This introductory article describes the Cocoon and discusses the goals of the column. by D. H. McCormick
(libertarian)
Monday, March 29, 2010
Welcome to my new column, View from the Cocoon. I hope that you will find it enlightening and entertaining.
Why "View from the Cocoon?" For some time now, I have been concerned with what I see as a disturbing and increasing tendency for the average American to delegate their responsibilities to automatic processes, social institutions, regulatory agencies, and their neighbors, among other things. "But wait," you say, "Responsibility can't be delegated. Authority can be delegated. You can authorize someone else to do something for you, but you still have the final responsibility." Congratulations: you get an "A" in Civics 101. It is really authority that is being delegated, but the ultimate effect is neglected personal responsibility.
Allow me to offer a few examples taken from the brief list above:
"Automatic processes:" The simplest example of this is using an electronic calculator to arrive at a mathematical solution that you could not get by yourself, such as a statistical calculation when you don't know beans about statistics. You might rationalize this by saying that it makes no sense to spend a lot of time learning about statistics when all you need is one number, but the end result is that the calculator allowed you to remain ignorant about statistics.
"Social institutions:" You don't take a hand in your kid's education because "that's why I pay property tax and school levies." You don't bother to learn how to protect and defend yourself and your family because "that's what the police department is for." You donate once a year to the United Way and consider your charitable duty discharged. These are classic examples of using our social institutions to avoid personal responsibility. Why is this bad? Not engaging your child educationally eliminates the most direct opportunity to impress your personal values upon him or her. As far as law enforcement is concerned, no matter how well funded and well trained, the old saying goes that "when seconds count, the police are just minutes away." Donating to large, faceless charitable organizations virtually guarantees financial support of organizations with which you disagree, and in any case is no substitute for direct support and encouragement of a needy family in your neighborhood.
"Regulatory agencies:" You don't lift a finger to research new drugs or new medical procedures; that's why there is a Food and Drug Administration. You rely solely on the city or county inspector to determine that your contractor is building your deck or room addition competently. You don't test your drinking water for impurities, because you assume that the water utility regulatory authority is making sure that the water is safe. You follow the advice of your lender on a refinance of your home mortgage, even though the deal seems too good to be true, because you know that the banks are regulated. All of these things directly affect your health, safety, and security but doing them for yourself would take a lot of effort. Think about the consequences, though, if they make a mistake!
"Neighbors:" You don't bother to vote because [fill in the blank...]. You see trash at the side of the road near your home but you don't stop to pick it up. You never attend City Council or Parent Teacher Association meetings. You don't go to political rallies even for candidates and causes in which you strongly believe. You rely on your neighbor to do these things. The problem? There is strength in numbers and weakness in apathy. If enough people take the attitude "Let George do it," there will eventually be no Georges left to do anything. We are perilously close to that eventuality now.
I call this situation "living in the Cocoon," and this column is the View from the Cocoon because I am in that Cocoon along with most of you. I have lived, and still live, in much the same way. I'm worried about that, and I think many of you are as well. Furthermore, I think that if you don't feel that way, you should. Together, we can find ways to escape the Cocoon.
But why should we want to escape? Life in the Cocoon is pleasant, easy, less confusing, and less stressful than trying to learn and manage all that stuff that "the system" is designed to do for us. Why shouldn't we just let it do for us whatever it can? Isn't life hard enough? We work all day, pay our taxes, follow all the rules; haven't we earned a break? Maybe rather than considering the Cocoon a bad thing, we should accept it as a reward for being a good American.
This is an enticing argument, but faulty on many counts. First, there is no such thing as a "break" from personal responsibility. Second, yes, "life is hard, but it is harder if you are stupid," as American icon John Wayne was reputed to say. Ignorance sets us up for poor decisions and victimization by predators. "Good American?" Our direct ancestors, not to mention our founding Fathers, would be appalled at how we have spit on the freedoms they left for us.
Why would we allow this to happen? The first thing that comes to mind is sheer laziness, and I'm sure that is the case to some degree, but it doesn't make sense that sloth is the entire motivation. There are in fact many reasons and knowing what they are can be very helpful in developing strategies for escaping the Cocoon. That is one goal of these articles, and it will be the first subject we explore together.
I hope you'll join me in my next column. In the meantime, please respond with your own examples from your personal Cocoon.
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The views expressed
in this article are those of D. H. McCormick only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
D. H. McCormick is solely responsible for the contents
of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated
with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
Kevin that is an absurd statement "What I don't know won't hurt me."
If you were walking around with a cancerous tumor and did not know it, would that also mean that it won't harm you and eventually kill you?
We have had a "cancer" in our government for close to 100 years and it just keeps getting bigger and more dangerous to our lives. We have small and brief periods when all looks well then it comes again full blown and more insidious then ever. "Ignorance" is not bliss, it's lazy, stupid and dangerous.
