Black and White Philosophy Revisited

Three drafts… enough unfinished Word documents that dissuade tallying… and scattered notes here and there – on the desk, in the truck, and in the margins of the five books I have been bouncing between.

This is where my Muse has been – everywhere and nowhere.

In avoiding Facebook, I have found distraction in re-reading some of my own words here and mulling over the themes and ideas which once flowed freely but now are jammed up in a bizarre “quantity over quality” quagmire. Too many ideas to be coherent; too much to say without resorting to creative profanity.

To break this stagnant phase, I return to the “land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas.” Three episodes of The Twilight Zone stand out due to their uncanny relevance to present issues and the spirit of the ideas they illustrated…

“The Man in the Bottle” Season 2, Episode 2, aired 7Oct1960.

Arthur Castle: “What about it, Genie? What can we wish for now? What can come to us without tricks?”

Genie: “Without tricks? I question the semantics here, Mr. Castle. There are no tricks involved. There are simply normal and understandable outgrowths and conditions that go with any windfall. No matter what you wish for, you must be prepared for the consequences.”

The dynamic between the Genie and Arthur Castle, effectively summarized by this dialogue, brought to mind the myopia which often comes with naïve idealism. One can hope for the desired results, but often – and willingly – neglect to take into consideration the repercussions of wishful thinking. Much like the natural progression of causality, the Genie cares not about the effect of his actions – only that his role is fulfilled as efficiently and precisely as possible…

“The Obsolete Man,” Season 2, Episode 29, aired 2Jun1961.

“You walk into this room at your own risk, because it leads to the future; not a future that will be, but one that might be. This is not a new world: It is simply an extension of what began in the old one. It has patterned itself after every dictator who has ever planted the ripping imprint of a boot on the pages of history since the beginning of time. It has refinements, technological advancements, and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom. But like every one of the super states that preceded it, it has one iron rule: Logic is an enemy, and truth is a menace.”
Wordsworth: “You never learn, do you? History teaches you nothing!”
Secretary: “You have disgraced The State. You have proven yourself a coward. You have therefore, no function…. you are OBSOLETE!”

I found it very interesting that this was brought to my attention by one of my more liberal friends and I marveled at how each of us derived a completely different meaning of the same episode. “Logic is an enemy, and truth is a menace” is (almost) entirely subjective these days – whose logic? Whose truth? An enemy and menace to whom?

“Deaths-Head Revisited” Season 3, Episode 9, aired 27Mar1964.

All the Dachaus must remain standing. The Dachaus, the Belsens, the Buchenwalds, the Auschwitzes – all of them. They must remain standing because they are a monument to a moment in time when some men decided to turn the Earth into a graveyard. Into it they shoveled all of their reason, their logic, their knowledge, but worst of all, their conscience. And the moment we forget this, the moment we cease to be haunted by its remembrance, then we become the gravediggers.

Ah, the recurring theme of how history might teach and/or hinder the pattern. When I heard the closing narration by Rod Serling, I was both awed and unnerved. For the former, it was such a succinct summary of the importance of remembering the lessons of the past; in the case of the latter, it condensed several lengthy posts I have written along those lines years before I ever composed my thoughts on the matter.

“What can we wish for now? What can come to us without tricks?”

“…not a future that will be, but one that might be.”

“Into it they shoveled all of their reason, their logic, their knowledge, but worst of all, their conscience.”

Over the last few weeks… or years? It seems like a lifetime ago when we had sane elections and pandemics (that, by the way, was sarcasm). Over time, I have been progressively becoming more steadfast in my own independence and accountability. Perhaps this is my own obstinate nature – my years of having very little control over my life has reinforced my belief that no one can exert control over me without my explicit permission. Sure, I have societal and familial obligations and there is no illusion that I am some patchouli-drenched free spirit of happy hippie dances; rather, I am the person I decide to be and in the roles which are important to me.

However, my concern is not for my hopes… my possible future… or my reason and conscience. Instead, I wonder about the disposable aspirations… where that will find us… and what limits of logic and ethics will be deemed inconvenient or…obsolete – in the national sense or according to the ever-shifting definitions of a perpetually incomplete and incoherent mob.

Not too long ago, I offered a comment:

Options…
I will always vote for the candidate which gives everyone the most options…
However, not everyone feels that way and will support those who promise the best options for them or their viewpoint…
…And when the options become constrained because they failed to take into account the greed for power and control… they will have no options, no power, and no control over anything. They will have the sudden realization that it is too late, long after the point of no return has been passed.

Are we getting to that point of no return? Have we sleepwalked beyond a moment where things could have been different, for better or worse?

Maybe we have, maybe we haven’t. That’s the interesting thing most folks fail to appreciate for this mess that has been the last year or so – there is never a “you are here” on the map of history because, from this moment on, it is uncharted… or should be. Whether or not we keep seeing the same scenery is up to us; we might have to become a bit more skilled at reading the terrain rather than relying on our technology… asking directions of those who might be familiar with the desired destination as well as the environmental factors rather than insisting that we know where we are going and what we are doing.

…Fiction is a wonderful thing: it provides us with the ability to explore potentials beyond what is practical. More importantly, it inspires…