The Gods Demand Hot Blood

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This is an anonymously sourced quote, but it has the ring of truth.

That Thursday evening, however, time was of the essence. In a hastily convened meeting in the conference room of the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, the two men presented, in the starkest terms imaginable, the outline of the $700 billion bailout plan ton Congressional leaders. “If we don’t do this,” Mr. Bernanke said, according to several participants, “we may not have an economy on Monday.”

Ben Bernanke has a PhD in economics from Princeton University. He must have known that he was uttering a logical impossibility.

The “economy” is a concept – it can’t be altered or destroyed.

When a word is used for something other than what it actually means – as “economy” often is – it’s being used as a triggering word that evokes powerful emotions. It transforms into a propaganda term, like “homeland.” As the word is misused in a way to render it meaningless, the brain of the reader or listener simply fills in the void. Economy comes to mean my job, my self, my potential, my self-esteem and my prospects for success. Reporters sloppily use the term to describe an ever-changing mix of stock exchange averages, employment statistics and consumption reports.

What is the emotional experience of an average person when they see on television that the economy is collapsing?

Evening on Karl Johan Street - Edvard Munch, 1892

They will feel afraid and sad, as if their sense of efficacy is under attack. Depending on how well or poorly individuated they are, they may feel as if they are being attacked by a close family member, friend or romantic partner. Many people have difficulty maintaining a firm boundary between their ego and the outside world.

The myth of the jumping banker – and its curious contemporary re-emergence in protest placards and in gregarious blog comments – demands sacrifice. The press uses the metaphors of disease, poisoning, storms and natural disasters to describe the troubles of the finance industry.

Is it all starting to make more sense?

In a primitive society, animals, infants or adults are often sacrificed to the spirits in the mad hope to avoid the knowledge that they are helpless to control nature.

In the modern age, rather than accept the truth – that violence cannot produce economic growth – as economic activity is the peaceful exchange of goods and services – the society seeks a victim to sacrifice, in order to avoid feeling helpless. This process is as irrational as the religious rituals of primitive tribes. The only difference in the modern era is an increase in the level of abstraction – rather than slaughter a hog, our high priests place the taxpayers on the altar.

The Angel Stopping Abraham from Sacrificing Isaac to God - Rembrandt, 1635

Why is this so difficult to perceive?

To challenge the moral authority of the state is to discover that your parents, teachers and friends have inflicted false beliefs upon you in order to avoid the anxiety of acknowledging their own ignorance. Everyone understands this unconsciously, so the knowledge is stridently evaded. It’s far easier to subdue yourself than it is to speak the truth – not to power, which is trivial – but to your family, friends and lovers. It’s easier to hum along to a pop song than it is to belt an aria.

Naturally, you don’t have to live with any sort of honesty. You will continue to be a boring human being, but conformity has its rewards. This is, incidentally, the side effect of living in denial. Not agony, but boredom, a sense that every day will be the same as the last, broken occasionally by the fleeting thrills of drug use, sexual conquest and a steady stream of cheap novelty.

Choosing to live in truth by honestly experiencing and expressing your thoughts and feelings as they come up inevitably leads to the implosion of your social network.

In my case, choosing to live with integrity cost me a nascent marriage, access to hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars, an education at one of the best schools in the country – and the comfort of my shackles. I got the better end of the deal.

The Count of Monte Christo rotted for decades on an island prison, all the while plotting and striving to regain his splendorous birthright. We all have something in common with the Count. Most choose to die in their dank cell, hardly daring to dream of sunlight.

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Filed under Freedom, Psychology, The Economy

Tags: economy, Freedom, Psychology