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The URL of this article is: www.rootsie.com/articles/2004/03032.html |
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'Progressive' VoyeurismBy RootsieMarch 03, 2004 The suffering of the world at the hands of 'the powers that be' has become a masochistic spectator sport for leftists in the West. We pride ourselves on the completeness of our understanding: We gather on the net and on the phone and on street-corners to share in outraged tones the latest travesty, the bitter 'flavor of the day.' Iraq. Palestine. Haiti. It stings, like picking scabs. Apparently we feel it is enough to know, and the more the better. O no, we're not ' good Germans'; we make it our business to know, and in detail. And in some incredibly twisted way, we are using the oppressed for what the oppressors always use them for. Whether for pity or pleasure or rage or absolution, always they are no more than objects for us. Is this how we deal with our privilege? Is this how we assuage our conscience? Is this how we make the distinction between 'us' and 'them'? Is this how we aid and comfort our 'brothers and sisters' in the rest of the world, or is this how we aid and comfort ourselves? We are voyeurs into others' suffering, and we seem to believe, that with enough 'empathy,' we can magically morph into the oppressed ourselves. We Americans especially have a love affair going with that inner child you see, for when we identify with the victim we find the perfect excuse to do...nothing. A lot of us are pretty bright, and I think we get the picture. But instead of the next step, we keep revisiting the picture, like a worn photo we take out of our wallets again and again. The pang we feel every single time, the taste of gall in our throats, that, we think, is our penance; that is enough. More would mean changing our lives in some substantial way. It would cut into our leisure time. It would thin out that wallet. I am not talking charity, but earnest effort in the direction not of speaking for the victims ourselves, but helping them forward so that their own legitimate voices can be heard. It's not about Bono cutting a new song about debt forgiveness, to 'bring attention' to the 'issues.' People who go in for that sort of entertainment generally know what's up. As for waking the sleepers among our fellow citizens, there is something to be said for that, but there are others who can do that far more effectively. They are the ones directly experiencing the worst the past 5oo years has to offer. Only their voices carry the legitimacy that can break the zombie spell. Of course this entails us fading into the background and shutting up, neither of which we find too attractive. We are born into a set of expectations and prerogatives, if we're the type whose tendency is to speak out. One of the great slogans of the Left is 'speak truth to power.' At this point it's just a lot of wind. The evil 'power' we're thinking of resides in ourselves no less than those who purport to 'lead' us. If we could hold that in our minds, that would be a start. We would be merciless in examining our own conduct and out own motives in every instance where questions of power and who's got it arise. We would talk less and listen more. We would seek out those who are legitimate voices and support them. In the Christian world it is Lent, the season of renunciation. Our ancestors knew that sacrifice is a demand. Of all understandings the 'modern world' has lost, this is one of the greatest. It is not enough to see or know; that is not the path of redemption. The redemption of history is only achieved through sacrifice. If we are appalled and conscience-stricken by our privilege on this suffering planet, there is only one choice. We must not only denounce it, but renounce it once and for all.  
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