The Importance of Symbols

Yesterday, the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty announced that there would be steps to limit the wrangling about where to place construction projects, because nobody seems to want anything near their back yard. There was an article about it in the Toronto Star here

One of the latest arguments is about wind turbines. I would like to give a long-term historical perspective on construction projects like this. It can be easily argued that the wind turbines will not save the planet from global warming, and that they won't even provide a steady plentiful supply of electricity. It can even be argued that they will destroy the environment, kill birds, cause headaches and of course reduce property values. And that they are eyesores.

But the advance of civilization has always been done with symbolic constructions that served little or no purpose. What really was the use of building the Egyptian pyramids? I would argue that not one positive, useful thing was accomplished. But symbolically, they gave the people what all symbols give: hope, common purpose, and pride. I bet that back in 4000 BC, there were the people in the local neighbourhoods, complaining about the cost, the noise and smell of all the slaves, the waste of resources that could be better spent growing food or building roads or defensive walls against the enemy. People complaining about the ugly pyramids blocking their view of the Sahara desert. But the pyramids won out, and the Egyptian civilization flourished in spite of this massive waste of energy, time, and treasure.

Later on, we have the Cathedrals of Europe in the middle ages. Same thing. Naysayers on one side, the true believers on the other. The believers won, the naysayers were burned to death at the stake, and civilization moved on.

As we get to the Industrial age, the age of reason, and enlightenment and science, you might say that all symbolism disappeared and all the new constructions from that time on were of practical value only. Were they?

The railroads were a symbol of the future back in the 1800's, and I'm sure they carried people and goods. But first you have to lay a lot of track, build a lot of infrastructure, borrow a lot of money, build a lot of confidence before you carry the first thing. The track has to go through or near to somebody's property, or some ecologically sensitive area. There was a lot of cheating, fraud, bribery, and corruption involved with building the railways. Not all railways were profitable and useful in the end, many went bankrupt. There were also a lot of people killed in building the railway, and in railroad accidents. Many Chinese labourers had to be brought in, and they never went back home when the railroads were done. In the USA they used railways to completely wipe out the great buffalo herds. And a lot of money was diverted that could have been much better used in other ways. Canada, for example was almost bankrupted building a railway to Victoria, BC. But lots of greedy middlemen got rich on the project. And in the end the Canadian railway never did reach Victoria, it was just too hard to do. And not too many years later, here we are with highways, trucks, airplanes, and pipelines instead. We hardly need the railway anymore in fact we are ripping up many tracks. But the Canadian Pacific Railway was a symbolic project that after all brought the country together and we owe our current existence to it.

In the 1900's, people were building skyscrapers. I'm sure we could have done without them too, but symbolically they were important, and represented the new corporations that dominated world. I guess every symbolic construction has some ostensible use, but the historical importance to goes beyond that. It rallies people together in common pride and hope for the future. And a big enough project actually changes the future.

This new symbol we are starting to see is the giant wind turbine, which represent the hope for a clean green future. Whether wind turbines work or not, they give hope to people who conserve, who recycle, who think about the environment. They represent our independence from middle eastern oil and war, a sustainable future, free of fear from nuclear meltdowns and radioactive waste or other kinds of toxic waste.

We could probably do more to reduce greenhouse gasses by the simple act of banning clothes driers. But compare the symbolic effect of hanging out laundry. Practical, yes, inspirational no.

Most civilizations progress when millions of people in one nation, or many nations work together for a common cause. When people are not inspired to work together, civilizations collapse and die in debauchery and selfishness. Symbols help us promote where we want to go together in the future. That's pretty much how civilization progresses and always has.

Come back next week for a discussion on the importance of human sacrifice.