February 2, 2021

Self Interest and Tyranny

We are at a very strange point in the world. Amazon Web Services doesn't want to sell web services. Robinhood doesn't want to sell stocks. Why are organizations acting against their own interest? I suspect many in those organizations think it a great discrimination to turn up one's nose at "the wrong sort of people". Why are they confident that doing so in these cases is a noble service to society?

My guess is that Amazon Web Services and Robinhood and their allies are convinced that they are the last line of defense between civilization and barbarity. Their results, however, have been oppression, coercion, and betrayal. This should give me pause, as I often see my actions and allies as the last line of defense between ordered liberty and a tyranny worthy of a dystopian novel.

That guess is partly based on speculation I've heard that employees and customers of Amazon Web Services, Robinhood, and associated regulators and comrades have a great and general fear of the people using their services. Hearts can't be perfectly seen from the outside, of course. If true, these fears seem greatly exaggerated to me, since they would be fears about people like me - but perhaps they think the same of my fears about them.

Perhaps there is a cycle of fear, similar to the concept of the cycle of hate. In a cycle of fear, an exaggerated fear of enemies results in further fears. As an example, the actions these organizations took in response to their fears have in turn stoked fears of increasing oppression and persecution of people who don't hold the views of the organizations. This prompts further resistance and suspicion that the organizations are preparing further crackdowns on ordinary people - which then stokes further fears among the organizations. Sadly, rage rather than persuasion is bred by a cycle of fear.

If a cycle of fear exists, it will not be easily broken. "It's not paranoia if everyone is out to get you." Similarly, if elites and organizations which see themselves as bulwarks of society do in repeated incidents oppress people with different views, then people with different views are justified in foreseeing further crackdowns - and the resistance to such crackdowns prompts elites and allies to fear them and plan yet more crackdowns. At least that is the danger. How may it be avoided?

Is it possible to return to the true tolerance of America's past? Can we "live and let live", "agree to disagree", as we did in days gone by? Sadly, standing in the way is the belief that any disagreement is hatred. That belief often is paired with totalitarian practice, in which it is virtuous to use any means to coerce and eradicate those whose disagreement stands in the way of paradise. We are already at the point where many people believe that free speech is a moral evil used to cover evil thinking, rather than a way to pursue truth without fear of oppression. It isn't too difficult for me to believe that more and more totalitarian crackdowns will be occur, byproducts of a pursuit of pure thoughts. This may itself be an exaggerated fear of my enemies - but where else will my enemies' beliefs take them?

Perhaps we can find the solution in these questions: Can we love our enemies? Can we struggle past nature and concern ourselves with our opponents' rights and well-being? Not without the love that Jesus provides, I should think. It is so difficult to put aside my natural responses and trust that He will ultimately give peace and rest, and I can entrust my present and future safety to Him. Trusting Him is the best way to pursue truth while seeking the good of my enemies rather than their eradication. I am not absolved of responsibilities to fight evil or lies by such trust. Rather, I am empowered to overcome evil with good, and reject the ideas that I am faultless, and can usher in a world of purity with my own character and power. I am still discovering, with many others, what aligning my actual practice with these beliefs looks like. Perhaps some of my enemies are among those discoverers.

Hopefully we will all grope closer to a better answer before there is more fear, suffering, or totalitarianism in our lives.