There is a lot of talk about racism these days. I think it is useful to think about what exactly is going on. My sense is that there is a great confusion between morality and biology. Biologically, we have had millions of years of evolution that makes us racist. One can think of racism as grouping with our own kind. What is our own kind can be a very narrow view or a wide view. Those with narrow views are often the ones that survived through our evolutionary history. Now, what is arising in us is a new moral sense. This sense seeks to take a broad view of ‘us’. Where, in the broadest view, ‘us’ is all that exists. When we call someone a racist, we are blaming a person for their biology. It is similar to blaming someone for the color of their skin.
Perhaps, a more useful way to think of racism is how do we find practices, education, rituals, etc., that will help us transcend our biology and allow us to be more in alignment with this new feature we are beginning to get - a greater sense of who “we” are and how we belong to this existence.
One can look at the phenomena we are experiencing from a more systemic, historical, biological, and nuanced perspective. Whenever two groups that are at different levels of development, (e.g., a la integral theory, spiral dynamics, or developmental psychology), the more "advanced" group takes advantage of and "oppresses" the less developed group. This is particularly evident when the less developed group is easily identified - by ethnicity, skin color, language, ... This is a fractal pattern in nature and in biology. The "lesser" is "used" by the more "advanced". The lion culls the herd of the weakest, human societies assign less value (pay) to the less powerful ( minorities, women, ....), ... This is part of our biology. Guilt, shame, and other such responses to our biology miss the larger dynamic. Our moral senses / awareness is growing. My sense is that a more effective use of this new feature (moral sense) arising in our species, we need to use our reason at a level we are not accustomed to. What is a fair, balanced, organic system? How do we go about creating such a system in spite of our biology ? How do we get past confusing the familiar with the good and the true? We are programmed / imprinted in each of our personal development trajectories to prefer certain patterns of behaviors, tastes of foods, .... And if we are not mindful, we deem lesser that which is not familiar. And if the unfamiliar comes from a "lesser" group, we treat them as "lesser" in thought, if not in action. And we may be called "racist" because of this basic biology that we all have. And when we see these behaviors that may conflict with our newly arising "moral" / "ethical" feature set, we feel guilt for the past and perhaps shame for the society we have created that allows these behaviors. These are not useful ways to feel about our biology. If we want to create a different society, we need all our rational / cognitive capabilities. Guilt and shame, like stress, lowers our reasoning and cognitive capabilities. And we need all our rational capabilities to create a society / civilization that is in alignment with this new moral sense that is arising in us. We also need to keep in mind that our current sense of morality is not a final or absolute morality. It too is an evolving feature.
Here are some dynamics to keep in mind while traversing this dynamic:
- path of least resistance - the familiar, habitual pattern is the path of least resistance. However, it may not lead to good outcomes.
- free will / choice vs hacking - we are programmed biologically, culturally, linguistically, ... How do we begin to see past these programs and make better choices for the ecologies we exist in.
- specific instance vs the class of such behaviors / dynamics - we may think that color or ethnic based discrimination is an entity in itself and needs to be eliminated, while we may be discriminating on the basis of gender, economic status, other status, .... The specific arises out of our biology. This is what we do all the time. We don't yet know how to transcend these basic behaviors / patterns that arise out of our biology.
- flat earth (equal) vs 3d (stages of development) - there is a tendency to think that people are equal in the expression of their behaviors. However, the change / process needed for people at different levels of development is different. We are all at different stages of moral / ethical development and understanding. In addition, our precedences ( a la Haidt's Moral Foundations model) for what is important vary. In short, all "racist" behaviors are not equal. However, we may not have the capacity / capability to know how to handle this complexity.
- asymmetric relationships - we need to be careful where asymmetric power / status relationships may account for the behavior rather than "racism".
No comments:
Post a Comment