Christianity Resurrects Nietzsche

Been a while since my last post, which is good I think because I have had time to think about things and mull them over a bit. One thing that has occupied my mind for the past few months is the subject of philosophy which I am currently studying at varsity. So naturally we have covered all the giants of classical philosophy (At least to my mind they are) like Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato- about whom some have said has laid the foundations for all western philosophy. I personally do not subscribe to such a reductionist view of philosophy but I will admit to the profundity of Plato’s work. But I digress, recently however we have studied a modern philosopher that, in my opinion, turned the entire philosophical world on its head. By looking at the mustached man in my picture I’m sure most of you will know that the man who I’m talking about is none other than Friedrich Nietzsche. The man who famously proclaimed the ‘death of God’ and who has gotten some stick for writing ideas that allegedly resulted in the Holocaust. I must say that I am not sympathetic with some of Nietzsche’s ideas but I do believe that many people have misinterpreted his works and ideas, and as a result many people tend to dislike him for his counter mainstream ideas. If one truly studies Nietzsche without any nuance, I believe that one finds that he is probably one of the most honest and colourful philosophers that have ever lived.

 

Well now that I have stroked Nietzsche’s mustachey ego, it’s time to mention one of his ideas that have had a major impact not only on philosophy, but society in general as well. One of the quite revolutionary ideas in philosophy that Fred proposed was that there is no objective, or absolute truth, but rather that we create truth by having different perspectives. It was this specific idea that contributed to the idea of post-modernism, and this is also why Nietzsche is regarded as the father of post-modernism. Now the reason I have an issue with this is that people have not only applied relativism to truth, but as well as morality which is quite frightening, and Nietzsche himself said that because absolute truth and objective morality have been subverted- that the 20th century would be the bloodiest century yet. And he was right, more people died in the 20th century than what is combined in the 19 centuries that preceded it. Most Christians that know of Nietzsche tend to be hostile towards his views as he was anti most things Christian. Ironically though I believe that a bit Nietzschean ideology has crept into the modern Christian subconscious.

I believe that the way Nietzsche’s philosophy has gained a foothold in the Christian mindset is through the process of compartmentalization- where Christians have segregated different aspects of their lives and attached not only differing, but contradictory ideologies to them. So in terms of their church life they believe in showing love and compassion but when they get are at work they see it as quite appropriate to be completely bigoted towards the lifestyles espoused by some people. The reason the Christian does not see the error in this is that he has resolved himself to believe that it is okay espouse non-biblical principles and ideas as long as these ideas belong to a part of his life that doesn’t incorporate church life. The error the Christian has made here is that he does not realise that church life forms part of, and is an extension of his public and private life. It is quite sad to think that Christianity has been reduced to a ‘choose your own truth and adventure’ type of lifestyle  because not only are Christians who do this shown to be hypocritical, but they continue besmirch the name of Christianity and give the rest of the world reason to lambaste Christianity. How ironic it is that the philosophy of the man who proclaimed the death of God is being unknowingly adopted by those who espouse a theistic framework. So, although our friend Fred died in 1900- this trend in Christianity has resurrected the bewhiskered German and has shown that Nietzsche is quite alive and well.

Here is an interesting Nietzsche quote to end off with:

The word ‘Christianity’ is already a misunderstanding- in reality there has been only one Christian, and he died on the cross

 

An African Renaissance

It’s election season in South Africa, and over the next few months South Africans should expect to be barraged with politicians promising change, dancing in public, and kissing babies on screen. I somehow feel that the elections this year will be a lot different from the ones that have gone before them. For one, I think that people in most places around the country have become disenchanted with the equivocations of the ruling party; people of all races and from different spheres of society have much to begrudge the efficiency and credibility of our government.

For decades the ANC has fought for the equality of all South Africans in all spheres of life, and to some degree they have achieved that. However, I feel that in order to say that all South Africans are equal or have equal opportunity, we have to address the issue of language equality. I say it is an issue but most people wouldn’t see it as such, and some might only be thinking about this for the first time. Nelson Mandela once said, “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony with equal opportunities.” But how can there be equal opportunity when there is inequality in education? The best tertiary institutions in the country only provide university courses in English and Afrikaans, (2 of the 11 official languages) which is hugely disproportionate to the amount of students that use either of the two languages as their preferred means of communicating.

What generally occurs in our current education system is that many students are taught in their mother tongue during elementary and secondary school but when they arrive at university they are forced to choose to study in either English or Afrikaans. This places them at a huge disadvantage before they even begin their studies and more often than not results in them failing and dropping out of university. The choices these students are then left with are either to look for work that doesn’t require an undergraduate degree or to pursue their studies at an institution that offers courses in their mother tongue. Sadly many of these institutions only offer a handful of courses and are generally below par in terms of the education they provide. Quite a sad state of affairs. How many great scholars, scientists or poets are we missing out on because language is a barrier for them? Would South Africa have been able to produce a Pablo Neruda or a Blaise Pascal with the current situation this country finds itself in? The answer to that is a sad and a resounding ‘no’.

With all my complaining however, I find myself privileged to live in a country that has a plurality of cultures and 11 official languages, but if we’re truly honest it is English that rules the roost linguistically and it is English that will continue to do so for the foreseeable future sadly. This of course is no surprise, English is after all the lingua franca and the language of the global citizen. However, I believe that if South Africa and even Africa is to prosper and have its own renaissance period, then there needs to be a way to promote and support the use of our indigenous languages at universities nationwide. If this does not happen, I fear that the African perspective might be lost in a sea of western ideals and philosophies.

virginity can be cured…

Irresistibly Fish

aka ‘What The Back of His T-shirt Should Have Said’ [spoken word – Micah Bournes]

some powerful thoughts contained in this spoken word as a response to seeing a t-shirt with the words “Virginity can be cured” on it:

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The Sea of Relativity

 

I love food, and the awesome thing about living in South Africa is that there is so much variety that you almost don’t know where to start when it comes to trying everything on offer. Ah yes, plurality in the culinary world is a glorious and delicious thing, but I noticed a trend that has slowly infiltrated its way into mainstream society. It is the belief that all worldviews- whether it be a religion or a philosophy of life- are true. I think pluralism is great don’t get me wrong, the fact that there is so much variety and diversity in culture and the fact that there isn’t one totally dominant culture is something we should celebrate. But if plurality is taken to the arena of morals and values then I believe we are treading on very dangerous ground. 

I’m a huge fan of different cultures and how people do things differently, and a definition that has helped me understand culture a bit better is by sociologist Daniel Bell who defines culture as,  “the effort to provide a coherent set of answers to the existential situations that confront all human beings in the passage of their lives.” The thing that struck me most about the definition is that there needs to be coherence about life and I think it is a lack of coherence in our thinking that has made its way into cultural milieu we find ourselves in.

I think that one of the reasons this has happened is because of our need to be politically correct. We live in a society where there is a flowering of individual thought, free will, and freedom of choice, which I am a huge advocate of but to what end? Whatever beliefs I hold to, no matter how bizarre are given equal value to everyone else’s. Now you might be thinking “of course, THAT’S EQUALITY!” However I think we need to draw the distinction between the equality of people and the equality of ideas. I believe in the equality of all people, that one’s a no brainer, but ideas cannot be said to hold equal value because you get some great ideas and then you get some really bad ones. The abolition of slavery- great idea, and so was giving men and women equal rights. Now in the same vein you also have your bad ideas, like the Holocaust, apartheid, colonialism, I think you get the picture. Now if we are to believe that all ideas/world views are of equal value then we will ultimately end up with a society that espouses and even protects relative moral values. I for one believe in the objectivity of truth and values and I think one of the ways the degradation of society can be halted is through the espousal of objective moral values. If we do not, we run the risk of drowning in a sea of relativity.