Hanif Kureishi: Mediocrity Is An Acceptable Birthright
Posted By Nandalal_Rasiah on February 23, 2012
Was pointed to this editorial by Melissa McEwan’s twitter feed, in which Hanif Kureishi, the celebrated author, writes on natural skill and whether or not we should seek to improve our abilities in those areas where we are not so gifted. His editorial is a very good example of someone who thinks they have high verbal intelligence and takes great pains to make this plain to a reader that they imagine dull enough to find circumlocution interesting for its own sake. One sentence, however, stood out for its sheer tweed-jacketed myopia regarding the biological study of behavior and learning:
And it usually isn’t long, with experts, before they begin to talk, fashionably, about brains and chemicals. Biological determinism is one of psychology’s ugliest evasions, removing the poetic human from any issue.
Although several features of organized religion are regularly thrashed on BP none irritate me more than the sanctimony of cosmopolitan first-world writers who think the humanities a bulwark against the illiberal hordes of coarse and cold-blooded scientists who, in reality, are involved in arguments of much greater substance within their own communities than any rhetorical fisticuffs with the likes of Kureishi. If you manage to get through this muddled meditation on the manifold benefits of being ignorant, he finishes with a flourish indicating just how the ‘creatives’ manage to make a living:
This may be why most art is either collaborative — the cinema, pop, theater, opera — or is made by individual artists supporting one another in various forms of loose arrangement, where people might find the solidarity and backing they need.
Omar is a Pakistani-American with an interest in history. He also moderates the Asiapeace discussion group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/asiapeace/
I know I am late in posting this but I think one of Kureishi’s main points is that no matter how much closer we get to ‘understanding ourselves’ biologically we will never arrive at a point of complete self-realization such as in the way one can fully understand the workings of a machine simply because humans are and never will be machines. Life will always remain a mystery with every person brazenly, even curiously individual and so much the better!
No matter how much you preach biological determinism and believe this of others can you honestly say you believe that of yourself? That your work ethic, achievements, habits, hobbies, and the personal decisions you’ve made in your life are simply the result of various specific genetic feedback mechanisms? None of these were due to your personal effort and inclinations with you being your own agent distinct from a robot?
Here is a link to a superbly illuminating article of which I am astounded and extremely grateful to know that access to it is free:
http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Future-tense–VI–Under-the-scientific-Bo-Tree-7272
don’t put words in my post that I didn’t write. Where exactly am I ‘preaching’ biological determinism? Kureishi thinks his senses to be the alpha and omega of treatment modalities for all that afflicts the mind and body–bully for him but too bad for his kid. The most rewarding experiences in life are those involving the acquisition of skills for which one must fight.
Some barbarians don’t lose their nose-bone-piercings upon emigration to the West. He’s merely one of the more visible ones.
I think the point was about Hanif Kureishi’s apparent ignorance of what science is doing and his smug belief that his own ignorance is actually superior to whatever “they” are doing with their chemistry and biology..
indeed. i should just forward my posts to you for simplification. I waxed rather too Kureishi in this one.
I can just imagine his reaction upon going to a doctor for a few simple stitches and hearing, “well Hanif old boy, everybody’s gotta go sometime and a terrible bacterial infection is certainly something I’d need a microscope to see…”