ILLUSION OF CHOICE

 

Pro-choice or pro-life, if you live in The West, you live with the illusion of choice. The illusion of choice is a key marketing strategy of consumer-based capitalism. I am not denying that affluent society offers many daily petty choices. Walking down the aisles of a supermarket makes this obvious. 

When I refer to the illusion of choice, I refer to the basic path of every individual human life. 

Every human being, like all other living things, begins life without choosing to do so. The choice of life is not made by the living. It is made by the mating instigators of that life. Posters advising "Choose Life!" are actually saying "Choose to procreate!". And, apart from the mentally deficient, a person's mating to reproduce in the 21st century is indeed a choice. Unfortunately, it is a choice which bears less and less personal responsibility in socialized societies. This is a case where hard-wired tribalism in the human brain actually works against the well being of the species at large. Hillary Clinton's often quoted "It takes a village ..." belies the ignorance of those who promote irresponsible reproductive behaviors. The village is near extinction along with the extended nuclear family. 

The human being born without choosing to be born is potentially the most fundamental human victim. This being's life begins no differently than the life of a beast reproduced for food. If born to a single mother with no money, this human being is more likely to be relatively poor for an entire life. If born to mentally ill persons, this being will most likely be burdened to some degree with mental illness. If born to genetic carriers of cancer or any number of known diseases, this being is more likely to have severe medical problems before old age. 

I speculate that the ready development of a victim culture at Western universities does no reflect the madness that can come with narcissistic affluence. I suspect it has more to do with the horror experienced by educated young adults who realize they have been unwillingly dragged onto a planet which is in decay socially and environmentally. As they see the yawning door leading to this unpalatable world opening before them after graduation, they may well panic at the realization that this is their legacy, an overpopulated and polluted planet, on which their species has not evolved past racism, violence and recalcitrant religion. 

But they can choose from a dozen flavors of granola in their health food store. They can choose a red car or a blue car, if they have good credit. They can choose to bring another child into this same mess without having sexual intercourse. They can choose to propagate the mess rather than choosing to do something about it. The former choice is most definitely the most common, judging from our species' history. 

Capitalism thrives on that former choice as well. We have changed from a species which skeptically approached innovation until great minds persisted at their own peril to show the efficacy of change to a species which rewards innovators mindlessly to the extent that innovators have become part of the wealthy human elite. And, the more their innovations create the illusion of individual control, the richer they get. Why is there any consternation about the trend of the wealthy and governments, controlled by these innovators, to control thought and speech? If your success and self-esteem come from promoting an illusory sense of control for individuals who are not actually in control of much of anything (infantile narcissism), why would you stop fostering your own megalomania? 

Look at the attempt of some of these billionaire innovators to conquer human mortality.  This is, of course, not innovative at all. Mary Shelly's The Modern Prometheus (Frankenstein) was published in 1818. Over fifty years ago, wealthy narcissists were freezing themselves (cryogenics) to beat death. Countless science fiction stories have centered on a villain who is the brain of a powerful human, sustained by wires attached to computers. Why live forever? My answer is simple: Fear of one's own common humanity, which entails death.  

And, while those who have managed to elevate themselves to lives of boring luxury tinker with immortality, the suicide rate among those less fortunate increases. Once born unwillingly into a life of constant mental or physical torture, tied to economic and social realities of an overpopulated and deteriorating environment, suicide may seem to be the only choice to alleviate a person's suffering. This exposes the reality behind the illusion of control and choice fostered by digital innovation. And, while some attempt to preach gospels of self-help for profit, they cannot individually choose to change the social, economic and ecological environment of the species. 

I will end by saying my personal struggle with the victim identity of being the child of a mentally and economically struggling extended family did indeed peak in college as I worked out my autonomy from my origins. I did indeed make choices which were not illusory. Each one entailed more hard work, more self-education, starker evaluation of my own capabilities and behaviors. This process I call "liberation". And it is a process that can be chosen. However, I also learned with age that choosing liberation and autonomy does not alter the reality that much of life is still not a choice. I did not choose to be homosexual when an unknown viral epidemic decimated the lives of unwitting homosexual men. I did not choose cancer. I did choose to try to survive it, but I did not have choice over the debilitating side effects of the treatments which extended my life. 

I believe the real choices we are given by our frontal lobes are the choice of learning (intelligence), the choice of non-violence, the choice of generosity of spirit, the choice of honesty, and the choice of respecting all life, if only from the position of being at one with all creatures, who have not chosen to be. I am not religious. And I think the "God" of the serenity prayer (above) can be replaced by your own name, because ultimately you have the life you have whether you have chosen it or not. It is up to you to choose what you can make of it with your own human capacity. That is not an illusion. That is a daily commitment.