Volodymyr Kish.
In 1794, Thomas Paine, an English philosopher, published his seminal work titled “The Age of Reason”, wherein he argued that mankind should be governed by reason and rationality rather than ideology, particularly, in his time, of the religious variety. His work was part of a larger 18th century movement commonly known as the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason that brought about a revolution in scientific, philosophical, political and religious thinking that underpins what we now consider modern civilization.
Fundamental to this movement was the proposition that our actions and behaviours as human beings should be based on facts and reason and not unsubstantiated assumptions and beliefs, be they superstitious, traditional, religious, ideological or cultural in nature. Truth and facts are the essential components that drive progress, justice and a moral and progressive society.
The Age of Enlightenment sprang from the immediately preceding period know as the Renaissance, which developed the notions of humanism in philosophy, realism in the arts and empirical observation in the sciences. All of these marked a radical departure from the paganistic, ritualistic, authoritarian and theocratic beliefs that had governed how people had lived and thought since prehistoric times.
Although religious and political ideologies have continued to play an influential role in how our world has progressed in the past several centuries since then, it would be safe to say that those forces that shaped the Renaissance and the Age of Reason, have continued to hold sway in how our modern world has evolved and continues to evolve.
It is therefore somewhat surprising and disturbing to note that over the past few decades there have been significant political movements that seek to undermine truth, reason and rationality with a return to more purely ideological, fundamentalistically religious or emotional and populistic approaches as to how we govern and act as societies. The two grand practitioners of this currently are Putin and Trump.
Putin creates his own truth. His administration controls all the media in Russia and paints a distorted picture of reality that is believed by the majority of Russians. He has subverted the Russian Orthodox Church into another weapon of the Russian imperialistic cause. Those that don’t submit to his absolute rule are silenced or disposed of permanently. He has conveniently rewritten history and created a myth of the Russkiy Mir (Russian World) whose destiny is to rule the world. He invests considerable time and wealth in subverting the western world, spreading disinformation, lies and propaganda. His vast army of Internet trolls and hackers are eroding the credibility of all media, and creating security nightmares in an increasingly electronic world. Ominously, and in contrast to the at least superficially ideologically based threat posed by his Communist predecessors, Putin has no ideology. His aim is primitive and direct – to make this a world controlled by a kleptocratic Russian elite.
Trump, though not as overtly malevolent as Putin, is just as dangerous to the existing world order. For Trump, truth is what he says it is, with no regard to facts, evidence or any substantiation other than his words. The media are the enemy of the people. It is almost comical how from one day to the next, he continues to contradict himself, and quote blatantly false, inaccurate or distorted “facts”, knowing full well that his fawning admirers will believe him in the face of overwhelming factual evidence to the contrary. History has shown conclusively that when support becomes fanaticism, we have good cause to worry.
Sadly, the media is not Trump’s only target. One could extrapolate that he would easily have no compunction in classifying most of the scientific, economic, academic and political communities as enemies of the people. In his view, anyone that disagrees with his simplistic and uninformed views on almost anything are enemies of the people. Trump, supported by a significant minority of angry and disenchanted Americans who have come to believe in his populist, messianic rhetoric, is succeeding in dismantling many of the pillars on which American success of the past century has been built on, namely immigration, free trade, international cooperation, promotion of peace and human rights, experienced and competent leadership, and respect for a free press.
Successful societies and governments are built on trust. Trust is built on truth and justice. When you sacrifice any of these, you sink into disorder, fascism and inevitable decline. I sincerely hope that amongst the American and Russian populace, there are sufficient people of intelligence and good will that can withstand the current assaults on their well-being and bring about the restoration of a new Age of Reason.
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