Fear and Hope: The Intersection of Star Wars, Dune and the American Cultural Psychology, Part III

‘He is the Kwisatz Haderach!’ 

The line from Dune ushers in the revelation that Paul is the promised savior, or literally, the person who can be (say it in a whisper) many places at once.

      A trope of fiction and human society is the Kwisatz Haderach, Messiah, Chosen One, Great White Hope, Fuehrer, and many more. The One who can solve all the problems that we have is yearned for through the ages and pages of the human mind -- Someone who can preserve what is possessed and bring salvation from any threat real or imagined. The only hope that Fear possesses is the arrival of such a being.

      Democracy, as defined in the Liberal Revolutions of England, America and France, by definition cannot rely on such solutions, but of necessity, and by definition, can only be found in the “hearts and minds,” as the Founders put it, of the many. And to that end, the many have to be willing to take control of themselves and by extension their own community, and figure out solutions themselves.  Fear cannot be the basis of democracy, not real democracy, because Fear compels people towards the Kwitsatz Haderach, even if, like Paul Atreides, he is not cut out for the job, or like his son, Leido II, becomes a hideous monster God Emperor. But what informs such a desire, this desire for vicarious salvation through a champion?

It is the Child of Fear, Ignorance, the utter abrogation of self, and the denial of will to be replaced by another, whether false or true … and relying on the Kwitsatz Haderach, seldom rings with a satisfying truth.

      We often use ignorance as a synonym for stupidity – it’s not. The term is also used to suggest a lack of knowledge, but that is only part. More fully it is the neglect of reason and the absence of will to utilize the tool of reason to establish a response.

      While there are dozens of opportunities in human history to examine Ignorance (the child) fostering Fear (the parent), the context of contemporary America is the example most presient, and interesting – mostly, because it just shouldn’t happen here. It shouldn’t happen here because ignorance, in its many forms, should not be the praxis of our cultural psychology, and that cultural psychology should not be manifest through fear – but at current, both Ignorance and Fear, play a striking part in the American political dynamic. Sad.

Sometimes even the Chosen One can be
marginalized for not being "normal" enough

      American culture is changing – though some might add that it is coming to fruition, with trends of inclusion, tolerance, secularization and a base-line of material well-being that historic societies only dreamt of.  The 1960s brought about revolutionary concepts, if not revolutionary change, through rights movements for women, peoples outside the majority “race,” (most particularly the Civil Rights Movement of African Americans) and challenges were brought to existing sexual standards, for both straight and gay. Birth control was one of many pills that American culture had to swallow, and for many, the taste was bitter in their mouths. 

Unlike Paul Atreides, who ultimately was not up to the task of fulfilling his role as the Kwitsatz Haderach – he didn’t want to become a worm – Ronald Reagan was quite willing, and quite a worm. He led the forces of Fear, who believed they were losing their America, an America complete with its inconsistencies and hypocrisies that allowed for the destruction of self-definition and self-determination (freedom) for those who were defined as the “other,” and, therefore, not entitled to the full good graces of being American. Black and brown, yellow and red, gay, or not straight enough, and women who would not accept a biological role controlled by men were not part of Reagan’s group and they were largely defined out of the blessings of freedom, much as they had for most of America’s existence.

Reagan wasn't in this movie --
He was in the Reality show.

Reagan was the protector of white privilege, the savior of what “we” possess, and the Messiah to rescue us from the invasion of the other. All faith was placed in this man to roll back the possibilities of a Hoping millions, who merely wished to achieve their version of an American dream. 

      But Reason, the well-spring of Hope, did not rest. The theory of America, based on reason, established through hope, is the promise of self-definition and determination, and that theory was determined to rise over a practice of exclusion and Fear. The ultimate manifestation of Hope, oh yes, that’s too easy, Obama. 

The Alt Right depicted him as the Messiah,
but instead he was just a human, a good human.
Maybe that is what we all need to be.

Not because of good policy, not because of right action, but because of the audacity to challenge Fear (the protection of the familiar) and Ignorance (the willful neglect of possibility). Obama, as with Trump, is less about the man himself, in terms of culture, and more about the willingness of the majority to think past fear and allow for a new possibility. Likewise, Trump is not the cause of the rise of Fear and Ignorance in the 21^st century, but he is the manifestation of those very un-American principles which have haunted this society since the Founding. The answer to the Obama Factor, was typical of Fear and prodded by ignorance, to seek someone who could protect them from the perils of change and this audacious Hope. 

At their tea party, millions waited for a savior. Their Fear disabled them from embracing Hope under any circumstance. Argument would not work, effective practice would not work, consistency in theory and law, would not convince. He is their leader, their Chosen One – He is the Kwitsatz Haderach.

I used to think this Fear came merely from the power of racism, but it’s not that. Fear comes from anything unfamiliar, and race defined through skin shade is just an easy manifestation of the unfamiliar. Even worse is the “familiar” worship of Trump supporters, or more clearly, how they perceive what is “familiar.” It’s not merely wanting “what looks like me, sounds like me, talks like me” – familiarity is also, by extension, what they have been told ought to be, whether that source is parent, party or even more unquestionable, their god. And Fear and god are often synonymous since they are immutable, unchangeable, and are the ultimate in irrationality (not provable or disprovable through rational observation).

And Hate led to Suffering, not Salvation.

And so they cede to an unlikely dictator any possibility. And so they follow in the logic of blind worship. And so we find ourselves with a future of our own past with a choice between Fear and Hope.