I was watching one of those modern-Westerns, a crime show. Old cowboys
Westerns, we know, are mystifications of the US�s
most recent manifest-destiny past. �BlackCommentator.com
readers know this unreality because of our specific knowledge
of the historical reality [that 40% of cowboys were black]
is one of the missing or mischaracterized facts in the
mystification. This perspective accompanies my viewing
of the modern-westerns, the crime show, knowing that truth
cannot be found there, either. There are many absent
realities, too, in crime shows.
But the main male character in the show I was watching, a Sherlock Holms
knock-off, said the following in a scene: �The feeling
of entitlement can justify bad behavior.� I was struck
numb from the profundity of this statement. It is profound
in the context of the manifest-destiny-thrust
[a bad behavior] that is mystified in western genre and
mythologized in crime stories. The truth of a human experience
is �painted over� into a legend. Always be suspicious
of legends! The retellings of past human experiences are
almost always poor approximations of the multilevel, complicated
reality. And even contemporary retellings of experiences,
shrouded in the dark corners accessible only to �experts�
and/or places you do not have the security clearance to
see with your own eyes, are often poor approximations.
The viewers of these retellings lose from what they cannot
directly know with their own body, mind, and spirit. The
work of real crime fighters is one of those experiences
largely only accessible to experts and the security cleared.
We are misled when we think the stories convey true reality;
therefore, my surprise at the depth of truth that flowed
from the mouth of a detective in this crime story.
Profoundly, this statement of this Sherlock Holms knock-off about entitlement
reaches to the gut of much of the misery
that one human being causes another. Entitlement can
justify very bad behavior. It is the legends
through which entitlements are conferred; rewriting the
legend is most often the dominant interest of those who
have achieved entitlement status. They always have a limited
perspective and a limited point of view, and they often
stretch the truth to disguise or fail to
reveal parts that are not worthy of legend. It is this
obscured knowledge then that facilitates the next generation�s
bad behavior. Mimicking legends can lead
you astray. You are the only example of who you really
are. Each of us must actualize what is within our ken.
And question distant information.
Those who maintain this kind of Buddhist presence in
life greatly prize the stranger.
Meeting, seeing and talking directly with the stranger
is, potentially, the most profound expanding of ken
possible. Those who allow legends to channel
their choices are often fearful of the stranger.
When one begins with fear, the interaction is potentially
hostile. I can imagine the mental rationalizing when encountering
the other:� �there is nothing of much value
I can know from this hostile; he/she is not entitled,
I am entitled.� The sin of entitlement justifies the heaviest
blow while it cripples direct knowing. Every wisdom tradition
I know cautions humbleness in every circumstance.
It was Roman Emperor Constantine who brought entitlement into Christianity;
before him, choosing to be a Christian meant choosing
to be persecuted and destitute. There was very little
entitlement. First century Christians deserved to be treated
with human dignity; entitled Romans justified barbarity.
Our Western cultural legends - including crime shows -
perpetuate justified barbarity.
BlackCommentator.com Guest Commentator, Wilson Riles, is a former Oakland, CA City Council Member. Click here to contact Mr. Riles.
