Ruminations Inspired by Camus, Fed by Frustration with American Politics, and Driven by a Desire for Change

The fabric of our democracy is being undermined by the very representatives we have elected to maintain its integrity. The government, an establishment intended to be of and by the people is now in opposition to its public. Humanitarian injustice takes place at home and abroad, surveillance systems that were set up to keep the populace in order are being used indiscriminately against the interest of their wellbeing, and mass corruption ravages the leaders of our country.

Is our democracy no longer legitimate? Does the system serve the public’s best interest or the interest of a few who hold the keys to power and decision-making? I think we know the answers.

Maybe it’s time… time to take action… time to bring about a day of reckoning… If not now, when? If not because of the wrongs committed against us, and in our names against others, then what will it take?

We should look to the ideal established by the students of 19th Century Russia — in the words of Dostoevesky, a “proletariat of undergraduates” — the minority of outspoken revolutionaries who were willing to speak their minds in the face of injustice at the hands of thew few who were in power and cry out into the abyss of a silent majority.

But where to start? It all seems hopeless in the great machinations of bureaucracy and due process. And those of us who have the most at stake often seem the most jaded by the media, the institutions, the press, the politicians, the pharmaceuticals and narcotics used to pacify us, the list goes on… But who are we to blame but ourselves for our inaction. The least we can do is refuse to settle for injustices committed in our names and speak up when others have fallen silent.

The Egotistical Martyr

Across the Temple of Apollo at Delphi the inscription read, “Know Thyself;” certainly a mystery worth delving into. Yet those attuned to social conscientiousness find it difficult balancing introversion with activism. While knowing oneself may be a high calling, the higher calling is humanitarianism, for only in the aid of others is egoism excusable, or even justifiable. The basic sympathy and altruism for fellow beings enlightens the advancement of one’s own self. Without an outward focus, the introversion of self-indulgence is nothing but an obsession with the self that lacks the reference point of a goal towards which to strive.

This having been said, it is not necessarily the case that self-sacrifice is mandatory for the advancement of the greater good. Such martyrs (whether literal or ideological) are often aspired to in the world’s religions, in its philosophies of pacifism or humanism, or in humanitarian charities. However a concern for the wellbeing of living things (and in particular humankind), and moreover actions informed by that concern, are likely beneficial to one’s own growth as an individual.

Those who put themselves under continual self-inflicted humiliation are causing not only detriment to their own character, but are impeding the advancement of those to whom they are deferring. Their self-sacrifice can be divided into two categories: to those above or below them in social standing.

When the martyr subjugates him or herself in a well-meaning attempt to provide assistance to those less privileged, they set an example of weakness. This can in no way aid the progress of the less fortunate individual. Humanitarian aid is admirable, but when it is given by a hand that cannot also come alongside to teach self-sufficiency, the result is an interdependence formed from weakness. If the goal is the advancement of the human race in the arenas of society and economics, the unchecked provision of aid is really a detriment to the cause.

Meanwhile, the martyr who waives off his or her rights or desires in favor of those who are more privileged in rank, status, or recourses commits a greater treason both against him or herself and against society as a whole. By deferring to the higher power without protest, the martyr provides nothing but easy gains for those who are already in positions of greater prominence. It is to no one’s benefit if competition and hard work are not an integral element of societal or personal advancement. This flaw leads to the vices prevalent in our elite classes, namely corruption, greed, bribery, and lust for power and wealth to name a few.

Rather, the self-sacrifice of the underdogs can only have relevance if it is in outspoken rebellion to the sins of the higher power. In this environment, the ideology of opposition empowers the self, informs society, humbles the corrupt, and fights for the advancement of humanitarian causes.