The recent stream of women standing up against sexual harassment and sexual criminal activity has once again brought to the fore the idea of heroes and perfection. Something I said I was done talking about, but the subject I guess is just an intriguing one to me and thought I’d share a few more thoughts. I’d like to extend this discussion beyond those accused of sexual harassment or other sex crimes in general, but to a discussion of flaws and the severity of those flaws.
I’ve been listening and reading discussions about where do we draw the line and forgive someone’s acts? I’ve wrote a piece about Bill Cosby some time ago, and I think most people agree that given he is a serial rapist it’s hard to ever watch him again. But some feel differently about Louis CK or Al Franken. Now some might say this is because politics are playing a role, like in the case of Franken, or because you are just such a big fan of their comedy in the case Louis CK. It’s hard to say that’s not the case, but I do think it’s more than that.
As I try to learn about human behavior there are two things that seem clear to me. We are all morally inconsistent to varying degrees, and we all draw lines that cannot be crossed and those lines are different for different people. As I’ve written before, I think we have this ability to elevate celebrities, leaders, and historical figures to unrealistic expectations of perfection. With historical figures of course we might be applying today’s moral standards to those people and unfairly judge them, but I don’t always think that doesn’t have value. We don’t have to judge, but I think there is value in looking at the flaws and inconsistencies in their thinking so that we can avoid those same pitfalls of character today. Gandhi was someone I idolized, and still do to a certain extent, but more reading into his character has revealed his racism against black people, and his misogyny. Should I throw away Gandhi as someone who is a waste of my time to even try to appreciate now that I know? I don’t think so, but I certainly see how he could have been more than he was, and can take those good parts, acknowledge (without judgment) the bad parts and move forward.
But what of those people who we find to be less than perfect today? People who we deem should know better. It’s a tricky business. There might be an average moral perspective, and that perspective might even be backed by empirical data that shows it is a more moral behavior, but culture varies widely, and even when we see the overwhelming benefits of something like gender equality it seems very hard to get everybody on board. If we investigate the most common set of moral values of people in a white evangelical community in the South, we’d find many differences between them and a community in Boulder, Colorado. And the difference may even deviate greater as we go beyond the borders of our country. What seems to be the prevailing moral view of our times is heavily biased by the culture we are currently in. It could be we are in the minority. And even if we are right about what is a more moral actions, and we are right to push those views on to society, it may be difficult for others to agree with our perspective. Of course it’s also true that any one moral perspective is not all that we care about in this world. We all have sets of moral values, and while it would be nice to think that anybody who is a feminist must automatically be also pro-environment, pro marriage equality, or against racism, the dots don’t always connect, nor do I think we should expect them to. If we can have a head of the human genome project also be an evangelical Christian, I think that we should expect that any human is able to hold as true, two widely disparate views on how the universe works.
But where does that leave the rest of us. It seems that it’s human nature to be constantly looking for people that we can look up to, that we can celebrate and that we can strive to be like. It maybe isn’t surprising that we should do this. Seeing something we value, embodied by another human being makes us feel like it’s possible for us to be that way to. Such people can also make us care about things we didn’t before, or care about things in a deep way we never thought possible. And when we find out their flaws there is a feeling of betrayal that feels personal even if we didn’t know them personally. But I think that on a deeper level what we really worry about is what it says about us. “This person I admired is not who I thought, so am I not who I thought as well?” I certainly had these thoughts growing up with an alcoholic father. My dad went from superhero to an extremely flawed individual, and I wondered how I might be flawed and how I would even recognize it? And to be honest I still do sometimes.
I’ve tried to incorporate the best of my dad into who I am, because there is no changing the past. I was born with dad I had, and there is no getting around that. I can be a better dad myself going forward and that’s all I can do. I’m not for burning people to the ground because of their flaws. Even with Bill Cosby I can acknowledge the skill in which he told jokes and stories, and his passion for education and I can say that these are good things and are meaningful. Maybe I can’t watch him anymore, but there was at least some goodness in him. I feel similarly for Scott Orson Card who wrote an incredibly beautiful science fiction story and won a well-deserved Hugo award. He is now a strong anti-gay activist in the Mormon community. But the ideas and themes in his story are worth preserving and even celebrating. I don’t want to turn those ideas to dust just because there is now a side of him I fundamentally disagree with. When I think of heroes in my personal life right now, there are 3 ladies that are supervisors for the program I do volunteer work for helping neglected and abused children. They work long hours, train volunteers, do fundraisers, and deeply care about the welfare of the most vulnerable members of our society. What if I found out that one of them donated money to a pro-life organization, or was racist? Does this invalidate all that they are? Have they still not made the lives better for 100s if not 1000s of children? At what point does the line get crossed? Perhaps if I found out they have abuse their own children. I in no way imagine that’s possible, but maybe given that we are walking paradoxes I should accept that such things are possible.
In the end maybe we all at least share some of the blame for the expectations we place on people, who can never be perfect. Perhaps the reason I think about “heroes” so much is because with an alcoholic father these are questions I’ve been asking all my life. What I’ve tried to do is to understand human behavior and accept the imperfections we all have. I’ve also tried to place value on growth. Knowing we all do things or have done things that are bad, what’s most important is that we accept responsibility, have true remorse and try to do better. I think the exposure of these imperfections is helpful to all of us in this respect, and even when it is sometimes hard to hear (or read) I am thankful to see the cracks in perfection. I actually prefer such a world, because it simply feels truer. It feels like there is somewhere to go. And it is a reminder to be humble, for we all have our cracks and flaws. It’s easy to push the famous people and the historical figures away, because they really aren’t part of our everyday life, but that line we draw can become real hard to draw when it’s someone who is actually close to us. So I think it’s always important to recognize that complexity, the dynamic nature, and the shades of gray in humans. Maybe it’s significant that the devil was only made by being cast down to the very depths of hell. Maybe we can make our stands and still find ways to love.
I want to thank you for running a clean campaign. You made it clear right from the beginning that you had a message and that you wanted to talk about the issues. You didn’t attack your opponents with meaningless minutia, but gave fair and substantive criticism of their political positions, policies and plans. It’s easy to get disappointed by the election process when it seems like slinging mud at each other is something that has to be done if you want to get elected. When it seems like pandering has to be part of the process. You generated so much support by being an honest politician and simply talking about the problems that you would have to face for the job you hoped to be elected for. I hope that you will be an inspiration for politicians in the future, because we quite simply need more who run their campaign the way you have.
When we think of heroes we tend to think of someone standing alone, overcoming all odds, a man or woman against the world that is solely focused on tearing them down. But isn’t it odd that we should idolize such a figure, given that it never, ever happens that way. Okay maybe not “never”, certainly every once in awhile you have someone walking along who sees someone calling for help from a burning building and is saved, but these heroes are heroes of circumstance. In the right place and the right time, and maybe not heroes at all, just doing what every creature of conscience would do in the same circumstance. For most people we idolize they never really stand alone. Whether it be military, firefighter or police who benefits from the experience of those who trained them, and the coordination and cooperation of their fellow soldiers, fighters, or cops. Maybe it’s Martin Luther King Jr., Ronald Reagan, or Gandhi? Such men while perhaps great could not have accomplished any of the things they did alone. Maybe we could argue that heroes inspire, but when it comes to actually accomplishing what they wanted in life they needed support. And certainly their ability to inspire may also have been because of those who inspired them.
Biologically we are a social species that operates on reciprocal altruism. Love is therefore the primary way in which we build attachments to each other for our long term survival, both for reproduction and bonding. Thus the idea that there is no unselfish act is somewhat true as a whole. However, we are not always so shallow that we expect kindness to be repaid right away, In general if we love, and show kindness and caring to others they will hopefully love us and thus want to do the same for us when we are in need. In a broader sense, our ability to love tells us that we survive better when we cooperate, and your motivation for cooperation is increased by the love you feel for those in your group.
Cloak Unfurled 