Searching for Meaning

Plutopians explore the search for meaning in our lives, especially in an era of pandemic and polarization. Jon, Scoop and Suzy explore the Goldwater rule, a world based on lies, Victor Frankl, Q-Anon and lie-based causes, Alex Jones, capitalism, and Christian Nationalists. Suzy: I think it’s really interesting what people are trying to find to give meaning, or that is the meaning in their lives, since the pandemic started. I mean, I think it was really an opportunity for everyone to sit down with literally nothing else to do and confront themselves. And ask themselves why I’m in this job I hate. I don’t get enough money for this shit. Jon: I think there’s been a lot of that consideration of, you know, am I really happy in this job. A lot of people have not gone back to their jobs. Scoop: Yeah, there are a lot of jobs that just are not being filled, because people moved on, they realized they didn’t have to be doing that for ten dollars an hour. Suzy: That’s a step toward a self-aware search for meaning. “The construction of a world based on lies is a key component of authoritarians’ takeover of democratic societies. George Orwell’s 1984 explored a world in which those in power use language to replace reality, shaping the past and people’s daily experiences to cement their control. They are constantly reconstructing the past to justify their actions in the present. In Orwell’s dystopian fantasy, Winston Smith’s job is to rewrite history for the Ministry of Truth to reflect the changing interests of a mysterious cult leader, Big Brother, who wants power for its own sake and enforces loyalty through The Party’s propaganda and destruction of those who do not conform. “Political philosopher Hannah Arendt went further, saying that the lies of an authoritarian were designed not to persuade people, but to organize them into a mass movement. Followers would “believe everything and nothing,” Arendt wrote, “think that everything was possible and that nothing was true.” “The ideal subject” for such a dictator, Arendt wrote, was not those who were committed to an ideology, but rather “people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction…and the distinction between true and false…no longer exist.” ~ Heather Cox Richardson Photo by Austin Chan on Unsplash