In his brilliant book ‘Myths to Live By’, Joseph Campbell talks about how myths are the fundamental stories on which cultures are built. Without them, modern societies cannot develop the complex rules and structures to survive.
But what of modern societies and the modern myths we have built to perpetuate perhaps unhelpful attitudes, ones that inhibit our development?
China is an interesting case in point. A colleague of mine did a youth panel in China for a client on the attitudes of Chinese towards their society and themselves. And he found something interesting.
The talk at the moment post Olympics is about Chinese nationalism. How confident, even arrogant, Chinese are about their power and their place in the world. And in the research this comes out, collectively Chinese are very confident about the future.
But individually they are scared. They are one in 1.5 billion people, they fight for education, for jobs and for partners. They are scared of not succeeding in a society changing at break neck speed. And they are lonely. As a generation of kids who don’t have siblings, and who have done it on their own and are desperately keen to reach out and connect. From the outside you wouldn’t know this, inside Chinese are desperately frightened of the future.
The Chinese of course are not alone in their collective myths. Look at Australians. For a long time we have promoted the character of being pretty much care-free, easy going, beer loving and relaxed people. We are the larrikin, the fun loving, not taking life seriously Paul Hogans of the world and the world has loved this image of us. And so have we. Just look at that god awful movie Australia.
But the reality for most Australians is not the laid back image we like to project. Australians are in truth are under siege. We work harder and longer than almost any western country, and take less holidays. Far from being care-free we have reportedly some of the highest rates of stress and suicide in the western world. The mask of ambivalence is a thin one, and disguises to few the very real anxiety we face about the world and our place in it.
So what’s wrong with these myths? Aren’t they just an ideal that we all aspire to? Are they not just the best of what we can be?
Perhaps they are. But what if as people, they stop us from being who we are. If by trying to pretend to care less, we commit suicide because we fall short of the tough guy we are told to be. If by trying to live up to this image, we bury ourselves and those we love. What if this myth of ourselves is the very thing that holds us back?
In Thailand the myths are powerful. They are of a people who are kind, generous, and considerate to elderly. This campaign from Kasikorn Bank sums it up. And the proof of this myth to the outsider seems everywhere around in the people, in the way they treat everyone.
But take a closer look at young Thais and you will see a different story. Huge alcohol and drug problems, gangs, lack of employment and huge class divisions between the rural majority and their city brothers. The difference between the values they are told to aspire to, and the values they live and see every day, has never been greater. As has been the lack of acknowledgement of this difference.
In the case of Thailand, this reality is playing itself out now. It seems surprising to many, how this society of warm and loving people, be so embattled against each other. But if a society fails to look beyond its myth, and refuses to acknowledge the reality of all its citizens, it will collapse. A failure to bridge this gap could be catastrophic for any country.
Here’s hoping this isn’t the case here.
No comments:
Post a Comment