Virtue Peacocks and Other Birds

I return to blogging, after a long hiatus, with a reflection on our current state of public conversation (‘discourse’ if you need to sound elevated). One way I think about it is in terms of four birds. (As a poetry lover, I believe metaphors embody some truths much better than straight assertions, logical arguments, or experiments.) Everyone else seems to have something to say about the current state of things, why not me?

My four birds are the chicken, the peacock, the ostrich, and the owl.

The chicken is a particular chicken—Chicken Little. He (to pick a gender) runs around declaring “the sky is falling.” He is very excitable, very anxious, very alarmed, and has learned very little from history (though he often cites it, with alarming comparisons). Our Chicken Littles today chirp in all directions about the rise of this and the collapse of that. They smell evil everywhere, including in the smallest gestures. On the political scale, there are Chicken Littles of the Left and Chicken Littles of the Right, but they are really quite similar. They differ on what the evidence of collapse is, and the reasons for it, but they agree that things are getting worse and worse, and if we don’t “do something about it,” disaster and the end of morality are knocking on the door.

Do not try reasoning with or calming a Chicken Little. It will simply result in you being seen as evidence of their diagnosis.

Some Chicken Littles shiver quietly in the privacy of their own hearts and homes. Others take it on the road. These are the Virtue Peacocks. A Virtue Peacock is an example of our human need to feel that I am on the side of good in the world (not like those other people). In fact, I am an example of the Good. Virtue Peacocks seek opportunities to display their beautiful Virtue Feathers. The favorite place for those who don’t have a newspaper column or cable tv platform is social media—especially Facebook.

The easiest way to establish the beauty of your Virtue Feathers is to contrast yourself with others, who are clearly much less virtuous, even evil. So Virtue Peacocks, while claiming to be horrified at the behavior of others, are actually thrilled by it. It gives them the chance to display their scorn of such behaviors, without actually having to do any positive good themselves. (It being infinitely easier to object to evil than to actually do good.) Again there are Peacocks of the Left and Peacocks of the Right.

My third bird is the Oblivious Ostrich. Its metaphoric associations are well established. The Oblivious Ostrich sees, hears, and speaks no evil, because its head is in the sand, which makes all three difficult. The human equivalent is the person who sees no troubles around them except her own (to pick a gender). She is focused on her own life, has very little sense or concern for what nourishes or threatens the health of the larger community, and rests comfortably in obtuseness and ignorance. In the voting booth, the Ostrich votes for whoever promises the most things that she thinks will directly benefit her.

So, obviously, I don’t want to be one of these three birds. I want, instead, to be a Wise Old Owl. (I have already accomplished the middle category, so I’ve got a start.) I won’t presume to offer a definitive discussion of wisdom, but here are some qualities that characterize wisdom, each of them relevant to our public conversation these days: humility, circumspection, deep knowledge of the past and of human nature, right priorities, restraint, civility, and kindness—all shaping how one acts and lives. The list is much longer of course. Note that these are actual virtues, not Peacock Virtues. I’m a big fan of the virtues (values in action). I desire more of them for myself and for you and for all of us together.