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This undated image shows George Orwell, author of "1984." Orwell’s classic dystopian tale of a society in which facts are distorted and suppressed in a cloud of “newspeak,” first published in 1949.
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Keith C. Burris: Where is the human race going?

AP File

Keith C. Burris: Where is the human race going?

Pope Francis recently phoned President Joe Biden to talk about peace in Ukraine and the Middle East. Meanwhile, the president endeavors to keep both wars from widening — to avoid deeper and prolonged devastation; to restrain all sides from a total war.

It’s not working so far.

Where are we going?

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Where are we going as a human race? Where is the United States going as a democracy? Are we truly “a shining city on a hill”; a beacon of light? Does it help the world, or us, to think of ourselves that way?

Reinhold Niebuhr, to my mind the greatest public philosopher in our nation since the Founders, thought not. Love of country is a beautiful thing. Nationalism, national hubris, is not. It creates a blindness that wrecks in unforeseen ways, and piteously.

We have an obligation, as a rich and powerful nation and one founded on human liberty, to aid and defend the brave and bullied.

President Biden is right about that. The late John McCain was right about that. Jimmy Carter as president — the last president before Mr. Biden to stand up for human rights — was right about that.

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But we Americans are not the moral arbiters of the world. We have no right, inherently, or in light of our history, to sit in God-like judgment of other nations. And, except for Japan after World War II, we are lousy at nation building. We have our hands full hanging on to our own personal and political freedoms. And why is that?

Well, liberty is always fragile, the nature of human beings and civilizations being what they are. And the authoritarian and fascist impulses keep returning, like hurricanes to the southern latitudes. Or like violence and paranoia to a sick soul.

Hatred of freedom, especially the freedom of others, is in us all. We want the leader who will “save,” change, or restore us. Left and right do.

We want clarity and purity; so we cancel and cleanse. Left and right. Which side is worse? The one with the most guns at that moment.

I have been re-reading Orwell and Arendt, for the “totalitarian temptation” has risen again, aided by our toys. They destroy all privacy and much memory. History is clear about this much: No nation, however enlightened it may consider itself, is immune from the totalitarian temptation — from the demand not just for passive obedience but absolute conformity.

And from such conformity, comes crime against humanity. Darkness is all too visible in our world today. And, if Mr. Biden and the pope are floundering, what can the rest of us do?

We can deepen our empathy, as a small start. No easy task.

Deepening empathy

I heard recently about a pin one can wear to express solidarity, not with the Israeli government but with the suffering of the Jewish people. That’s a good thing, but too small a thing. And it smacks, a bit, of the many false binaries in our times (“black lives matter,” “blue lives matter”).

Beyond expressions of empathy, we must find actions of empathy. Can individuals and religious groups, for example, find opportunities for direct relief to Jewish and Palestinian war victims? Can they, can we, at least raise funds for UNICEF, or the Red Cross, or Doctors Without Borders?

Empathy is fed by in-depth information, just as the open society is sustained by quality information. A deeper understanding of any person, group, or nation sows the seeds, first, of tolerance and then of empathy.

Complexity supports sympathy. Simplification supports fascism.

Finally, we must ask ourselves hard, uncomfortable, questions: As utterly evil as Mr. Putin is, did we miss opportunities to deal more constructively with him and open Russia more to the West? If we had some kind of relationship with him, we might have some hope of helping Alexei Navalny or Pennsylvania teacher Marc Fogel — two prisoners of the modern gulag.

Human rights is a meaningless cause if it has no practical application.

As utterly barbaric and evil as Hamas is, does anyone think it would have risen to its current strength if the United States had kept up pressure to create an Israeli-Palestinian structure of mutual recognition and coexistence? (We succeeded in Northern Ireland. We persisted, albeit the political incentives for American politicians were different.)

We begin

And none of this is enough. But we begin. We don’t talk much about democratic theory in our colleges or service clubs. But we need to: How do we keep this experiment going and make it stronger?

So, by all means, let us help the hurting and oppressed of the earth. But be wary of our own pride. Let us speak to the world of what we ourselves need to hear: Free speech, due process of law, minority rights, restraint upon all forms of power and might, and intellectual pluralism.

We are not the light. Our inheritance is the light.

Keith C. Burris is the former editor, vice president and editorial director of Block Newspapers: burriscolumn@gmail.com. His previous article was “It doesn't matter who the House Republicans elect as speaker.”

First Published: October 30, 2023, 10:00 a.m.

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This undated image shows George Orwell, author of "1984." Orwell’s classic dystopian tale of a society in which facts are distorted and suppressed in a cloud of “newspeak,” first published in 1949.  (AP File)
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