The Graveyard of Creativity
Orthodoxy whether of the right or of the left is the graveyard of creativity.
—Chinua Achebe
A general manager I used to work for had a favorite saying: "If one person comes inside and declares that it's raining, it might be raining. If ten different people come inside and say it's raining, it's raining."
The point he was making was about customer complaints. The idea was that if one guest complained that a staff member was rude, take it in stride but if ten different people made the same complaint, the math is not in that staff member's favor.
Makes sense.
Whether it is raining or not is an observable fact. Sure, for some drizzle is still rain but the observable fact of water falling from the clouds in any amount is not really up for debate.
"If one person comes in and declares that there is a cabal of pizza-eating pedophiles lead by Hillary Clinton and the only savior for these children is Donald Trump, it might be true. If ten different people declare the same thing..."
Orthodoxy is simply the authorized doctrine of a group. When there is no acknowledged and agreed upon authority, like the Church or Science, we confront multiple orthodoxies and competing authority and the idea of a unified vision goes out the window.
If the idea of "rain" is up for grabs and anyone can interpret what "rain" is then the point made by my general manager is nonsense.
Art is, by its nature, subjective. It's supposed to be subjective. There cannot be a true, fact-based definition of good or bad art. I can love Gerard Butler movies and you can hate them and we're both correct because our enjoyment of art is entirely an individual preference. I can recommend Umbrella Academy and if you despise comic book hero movies, you won't dig it in the same way I do and we're both right.
When it comes to larger cultural issues (not having to do with art but with societal norms) we cannot operate with the same framework. We have to find common agreement or split from one another to govern our separate ways. We have to agree to the terms and without agreed upon norms, the competing orthodoxies blind us from the notion of a greater good.
Orthodoxy in art destroys the art; a lack of orthodoxy in society destroys society.
It isn't that the QAnon believer is a lunatic or moron. It isn't that the Kendi Antiracist is a secular religious nut job. It is that we lack a common orthodoxy framed with common definitions and an agreed upon list of nouns to describe the cultural world.
We can’t count on the media to help us define these cultural terms. The obvious orthodoxy bias on display following the January 6 Capitol Insurrection as hundreds of articles and stories of the impending riots planned in state capitols all over the country was high alert hysteria. When no riots occurred at all, nary a peep was mentioned that perhaps the hyperbole was a result of partisan propaganda.
Everyone acknowledges that the Fox News phenomenon has overtaken the journalistic landscape; those paying attention can see the partisan bias within every media conglomerate. No one is fair or balanced or even attempting objectivity. Even National Public Radio has gone Far Left as you cannot listen to an hour without hearing racial grievance at least fifteen times.
We can't count on politicians to rise to the challenge. This seems self-evident.
Academia has been attacked from within (with good reason in many cases) by consumer students demanding fealty to ideology over learning like customers in a restaurant demanding vegan options. I say "with good reason" because if you charged $50K a semester to eat at that restaurant, you goddamned better get whatever food options you want.
The college elite are not going to be helpful in helping codify any sort of common definitions to common problems.
We certainly can’t rely on the various tribes of our population to decide for each other. That places us right where we’re at: a postmodernist “there is no real truth except for what I perceive” stance that allows the concept of “legal votes” to mean whatever the fuck you think it means.
SNAPSHOT EXAMPLE:
Bubba believes that his racial identity is the single most important identifier of he and his family and that all society should be judged through the lens of race. He is white.
Antoine believes his racial identity is the single most important identifier of he and his family and that all society should be judged through the lens of race. He is black.
It sounds like both Bubba and Antoine are in complete agreement in orthodoxy but we all know they don't. In fact, while it reads as if they are in lockstep, they are in total opposition.
How do we square this circle?
Let me suggest that, in order to collectively find common definitions that support a common American orthodoxy, we start with agreement over the broad strokes values. Agreement first, then we narrow things as they are in agreement with those common values.
Can we all--both Bubba and Antoine, both QAnon Jack and Antiracist Jill--agree that a commitment to Equal Opportunity Under the Law for All Citizens is a value we aspire to achieve?
Equal Opportunity Under the Law for All Citizens.
How about Money Talks, Bullshit Walks? Can we agree on that?
How about Kindness is Better Than Politeness?
Freedom of Speech?
Tom Hanks is a Fundamental Good in the Universe?
Beats the shit outta me.
I know we can't continue this way for long. Ideology is now doing its level best to censor art, comedy, film. Dueling orthodoxies are creating an environment where the wealthiest country in the world can't get her shit together enough to deal with a pandemic that fucking Malaysia handled.
I'm not interested in living in a country where "American" means born here and speaks English or where "racist = white." I'm not thrilled with the idea that "speech = violence" and equity of outcomes is more valuable than equality of opportunity.
I do think, however, we can all agree about Tom Hanks so let's start there, Okay?