The Ignorance of Bliss

Do you treat others as you would like to be treated? That’s not merely a Biblical injunction, it’s an ethical position. Yet we tend to treat others harshly, sometimes cruelly, and even evilly. I believe in pure evil. I’ve seen too much of it not to believe in it. Solipsism in the belief that only ourself is “real,” and that anything beyond our own mind is problematic and uncertain. We see this in self-absorption every day, from the people who talk during a performance, to those who take phone calls during meetings. I remember a guy with a hoodie, staring at his phone, bopping to some music, crossing against the light, daring people to hit him. I wouldn’t want to be selling him life insurance. The fates don’t care about your degree of self-absorption. (I would never deliberately harm someone like that, but I did want to dump hot water over a repulsive couple who walked into a breakfast diner carrying Starbucks coffee.) The bigotry we face—ableism, ageism, racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, gender discrimination, and on and on—are to me attempts to keep others metaphorically “below” us on some social ladder because we have such poor self-esteem that we fear being on the bottom unless we subjugate some other group. So we march through life too largely uncaring, using platitudes like “pay it forward” to replace actual generosity and tolerance. You want to help a charity? Pouring ice cubes or cold water over your head is cute, but it’s a poor substitute for putting money in the coffers. Also, you will learn some truth herein about ostriches.

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