Wednesday, November 11, 2009
western Liberal Democracy: Get it Up Ya.
In Certain Terms.
This blog is to be written as a response to many statements that have been made about the West, from within and without, to the effect that we have become a group of people that lack belief, and lack principles.
It is at times suggested that the decline of organized religion, and religiousness generally, is leaving us anchorless and lost, in contrast to the fundamental-religious faithful, who would like to portray themselves as being believers, and not infidel.
I would counter that Western communities do in fact have sophisticated systems of belief, that have succeeded, and continue to succeed, in creating organized, functioning, relatively safe, and exceptionally tolerant places to live. They are not perfect, but it is not fair to compare a real society to a Utopia, which, as it’s name suggests, exists only as an ideal. The only meaningful comparison to be made is against other real societies, as they represent the outcomes of other systems of belief, and other ways of organizing a society.
And this brings us to exactly the point I wish to make: That the principles that keep Western Liberal Democracy ticking are in fact subjective values, that are believed in, rather than known. And that the behaviour of citizens in living those values is actually what makes a society function as it does.
I have come to believe that unlike religions, which have all sorts of texts declaring in absolute terms the beliefs that constitute them, and in them plenty of natural-born slogans to quote as points of reference, Western democratic values are, in practice, more of an unwritten code.
This is not to assert that there are not many writings embodying beliefs that we find current in Western societies. Locke, Mill, Dickens, Hugo, the Constitution of the United States, and the Holy Bible amongst countless others have all contributed. But I would argue that I held many of the beliefs that these texts emphasize long before I read them, and that they were acquired socially at a young age. I didn’t notice at the time, and it only became apparent that I had them when I came across someone that didn’t.
This is, of course, how values are actually transmitted, by people, to people. I never studied a document at school called The Bogan’s Manifesto, for example. I never read a passage that went: “And Dave-o the Welder said unto them: Thou shalt give all thy Cobbers a Fair Go, that there may be no cause for Whinging and Blueing amongst us…”
Someone more academic than myself could probably tease this value apart into its historical roots, and make astute comments about its origins and limitations. For me, I am happy to accept it as an artefact of a common sort, that you can find on any street corner. It doesn't matter to me if its origins are the Christian bible or Oliver Twist, its all the same. There isn’t an objective Truth, that we can consult, measure with a Micrometer and say: Yes, Dave-o, you're right. It’s a fact.
We choose to believe in this idea, and some live by it.
Our values are just things that we believe in.
It’s not the same as a Religion that has (relatively) fixed dogmas and creeds. Its more of a de-facto faith. It’s there, so it’s real. But it can change, and you can’t argue that it has left the One True Path, because it never claimed to be one in the first place.
What I’m worried about, is that this easy-going way might loose ground to hardline religion, simply because it doesn't have the structure and practice that religions have to keep people in their way of doing things. And honestly, if Western Democracy did have the equivalent of a Sunday School class, I would likely assert my democratic right to vote with my feet and stay away. But I do think that a little wee book with some pro-western democratic writing in it would be handy from time to time.
I know its presumptuous to write about the values of the two thousand million sentient beings living in democracies, but that isn’t what I am trying to do. Think of a cookbook from a very small country: I can say, in my part of the world, some of us like to cook snails like this…and I am not making any claims that it’s the only way, the best way, or that you should throw rocks at people who cook ‘em differently. This is my snapshot of what my communities values look like, through my eyes. I make no further claims for it, and hope that someone might find it enjoyable to read.
This blog is to be written as a response to many statements that have been made about the West, from within and without, to the effect that we have become a group of people that lack belief, and lack principles.
It is at times suggested that the decline of organized religion, and religiousness generally, is leaving us anchorless and lost, in contrast to the fundamental-religious faithful, who would like to portray themselves as being believers, and not infidel.
I would counter that Western communities do in fact have sophisticated systems of belief, that have succeeded, and continue to succeed, in creating organized, functioning, relatively safe, and exceptionally tolerant places to live. They are not perfect, but it is not fair to compare a real society to a Utopia, which, as it’s name suggests, exists only as an ideal. The only meaningful comparison to be made is against other real societies, as they represent the outcomes of other systems of belief, and other ways of organizing a society.
And this brings us to exactly the point I wish to make: That the principles that keep Western Liberal Democracy ticking are in fact subjective values, that are believed in, rather than known. And that the behaviour of citizens in living those values is actually what makes a society function as it does.
I have come to believe that unlike religions, which have all sorts of texts declaring in absolute terms the beliefs that constitute them, and in them plenty of natural-born slogans to quote as points of reference, Western democratic values are, in practice, more of an unwritten code.
This is not to assert that there are not many writings embodying beliefs that we find current in Western societies. Locke, Mill, Dickens, Hugo, the Constitution of the United States, and the Holy Bible amongst countless others have all contributed. But I would argue that I held many of the beliefs that these texts emphasize long before I read them, and that they were acquired socially at a young age. I didn’t notice at the time, and it only became apparent that I had them when I came across someone that didn’t.
This is, of course, how values are actually transmitted, by people, to people. I never studied a document at school called The Bogan’s Manifesto, for example. I never read a passage that went: “And Dave-o the Welder said unto them: Thou shalt give all thy Cobbers a Fair Go, that there may be no cause for Whinging and Blueing amongst us…”
Someone more academic than myself could probably tease this value apart into its historical roots, and make astute comments about its origins and limitations. For me, I am happy to accept it as an artefact of a common sort, that you can find on any street corner. It doesn't matter to me if its origins are the Christian bible or Oliver Twist, its all the same. There isn’t an objective Truth, that we can consult, measure with a Micrometer and say: Yes, Dave-o, you're right. It’s a fact.
We choose to believe in this idea, and some live by it.
Our values are just things that we believe in.
It’s not the same as a Religion that has (relatively) fixed dogmas and creeds. Its more of a de-facto faith. It’s there, so it’s real. But it can change, and you can’t argue that it has left the One True Path, because it never claimed to be one in the first place.
What I’m worried about, is that this easy-going way might loose ground to hardline religion, simply because it doesn't have the structure and practice that religions have to keep people in their way of doing things. And honestly, if Western Democracy did have the equivalent of a Sunday School class, I would likely assert my democratic right to vote with my feet and stay away. But I do think that a little wee book with some pro-western democratic writing in it would be handy from time to time.
I know its presumptuous to write about the values of the two thousand million sentient beings living in democracies, but that isn’t what I am trying to do. Think of a cookbook from a very small country: I can say, in my part of the world, some of us like to cook snails like this…and I am not making any claims that it’s the only way, the best way, or that you should throw rocks at people who cook ‘em differently. This is my snapshot of what my communities values look like, through my eyes. I make no further claims for it, and hope that someone might find it enjoyable to read.
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