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Sleeping
With Extra-Terrestrials by
Wendy Kaminer
Reviewed by Mark Webster
Libertarians like to think their fellow residents on this planet,
as well as
themselves, are amenable to rational arguments.
We like to believe we can use reason to persuade people to adopt
our positions and in turn be reasoned away from our position if a better
argument comes along. But
what if our neighbor believes that he was visited by
four-foot-tall, green skinned aliens whose flying saucer landed in
southern France? (See the February 4, 2001 issue of the The New York
Times Magazine) What type
of political beliefs would such a person have? Wendy Kaminer discusses the
dangers of such modern day irrational beliefs in her book, Sleeping
With Extra-Terrestrials.
It’s unfortunate her witty little book has such a strange title.
Readers looking for space ship romance or cyberporn will be greatly
disappointed. Kaminer’s
subtitle better describes her subject: “The Rise of Irrationalism and
Perils of Piety.” She
shows we are not a society of non-believers: ours is an evangelical
culture ready to believe anything.
She covers, among other things, New Age silliness, Old Time
religion, Pop spirituality, media gurus, junk scientists, twelve step climbers,
therapeutic activists, cyberspacy air-heads,
trance channelers, memory
recoverers, positive thinkers, and self righteous atheists.
Here’s how it works: Let’s say someone claims he or she was
abducted by Extra-Terrestrials but returned safely home.
If you ask for proof, you are being abusive or negative.
“Truth” to such a person is measured not by any objective
method but by the vehemence of a speaker who demands the listener accept
personal testimony as public truth. Sound
far-fetched? How about being touched by angels or
praying to a person who escaped
from the grave? O.K.,
that’s too close to home. But
what if a child “remembers” with the help of a psychologist an alleged
sexual molestation involving day care workers and Satanic forces? It
won’t be a harmless, irrational thought anymore.
Some of Kaminer’s examples of irrationalism are hilarious.
For example, Deepak Chopra’s and Marianne Williamson’s misapplication of the quantum physics of subatomic particles
to everyday life sounds profound but demonstrates a comic ignorance of the
subject. A Christian
Coalition candidate for office demonstrating on a chart the correlation
between the abolition of school sponsored prayer and the decline in SAT
scores is a hoot.
However, there is a darker side to this nonsense.
To promote self-esteem and to vindicate the feelings of certain
victim groups, our basic notions of free speech and due process have been
eroded. Truth comes not from
debate or evidence but from some personal revelation that demands to be
believed. The idea that
children must be believed and saved from cross-examination in person has
resulted in expensive, marathon
trials of innocent adults who work with children.
There is a secular hope. Kaminer
points out courageous courts can overcome irrational thought.
For example, laws forbidding members of different races from
marrying have no rational basis and are grounded in racial fears. The U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Loving v. Virginia
found such anti-miscegenation laws to be unconstitutional.
That surely upset the self-esteem and belief system of white
supremacists.
Kaminer shows the irrationality of the drug war as another example
of how an irrational thought takes on religious fervor.
Even though alcohol is associated with more violent crimes,
drug use is seen as more sinful.
Despite the lack of scientific evidence, anti-drug crusaders
created the myth of the “crack baby” syndrome. Of course, the
psychiatrist who exposed the myth through her studies was accused of
insensitivity and fabrication of data.
In short, the resort to irrationalism is a retreat from freedom.
Kaminer quotes H.L. Mencken to say: “The average man does not
want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.”
Kaminer argues the strenuous challenge of living in a free,
democratic society requires “ a commitment to argument and unending
political strife. Democracy
is not for Utopians.” People
not up to the challenge become suckers ready to believe anything or
anyone, including their government.
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