Absolutism in America
“Ideas have consequences. And absolute ideas — whether they come clothed in the xenophobia of nationalist fervor, the divine sanction of fundamentalist belief, or the savage mythologies of racism — absolute ideas have absolute consequences. Absolute, unchallengeable, truth permits everything and constrains nothing. Absolute certainty certifies absolutely the rightness of one’s actions.” (Judith Rodin, President of the University of Pennsylvania at a memorial service for Yitzak Rabin, the Israeli Prime Minister who was assassinated by a right-wing extremist.)
This essay uses the terms “absolutism” and “fundamentalism” interchangeably. Even though one describes secular and the other religious beliefs, the behavior and speech are identical in both belief system. Here is what we know about these beliefs and behaviors.
I have been interested in absolutist belief systems found in groups since I was in high school. In those years I actually researched such groups by attending far-left and far-right political meetings (Young People’s Socialist League and John Birch Society) to try and understand what was going on. Even then, it seemed to me that both groups had the same very rigid personality types. These experiences bring me to ask whether absolutist belief systems are endemic to human nature. Maybe they are, but this essay is an attempt to see if there is a way to ameliorate the harm that they cause. We describe absolutist behavior and a number of fundamentalist activities that are alive and well today and in our recent past. These activities have been aided and abetted by a “go along to get along” attitude in groups susceptible to absolutist thinking. We then briefly explore psychological studies that may point to a partial solution to absolutist movements that are tearing us apart.
According to the Fundamentalism Project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, absolutist behavior and groups share common threads. Initially, idealism is found in groups or people who sometimes end up with absolutist beliefs and behaviors. Once a group or a person begins to internalize the truth so that only insiders can understand it, idealism goes out the window and a “my way or the highway” ethos emerges. Then, the person or group can feel free to demonize those who do not share their beliefs. Once an “unbeliever” or an “outsider” is demonized or dehumanized, all sorts of behaviors toward them are excused. These behaviors can range from simple name calling to verbal or physical abuse, bodily injury and in the most extreme cases, murder. In today’s secular realm, this demonization of “unbelievers” or “outsiders” begins to sound like, for example, “cancel culture,” police unions, gun rights groups and both right wing and left wing movements like boogaloo, the KKK, the American Nazi Party and ANTIFA. There are too many of these to enumerate.
The Fundamentalism Project shows that absolutists are selective in what parts of their traditions or heritage they stress, whether those traditions are secular or religious. How many on the right or left politically have actually read the Federalist Papers, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? If they did, they would find out that a lot of what they ascribe to these documents is not there. How many religious people have read the Bible, the Koran or other religious document cover-to cover? I have (three times) and found out that what had been cherry-picked from the Bible in my church often did not make sense when held up to the totality of the book.
Often, absolutists or absolutist groups try to overturn the distribution of power. This can happen in any organization or in any culture, no matter how small. A small group can be a church. My brother, an ordained minister has told me that “church fights” are often the result of people who try to hijack the congregation. This is absolutist behavior. Many of these fights destroy churches.
In my life, I have interacted with too many people who are comfortable with simplistic answers and slogans, an example of absolutism creeping into many areas. Our political system is now reduced to sound bites, because people seem to need pat answers, instead of looking into the complexity of the problem. I admit it is difficult to examine a problem from all sides because we have to look deeply into our beliefs. But if we don’t do this, we have trouble rejecting pat answers to problems or we stop our search when we get an answer we believe, even though it might be wrong. This behavior can take us away from the real objective: solving the problem.
We have too many leaders who are legends in their own minds. This is absolutist behavior. These people can be politicians, business leaders or even leaders in education. The most extreme are known as megalomaniacs or fanatics. Some of the men in this group exhibit a behavior called “toxic masculinity” that is also absolutist thinking and stems from the same psychological basis. Too much of our public discourse today is in the “nasty, self-righteous” mode because of absolutism.
Can we deal with people or groups with absolutist tendencies? In large businesses, they usually, but not always, find megalomaniacs early in their careers. They know that lawsuits can happen when they allow a “my way or the highway” manager to run amok. Personnel procedures are there to take care of such people. In other areas, such as small business, they terrorize employees for years before they are dealt with. In education, government, religion and medicine, for example, absolutist people hold much power because procedures are not there to curb them. How many teachers or professors have you seen terrorize students by belittling them in class or by other means? My brother has told me that he never ceases to be shocked by the number of people entering the ministry because of the power they can hold over their congregations. Politics is about power and can foster dangerous megalomaniacs such as Joseph McCarthy or Donald Trump.
In the 1990’s, the CBS news program “60 Minutes” had an interesting segment in which Ed Bradley interviewed several Muslims about conditions in their homelands. At the end of the discussion, Bradley stunned them with the question, “What have Muslim countries done to discourage religious extremists?” There was a very long silence, indicating tacit acceptance,
Here are a few examples and questions. The behaviors and speech in these questions can be classified as falling into the absolutist category and should not be given tacit approval by the groups they belong to.
· How many liberals in this country tacitly supported bombings by the Weathermen during the Vietnam era?
· What have those who hold views against abortion done to discourage people who emotionally terrorize women going into abortion clinics?
· What have Christians done to discourage extremist behavior that can lead to such acts as bombings of minority churches, and racist speech by groups such as “Christian Identity?”
· Fundamentalist Muslims and Orthodox Jews in Israel both call women who don’t wear the right clothes or work outside the home prostitutes. In 2012, Rush Limbaugh called women who want access to contraceptives “sluts” and “prostitutes.” That’s pretty absolutist speech.
· What have the politicians and the media done to discourage the “attack dog” mentality that flavors so much of today’s political discourse?
Interestingly, problems associated with absolutist thinking seem to be smaller in countries with a substantial middle class. This and many other studies point to possible contributors to absolutist thinking and its subgenre, “toxic masculinity:” anxiety and depression. In this country, the middle class seems to be disappearing. This may be one of the reasons for rise of absolutism in our politics and media. Absolutist thinking keeps people from working together to solve common problems. So, I no longer believe that people holding absolutist beliefs in any “ism” such as capitalism, socialism, liberalism or conservatism are capable of solving these problems because it takes teamwork to do so.
If the psychological data on anxiety and depression being at the root of many of these fundamentalist behaviors is correct, there may be solutions. They may lie in: (1) calming down our political and media rhetoric; (2) raising standards of living so that we again have a substantial middle class; (3) supporting better education; (4) making good healthcare available to all; (5) putting effective personnel procedures in place to combat absolutist speech and behavior, and; (6) making sure that all voices are heard. Maybe we can work together as a country once again.
Think about what Voltaire said, “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities,” in the context of what is happening today.
