Of One Mind

The experience of modern democracy puts before us a strange contradiction: democratic man is the freest man to have ever lived and at the same time the most domesticated. It will be said that the difficulty is quickly clarified: he can only be granted, he can only give himself, so much liberty because he is so domesticated. One has to ask how, since the dog whose contentment the wolf envies is not unaware of the collar to which it is tethered, modern man is so sure of being ever more free if in reality he is ever more subjected. [The City of Man, Pierre Manent, Princeton University Press, 1998, page 181]

The situation is still worse than we might first think. This domestication of modern, democratic man is related to the fact that he values a peace that can be obtained only by a uniformity of opinion. Manent discusses this problem elsewhere in his book. To my knowledge, the strong tendency of modern, democratic man to brainwash himself in the interests of mainstream views was first noted by Touqueville in Democracy in America which was published back in the 1830s.

Roughly speaking, Manent’s complex analysis boils down to the sad fact that the modern democratic system can hold together only if we are all tolerant of other’s beliefs in such a way that we end up compromising our understand of the ‘good’. Effectively, we throw away the very concept of truth in order to live in peace with neighbors who hold a radically different idea of a good life.

Modern democratic man doesn’t seem capable of the true tolerance which can allow the growth of bohemias. That is, any bohemias, existing or developing, will be turned into tourist centers complete with coffee-shops and T-shirt booths. Sexual perversion is domesticated so that Oscar Wilde becomes one half of Mr. and Mr. Middle-class America. Creative efforts which might be legitimate but are certainly dangerous, such as avant-garde music or literature, became subjects for grant applications to various sorts of suits who commute from exclusive suburbs to their comfie offices at the NEA or the Ford Foundation.

This ongoing and relentless effort to homogenize all thoughts and all ways of behavior results in minds and hearts of mush. After all, we’re very particular creatures even in the way that we think about and live out the most absolute and transcendental of truths — for example, each cultural realization of any form of Christianity has different ways of submitting to the Creator. Even with the Mass to unite Catholics, Orthodox, and some other traditional and sacramental forms of Christianity, Roman Catholics who are Italian have different ways of praying from Polish Roman Catholics. The Coptic churches, Catholic or Orthodox or independent, are different from all other Christian churches in many of their ways. Benedictines have different ways of life from cloistered Dominicans and Calvinists find both ways to be strange.

What is the common ground for all of these manifestations in human lives of some understanding of Christianity? A sort of abstraction which requires no serious effort to be turned to easy-to-digest goop. Things get worse when we Christians try to talk to Jews as if we don’t really believe Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God. The goop becomes blandly unpalatable when we try to find common ground with Buddhists and Hindus and animist pagans.

This isn’t an argument against tolerance. In fact, I’d favor an openmindness which doesn’t turn Puerto Ricans into wannabe middle-class white Americans who dress in funny and colorful clothes a few times a year. Aren’t those spicy foods so interesting? And that music has such a good beat.

Me? I listen to so-called World Music radio shows every so often and I can appreciate music from Puerto Rico and Senegal and the various tribal lands of South Africa partly because it’s so exotic and partly because of the similarities which often show with an ethnic form of music to which I have truer attachments — Celtic music. Some of the traditional Celtic musicians learned how to play traditional Celtic percussion instruments from Africans or Jamaicans — most musicians in Celtic lands had forgotten how to use their hands after modern drum-sets with sticks had become so popular.

All forms of ethnic music, all forms of literature, are in danger in our world. Democratic man would turn them all into mass-merchandised products. All ways of life which are interesting and rich are in danger of becoming villages at some theme park.

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