Advocacy,
Intellect,
And Common Sense
By
Jim Miles
12 December,
2007
Countercurrents.org
Ramzy
Baroud’s current article [1] on the despair of writers and the
role of the intellectual in presenting information has proven to be
very thought provoking personally. I would not be doing what I am doing
now without his support and conviction, yet as with the writer in the
article, I have often wondered why do I keep doing this when nothing
seems to change. Further, am I preaching only to the converted, or is
there perhaps someone out there who has read the material and actually
transformed their thinking because of that?
Ramzy takes
support from Noam Chomsky, who said, "Intellectuals are in a position
to expose the lies of governments, to analyze actions according to their
causes and motives and often hidden intentions.” Although it is
truly presumptuous of me to say, what I believe is unstated in Ramzy’s
essay, after saying “the intellectual is not a cheerleader, nor
a poet, and should, no matter where his sympathies lie, remain capable
of dispassionately approaching the subject at hand,” is that without
passion and conviction, without the emotion and the drive towards advocacy,
that intellect would whither and die, it would become a text-book full
of dry boring information.
Ramzy is
correct, that while I am writing, I try to push aside the motivation
that brought me to the computer, and to deal with the subject that has
been the motivator very carefully, looking for contradictions, assessing
information from various sources, questioning what I don’t understand,
qualifying what does not seem to be proven or absolute, continually
reassessing my viewpoint, and hopefully, finally, making sense.
Common sense,
the sense that says that humans are all equal in their need for food
clothing and shelter, in their need for cultural, intellectual, and
emotional stimulation so that life is not simply an exercise in survival.
That level of common sense indicates that a good portion of the world
in absolute numbers is not living a life of ‘humanity’ but
is living a life of survival. Yet at the same time, the human spirit
still strives towards its refinement as indicated by many accounts that
describe the sense of humour, the perhaps fleeting joys of daily living,
and the will not to be subjugated to another’s malevolent desires
and greedy wants. Too many in the western world, the leaders of the
Euro-centric/Washington Consensus view of things, lose account of this
as they strive for the accumulation of more and more wealth, not seeing
the lack of common sense in depriving others of a peaceful livelihood
and depriving everyone of a healthy sustainable environment in order
to gratify their own greed and power. Can the intellectual alone overcome
this?
The intellectual
is not the only kind of writer, nor the only kind of writing, and having
one of those moments when I feel that I am preaching to the already
converted, other styles of writing can also be used to reach a broader
audience. Michael Moore comes to mind, and while he is primarily a visual
presenter, he has produced several books that are intelligent if not
intellectual and speak more from the common sense perspective. Much
of what he writes equates to the common sense of the American people
– health care, fair wages, good working conditions, old age assistance
and other ‘socialist’ ideas that tend to be strongly supported
away from the corporate-political-military power centres.
There are
too many writers of course to analyze here, but a recent submission
by an American writer, Eileen Fleming, in order that I could review
her books [2], made me struggle with this concept some more.
Eileen Fleming
has set up her own website [3] and is a strong and passionate supporter
of justice and equality within Palestine and represents an element that
is faith based and sees much in the way of common sense and truth. She
has been passionate enough that she has made five trips to Palestine
in order to see for herself and to act for others to support her beliefs
in justice and equality, something that I would imagine many intellectuals
have not done. While that does not deny the validity of the intellectual
as there is much written material to work through, much video material
and recorded material to examine, many historical records and current
documents that need to be combed over, it does present a different emotional
component that would speak to a different audience than perhaps the
purely intellectual approach does.
As a Christian,
relying partly on the strength of her faith, and looking at the world
from a pacifist perspective within her interpretations of the Gospels,
Eileen Fleming can carry to some audiences as much weight or perhaps
much more than I can to mine. Her trips to Palestine are primarily to
support the Christian community, a community that in Bethlehem in particular
has diminished significantly under the Israeli occupation. If nothing
else it shows Israel to be an equal opportunity occupation force, wishing
to ethnically cleanse not only the Muslim Palestinians but all other
Palestinians as well, leaving the land available only to the Jewish
‘nation’.
From that,
Ms Fleming denounces the Christian Zionist perspective that exists within
the United States, decrying their self-fulfilling apocalyptic vision
that “embraces the most extreme ideological positions of Zionism,
thereby becoming detrimental to a just peace within Palestine and Israel.
The Christian Zionist program provides a worldview where the Gospel
is identified with the ideology of empire, colonialism and militarism.
In its extreme form, it places an emphasis on apocalyptic events leading
to the end of history rather than living Christ’s love and justice
today.”
The latter
line is not a line that I would ever make, yet I fully support it. North
America is predominantly Christian, with estimations varying between
10 and 40 million supporters of varying degrees for the Zionist right
(Fleming provides a high estimate of 20 million). They are the kind
of thinkers that would not likely be persuaded by my train of thought;
I’m not sure they would be persuaded by Fleming’s thoughts
either, but at least she might qualify as having more validity in presenting
the case to the majority as she is arguing from within the religion.
She is not
alone in this, as she provides quotes from other church groups that
support her perspective. The strongest wording she provides comes from
the United Methodist Church in a conference on Unwrapping the Rapture.
The members are urged to give “prayerful consideration as to how
God will actually judge us for our silence about and complicity in the
crushing of the Palestinian people.” This quote and the others
comes from the website “Challenging Christian Zionism,”
[4] a site that is not intellectual but very much faith based and very
much carrying a message of Christian love and understanding. The common
sense aspect of that is two-fold. First, the subjugation of another
people is to be denied. Second, given the underlying premises of Christianity,
it argues logically against the rapture of the Christian Zionist apocalyptic
end-times.
Common sense
treads upon the territory of morality, another province that is not
limited just to the religions of the world but enters into many secular
and scientific arguments as well (the latter especially with the more
modern sociobiological interpretations of the genetic make-up of behaviours).
There is within morality the phrase to “walk a mile in another’s
shoes”, indicating that true understanding comes from being able
to place ourselves in the other persons position and see life as how
they see it. In “The American Empire and the Commonwealth of God,”
[5] theologian David Ray Griffin sees this moral concept as the ‘ideal
observer’, an ideal “upon which theists and nontheists can
agree.” In order to do this the moral observer must “transcend
the social and historical context of their particular form of life and
particular community and adopt the perspective of all those possibly
affected.”
There is
much commons sense, much morality in religion, as there is with secularist
positions as well. Neither side owns a monopoly on these ideas. There
is also much that is not common sense, that is not moral, that only
sees the ‘other’ as an outsider, without being able to walk
in their shoes, demeaning them, making them susceptible to and targets
of violence in many forms.
I have here
presented a dichotomy between the intellectual and faith based arguments
while understanding that there is a common thread between the two, that
of the ‘moral observer’. I write as best I can as a ‘moral
observer’, hopefully applying as much common sense as can be garnered
from the vast amounts of information and opinions that exist. Even as
I write from an intellectual position as posited by Ramzy Baroud and
Noam Chomsky, I need to recognize that the ‘moral observer’
is similar to the intellectual who “no matter where his sympathies
lie, remain[s] capable of dispassionately approaching the subject at
hand.” That line reflects fully the ‘moral observer’
who is “impartially sympathetic” and “impartially
benevolent” in the description provided by the theological view
of David Ray Griffin.
I do not
know if what I write has transformed anyone’s thinking, perhaps
at best giving it a nudge and push one way or another, providing another
perspective, perhaps as with the idea of the moral observer, building
a bridge between what are commonly considered disparate thought processes,
that of the intellect and that of faith. At best, I could hope that
writing provides support, moral and intellectual, for those working
towards justice and equality for all, that I can be an advocate for
truth as I perceive it.
Above all
then, I write for the truth, for it is the truth that is dangerous to
the powers that be, the truth about their secret wars and manipulations
to strengthen their own hold on power. The old maxim holds true: the
pen is mightier than the sword. That is why the U.S. corporate-political-military
structures are so efficient with their media propaganda, keeping the
people satisfied with their massively debt ridden consumer lifestyle.
That is why
it is important for everyone to keep writing, whether it is faith based,
intellect based, a mixture of the two, or in many instances populist
writing, the common sense of the common man who wants food clothing
and shelter, who wants cultural, intellectual, and emotional stimulation
so that life is enriched beyond the basic elements of survival. Letters
to the editor, letters to representatives, letters to friends all can
have the power to transform. Writing can support the truth and argue
against the lies and manipulations of those seeking absolute power and
control.
I write because
I can. I write to support truth, justice, and equality against those
that deny it.
[1] Baroud,
Ramzy. “Palestine: Demoralisation and Absence.” http://www.ramzybaroud.net/index.php
[2] Fleming,
Eileen. Memoirs of A Nice Irish-American ‘Girl’s’
Life in Occupied Territory and Keep Hope Alive. Outskirts Press, Inc.
Boulder, CO. 2007.
[3] http://www.wearewideawake.org/
[4] http://www.christianzionism.org/
[5] Cobb, John B. et al. The American Empire and the Commonwealth of
God. – A Political, Economic, Religious Statement. Westminster
John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky. 2006.
Jim
Miles is a
Canadian educator and a regular contributor/columnist of opinion pieces
and book reviews for The Palestine Chronicle. His interest in this topic
stems originally from an environmental perspective, which encompasses
the militarization and economic subjugation of the global community
and its commodification by corporate governance and by the American
government. Miles’ work is also presented globally through other
alternative websites and news publications.
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.