Sometimes human institutions can only work because of inhuman customs.
There have been several notable examples in history of political institutions
that rose to great prominence due to inhuman customs. Sometimes, these
institutions fell when reformers eliminated the inhuman customs. Because,
the inhuman custom was the thing that supported the entire edifice. Understand,
there is no such thing as a “healthy” human institution. Every institution
carries within it the seeds of it’s own downfall. Institutions rise, and
fall, in the turbulence and chaos of human culture and politics. But, the
institutions that have lasted, have lasted because of the turbulent currents
of humanity and history. Usually, this means that flows are directed against
each other, so support the institution. And, what directs the flows? Our
active beliefs. Our willingness to say that this, or that, is the right
way to do things, and then to do things that way. In other words, our active
morality. But, there is a dark side. Our active morality can create incredibly
destructive vortexes in the flows of human culture and politics. That is
why it is said that, “The devil can appear as an angel of light.” Because,
the things we think of as “good” can be the seeds of our institutional
downfall. So, our active beliefs can be the basis of institutions that
last for hundreds of years. And, our active beliefs can be the most terribly
destructive things on earth.
I think a good example of inhuman customs at work in institutions is the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is the only religious institution on the planet that is also a nation, Vatican City, and a member of the United Nations. So, why was the church so successful for so long? Perhaps the reason is celibacy. The church is run by celibate priests, nuns, and monks. People who totally denied natural human sexual desires, and put the energy that would have gone into wife, children, and family into a religious institution. All that energy, all that effort, is what built up the church. And, the church has been going strong for almost 2000 years. Also, celibacy limited the scope of nepotism and corruption. Because a celibate people do not have a family interests to promote. No family to build an inheritance for. No children to help with that first job. And, only a few relatives needing work. So, celibacy limited the priest’s interest in, and need for, money. And, it limited the number of relatives a priest had to support. And, all that went into building the church instead. Finally, celibacy almost automatically kept the moral failures out of the priesthood. Because the discipline of celibacy is usually beyond these people. But, celibacy is also the church’s greatest problem. Think about the recent sex scandals in the church. Actually there is nothing new about this. There is a long history of these sorts of things happening. All of this is simply the result of unfulfilled sexual desire. Because the release that would normally come from relations with a woman are not available to a priest. So, celibacy is the reason the church worked so well for so long, and celibacy is the church’s greatest downfall.
There is a darker side to this
Celibacy is relatively innocuous as inhuman custom go. There is a darker
side to this. There have been institutions that worked because of inhumanly
violent and brutal customs. Perhaps the closest historical example is classic
capitalism. The capitalism that was practiced over a century ago in England
and Europe. This economic institution worked because it was inhumanly cruel
to workers and the poor. That we know, it still happens today. But, capitalism
also worked because it was, in a strange way, inhumanly moral and law abiding,
at least in the countries that were most successful at practicing capitalism.
The concept of “Survival of the Fittest” applied both up and down the social
ladder. So, if a capitalist “Lost his shirt,” that was usually the end
of him as a businessman. And, if he was involved in a scandal, and the
business collapsed as a result, that was the end of him in any business,
period. He either had to run or go to jail. There was no Kenneth Lay (the
former CEO of Enron) getting off scot free after the business collapsed.
Back in those times he would have been ruined, and in jail, and his family
would have lost everything. By everything, I do mean everything. Everything
but the clothes on their backs. His wife would have had go to work as a
waitress, and his kids would have had to go to work at a mill. And, this
would have gone on until the bankers and investors who lost money in the
collapse decided to forgive his debts (i.e. their losses). Classic capitalism
worked because it followed a cruel logic. So, it remains to be seen if
our recent national experiments with kinder, gentler, capitalism can work.
But, I think a brief examination of history gives a negative answer. Now,
Let me give you some other examples of inhumanity.
The Turkish Empire
I think another good example of an institution that worked because
of inhuman customs, and failed when the custom was abandoned, was was the
process of succession in the late medieval Ottoman Turkish Empire (about
500 years ago). The empire was ruled by an absolute despot, the Sultan.
And, the sultan had a harem of many wives, and so had many sons. Now, when
the old sultan died, his sons engaged in a ritual civil war, and the surviving
son became the next sultan. All of the previous sultan’s sons died in the
struggle (even if the son was only three years old). This was kind of like
what you see today watching the “Highlander” series of movies, only more
complicated because the survivor had to have the support of the army and
the bureaucracy. But the result was the same as in the movies, “There can
only be one”. Now, this custom was just too inhuman. It was totally cruel
and barbarous. So, eventually the custom was abandoned, and a more humane
method of choosing the next Sultan was created. But, after the political
change the empire began to decline. Some people thought it was because
of the change in the succession process. Why? Because the old system, while
inhuman and cruel, did insure that the best of the old sultan’s sons became
the next sultan. Understand, the empire was always corrupt and shaky. Only
the best of administrators could hold it together. Only the best of politicians
could lead it. The old succession process insured that the empire usually
had the best possible leader at the top. So, a lot of other things had
to change about the empire, to allow a change the method of succession.
The Roman Empire
Another example of this was the unparalleled social and political stability
of the ancient Roman Empire. Perhaps this was due to the violence of the
gladiatorial games. Perhaps the gladiatorial arena was an institution that
generated stability, that allowed the empire to die of slow decay rather
then of youthful violence. So, why did having people fight to the death
to amuse the crowds promote stability? Because the games ate up the most
angry, violent, and disruptive elements in Roman society. Having people
kill and cripple each other in the arena kept them from damaging society.
Also, the games gave the government an alternative to the death penalty.
Gladiators were either convicted criminals, or free men who sold themselves
to lanistas (gladiator trainers) for the (possible) “glory” of the arena.
Now, what kind of person would sell himself to a lanista? What kind of
person would become a slave, to fight, and possibly die, in the arena?
What kind of pain, frustration, resentment, rage, or boredom could make
someone do that? I don’t know. But many people in ancient Rome did just
that. Anyway, shortly after the Roman Empire became Christian (at least
in name) the games were outlawed, and shortly after that the empire collapsed.
And, more then a few Romans thought the outlawing of the games was the
cause of the collapse. So, sometimes institutions can only work because
of customs that deny the imperatives of human nature, or even are violently
opposed to human, like celibacy. Removing the inhuman custom can be dangerous
for an institution because the changes have to go much deeper. Because
the custom could be propping up things that would otherwise be unstable.
So, removing the inhuman practice can cause the whole edifice to collapse;
unless the changes go much deeper. It may be that natural human desires
are the downfall of great institutions.
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17 March 2004