Deception and Dehumanization

Reading about America's reaction to the death of Osama Bin Laden reminded me of how some Americans reacted to dropping the atomic bomb and achieving "victory" over the "evil Japs" to end World War II. Of course, celebration of the bomb was not ubiquitous the way celebration of Bin Laden's death was, but the parallels are there: a so-called enemy to American security was defeated and a strong sense of nationalistic pride permeated the atmosphere. In both cases, people tended to forget that their supposed victories were accomplished through the loss of human life, and one could even say that Americans willingly deceived themselves into perceiving that the event was purely a good thing. In this sense, we can compare American celebrators to San Lorenzan Bokononists in their choosing to be happy rather than facing a bleaker, more gruesome truth.

This is also comparable to the end of the novel, when John/Jonah is left with Newt and the Crosbys. Although they face the end of the world and may be the last humans left on earth, they survive with relative contentment instead of wallowing in the tragic reality of their situation. The reason they do this is neither religious nor nationalistic; it is simply the only way to cope with life. Yet this is the essence of Bokononism: deception by choice for the purpose of survival. In Bokononism, such foma are considered "harmless", but in real life a culture of deception and ignorance can have serious consequences for humanity. For example, by celebrating the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, we forget that even our cruelest enemies are as human as we are, and instead of respecting all life and life itself, we respect only our life. And of course, the less we respect all life, the closer we come to ending the world, as the dropping of the atomic bomb shows us.