Science, not Individual and Subjective “Truths”

Letter from a member of the National Revolution Tour

April 20, 2020 | revcom.us

 

Editors’ Note: Below are edited excerpts of reflections from a member of the Tour after a discussion of BA’s article “Conspiracy Theories, Fascist ‘Certitude,’ Liberal Paralysis, OR A Scientific Approach to Changing the World (Longer Version—The Truth Elaborated).”

Some initial rants and raves.... Working on my scientific approach. But anyways yeah this was just a stream of consciousness focus on today’s call. I want to further wrangle with identity politics but I’m out to my next adventure of the day.

Today’s call focused discussion on the recent article by BA titled: “CONSPIRACY THEORIES, FASCIST ‘CERTITUDE,’ LIBERAL PARALYSIS, OR A SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO CHANGING THE WORLD.”

A major takeaway that I got from this discussion was how similar and complementary the relationship between anti-science, religious dogmatism (that props up fascism), and this agnosticism (that BA calls out on the part of liberals) to an objective reality is; this adherence to an individual and subjective truth and where that leads us.

Using science and a scientific approach to contend with this type of mystification of the context of reality is important and necessary. Someone used an example that people, even (and sometimes especially) educated, liberal, middle strata people are willing and eager to accept with this framework of inclusivity, the “multiplicities of truth,” by saying, “Yes, parts of reality are bad. There is child slavery and rape and racism... but there is a multitude of realities, my neighbors and I bring food to each other’s doors, I’m a coach of a diverse children’s soccer team and the kids love each other.” This narrow analysis and individual subjectivity alleviates a pressure of necessity to address the latter horrors described and provides the leeway to focus on “self,” “self love,” and “self care” instead of proceeding from the whole context of how these things are interconnected and with the acknowledgement that the current state of reality is shaped by history and what and how we approach the present, and future.

This state of being that idles in perpetual unknowing of truth & a subjective individualistic approach to assessing reality isn’t harmless. There’s a narrowness and “stubborn refusal” as BA puts it, to engage the fullness of reality. Using science to examine reality means looking outside of that narrow scope of subjectivity. There is more to probe than what’s on the surface. BA uses an example of rain. “(On some levels, the truth of things is obvious—for example, the truth that if it is raining hard and you are exposed to the rain for any length of time, you will get wet. But there are deeper levels to things, and the truth about them is more complex and requires more developed knowledge—for example, what causes rain, why it is raining where you are and not somewhere else, and so on. But in all cases, on all levels, the fact remains: Whether something is true or not depends on whether it corresponds to actual reality.)”

Masses and people broadly in society have been driven to reinforce or turn their backs and allow oppression to happen while focusing on their narrative, their lived experience. A decisive and dangerous stance to take with the wholeness and interconnecting nature of social dynamics.

Like in the example above, it’s true that when it’s raining, if you’re exposed to it you get wet. Well there’s more to explore in the pursuit of truth. We can ask why and how. We need to explore questions with an evidence-based process. Building off of what we have come to know scientifically, and analyzing larger patterns to come to understand the way society functions, why it functions that way and where the interests are humanity are—and moving towards that. Instead of getting stuck—paralyzed with the decontextualized abstracted myth that you exist outside of my existence. That everything is a dream. That there is a divine plan. What does that actually leave us with? If we are left floating in void, isolated from context and a foundation, how do we know which way north is, where is the reference point to move away from cruelty and oppression into a more emancipatory state? And if you feel this is an unfair picture I’m painting, that people are just in the dark ages not contextualizing what the history of this country is, you’re right. People know! And still move into these ways of self soothing. And why is it that now, as BA points out, liberals are leaning into the importance of science with COVID-19 against the dangerous anti-scientific distortions the fascist Trump/Pence regime & Fox News has been spitting out, but as someone pointed out in the call, half truths are a favorite of liberals. Without a scientific approach and still with subjectivity and idealism it becomes a game of crafting your own reality with willful ignorance as a component in place of dialectical materialism.

It can be painful to address some truly agonizing aspects of reality. But it’s necessary to understand the root cause of them. Without relativist postmodernism, religion, and subjectivity, I can’t relish in my oppression. There is no necessity or justification for it. I can’t meditate or chakra balance it, or pray and thank god that I am stronger as a result of it—no. Scientifically, there is a way of looking at history, its social and economic development, and our present situation as an extension of it. Understanding why things are the way they are is a way to pivot direction, diagnose, and plan accordingly to develop a strategy to change the underlying conditions that facilitate these contradictions.

Within the liberal middle strata, some of the disincentive to do this is to remain unshaken from their fairly comfortable position in life, cognitively distancing themselves out of the responsibility they have to actually stand up to even confront the symptoms of capitalism-imperialism like police brutality and the building of a police state. Instead they often favor othering themselves and buying into this narrative of criminality produced at the behest of the ruling class; that there are “criminals” that are criminal as a result of drugs or corrupt morality—and that’s it—no historical context to be dug into. The middle strata is then playing a role in furthering oppression, reinforcing and serving the ruling class. The subjectivity of their truth and reality can serve to peripherally acknowledge the oppression Black & Brown folks & women exist under, all the while prohibiting themselves from speaking to it because “It’s not their place!” “Not their lived experience!” “Shhh! Be quiet!” What does that do?! This gets into woke-ness and rules of lived experience and who is the authority of speaking to what oppression.

BA on truth from this article:

The truth of something does not depend on who says it, or how it makes you feel. Because something comes from a source you like does not make it true; and because something comes from a source you do not like does not make it untrue.

In identity politics circles, who is speaking can overshadow the actual content of what is being said and this can lead us in dangerous directions like revenge politics....

It’s important to investigate what identity politics is. What its rise to prominence was in American society today, what the ideology aims to achieve, what it does achieve and where it falls short. Its peaks and pits and what necessity drove it into being. [Ed: The quote below from revcom.us was referenced in the call.]

IDENTITY POLITICS AND PRIVILEGE

Have you ever noticed that the one privilege these “identity politics” hustlers don’t talk about is American privilege?—the privilege that comes from living in the USA, a country that plunders the world and whose wealth and power rests on brutal exploitation and oppression throughout the world, backed up by the massive violence of the American military. These hustlers want all they can get of that privilege. In opposition to that, what the masses of humanity need is to do away with and move beyond this whole vampire system, putting an end to all exploitation and oppression.

• Short Version—The Simple and Basic Truth
• Longer Version—The Truth Elaborated