Disgust, Equality, Leadership and the Family Martha Nussbaum has an article in
The Chronicle about disgust and shame and how they relate to law, inspired by current debates about homosexuality. Lots of good insights, but then at the end there's this one:
"In general, a society based on the idea of equal human dignity must find ways to inhibit stigma and the aggression that are so often linked to the proclamation that 'we' are the ones who are 'normal.' Such a society is difficult to achieve, because incompleteness is frightening, and grandiose fictions are comforting. As a patient of the psychoanalyst Donald W. Winnicott said to him, 'The alarming thing about equality is that we are then both children, and the question is, where is father? We know where we are if one of us is the father.'"
Wow! This made me think of a lot of things. First of all, my man
George Lakoff, who in my world would be a household name, and his ideas about the links between conceptions of the family and resultant political views that explain so much about sociopolitical discourse in America today. (I also talk about him in posts archived
here and
here.)
But it also made me think about leadership. My first 9-to-5 job was one summer at college, and watching how the office was run made me realize just how unorganized and leaderless a place could be while still functioning well enough to not get noticed. (No that place wasn't terrible, but it did illustrate the concepts.) It made me see what gets things done is just people deciding to do them, that there is no boss or parent in life, and that even people in roles that could be expected to be bossy/parental often don't fulfill those roles. It's hard to explain without sounding stupid. But it comes up a LOT, especially when I look at how things happen politically. Budgets may need to get passed or too many people get mad, but other bills and ideas? One person gets the light in their eye and their work makes it happen. That person is necessary (but not always sufficient) for implementation. (This article on electronic voting made me think of this, for some reason.)
So I think this observation about the frighteningness of equality is valid. That nobody could be in charge is so terrifying that we develop religions, invent conspiracy theories, etc. to PUT someone in charge. Grandiose fictions ARE comforting.
