The Dangers of Idealism

It seems to me that many people are idealistic, by which I mean that they see the world not as it is but rather as they imagine that it should be. They tend to think that other people should think and behave in ways that conform to their idealistic vision, and they even believe that companies and governments should also be run in these ways. However, not all idealistic people think that people should behave and societies should be run in the same way, which is an obvious source of conflict. This is just one problem with idealistic thought. Another problem, of course, is reality, which doesn’t necessarily change just because someone thinks that it should.

A lot of younger people I speak with seem to be particularly vulnerable to idealism, often to the point of extremism. Many of them seem to believe that the world should operate in a particular way, and that if it weren’t for all those stupid people who disagree with them, everything would undoubtedly work perfectly. I say they are often extremists because they seem to think that if only those people who disagree with them could be silenced and controlled, then everything would always be free, the weather would always be perfect, and everyone could fly through the air on rainbow-powered unicorns. Of course not all young people are susceptible to such extreme idealism, and not all older people are immune to it, either, as some people never seem to learn.

Although these idealistic people generally express their ideals with passionate conviction and unquestioning certainty, believing them to be facts, they are often just opinions. And usually they’re not even the original opinions of the people expressing them, but rather a system of beliefs into which they’ve been indoctrinated. In other words, they have not arrived at their beliefs through cognitive thought and careful consideration, but have instead acquired them from external sources, from parents and teachers and peers, from the pages of books and the screens of televisions and computers. Apparently, there is never any shortage of bad advice or foolish ideas spoken in convincing tones of absolute certainty by figures in positions of apparent authority.

There are also a lot of people in the world who are not idealistic, but are instead cynical. They tend to distrust the motives of other people, believing that everyone acts purely out of self-interest. They don’t see the world how they think it should be, but rather how they think it is. They believe that things just are the way they are, and that they’ve always been that way and will continue to be that way in the future. These people operate under the assumption that the world will not change or improve, and they might as well take advantage of how it is, act in their own self-interest as they perceive everyone else to be doing, and make the best of it. In one sense these people are more realistic than the idealists, but cynicism is also a type of extremism.

There really are many kind and generous people in the world, and although some of them might be foolishly idealistic in certain ways, it doesn’t change the nature of their kindness and generosity. Others might see the reality of many aspects of life more clearly, but if they can’t see the importance of kindness and generosity, then whatever other insight or knowledge they might have is of little use. Conversely, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, as the saying goes, and misplaced kindness and generosity can end up being just as harmful as hatred and selfishness.

Without some measure of idealism, nobody would ever set out to improve anything, and the course of mankind would cease to advance. However, if the idealism isn’t rooted somewhere in reality, none of the efforts to improve anything would ever come to fruition, and likewise the course of mankind would cease to advance. Simply stated, in order to get from one place to another, the desire to get there is necessary, but so is the ability to successfully execute the steps along the way.

I imagine that, at some point in history, people lived along the shores of lakes and oceans, and on the banks of rivers, but they had no boats. Yet they wanted a way to float across the water or travel down the river, so eventually they figured out how to build boats. Early boats were most likely propelled by oars, and then later people figured out how to harness the wind using sails. After that, they learned how to propel them with steam, internal combustion, and so on.

The point is that the wish for the boat, and the initial imagining of it, was rooted in idealism, but the actual conception, creation, and testing of it had to be rooted in reality. It’s unlikely that someone could have created an effective boat simply by wishing for it, because it required a practical design and implementation. This was also true of cars and airplanes and spaceships and many other things not related to transportation.

For example, I’ve heard many people profess their strong belief in universal healthcare, but when I inquire about the specifics of what they mean by that, it usually turns out that they have no idea what they’re talking about. Perhaps their vague intention is good, wanting to provide healthcare to everyone, but it is far easier said than done. Some of these people even claim that this or that foreign country has implemented universal healthcare with great success, but often they are just repeating something they’ve heard on TV or read somewhere on the internet, and once again they have no idea what they’re talking about. In fact, if they were to find themselves in such a country seeking healthcare, they might end up sitting in a waiting room for ten hours just to make an appointment to see a doctor three months later. Because reality does not always match the report, and things are not always how we imagine or wish them to be.

In addition to universal healthcare, there is really no shortage of subjects for which people are willing to offer some trite platitude as if it were some type of solution. Some people want to establish what they consider to be a fairer tax structure, while others want to save the environment, improve the education system, reduce crime, or solve other problems like drug addiction and homelessness. And while some of these problems are certainly worth trying to address, there is no magic solution to any of them. Nobody can travel anywhere without first recognizing the reality from which they are starting, and no society can improve without first realizing the reality of its current situation.

The lessons of history are plentiful, and there are no clearer lessons about the dangers of widely adopted ideologies completely divorced from reality than those of the last century. The communist revolution of Lenin and Stalin in Russia, the national socialism of Hitler in Germany, and the cultural revolution of Mao Zedong’s Chinese communism are all examples of dangerous idealism put into practice, and in each case the results were similar. These results included widespread starvation, indiscriminate slaughter, brutal suppression of rights, and a general assault on basic human dignity.

Sadly, these lessons have been intentionally hidden and obscured by people with ulterior motives, and as a result it seems that quite a few people are ready to try it all again. There’s a saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and yet expecting different results. I’m not sure whether or not that’s the actual definition of insanity, but either way, I think idealism might be considered a form of insanity. If someone truly believes that some great new political party or form of government will come along to solve all the problems facing the country and the world, then that person is, at least in some sense, completely insane.