America’s Bogeyman

Anyone following the news has seen the picture: a teen boy wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat appears to be sneering at an wizened old man, as if to antagonize him. When the events surrounding this picture first broke it was like a spark igniting the world’s driest kindling–America was lit ablaze. Frustrations are running high among anyone following politics even a little bit; everyone is angry at each other, with none of the sides willing to budge. We yell to one another from across a gorge. I’ll admit, I have a bevy of issues that I care about and most definitely have a horse in the race of politics. It’s easy for me to get annoyed with those I disagree with, especially in the midst of this historic government shutdown. But despite this, people are forgetting to be careful in their judgements. Anyone that disagrees with you has become a bogeyman of sorts, and we judge not by character but by whether or not you have a red baseball cap.

To summarize the situation, there were pictures and videos that came out, framing a high school student and his friends as antagonists towards a Native American war veteran and his compatriots. It was so easy to believe, and a lot of people lapped it right up–definitive proof that all Trump supporters are racists and that the MAGA hat is, as some have put it, “a modern day white hood”. I was one of those following this story as it broke, and I’ll shed some light on my position. I have never, and will never be a fan of Donald Trump. I’m not going say more right now, as this is supposed to be a brief blog. But I mention this detail to say that I was one of those people that could be suspect to accept this narrative. However, abiding by some of Descartes’ principles paid off when the rest of it came to light.

The whole mess ended up being a lesson to all who made snap judgements: it was later proven that the boys were doing nothing of the kind, and there was actually a third group that was jeering at both the MAGA hat wearers and the Native Americans, escalating the conflict and fanning the flames. This group, who call themselves the “Hebrew Israelites”, were taunting the teenagers and throwing racial slurs at the Indigenous Peoples Rally. The boy that appeared to be sneering at the War Veteran was actually attempting to remain silent in the conflict so that he wouldn’t get involved or anger anyone.

That’s well and good, but what do modern-day politics have to do with Descartes?

Reading his Principles of Philosophy was a lot like looking for good skipping stones on the rocky shores of Lake Michigan. His logic and the several points he made varied in quality, from fantastic rules to live by to nonsensical and unnecessary. The first thing I think is important to recognize about Descartes is that his idea of removing prejudice and completely deconstructing a situation before acting is (in my opinion) the best way to approach things. He is discussing how to prove the existence of God, of course, and it’s that specific issue where some of his off-the-wall points come in to play, but if we remove his process from its argument there is a lot of value to be found in said process.

The most important ideas to discuss in Part 1 are all near the end, when he is drawing a conclusion and attempting to encompass all his other details. Here are points 71-73:

71. The prejudices of childhood are the chief causes of error.
72. The second cause of error is that we can’t forget our prejudices.
73. The third cause of error: we find it exhausting to think about things that aren’t present to our senses; so out judgements about them are usually based not on present thinking but preconceived notions.

I think that Descartes is dead on with these, and it doesn’t really take much to prove him correct. This is why I mentioned the example above. And although that particular example had people on the left making unfair and false assumptions about Trump supporters, no one is exempt. I could just as easily have used an example of someone on the right making an unfair and harmful assumption about an LGBTQ individual. It just so happens that this particular one is big right now.

I have 73 in bold because I believe it is the heart of the issue, and why we remain so divided. When we see someone or something that we don’t agree with/don’t like, instead of getting to better know the situation or person we make judgements based on preconceived notions. These notions are unforgettable prejudices that we formed at some point in our life, often in childhood. We carry them like a holy symbol, when often they’re no more than an unfair idea. Whenever a situation comes up that appears to fit with our holy symbol, we don’t like to do the work, step back, and analyze things. We throw our assumptions at it without thinking, and it almost always does more harm than good.

America is toxic for everyone who disagrees right now, but it could be made so much better if some of us just listened and thought a little bit. God knows it’s difficult not to default to our assumptions, and I still have trouble with it. There are people who fit the stereotypes on each side, this is true. But more often than not you’ll find your “worst foe” just sees things a bit different, and isn’t really the horrible monster you thought they might be.