By Patrick F. Cannon
I thought I’d turn this space over today to a French writer, Albert Camus, who died in 1960, but who continues to speak to us today. He wrote these words in 1949 in The Artist as Witness, and they seem to me to be truer today than they were then.
“There is no life without dialog. And in the major part of the world, dialog has been replaced today by polemics…But what is the mechanism of polemics? It consists in considering the opponent as the enemy, consequently in simplifying him and refusing to see him. We have no idea of what the man we are insulting looks like, or whether he ever smiles, or how. Having become three-quarters blind by the grace of polemics, we no longer live among men but in a world oof silhouettes. There is no life without persuasion. And today’s history knows only intimidation. Men live and can only live on the basis that they have something in common on which they can always get together.”
In 1949, in the aftermath oof World War II, we had the beginning of the Cold War, the first Arab-Israeli conflict, the anti-colonial uprisings, the Communist victory in China – and nuclear proliferation. Now, we have the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict, Ukraine, Taiwan, unimaginably more efficient weapons of all kinds, and Red versus Blue here and in many other countries. And Camus’ words resonate more than ever.
Copyright 2024, Patrick F. Cannon
cannonnadedotcom 
Whatever happened to international understanding and cooperation? Lions Clubs, among others, used to have programs to promote it. There also used to be a Peace Corps and cultural exchanges. One of Ronald Reagan’s initiatives was international youth exchanges. (One forgets how much he did to promote world peace, from the collapse of the Iron Curtain to the end of the Cold War. Part of his success ironically was the result of his emphasis on a strong military.) Today international travel is common. But few bother to learn other languages or really get to know people in different cultures. Visits to other countries amount to little beyond taking pictures of oneself in front of famous monuments.
And whatever happened to our national sense of brotherhood, achieved after years of internecine strife? In its place we have substituted stereotypes based on race, gender, religion and political affiliation. Our politics has become a perversion of democracy characterized by judicial warfare (lawfare) against political opponents and a flouting of Congressional legislation. We are ruled by men, not laws.
Camus saw the absurdity of existence. He rejected Marxist totalitarianism as he did the Church. He put faith in an inner sense of human morality which for him required no rules. He did not believe in God but was not an atheist. He married twice and had numerous extramarital affairs. He thought about suicide as a solution to life’s absurdity. Such contradictions formed the foundations of his art. Camus was honest. People seem to have at least the capacity to do the right thing; they persist in doing the exact opposite.
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Camus believed life has only the meaning we give it — for good or ill. The balance seems to be trending to the “ill” side.
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How does one know what is good or ill? When one views life only through the prism of the Self, you get the chaos and absurdity we see everyday.
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Helping others is a choice. Helping yourself is larceny!
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Even though a Frenchman, Auguste Compte, coined the word in the 19th Century, altruism (from the Italian “altrui” or “other”) is rooted in religion, certainly in the Judeo-Christian tradition, but also in other major world religions. In Christian theology, as you know, caritas or charity is one of the seven virtues. It connects a love of neighbor to the love of God. It is a choice, but in today’s world where anything can be rationalized, it doesn’t matter whether you choose it or not. Ditto larceny.
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