Prejudice, The Moro Reflex and Freedom
2/24/06
Another reminder of one's instinct to judge a "book by its cover" or in this case a blonde by her boobs, while at the dog park today. Chatting about her pit bull (which I always think of as thugs, but learned today, aren't always), watching another dog bury a bone and then dig it up, I was reminded about the Moro reflext which I had just reviewed in Medical Spanish class. It's the instinct babies are born with that cause them, when startled, to grab at the air and crunch into a fetal position. This is a remnant of our symian days when we had fur and a baby suddenly dropped or misplaced could indeed grab at thin air and likely catch a handful of Mom and stay tethered. The dog's instinct to bury a bone had reminded me of this new born talent and I mentioned it to the blonde with a full explanation as I expected her to not know what I was talking about. Turns out she's an OB, and so of course knows more about any of this stuff than I ever will. I am always amazed at this tendency we all have to classify people based on appearances, or mannerisms or how they speak. This too must be an instinct to perhaps always be on guard to suss out the potential enemy, or equally potentiallly valuable ally. How sad that so many of our politicians, including numero uno, can't see the world in any other way than as enemies lurking at every corner mosque. Why can't they look for our similarities rather than the differences?
An article in the NYTIMES today talks about how choice means different things to different income/education levels: to college grads it means "freedom, action, control." To high school grads it means "fear, doubt & difficulty." Very interesting and helps explain a sign my son saw that read: Freedom = Slavery. I had thought about it for a while and decided that indeed, in this land of plenty, when you've got means, you can be enslaved by the perceived need to have it all or at least to have more. Choice can mean making the wrong one, or being aware that you don't have the freedom to make one. Choice can be liberating if you're miserable where or how you are (to wit, transgendered surgery) if indeed you can exercise that choice. But what if if you can't make choices, either due to economics or the environment, wouldnl't knowing that others have the freedom you don't have make you feel the opposite of free, ie. enslaved? Doesn't America, by flaunting her freedom worship around the world, and by bullying others to buy into our pursuit thereof at all costs, enslave others by mere contrast? If we could just be honest and tell people we want their resources at a good price and we don't care how they live their lives, wouldn't that be more liberating?
If babies still grab at their mother's missing fur, after all these years of evolution, I guess it should be no surprise that those of us in power will continue to grab for more and will keep lying about why, touting "Freddom is on the March." We were startled on that great day, 9-11; we were caught naked in the day light and our instinct is still to lash out and grab for security, to hold onto mother for dear life. What a sign of truly growing up, of evolving beyond helpless infancy, if we can stand up after being knocked down and look around first, before blaming, before retaliating and maybe ask a question or two.
Another reminder of one's instinct to judge a "book by its cover" or in this case a blonde by her boobs, while at the dog park today. Chatting about her pit bull (which I always think of as thugs, but learned today, aren't always), watching another dog bury a bone and then dig it up, I was reminded about the Moro reflext which I had just reviewed in Medical Spanish class. It's the instinct babies are born with that cause them, when startled, to grab at the air and crunch into a fetal position. This is a remnant of our symian days when we had fur and a baby suddenly dropped or misplaced could indeed grab at thin air and likely catch a handful of Mom and stay tethered. The dog's instinct to bury a bone had reminded me of this new born talent and I mentioned it to the blonde with a full explanation as I expected her to not know what I was talking about. Turns out she's an OB, and so of course knows more about any of this stuff than I ever will. I am always amazed at this tendency we all have to classify people based on appearances, or mannerisms or how they speak. This too must be an instinct to perhaps always be on guard to suss out the potential enemy, or equally potentiallly valuable ally. How sad that so many of our politicians, including numero uno, can't see the world in any other way than as enemies lurking at every corner mosque. Why can't they look for our similarities rather than the differences?
An article in the NYTIMES today talks about how choice means different things to different income/education levels: to college grads it means "freedom, action, control." To high school grads it means "fear, doubt & difficulty." Very interesting and helps explain a sign my son saw that read: Freedom = Slavery. I had thought about it for a while and decided that indeed, in this land of plenty, when you've got means, you can be enslaved by the perceived need to have it all or at least to have more. Choice can mean making the wrong one, or being aware that you don't have the freedom to make one. Choice can be liberating if you're miserable where or how you are (to wit, transgendered surgery) if indeed you can exercise that choice. But what if if you can't make choices, either due to economics or the environment, wouldnl't knowing that others have the freedom you don't have make you feel the opposite of free, ie. enslaved? Doesn't America, by flaunting her freedom worship around the world, and by bullying others to buy into our pursuit thereof at all costs, enslave others by mere contrast? If we could just be honest and tell people we want their resources at a good price and we don't care how they live their lives, wouldn't that be more liberating?
If babies still grab at their mother's missing fur, after all these years of evolution, I guess it should be no surprise that those of us in power will continue to grab for more and will keep lying about why, touting "Freddom is on the March." We were startled on that great day, 9-11; we were caught naked in the day light and our instinct is still to lash out and grab for security, to hold onto mother for dear life. What a sign of truly growing up, of evolving beyond helpless infancy, if we can stand up after being knocked down and look around first, before blaming, before retaliating and maybe ask a question or two.
posted by Barbery at 11:14 PM
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