Self-Government, From the Inside Out
This week, David Brooks looks back on a time when
people were more conscious of the fallen nature of men and women. People were held to be inherently sinful, and to be a decent person one had to struggle against one’s weakness.
In the mental sphere, this meant conquering mental laziness with arduous and sometimes numbingly boring lessons. It meant conquering frivolity by sitting through earnest sermons and speeches. It meant conquering self- approval by staring straight at what was painful.
This emphasis on mental character lasted for a time, but it has abated. There’s less talk of sin and frailty these days. Capitalism has also undermined this ethos. In the media competition for eyeballs, everyone is rewarded for producing enjoyable and affirming content. Output is measured by ratings and page views, so much of the media, and even the academy, is more geared toward pleasuring consumers, not putting them on some arduous character-building regime.
[...] in general, the culture places less emphasis on the need to struggle against one’s own mental feebleness. Today’s culture is better in most ways, but in this way it is worse.
The ensuing mental flabbiness is most evident in politics. [...] Of the problems that afflict the country, this is the underlying one.
That harsh judgment seems fair, but 'mental character' seems to me not quite the right phrase. What Brooks is really talking about is imposing one's character on one's mind. That's not a quality of mind so much as a quality that rules over it. Of course, the potential for that kind of impressive, important quality is there to begin with. But Brooks' whole point is that we're just not -- if I may -- capitalizing on it. And where does the discipline come from to exercise such austere authority, such true self-government, over oneself? You tell me!
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Aug '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
David Brooks :
I'm sorry. I don't buy that capitalism undermines this ethos, and if you look at what he says, he isn't making a good case either. He complains about capitalism in general, but the complaints he uses to back it up are all about the media.
Capitalism rewards delayed gratification, rewards doing your numbingly boring lessons so you become the best pharmacist/actuary/musician/whatever that you can be. Capitalism rewards you for being other-regarding, for disciplining yourself to please others.
Capitalism is that wonderful jujitsu that uses Man's natural selfishness to serve others. Does he not get that?
Edited on Aug 25, 2010 at 9:48amMay '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
I'm unconvinced as well James. The only mental laziness I perceive is David Brook's use of a bizarre and grotesque Fanny Burney story to chew up half his column. Thank god for women after Ms. Burney that more mental energy was spent on advancing the medicine of anesthesiology than on questions of political philosophy.
I am always mistrustful of the conservative tendency to hearken back to the glorious days of yore. I'm always suspicious that even if they were more glorious across one narrow dimension, they were far more inglorious across most others -- live breast loppings notwithstanding.
May '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Capitalism is that wonderful jujitsu that uses Man's natural selfishness to serve others. Does he not get that? · Aug 25 at 9:14am
Capitalism is the best available system, but let's not pretend it's entirely good. Like anything, it's a tradeoff.
"The customer is always right" is not a philosophy that encourages moral justice.
In my experience, it is not uncommon among otherwise upright conservatives to pretend business operates under different moral rules than the rest of life. It is pseudo-religious and wrong to assume that some grand system will correct for one's selfishness. Capitalism, like democracy, must be balanced.
May '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
Perhaps it's all about the media. Trace is unsure that mental laziness was rare in earlier times, and I agree. Certainly mental flabbiness in politics is as old as politics. On the other hand, I know that there are still folks who believe in and practice strong mental character, and strong character in general. Some have been doing tours in Iraq and Afghanistan recently, others trying to keep small businesses afloat. Perhaps the only thing that has been lost is the attention of the media elites. Mental character has disappeared from their world and the stories they report.
What seems absent from the world depicted in the news, popular entertainment and university courses is not just the practice of "mental discipline" but the very idea that a person should decide what sort of man or woman to be, and then go about striving to become that person. Is this a "post-modern" thing? That character is a "make it up as you go" sorta thing?
Aug '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
Aaron Miller
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Capitalism is that wonderful jujitsu that uses Man's natural selfishness to serve others. Does he not get that? · Aug 25 at 9:14am
Capitalism is the best available system, but let's not pretend it's entirely good. Like anything, it's a tradeoff.
Well, I wasn't saying it's perfect. When I say "wonderful", what I mean is the best that we can reasonably expect in a fallen world. And it does use Man's natural selfishness to serve others.
When I read the whole column, this disgusted me, too. I'm not impressed when presumably healthy and comfortable people romanticize physical discomfort. Many of us face the prospect of living with significant physical discomfort and limitations for the rest of our lives, and while it may build character up to a point, mostly it's just a big hassle that seriously interferes with productivity. Where's the glamor in that?
Edited on Aug 25, 2010 at 12:12pmJul '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
It's an old, old story. As great civilizations grow richer, they also grow more morally corrupt.
Blame capitalism. Blame media. Whatever.
I blame our own fallen nature. Moral self-discipline is a hard - perhaps an unnatural - thing. Amongst the din of a hedonist culture, the quiet voice of virtue is lost.
It's no coincidence that Europe's cathedrals are empty as the Continent teeters over the abyss.
Or that the Muslim call to prayer now rings out from three converted churches in my old Philadelphia neighborhood.
May '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
G.A. Dean
Perhaps the only thing that has been lost is the attention of the media elites. Mental character has disappeared from their world and the stories they report.
If we are generally deprived of strong moral figures in news and the arts, that will have an effect. The arts help societies to reflect on their values, on their challenges, and to embody their ideals with role models. And news (right or wrong) shapes people's perceptions of reality; of what's common behavior. We have indeed lost some values, even as we have gained others.
I'm reminded of college classes in which professors and students (few of which would voluntarily watch a black-and-white film) poked fun at early films for their happy families and well-mannered characters. My friends saw such idealism as foolish, because they unconsciously subscribed to the harsh realism that modern art favors. They couldn't understand that such idealism was not intended to glaze over reality, but instead to follow the Aristotelian philosophy that art should help us aspire to noble goals.
I'm always struck by the civility of people in the hotel scene of Hitchcock's I Confess.
Jun '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
Kenneth: It's an old, old story. As great civilizations grow richer, they also grow more morally corrupt.
. . . I blame our own fallen nature. Moral self-discipline is a hard - perhaps an unnatural - thing. Amongst the din of a hedonist culture, the quiet voice of virtue is lost.
I think Kenneth has it right: the tragic view is the correct one.
Man is inherently weak and fallible. Jose Ortega y Gasset described the fundamental problem: “[N]obility is synonymous with a life of effort, ever set on excelling oneself, in passing beyond what one is to what one sets up as a duty and an obligation. In this way the noble life stands opposed to the common or inert life, which reclines statically upon itself, condemned to perpetual immobility, unless an external force compels it to come out of itself.”
Yet some find the way to nobility (sources: family, allegiance to a loving God, a sense of duty, the existence of expectations; a sense that if "I don't do it no one will"). On a macro level, the quiet voice of virtue seems to be in a losing battle, but it need not be so in our own lives.
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
tabula rasa: [...] “[N]obility is synonymous with a life of effort, ever set on excelling oneself, in passing beyond what one is to what one sets up as a duty and an obligation. In this way the noble life stands opposed to the common or inert life, which reclines statically upon itself, condemned to perpetual immobility, unless an external force compels it to come out of itself.”
Yet some find the way to nobility (sources: family, allegiance to a loving God, a sense of duty, the existence of expectations; a sense that if "I don't do it no one will"). On a macro level, the quiet voice of virtue seems to be in a losing battle, but it need not be so in our own lives.
The trick, of course, is that we long to overcome our limitations, long to thrust ourselves into the frenzy of the world, and long for quietude and repose from that world in the comfort of our limits. What saddens me is that the biggest and best liberal political theorists -- Rawls and Rorty -- are all about "lifeplans" but deprivilege and utterly fail to understand the warlike nobility required to ambitiously run a family.
Jul '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
Aaron Miller
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Capitalism is that wonderful jujitsu that uses Man's natural selfishness to serve others. Does he not get that? · Aug 25 at 9:14am
Capitalism is the best available system, but let's not pretend it's entirely good. Capitalism, like democracy, must be balanced. · Aug 25 at 9:45am
By whom, the anointed elite?
I figure you could benefit from a perusal of Hayek and Sowell.
Edited on Aug 25, 2010 at 11:08amJul '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
Since when is it the business of capitalism to teach character-building? One would have thought that it's been the job of New York Times hacks. The paper of record has done much to promote mental laziness, disparage anyone who struggles against personal weakness, and laugh at those who talk of sin and human frailty. Mr Brooks has been billed as the paper's resident conservative. If he is a conservative, I am Marie of Roumania.
Edited on Aug 25, 2010 at 1:44pmMay '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
Some great comments above.....except that no one bothers to answer James' question; THE crucial question that we each must address: "...where does the discipline come from to exercise such austere authority, such true self-government, over oneself?" I'd suggest that the discipline comes from a sense of accountability to someone or something larger than oneself. It may come from a sense of obligation to family -- think of Asian student relative out-performance in school. It may come from a sense of obligation to community or country -- think of patriotic young people in the military. At it's highest, it comes from a sense of accountability before God.
But in a society that encourages me to believe that "it's all about me," that daily bombards me with ad messages that tell me I "deserve" this or that bit of fluff in my life, there will be nothing that will provoke me to greater self-discipline. After all, if I "deserve" this or that, that must mean I've already accomplished everything needful.
That way lies destruction of culture....not to mention oneself.
Aug '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
Absolutely right! Especially "accountability before God." That is not to say that one must be Christian (or any religion for that matter) to be virtuous. C.S. Lewis shows that quite well in The Abolition of Man. However, any virtue that any man has, is ultimately a reflection of the Virtue (Righteousness) of God that we merely reflect in varying degrees.
I'd describe us like the Westminster Confession does:
"From this original corruption [sin], whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions."
I know I am...
Jun '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
James Poulos, Ed.
What saddens me is that the biggest and best liberal political theorists -- Rawls and Rorty -- are all about "lifeplans" but deprivilege and utterly fail to understand the warlike nobility required to ambitiously run a family. · Aug 25 at 11:03am
I have five adult children, none in prison and all either on their own or well on their way. My wife and I made hundreds of mistakes raising them, but we tried to maintain two constants: that they knew we loved them and that they knew that life owes them absolutely nothing (both of which I learned from my Dad). I would never claim to be noble, but I can assure you that a little warlike ambition is a wonderful parental attribute. The world is often too much with us, and there are times that we must attack its blandishments in a warlike manner.
Edited on Aug 25, 2010 at 12:15pmRe: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
tabula rasa
James Poulos, Ed.
What saddens me is that the biggest and best liberal political theorists -- Rawls and Rorty -- are all about "lifeplans" but deprivilege and utterly fail to understand the warlike nobility required to ambitiously run a family. · Aug 25 at 11:03am
I have five adult children, none in prison and all either on their own or well on their way. My wife and I made hundreds of mistakes raising them, but we tried to maintain two constants: that they knew we loved them and that they knew that life owes them absolutely nothing (both of which I learned from my Dad). I would never claim to be noble, but I can assure you that a little warlike ambition is a wonderful parental attribute. The world is often too much with us, and there are times that we must attack its blandishments in a warlike manner. · Aug 25 at 12:13pm
Edited on Aug 25 at 12:15 pm
Sounds pretty noble to me, tabula!
May '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
Look, none of this is new. Humans lack self-discipline- surprise. Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. David saw Bathsheba taking a bath and the next thing you knew, Uriah was dead, Richard Gere was guilty of murder, and Alice Krige was pregnant. Boswell couldn't stay away from women, Aaron Burr was an egotist, Boss Tweed stole everything that wasn't nailed to the floor of the public treasury.
All of life is a function of how well we overcome our baser natures. Those nations seem to manage that best when they acknowledge the primacy of the higher power- that is answering to something larger than ourselves. In Michael Barone's Hard America, Soft America, that maturity is shown to hit a significant portion of our population around age 30 unless they have spent too much time in Ivy League Critical Theory departments.
Post-Christian Europe struggles much more with that than does "late Christian" USA. I suspect that much of our spiritual malaise is easily explained by the fact that our "elites" worship the image in the mirror.
Aug '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
Capitalizing on austere self-authority is hard not only because we're too lazy, but also because many of us mis-direct our austere self-discipline towards unproductive ends.
For example, an unusually stoic child who has learned that illness and injury are signs of weakness may not ask for help until it's too late to recover completely. In this case, austere self-discipline is present, but it has accomplished nothing of use: the child is permanently injured when if she had been "softer", the problem could have been caught in time.
Likewise, though Americans tend fat, there are many among us who subject themselves to the severest punishments in order to look just a little thinner (or younger). That takes self-discipline, but it's applied to an arguably frivolous end.
Austere authority over oneself is not an unqualified good. Without cultural guidance in applying it rightly, it deranges into masochism. Perhaps that explains many modern pathologies.
Edited on Aug 25, 2010 at 9:09pmJul '10
Re: Self-Government, From the Inside Out
I go for that wonderful old list of "7 Deadly Sins", 2 of which are GREED and ENVY.
Now, if we could have a capitalist system without GREED, well that would be something, wouldn't it?
and
if we could have a socialist system without ENVY, well, that would be a great world, wouldn't it?
But then, there is ALSO, an old Christian heresy (those Christians, such spoil sports), called "millinarianism", that is, humans are at least partly sinful, and when we pretend to be God, able to Paradise on Earth (capitalism without greed; socialism without envy), we are engaging in a heresy which will end in sorrow and destruction. Right?
Edited on Aug 25, 2010 at 7:25pm