tragedy like Sept. 11, it must surely address some of the
underlying grievances of terrorists around the world.
The alternative is a march into an endless war ““ an idea
Bush does not seem too worried about. Of course, looking in the
mirror will always be harder and more painful than blindly seeking
solace in your own divine moral superiority. But it must happen
before the shadow of success meets the reality of failure in
another American city.
Kennard is a third”“year history student. E-mail him at
mkennard@media.ucla.edu if you want to bash Britain.