A Binary Perspective

I realized that I probably shouldn't write about EVERY chapter of American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America by Chris Hedges. I need to leave some aspects alone in order to encourage you to read the book for yourselves. ;-)

I'm now in Chapter 8, "The Crusade" and Hedges' discussion of a binary universe is spot on.

In this new binary world segments of the human race are disqualified from moral and ethical consideration. And because fundamentalist followers live in a binary universe, they are incapable of seeing others as anything more than inverted reflections of themselves. If they seek to destroy nonbelievers to create a Christian America, then nonbelievers must be seeking to destroy them.

Of course, what Hedges is describing is the "us vs. them" mentality. It is the kind of perspective that views everything as black or white, good or bad, beneficial or detrimental. Under such a system, if you believe you have found "truth," then it follows than anyone who disagrees with your point of view is promoting falsehoods and e-v-i-l.

Hedges continues:

When people come to believe they are immune from evil, that there is no resemblance between themselves and those they define as the enemy, they will inevitably grow to embody the evil they claim to fight. It is only by grasping our own capacity for evil, our own darkness, the we hold our own capacity for evil at bay. When evil is always external, then moral purification always entails the eradication of others.

Hmm. I hear echoes of the Tao Te Ching in his words!