addictive diversions interrupted by ever-sharper episodes of anxiety

From a post in July 2006:

The fraud of primitive authenticity
by Spengler

adspar's quick summary:
This sprawling commentary in the Asia Times Online is presumably inspired by Nicholas Wade's Before the Dawn. Spengler wonders why it is that popular culture typically portrays primitive people as "peace-loving folk living in harmony with nature" and not the nasty, violent savages they really were. He concludes that as Americans move beyond Christianity, we're left without inspiration, so we'll take whatever we can get.

why you should read it:
The 2nd to last paragraph ends with one of the most incisive comments I've ever read. I truly felt shocked when I read it. You need to read the rest of the article to understand the quote properly, so I don't want to post it here yet. (Now I've built it up too much and you'll be disappointed. Sorry.) There's also a criticism of Jared Diamond that I don't really agree with, but I'll admit that could be my politically biased brain at work. Maybe I'll write more about that later.

My quick summary contained an idea that I’m very familiar with from my musings on the irrationality of religious faith, which is the idea that people are inclined towards believing comfortable lies. Spengler’s observation is that Americans are easing their transition away from one comfortable lie (the supernatural mythology of Christianity) by propping themselves up with another (the noble savage).

As I said at the time, I’m a bit perplexed by his criticism of Jared Diamond. While I’m certainly no expert, I would think that if Diamond had defended the noble savage idea too strongly I would have noticed, having read Stephen Pinker’s demolishing of the noble savage in The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature shortly before I read Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, New Edition. I suppose I’d have to reread both books (I’ve been meaning to go back and read Pinker again anyway) to make an actual argument, so for now I’ll again just note my objection and move on.

Dave has recently criticized me for being overly critical of an America that he thinks is a much better place than the rest of the world. While he didn’t especially articulate his complaint well in those comments, I sympathize with (what I think are) his aims, at least to some extent. I think putting America’s shortcomings into a broader context of humanity can be interesting and enlightening (though I continue to assert that the vast majority of my criticisms stand on their own, and that context could only make the complaints look less severe, which doesn't erase those criticisms, and which could even dull our motivation to correct them), and likely quite helpful when trying to solve those problems. He emphasized a modern global political perspective as the means of putting America in context, which certainly has merit. But perhaps he’s overlooked that I’m often trying to put my observations into another broad context, an understanding of human nature.

So all that that being said, I'm going to discuss Spengler's criticism of America, and I'm going to attempt to draw from a broader understanding of human nature supplied by psychology and anthropology and history (eventually - the purpose of this post is more to elaborate and explain the problems I see). I want to do this because half a year after first reading it, I'm still kind of blown away by that powerful paragraph I mentioned in my "why you should read it":

An overpowering nostalgia afflicts the American post-Christian, for whom the American journey has neither goal nor purpose. He seeks authenticity in nature and in the dead customs of peoples who were subject to nature, that is, peoples who never learned from the Book of Genesis that the heavenly bodies were lamps and clocks hung in the sky for the benefit of man. Even more: in their mortality, the post-Christian senses his own mortality, for without the Kingdom of God as a goal, American life offers only addictive diversions interrupted by ever-sharper episodes of anxiety.

I get chills just reading "American life offers only addictive diversions interrupted by ever-sharper episodes of anxiety." Holy shit! I’ll preemptively note that I of course think that American life offers more than JUST that. My strong reaction though is because I think he’s cutting through to a truth that resonates pretty deeply, at least to me and 4 other people.

Another reasonable complaint is that this bleak view of modern life isn’t limited to America, but Spengler’s observation is that many other nations have a deep cultural heritage to fall back on as religion’s influence wanes. I’m not convinced that in reality the line is as clearly drawn as that, but there’s still a power to the general observation, whether it applies exclusively to Americans or not.

I never gave a great deal of thought about why religion still has its teeth more deeply into America than to most other first-world nations, but this shallow culture hypothesis is an intriguing alternative to the more popular explanation that we were founded as a nation of religious outcasts. I haven’t failed to note how completely our gatekeepers fail us: American education is getting worse and worse, our politicians are overwhelmingly incompetent, and our press uncritically parrots anything they hear.

We have our fingers plugged into our ears up to the second knuckle and we refuse to acknowledge reality whenever it conflicts with our ideology, or whenever it makes us the slightest bit uncomfortable.

Global warming? I’m not listening...

Torturing and killing people, spying on Americans, silencing critics in the name of freedom? I can’t hear you...

Reality is more complicated that “Jesus will make it all ok”? Not getting through…


There's a fascinating connection between this American emptiness and the NeoCon agenda, which is laid out in compelling fashion by the British documentary The Power of Nightmares (available for free legal download), which lays out the history of the neocon movement, and its core philosophy that America needs to fill its empty void with intense patriotism (preferably inspired by opposition to and war against an evil enemy) and conservative religion (preferably evangelical Christianity). Throw in some authoritarian submission and a pinch of anti-intellectualism to stifle any rational objection ("hey, this all sounds nice but it is flatly contradicted by reality" .. "DO NOT QUESTION THE LEADER!! WHAT ARE YOU, SOME KIND OF HIPPIE KNOW-IT-ALL PROFESSOR?!?") and you've got a pretty fucked up country.

I'm feeling pretty disturbed. I better go watch American Idol.