Remember this philosophical question? "If a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound if no one is around to hear it?" It’s a trick question. Sound is a periodic disturbance of molecules caused by vibrations transmitted through an elastic medium. Meaning, the force of sound has nothing to do with "usefulness." It has to do with truth. It doesn't need a listener to prove it is "real,” it already IS. Truth does not equate to usefulness. In fact, this usefulness ideology negates the existence of nature and the natural world by reducing everything down to its perceived ability to be useful. And one might be burning to ask, useful to whom?
Pragmatism is pervasive. It’s common core. It casts aside critical thought, or worse, defines consciousness, as a threat. Remember this saying?, "I am going to back away from this/that because it no longer serves me.” At first it seems harmless and something to actually uphold, but think of it more and its birth place becomes more clear. This is why dialectic behavioral therapy, is quite revolutionary. It pivots from the ruling pragmatic ideology by posing instead, “Investigate and assess what Is to be done through a lens of asking myself is this or that reaction/action valid/justified?” And unsurprisingly, it is very hard to convince your health insurance plan to cover a dialect behavioral specialist…
All of this meaning, pragmatic ideology is wrapped around so many of us in so many ways. It is a belief upheld by health systems, labor systems, educational systems, and more. It is the framework that manipulates countless beliefs away from their essence and the physical world. And it is why many believe Bezos must be more useful than the factory worker, when in reality it's the reverse. It is why we view poverty as an individual problem. It is why electoral politics are viewed as an effective means to transform this nation.
I pose that through a different framework - a human rights framework - the building of the new world is happening right now, because process cannot be not removed from transformation. So I pose we don’t need different leaders in the same system. The impedance of a ruling power is too great. We don’t need more charities. The impedance of capitalism is too great. We need transformation. And that means we need to develop more leaders committed to truth, humanization, and connectedness.
Shout out to movements such as: The Poor People's Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival, Kairos Center, and The University Of The Poor who have fostered this transformational analysis.
