My mate Lety recently went to a talk given by a college professor on ISIS, acronym for the Islamic State insurgence centered in Iraq and Syria. He was discussing the appeal ISIS has for drawing recruits from all over the Western world. As he saw it, the primary reason was that we have bankrupted ourselves regarding values.
The presenter went on to say that he asked the students in one of his classes about their values and aspirations, and the consensus was that they wanted to graduate, get a good job, buy a house, and get married. Most males wanted a garage full of toys, and most females wanted kids.
I recently asked a couple of women I have been counseling on relationship issues what values guided their lives. They talked as though they were reading a fill-in-the-blanks sheet, essentially repeating what the presenter’s students told him. What impressed me was their goal orientation. They were single-minded, and it seemed as though achievement was their primary goal. They spoke nothing of the quality of the experience, or of alternatives they were considering.
Yet what surprised me most, and what Lety said was of most interest to the professor, was that there was little or no talk of concerns beyond themselves. Social and environmental issues were off their radar, and they did not question the value system they were adopting. This was a far cry from my college experience in the late ’60s and early ’70s, when political, cultural, and environmental consciousness had permeated nearly every academic discipline. From discussions at bars and coffee houses to demonstrations and lifestyle choices, the majority of students were involved.
“The draw of groups like ISIS,” Lety said, paraphrasing the professor, “is that they represent something beyond the self. It gives people what they don’t have—something to believe in, something to live and die for.”
Have we abandoned our children in a way far more devastating than if we denied their material needs?
Thanks for sharing this Tamarack, and for shedding insight on Lety’s experience. Similar thoughts and questions had crossed my mind and in conversation recently, wondering what could prompt so many to look for answers within such a destructive group. What could be so inherently wrong with the value system in which we’ve been raised and made to believe is superior to all others to drive some to lend their support of such a cause?
The responses I receive – and intuitively acknowledge – is the same you share here, a sense of connecting with something of greater value, of group wholeness, and like you say representation beyond the self. National and/or communal pride transforms to cynicism and skepticism when the whole self and the whole of community are discounted for solely economic and material gain. How disenchanting it must be for so many who recognize the corruption, discrimination, and dysfunction inherent within the system, one that perpetuates itself within the education system and rewards most to those who buy into it and attempts to create an atmosphere of insecurity within those who don’t.
It’s recognized that the education system as a whole has been pushed in the direction of specialization towards work-force productivity within that system. This article speaks in response to that: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120405/wesleyan-president-money-anxiety-corrupting-higher-ed.
As a student, I realized early on that I needed to skirt that specialized educational directive and sought to create an individualized path that placed emphasis on and derived value from direct immersion into a variety of explorations and dialogue, one that was intended to develop critical thinking, versatility, and serve as a rite-of-passage into discovery of deeper purpose. It wasn’t until I came into my 30’s that I discovered a higher education model at Goddard College that fit these learning needs on an academic level. But I also recognize that my path was an exception to the mass rule.
I’ve been fortunate to have discovered something of greater value that guides me through my life healthily, and to have the familial and community support in which to pursue that path. It’s directed my educational path to progressive alternatives – including time spent with you years back at the Teaching Drum – which guide and refine my voice to express what I know to have greatest value. While these progressive alternatives remain on the fringe, at least there’s a move to shift these ideas into the mainstream.
Having returned to graduate study, I find that the discourse on social and environmental issues remain within the collegiate environment, especially in the more matured educational settings, but again on the fringes. It must be a far cry from your experiences in that revolutionary time period. In my early college days in the mid-90’s, these topics were fodder for discussion, but there was almost always a pushback when conversations became political. I sense the convoluted, self-indulgent, and potentially paranoia-inducing nature of Western “governance” helped to create that kind of apathy.
Based on your last question, I ask some follow ups. How can we as individual and small group voices situated within that world rise up in a constructive way to develop and redirect a new sense of pride, passion, and sense of deep purpose within the generations to come? How can we bring positive transformation into the value system of the modern-day Western world? How can we guide the generations to come within that framework? How can we healthily guide them to move beyond that framework?