An Idealist is someone that believes in a cause. There are as many Idealists as there are causes, of course. So it’s hard to generalize the notion of an idealist.
I will still attempt to.
An idealist believes strongly about something, an ideal they hold above other beliefs. There are two types of idealist. One is the type willing to do anything within their means to further their cause. The other is the type that mainly works behind the scenes.
I fall into the second category. I prefer to sit back, and quietly nudge people towards the ideals I hold dear. As an anarchist, those ideals are a call to greater personal responsibility, and the eventual removal of humanity from the shackles of government and religion.
However I also see the pathetic truth of the human race.
It will likely never be able to completely throw these things away.
Humans are still pack animals in nature. Government, street gangs, high school cliques, religions, these are all examples of how people arrange themselves in packs. In these “packs” an Alpha directs things. The leader. The coolest one in the Clique, the President, El Jefe, the Preacher.
Although every generation has it’s rebels. Hell, every town has it’s rebels. Even they arrange themselves into packs. This is the undercurrent of most human behavior, the need to belong to something. People will go out of their way, they will debase themselves in horrible ways, they will do almost anything in order to belong.
To be accepted.
If you take this as one of the main undercurrents to the way Human societies form, it becomes clear that the true anarchistic principle of a society were no one is in charge, because people are responsible enough to make it unnecessary, is impossible.
Consider the average person. This likely means you, the reader. How capable are they in making their own decisions? Most aren’t very good at it. The average person wants to be told what to do, and flails without direction if that is taken away. I have found it to be a disheartening, and uncomfortable truth that most people are ignorant, and prefer to keep it that way. After all “Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise”, most people don’t realize there is more to that.
It is also true that great intelligence, brings great depression.
So why is ignorance bliss? Because if you don’t know about it, you don’t have to think about it.
Why does intelligence bring depression? Because with higher thinking ability it becomes hard to ignore things, and just because you see something wrong, does not mean you have any ability to change it.
This is the crux of all idealists. They are generally of higher intelligence, or at the very least have had something happen in their life to compel them pursue their cause. Yet they are rarely able to make much; if any, difference.
The only way an idealist is able to create real change is by confronting an issue that most people are aware of at some level, but chose to ignore. Segregation, and the treating of blacks as second class citizens is a prime example.
It made many people feel dirty, so they ignored it. Till the Black rights movement made it impossible to. They were idealists that made a real change, but only because deep down most people already knew it was wrong. The women’s rights movement is a similar case.
Since then Gangsta culture, and radical feminists have once again created the division of ‘us and them’, so in a way all idealists are doomed to some degree of failure. After all, it’s impossible to predict what precisely will happen once your ideal is achieved.
How could MLK know that what he worked so hard; and died, for would be spurned by the people he was doing it for? I speak of the way many blacks view any black person that achieves success as a traitor. Even if a black person does take advantage of the opportunities available and achieves success, he (or she) is often viewed with contempt by other blacks. Often being called a “House Nigger”, their words, not mine.
So you have two types of idealist. Those who take every opportunity to rail against those things they see as wrong, and those who quietly work in the background.
The KKK and the Rap Industry are good examples. After all, both work to undermine blacks. One by overtly attacking them, the other by putting the dirty life of the black street thug on display, and making it seem preferable to education. One group is viewed as the villeins. The other as heroes.
What? Did you forget that racists and terrorists are idealists too?
The problem with most idealists, are that too many are also extremists. They don’t know when to draw the line in the sand, and say “Okay…that’s enough”.
Very few feel any degree of success when they do achieve a small victory. It’s gotta be all or nothing. So; far too often, that’s what they achieve, nothing.
The overt idealist fails to acknowledge another common undercurrent of human behavior. The harder you push, the harder they push back!
While the idealist that sits in the background is content to take his little victories, and actually allow him(or her) self the ability to live a life that does not center on their ideal. Thus, a background idealist both can achieve greater success, and live a happier life. While the overt idealist bangs their head against a brick wall of opposition, till they finally collapse.
In conclusion, I will say that there is nothing wrong with having an ideal, or ideals you like to work for. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking you can really ever achieve much of anything. The abysmal truth is that whatever victories you get now, will not matter much in the long run.
The phrase “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is a good one to keep in mind. It is a reference to the fact that turmoil in society only changes the way things are, not the way people think and act.
Things have changed a great deal over the centuries of recorded history, but the motivations behind what people do has not changed at all.
In our hearts it’s still law of the Jungle baby!
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