Dynamic Yet Consistent

Title Screen from "The Trap"

Go ahead… carve out 3 hours from your day.  You are going to want to watch this.  The following is a three part documentary produced by Adam Curtis and originally aired on the BBC.  It follows the philosophical underpinnings that have guided the way we understand the world for the past century and how that has affected everything from foreign policy to personal health to our notion of productivity.  The whole series hinges on how we understand the concepts of freedom and liberty.  This is quite timely given the political climate of the day and the obvious disconnect between various wings of society.  I have embedded a YouTube playlist for each episode so you can watch it through.  I have also included notes on each episode… but trust me, you want to watch the whole thing.

Episode 1 – Fuck You Buddy

I am sorry if the title offends you (if it makes things better… I was introduced to this documentary through a seminary class that required we watch it).  The title comes from an experiment developed by John Nash (the lead character in A Beautiful Mind) which supposed that the world operated best when people were selfish.  This segment details how game theory and other mathematical formulas convinced the world that the best way to view humanity was through a lens of suspicion where all people were obviously in it for themselves and every decision was motivated by self-interest and preservation.  This was the dominate mindset in the Cold War Era.  When we approach the whole world through a lens of distrust, it is amazing (and unfortunate) how we view society.

[Watch on YouTube]

Episode 2 – The Lonely Robot

In this episode Curtis continues to explore our desire for society and people to be predictable.  Perhaps it is a desire to understand, or perhaps it is a desire to control.  He looks at the development of the mental health field and our own understanding of what it means to be “normal.”  From here he explores the consequences of a world where everyone strives for an ideal that is, at best, arbitrary.  Curtis follows how this emphasis on standards spiraled out of control in a vain attempt to maximize productivity in all sectors… even if the measurements were pure conjecture.  These ideas (however flawed) were monumental in ushering in a new understanding of the free market.

[Watch on YouTube]

Episode 3 – We will Force you to be Free

After exploring the way we view ourselves and human nature, Curtis begins in earnest to explore our ideas of freedom.  Specifically he examines the concepts of Negative Liberty and Positive Liberty as made popular by Isaiah Berlin.  Negative Liberty is a freedom from coercion while Positive Liberty is the freedom to achieve one’s true potential.  The prior has been deemed the “safest” because the later has historically required force and oppression to bring about.  However,  following the path of negative liberty to its logical conclusions, as governments have done in the West for the past 50 years, results in a society without meaning populated only by selfish automatons.  The answer then must be a peaceful pursuance of Positive Liberty.

[Watch on YouTube]

Adam Curtis has always been known for producing provocative documentaries.  I am sure he overstates some items in this program and under reports others.  However, this program forces the viewer to examine the way in which they view the world and requires them to acknowledge how their understanding of society affects their interactions with it.

In the past few months I have had several excellent conversations about the origin and inventory of human rights.  It seems most people agree with the idea that people are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” yet when it comes to specifics there is much disagreement.  For instance… does “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” refer to freedom or opportunity (put another way, are these things something all people should have, or have the option of having — the difference is substantial).

This discussion began when I compared universal education with universal health care and asked if both should be considered human rights.  My friend Aaron pushed back saying that rights exist individually apart from anyone granting them to you.  (Therefore if the government is the purveyor of universal health care, it cannot exist beyond them and thus cannot be a right). Desmond Tutu takes a different approach by saying human rights exist because we are created in the image of God.  Without too many specifics, he argues this means we should extend respect and care to all people.

As nice as it is to say that rights are inherent and/or God-given, it seems the facts of history do not support this.  Most would agree the freedom (from slavery) is a God-given right.  However, in the hundreds of years across which the Bible was written, this “right” was never extended or even articulated.  Heck, even our constitution, which is still a relatively recent document, did not consider this to be a right.

At the end of the day, societies are the ones who give rights, and this usually comes in the form of the government.  Put another way, rights can not be rights until they are extended by the authority of a group of people (government).  Freedom of speech, which is actually a relatively old idea, was first extended under Greek empire.  Before the powers that be articulated and defended that right, it did not exist.  Likewise, freedom from ownership was not a right to be extended until governments listened to the Abolitionists and began protecting people from slavery.

Rights may in fact come from God, but at the end of the day, it is up to governments (or other authoritative communities) to identify and codify these rights.  One thing is clear… Rights are not static, but are evolving.  In the last 250 years, Americans have come to generally agree on a slew of individual rights: right to bear arms, right to vote, right to practice religion, right to private property, right to a fair trial, etc.  While people may consider these to be God-given, they are all actually given by our constitution.

It is my belief that we as a society are moving towards a more civilized existence.  I am glad our constitution protects so many rights and I am also glad our nation has risen up to extend more rights (like voting and abolishing slavery).  I believe we have reached the point where we understand what things should not be done to people and are starting to understand what things should.  It is my guess that in 100 years, everyone will consider education, healthcare, clean drinking water, adequate food and shelter to be basic human rights that should be extended to all.  We should not fear the government extending these rights anymore than we should have feared the government banning slavery.  Change happens, and when it comes to governments extending rights, history has consistently shown this to be a good thing.