A perfect government
and a perfect society
assume a perfect people.
That is,
a perfect government
and a perfect society
would require
a perfect people:
a people without vices;
a people of perfect virtue;
that is, angels;
not men and women
who actually exist
(or have existed,
or will exist).
If the government was perfect,
would we be happy?
If every demand
of every activist
and concerned citizen
was granted,
fulfilled
(and perfectly so),
would we be happy?
Change the word ‘happy’
if you will:
content,
satisfied
(with ourselves,
with others,
how things are,
our life,
the world,
etc.)
I’m reminded of a quote
from Giorgo Gaber.
(I’ve reminded myself here.)
« Io mi appassiono alla realtà,
non ai rapporti di forza.
La politica è un mestiere preciso
che passa attraverso
l’illusorio uso di parole
e concetti volgarizzati
perché deve trovare
più consensi possibili.
Questo non è il mio gioco:
il mio gioco è la parola precisa,
non il concetto ambiguo. »
[I’m passionate about reality,
not about systems of force.
Politics is a particular profession
which happens through
the illusive use of words
and simplified concepts
because it has to find
the most consenus possible.
That’s not my thing;
my thing is the exact word,
not the ambiguous concept.]
I think also of a quote
from Montagine,
something I wrote down
in my journal a while back:
« Nous empêtrons
nos pensées
avec les questions générales
es les causes universelles
et les façons
dont est conduit l’univers,
qui se conduit
très bien sans nous,
et nous laissons de côté
notre cas
et Michel [ou Gray, ou toi, ou qui que ce soit]
qui nous concerne
encore de plus près
que l’homme en général. »
[We mix up
our thoughts
with general questions
and universal causes
and the ways
in which the world behaves,
which carries on
very well without us,
and we leave to the side
our case
and Michel [or Gray, or you, or whoever it is],
which concern us
still much more
than mankind in general.]
I think the problem
for most of us
(the immense majority of us)
is that we are flooded
(sure, we mostly allow it,
and we usually want it,
because desperate,
because absolutely
hooked,
addicted,
and suffering) –
is that we are flooded
with ‘mankind in general’
(or ‘culture’,
or ‘humanity’,
or ‘the world’,
as you like):
the news,
social media,
streaming shows
and movies, etc.
Give yourself long enough
to such abstract concepts
(‘mankind in general’,
‘millenials’,
‘Zoomers’,
‘Americans’,
‘white people’,
‘conservatives’,
‘liberals’,
whatever)
and you start to believe
that these ideas
exist.
You can’t touch
any of these;
they are what any individual
thinks to call them,
and that’s subject to change
according to the hour,
the mood,
etc.
We don’t think
(or know)
the same things
in the morning
and in the evening,
or have the same opinions
(not really).
We are
all of us
process
(individually,
alone).
(And because
of our choices,
every one.)
Not as ‘people’
(insert whatever
color
or race),
not as whatever
opinions
we pick up
and point at
(we’re not
what we like,
or do
or say).
The problem
is spiritual
(define ‘spritual’
as you like).
It is one of
feeling.
If when you see your father
or aunt
or brother
or grandmother
and more than the
temporary guest
of this world
(like you,
like me
fragile,
uncertain,
brief),
you see
an idea,
or an opinion
(or a set
of opinions,
vague,
unwieldy),
you’re going to
suffer
stupidly.
Because no one
(not you,
not me)
is
their
opinions
(how many times
have yours changed?
do you feel them
the same
as you did
last week?)
Anyway.
Gray Haskins 