The Illusion of Control

People, in general, seem to cleave to the notion that there is some kind of control in the universe. Be it through a deity du jure, political leaders, heads of state, kings of industry or even one's own inflated and misplaced sense of power, the illusion that there is any actual control over one's fate is pervasive and ingrained.

Let's face it, that feeling of control is utterly false. It can be (and usually is) shattered by forces far beyond our control more often than not. From something as random as a car accident or as deliberate as a planned crime, the control one has over their lives is taken in the blink of an eye. In retrospect, one can look back nad believe that if they had done something differently, this never would have happened. And they can go forward secure in the knowledge that it can't happen again; which, of course, is a fallacy at best.

So what causes this illusion to begin with? I believe it's caused by the way people are generally raised. We are brought up parents or guardians (usually) who (generally) control our environments in such a way that we think they're in charge and have things under control. With comprehension of issues like controling one's fate to be beyond the understand of most children, it's unlikely that they ever thought of the issue in the first place.

As time goes in, a child grows. But the illusion of control remains - for the most part shared by a school system and the parents. The environments are controlled and regimented and the illusion that everyone is prepared for some kind of potential issue promotes the illusion that they have control. Being prepared for an emergency is not control, of course, since even the most prepared people on Earth can't anticipate every possibility they'll face. Some part of the plan will fail to some degree.

Take, for example, the ownership of a firearm in defense of the home (For my feelings about firearms, you can read my other blog here). ALL of these plans include two glaring omissions that renders such an act moot: They require you to have the gun in your hand before you need it and to be able to react appropriately and swiftly when the time comes.

As a plan, this would generally work. The trouble is that it's not a plan that can be reasonably implemented. No one walks around with a gun in their hand all day and night in the privacy of their home (and if you do, you need serious psychological help). Having the gun in the home and making all of these elaborate plans omit the fact that you will never know when you need it and when you do, you will need to react appropriately and faster than they do.

It has never happened.

The control you think you have over the safety and security of your home, in that respect, is a complete illusion. What pushes it into delusion are the firearm death statistics (who actually gets killed by home-owned guns), but that blog's been written and you can read it if you want.

The point here is that any control you believe you have in this case isn't really there. In fact, it's not there in any case. The fact you have to plan for these events and other emergencies proves the utter lack of control. The unknown always ambushes us in ways we don't plan for (not that we can't, we just don't anticipate it), but the very act of ambushing us proves we don't have any control.

What's worse is that mankind is a willing and eager partner in this lack of control we have over things. From industrial cost (and corner) cutting, we get accidents that take or change lives. Even when we think we have a ready response to the worst Mother Nature throws at us, we find out that the parts aren't there, the materials are badly made or inappropriate, the logistics haven't been worked out or a million other things man had some actual control over which weren't done that end up meaning a lot of people are going to die and even more are going to be hurt. Even a family that knows it should have a "what to do in case of fire" plan usually doesn't and members die because they don't know what to do.

So rather than live with the uncertainty of when (not if) certain doom will be visited upon us, mankind invents deities or places their trust in our leaders (political, business, military, social, etc) that they will take care of us when things go wrong or will avert the event.

Fat chance. Praytell, when has that ever actually happened?

We may derive some measure of comfort in clinging to the illusion that people know what they're doing, that they're in charge and have things under control but mostly we're a race speeding from one disaster to another, learning to cope with the aftermath while turning a blind eye to the fact that we really don't have a fucking clue and from the looks of things, aren't going to get one anytime soon. People still believe that political leaders will right wrongs, that kings of industry are looking out for the little guy, that the military will protect us from harm or that God (or whatever deity you believe in) is going to stop something bad from happening. We think they, at least, have that power.

They don't. No one does.

Shit happens - the most succinct summary of this blog I can thing of. Shit happens. We can't stop it. We really don't have any control.

Does this mean we give up and let bad things happen? Of course not. But we can do more to alleviate the situation when bad things happen, and we can be more attentive and conscientious about the consequences of putting profits before safety. We can stop being willing contributors to the problem. Don't get a gun, get a security system and wear the alarm key at home. It may not stop the event from happening, but it will certainly prevent you from accidentally shooting a loved one (or yourself) and will probably be more effective (and certainly less messy) in scaring off intruders. Do your job right. Stop looking out for number one and start looking out for everyone.

Do no harm.

It won't give us control over everything (or much of anything, either), but we can at least control that small part of our lives which allows us to cope with life when control is - once again - taken away.