Last weekend my wife and I rented and watched A Man Without a Face, a 1993 movie in which Mel Gibson plays a recluse with an unusual face. The left side of his face is normal, but his right side is badly disfigured. The story is told from the perspective of a troubled youth played by Nick Stahl whose perceptions of Gibson evolve as the story progresses. In the beginning, Stahl listens to malicious rumors about Gibson and is frightened of him. By the end, Stahl has formed a strong friendship with Gibson, even though his mother and the community still despise him. It is an interesting story with a clear message: people tend to look for whatever they want to find. The story is a parable not just of superficial appearance but also of human character and American history. It occurred to me that there are also two faces of America and that people tend to see whatever they want to find.
Take our history, for instance. On one side, we have the story of our founding that produced glorious documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, and so on. On the other side, we have an ugly history of slavery, KKK, lynching, conquests of red man’s land, and persecution of Catholics, Masons, Mormons, and many others. What side of American history do we choose to see?
In our country today, there is much to feel good about. Americans generally enjoy a high standard of living. Huge numbers of ordinary citizens will voluntarily and readily help others in need, such as we saw in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina and more recently with the Chehalis flooding in our own state. More people own homes than ever before. Furthermore, a record number of minorities and women pursue successful careers in business, sports, and government. America has also brought the hope of political freedom to millions in Iraq and Afghanistan. On the other side, millions of Americans still live below or unacceptably close to the poverty level. Racial and religious bigotry still flourish in the hearts of many. Our education system is riddled with flaws. Our economy is stumbling at the moment. And so on. What side of America do we choose to emphasize?
The media has lately focused on Barack Obama’s spiritual advisor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Two minutes of excerpts from twenty years of sermons do not likely provide a balanced perspective of anyone’s views. Nevertheless, I find those two minutes wrong and distasteful. While I support Wright’s right to say whatever he wants, I strongly disagree with his message. Wright is mired in America’s ugly of past of slavery and Jim Crowe. Can he not see any civil rights progress made in the last three decades? And the claim that the government invented the AIDS virus for the purpose of decimating blacks strikes me as delusional. I also see the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan during World War II as a positive thing that ultimately saved lives. Wright seems fundamentally and willfully blind to America’s good side.
Are Wright’s views fringe or mainstream? The fact that Hillary Clinton has not openly denounced Wright suggests a large part of her constituency subscribes in some degree to Wright’s views. I suspect there are hundreds — perhaps thousands — of other Reverend Jeremiah Wrights in this country. While a majority of Americans are repulsed by Wright’s statements, there may be millions of Americans who sympathize with them.
People tend to look for whatever they want to find and ignore contrary evidence. If I want to believe America is racist, I can find evidence to prove it. If I want to believe America is a great country, I can find evidence to prove it. The question is not whether America is good or bad because it is both. We are born with seeds of racism, bigotry, envy and other evil traits. Our “inalienable rights” give us the choice to nurture good seeds or bad seeds. I believe we can to a great extent rise above and manage our evil natures for good. But it requires effort. And any progress we may make needs to be taught the next generation since goodness is not inherited.
The real question is not whether America is good or evil but how to make it better. I’m no expert on race or human relations, but it seems there are well known communication and conflict resolution techniques that could help each side understand the other’s point of view. But none of those techniques work unless both sides actually want to move beyond our problems. Some people have a vested interest in promoting rather than resolving racial conflict.
The movie A Man Without a Face has a moment in which Gibson and Stahl play-act a scene from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. The disfigured Gibson proclaims:
I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
The connection between Shakespeare’s words and Gibson’s disfigured character is obvious. I think the words also apply to the controversy over Reverend Wright. Substitute Black for Jew, and we may begin to understand his bitter anger at America’s ugly past. And if Wright substituted White for Jew he might also begin to understand our shock stemming from his ugly accusations about us now.
We all choose what we see. A wise person tries to see what others see as well. We cannot see the good unless we are willing to look for it.
March 25, 2008 at 5:13 am |
Every now and then you stumble upon an article that adds meaning to what is usually said. This is such an article. I love it. We as a society are moving more and more towards black-and-white thinking and away from carefully considering facts before we judge.
When we are asked for an opinion we only seldom admit (maybe even to ourselves) ‘I don’t know, I actually don’t have enough information and I haven’t checked if the information I do have is reliable’. We will just judge with the little unchecked ‘facts’ we have, whether it may wrong others or not.
An addition to your comment “I think the words also apply to the controversy over R. Wr.” They also especially apply to the controversy over Mel Gibson. These lines say ‘Jews are exactly like anyone else’. A bigot would not use such lines in a film he produces and directs, he is free to make any choice he wants to make. And this film was made years before the film The Passion. No-one was accusing him of being a bigot, he therefor had no reason to disprove such allegations. A bigot would not be able to see Jews that way. He would not choose to emphasize our alikeness, he would not see our alikeness.
When you make judgments all the facts should fit. When they don’t you shouldn’t leave out inconvenient facts to prove your point, that makes you a bigot yourself, you should look for alternative explanations that do logically explain ALL the facts. For instance, in the case of Mel Gibson: Drunks are off balance, as drunk as he was, as cornered as he felt at that moment he became unfair for just a moment (instead of truthful). It’s a well known human capacity that we are all familiar with. Those who claim they have never went that way are either very fortunate or lack personal insight. And it was a once in a lifetime event in Mel Gibson´s case, the opposite of a characteristic trait in other words.