Of Revolution, Reason and Humanity’s Future

Chris Hedges’ new book Wages of Rebellion is a profound account of rebellion and revolution, its history, the existing need for this kind of change and the life and challenges of the moral and social rebel.

Hedges brings passion and blunt, articulate and exceptionally well-informed argument to this effort to get people to realize that customary forms of protest from marches to rallies alone will not accomplish the change that is desperately needed. We need the committed rebels of the past, e.g. Emma Goldman, Sacco and Vanzetti and Marin Luther King.

Toward the end of this book Hedges, a former Yale Divinity student, described the depth of commitment of rebels from Socrates to Martin Luther King. He gives King’s speech on “Taking up the Cross” that would require that he give himself to the needs of the poor, to live for and among them. As Socrates chose the hemlock rather than exile, so King chose to serve the interests of the poor rather than his own.

I have long been aware of the religious element in Hedges intellectual makeup, but somewhat befuddled by his (it seemed to me) refusal to say exactly what he means by religion, e.g. does he believe in the existence of a God. In his account of King’s “taking up the cross” commitment to the poor it seems clear to me that Hedges, as so  many religious thinkers have, confuses religion and morality. Religion, at least as far as the Abrahamic religions are concerned, makes a statement of fact about the existence of a god. Morality makes no such claims, but rather assigns moral values to the actions and thoughts of humans.

It is, however, Hedges’ belief that faith, not reason, is what is necessary to get humanity through the deep crises it has created for itself, that I find inadequate. In this book he quotes approvingly from Francesco Guicciardini “To have faith means simply to believe firmly— to deem almost a certainty— things that are not reasonable.”  What, I ask, is to differentiate such belief from that of an ISIS volunteer out to kill the next Shiite he sees?

When I look at humanity’s long history of development, it is clear that most, if not all, of what has made this species so profoundly superior to the other products of evolution, is human thought and the resulting understanding of its world that has made the difference, not the moral efforts of a few during times of crisis.  Granted the products of reason have not always been used wisely, but even then, reason is often the best tool for dealing with the social rubble of misuse and deliberately created human suffering and death by the greed and power-lust of a relative few.

Because morality takes place solely in humans, its perspective is highly distorted and because its prescriptions are didactic in a world of compound variability, it cannot be a reliable guide, or instance, to all those demands and impositions as well as opportunities that the natural world presents to humans. This, I think, Hedges fails to understand.

Let me make it absolutely clear. There is no better guide to the overwhelming problems that face humanity and the revolution needed to wrest control  of the planet from corporate dominance and greed than Chris Hedges. I think, however, the need to better comprehend human potential and the honesty to accept the results are paramount for the species’ survival.

For those who would like to know what Hedges means by revolution I suggest they Google his online essay titled This is What Revolution Looks Like.

Bob Newharrd