Epimetheus Speaks: Confessions of a Closet Idealist (originally published 09/10/93)

Now before you jump to any conclusions, allow me to clarify these terms further. I happen to prefer the "classical" definitions of conservative and liberal, where the conservative ideology holds that government should have emphasis on social control, and allow more economic freedom, whereas the liberal ideology believes in social freedom and economic control. One could go into all the other colors of the political rainbow, and continue on and on, separating hues further and further, ad nauseum; but we won't do that. It's enough for now to simply deal with the two poles of one axis of the political sphere.

I walk home one day and see a shabby vagrant, one whom I've seen often on my street, and really don't care to have loitering around my block, bothering the little kids and panhandling for change. It angers me to have this person around - how do I classify this feeling? Is it a conservative attitude to not want this person bothering the neighborhood (and therefore being able to hold onto my loose change), or am I angry that society allows this kind of thing to happen (a more liberal attitude)? I think this gives me a good illustration of the point I'd like to make: that labels are indeed an excellent tool, when discussing theoretical situations, but that they can't hold up under the strain of everyday realities.

So then, what's my point? I'm getting to it. I'd first like to get something off my chest that's been sitting there for a while, taking up entirely too much space.

Hi. My name is Epimetheus. And I'm an Idealist.

That's much better. You can't imagine the weight a term like "Idealist" carries around with it - in a world of realists and bi-partisan party politics, "Idealist" becomes a dirty word. Both Republicans and Democrats use it unyieldingly against opponents they'd like to discredit, using it to defame any ideas of merit their "enemies" could possibly lay claim to. Some of you who aren't as disgusted with the political arena might say, "Well, hey, what's wrong with being an idealist? Isn't that a good thing?" Well, not necessarily. Hitler was an idealist, dreaming of an empire under Germany's rule. Marx was an idealist, and he was badly misused by several nasty tyrants. Socrates was probably an idealist, too, but they killed him off before he got anything done.

Idealism is neither a good or bad thing - this is the important thing to remember. A healthy dose of it once in a while is what keeps most people going in life; since really, without it, hope has no place. And everyone needs some kind of hope, or, well, they're not really human anymore. Too much idealism can result in a permanent transference to an unreal world, where welfare works, things are as good as they seem, and guns don't kill people (people do).

I saw this great movie (which should be available at any B***kbuster Video or other store of choice) entitled Mindwalk, by the famous author and physicist Fritjof Capra, who is best known for The Tao of Physics. The movie itself is actually based on a short story of his entitled The Turning Point. It's an excellent analysis of today's reality, and I heartily recommend it to anyone reading this column. In it, a politician, a poet, and a scientist meet in a European medieval castle somewhere in France. They talk, discuss life, the universe, and everything, and espouse different theories, viewpoints, and opinions. I won't go into all the details, since it's a must-see, but more to the point - it made me feel good.

In all honesty, I found myself filled with a lot of hope for mankind; I found myself throwing out all the garbage spoon-fed to me daily by the mass media (or that horrible object Harlan Ellison refers to as "the glass teat"), all those images of disaster and destruction and the horrors of the coming millenium. I really don't know anything about the fear of nuclear destruction; I've lived with it all my life and never knew any other state. Even now, in a time when everyone should be afraid of nuclear proliferation, I'm not worried about it. Perhaps this is some kind of a sign for the "So What?" generation I seem to belong to (or so I'm told). At any rate, I realized my burgeoning optimism stemmed from this wonderful conversation between these three people through whom Capra spoke; mankind, it would seem, is destined to invent itself over and over and over again.

Why do I find comfort in this? I suppose it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling when I realize there are other people out there; I don't feel so alone, and I realize that others feel the same feelings I do; the same hopes, fears, dreams, and desires. In the end, all we have is each other - in the end, all life on Earth is simply a thin film of matter that makes up less than one billionth of its mass; and if that doesn't make you feel small, just look up in the sky and wonder how far away those stars really are...

So I suppose in the conventional labeling style this would make me a humanist. Well, I'm in good company - Isaac Asimov was a humanist, Bertrand Russell still is, last time I checked. Though if I wanted to be labeled more accurately I'd probably have to call myself a moderate anarchist agnostic atheist populist humanist scientist idealist.

I'd rather just be called a person.

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