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I hate to be *that* guy. But I have some thoughts on this hugely viral (and very good) article about a "real-life Lord of the Flies"
THREAD https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/09/the-real-lord-of-the-flies-what-happened-when-six-boys-were-shipwrecked-for-15-months
THREAD https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/09/the-real-lord-of-the-flies-what-happened-when-six-boys-were-shipwrecked-for-15-months
First of all, I just want to say I loved reading it and immediately sent it to friends. The story of the Tongan teenage castaways is incredible. Bregman (the article's author) is right - more people should know about it!
I just can't resist picking at the dichotomy he sets up.
I just can't resist picking at the dichotomy he sets up.
i.e.
Golding's Lord of the Flies = misleadingly pessimistic about humanity
Tongan teenagers = the truth about human togetherness
Clearly, we need some positivity right now (see below). No issue with that. But let's dig a little more into this dichotomy. https://twitter.com/chrismoranuk/status/1259384916095139845
Golding's Lord of the Flies = misleadingly pessimistic about humanity
Tongan teenagers = the truth about human togetherness
Clearly, we need some positivity right now (see below). No issue with that. But let's dig a little more into this dichotomy. https://twitter.com/chrismoranuk/status/1259384916095139845
My first thought was... the Tongans were group of friends who already knew each other and who found themselves washed up together on an island. Against the odds, they survived. Their friendships deepened.
Crucially, in LOTF, many of the boys are strangers to one another.
Crucially, in LOTF, many of the boys are strangers to one another.
They find each other suddenly thrust together on an island - they notice otherness immediately (Piggy's fatness, Jack's boniness, Simon's placid quality) and this sets factions in motion.
This is because LOTF is AN ALLEGORY of what often happens in human society at large.
This is because LOTF is AN ALLEGORY of what often happens in human society at large.
Golding wrote LOTF in 1951 - at a time when practically everyone was coming to terms with the horrors of WWII. Look at the paintings of Francis Bacon. The writing of Satre. This was a whole age in which people had been deeply shocked by the terrible acts of the Nazis.
To dismiss Golding's thesis because he was a pessimist himself (Bregman points out Golding was an alcoholic, abusive towards his children, someone who said he was "of that nature", referring to Nazis)... is to miss the context he was writing in a bit.
And at the heart of so many investigations into *how* Naziism happened is that harrowing doubt: could we all be manipulated that way and become co-conspirators in genocide?
There's a bit of a myth out there that Hitler and his cronies brainwashed the population of the "Third Reich" with propaganda. But the truth is more complicated - and more unsettling.
Naziism was a powerful ideology becuase it played to people's greed, their prejudices.
Naziism was a powerful ideology becuase it played to people's greed, their prejudices.
However, very often people found creative and horrifying ways to "sign up" to that ideology all on their own. The best introduction to this is the documentary series "The Nazis: A Warning from History" https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01kkxvd/episodes/guide
In an atmosphere of distrust and prejudice, some...
In an atmosphere of distrust and prejudice, some...
...found they were enabled in terms of ratting on their neighbours, betraying authorities that Hitler wanted out. Some even found ways of murdering people the state had hinted were expendable.
In the documentary above, a family shares their memory of a relative with learning difficulties who was being looked after in a home. The staff "euthanised" them during an alleged flu outbreak. In truth, they murdered them. People with disabilities had become targets.
As far as we know, the staff at that home were not ordered to do this by an SS officer. They came up with this "patriotic" idea themselves. It's truly chilling.
We know that, before and since Naziism, similar dreadful things have occurred in fractured societies. To me, the central tenet of LOTF stands - in the right conditions, people can be exploited to do terrible things. I think that's what Golding was saying - not "everyone's awful".
Funnily enough, two years ago the Guardian published another article with an almost identical title: "A real-life Lord of the Flies". It's about the infamous Robber's Cave experiment. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/apr/16/a-real-life-lord-of-the-flies-the-troubling-legacy-of-the-robbers-cave-experiment
The oft-told story of the experiment = boys at a summer camp were split into two groups, the Panthers and the Pythons. Kept apart from each other, they instintively developed a sense of distrust and hatred. The experiment was called off after it got too violent to continue.
Except, it has since emerged that the boys resisted overt attempts by the experimentors to turn them against one another! In fact, much of what of the animosity reported by the scientists was directly put in motion by them, not the boys.
To me, this speaks to both those aspects of human nature at once. We do have an essential goodness, an instinct to resist evil. But we're also capable of messing up. Badly. Becoming prejudiced or blinded - pursuing hateful goals.
I'm sure someone will say "well, the CHILDREN in real-life were fine - it's adults who messed up!" which is also a false dichotomy. You don't need to look far to find examples of mallace emerging in children.
It's part of us, unfortunately. But in the end, I largely agree with Bregman (whose book I can't wait to read). We can light our way by reminding ourselves of what it means to be good.
It is hard work, this business of meaningfully helping each other. Like the Tongan teenagers, we face terrible odds.
But we have to do it, to survive.
END.
But we have to do it, to survive.
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