A Better World? Part 4: The Spirit of Human Rights
2017 CBC Massey Lectures – Payam Akhavan’s “In Search of a Better World: A Human Rights Odyssey”
In searching for a better world, Akhavan uses youth idealism to help show that we must first shatter the perceived images of childhood, reconsidering our own “responsibility to speak truth to power”. He implies that youthful idealism is tied to cultural and societal representations of life, and for those who have gone through some form of suffering, there is a deeper importance to enjoying the “free” moments, while you have them.
This level of importance is then passed down to future generations, however, a deeper personal value, meant for a thicker layer of numbness attached to the lesson. The result, a generation of youth who are obsessed with who they pretend to be verses who they really are…
Youthful idealism promotes a “radical reconception of reality”, as put by Akhavan. The idea of, and respect for, self is first founded within a world outside of popular culture. Children/youth start their formative years with their own optimistic perspectives of the world, perceived based on teachings within the home and then of those closest to their families. As a child grows and matures, they enter into the popularly cultured world, and the influences and pressures of that society begin contaminating the original lessons learnt; becoming more alluring, or compelling to those introduced to it.
So then how can youth be expected to change the world, when the popular culture within a society places limitation or hypocrisies on the authenticity of action? How then, can youth see the need for change and become engaged, when the value of self preservation is represented so highly?
Payam Akhavan’s account of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as well as his revisitation of Mona Mahmudnizhad in the final lecture, sparked a simple conversation about hair in the black community, amongst me and some family members. Noting that, there was an appreciation and subliminal expectation, for the strength and preservation of long, healthy hair, and yet an appeared shame, or sometimes hatred for the originality and freeness within its range.
I found it most interesting that the seasoned members of the discussion strongly expressed the importance of structure and organization within the styles they liked, ensuring not to rock the boats and disturb the peace. Their opinions and values, however well-intended, were deeply rooted in the oppression and conformities of slavery, either experienced firsthand or through ancestral stories passed down to them.
To quote one of them:
“We’re not saying to change it, to say to change it means that we don’t agree with what God has given us. Just neaten it up!”
The younger members, most of whom were born into “freedom”, spoke mainly to possibilities and examples displayed in social media; their fears and hesitations accompanied by moral validation and instant gratification.
The influence of the older generation allowed the youth to recognize the importance of change, fanning a constant flame to its spirit. Unfortunately, the fears of consequential oppression fostered within the older generation also implicitly taught the younger generation that change is futile, and thus we also shouldn’t make too many waves.