| April 13, 1999 A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE WAR IN KOSOVO AND MY TRIP TO DISNEYLAND The United States is presently at war in Kosovo. I took my two year old to Disneyland a few weeks ago. The two are related. My son is at one with Barney. Barney is slept with, eaten with, talked to, and repeatedly watched on television. Name a familiar children's song and my little genius can tell you by name which video contains the song. Barney rules my house. To be honest, I do not mind. I am not a Barney hater. There are worse things on TV. Like the Teletubbies. My son is not allowed to watch the Teletubbies in my presence. The world according to Barney is bright and cheerful. There is no yelling, crying, anger, sadness, fear, violence or death. Everybody cleans up. Everybody shares. Everybody uses proper manners. Everybody is happy. Barney is two year old heaven. To celebrate the Spring and all that is good with the world, we took my little Barney groupie to "The Happiest Place On Earth." The day started great. We took a "choo-choo" from the parking lot to the front gate. We then took another "choo-choo" to Toon Town, which is marketed as the kiddy area. Toon Town started great, as characters such as Goofy and Donald Duck strolled the streets, signing autographs and taking pictures. While my wife waited in the long line to see Mickey Mouse, Barney Jr. and me got in line for the Roger Rabbit ride. Immediately, Barney Jr. sensed something was amiss. The line was dark, foreboding. We made our way to the front of the line and were put in a car on a track that had the ability to spin, just like the teacup ride. Off we went for our tour of Toon Town. Barney Jr. was not prepared. The ride, which lasted no more than a few minutes, is a non-stop jumble of flashing lights, loud explosions, darkness and scary creatures, all while Daddy spins you in circles. To express his enjoyment of these new sensations, Barney Jr. started crying hysterically until the ride ended and we rejoined the daylight. Roger Rabbit set the tone for our day at The Happiest Place on Earth. After meeting Mickey, we set off for Fantastyland, where my wife got in line for Dumbo. I took Barney Jr. on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Once again, a few minutes, of flashing lights, loud explosions, darkness and scary creatures. You can guess the result. In short, our day at Disneyland can be summarized as follows: Outside -- Gooooood; Inside -- Baaaaaad. Every indoor ride at Disneyland is apparently based on the premise that little kids want the bejesus (is that a word?) scared out of them. Barney, on the other hand, is based on the premise that little kids do not want to be scared. Barneyville is a world of innocence of the real world of good and bad, while Disneyland is a world of knowledge that the real world contains good and bad. There were moments at The Happiest Place on Earth where I felt certain that my innocent, precious little angel was being traumatized for life, or, more accurately, exposed and desensitivized to a new world out there that he had not previously experienced. Thankfully, he is not showing any long term effects from his loss of innocence and is back in Barneyville. What does this have to do with Kosovo? I am glad you asked. I have been reading off and on for several months The End Of History And The Last Man, by Francis Fukuyama. The book is a work of political philosphy, in many ways a popularization of philosophers such as Hegel, Nietzche and Leo Strauss. In short, Fukuyama explains that "Liberal Democracy" is inexorably becoming a world-wide success, replacing all other types of governmental systems, such as aristocracy, theocracy, etc. There is a downside to the success of liberal democracy, and that is the problem of the "Last Man." To be extremely overly simplistic, liberal democracy, which is partially based upon the equality of all men, waters down the desires of men. The model of liberal democracy, as envisioned by philosphers such as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, is based on the principle that if we can concentrate men's minds on material satisfaction (i.e. the bourgeois life), men will not kill each other over such things like religion and nationality. The problem is that the ideal man in a liberal democracy (the "Last Man") has no higher aspiration than a more comfortable house and a secure pension. He does not want to stand out from his neighbors. Philsophers such as Nietzche attacked the Last Man for not being entirely human, not being entire alive, because his range of emotions and experiences are so limited. A real man has aspirations to be heroic, noble, great, to experience glory, whether in art, philosophy or other endeavors. Liberal democracy, however, sees the human capacity to be heroic, noble and great as dangerous, especially because heroicism, nobility and greatness manifest themselves so prominently in war and conflict. In short, by design, liberal democracy sucks passion from man and channels the passion into acquisitiveness. The quantify of life goes up (i.e. we are richer, live longer), while the quality of life goes down (i.e. are emotional experiences are so limited). This criticism of liberal democracy is extemely cogent, and is shared by all of the critics of democracy, whether from the Right or the Left. What is going on in Kosovo is a clash between "liberal democracy" and a different world view (let us call it "ethnic nationalism"). The United States and its allies see a dictator systematically terrorizing various populations for no other reason than their ethnic heritage is different. Furthermore, the conflict apparently goes back to 1389!! This is incomprehensible to the liberal democrat world view. People are willing to go to war and kill each other because of something that happened in 1389????!!!! Kosovo is an important lesson for the critics of liberal democracy. The people in the region are not short of passion. They are willing to fight and die for "ideals" such as religion and ethnic pride. Are the people of that region happier, more alive, than the "Last Men" living in the United States? Disneyland is based on the principle that children want to and should experience the full range of human emotions, such as fear and horror. Barney is based upon the principle that children want the security of a world without fear and horror. In my humble opinion, the people of Kosovo are not more alive because they are experiencing intense emotions that are not experienced in American suburbs, and my child is not more alive because he experienced fear on the Roger Rabbit ride. Give me the security of America, where I can dream of a big screen TV, and my boy can watch all the Barney he wants. Thank you for listening. DS |