Exploitation. Power. Truth. These three concepts play a vital role in what we know as life. This was made clear within “Down at the Cross” by James Baldwin. By reading “ The Social Powers of Expert Healers” by Howard Brody and comparing the two essays one can better understand some of the views within their text. By analyzing Baldwin’s essay by using some of the views outlined in Brody’s, essay you can see how exploitation, power and truth play a vital role in his experience. Also you can be helped to see just how his perspective was able to change.
Baldwin truly feels that white people gained from the exploitation of black people. Baldwin goes on to state:
“ White people, who had robbed black people of their liberty and who profited by this theft every hour that they lived, and had no moral ground on which to stand. They had the judges, the juries, the shotguns the law-in a word power. But it was a criminal power, to be feared but not respected, and to be outwitted in any ways whatever, and those virtues preached but not practiced by the white world were merely another means of holding Negroes in subjection”(30).
White people clearly, in Baldwin’s eyes, were able to gain power through the exploitation of blacks. However it did not merely stop there. The white man could do more than exploit the black man. He could persecute, disrespect, degrade and even kill him. How? Along with abusing their power, the whites could do whatever they wanted with impunity. Black people were blind to this wicked use of power and only feared the consequences. Respect was not deserved, nor was it merited by the black people. The idea of the goodness of white people was rarely seen. It was just a method in which they could make the black man continue to look inferior. However, the key point is that the blacks would by any means necessary seek to outsmart or out wit these oppressors even if it were by playing them at their own game. Brody, like Baldwin brings up the argument that certain members of society have too much power over others. Brody states, “ social power is the primary element of physician power and the myth of Aesculapian power is used as a smoke screen lest the lower classes catch on” (112).
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Here the argument Brody brings up is shows that the power is gained by the expert at the expense of their patients. The experts can prescribe or suggest whatever they want, without fear of being questioned by the patient. The patient is convinced that the Aesculapian or true healing power is what enables the doctor to properly suggest what needs to be done. Most experts are aware of this. This attributes to their “self-preoccupation” and feeling of superiority over the patient. However, this is only used as a “smoke screen” until the lower class catches on and plays their game. Then no longer are they in total subjection like the blacks that find a way to outwit white people. Both the blacks and the patient go through the same struggle of being looked down upon, until they both stand up against their so called superiors. First they must come to realize that they are not inferior and decide upon the necessary actions that must be taken to prove this point. They cannot be blinded by the “smoke screen” put up to protect their superiors.
Power is definitely evident within the black white situation. Freedom from the oppression of whites was dependant on the power that could inspire fear. Baldwin goes on to state:
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“The social treatment accorded even the most successful Negroes proved that one needed, in order to be free, something more that a bank account. One needed a handle, a lever, a means of inspiring fear. It was absolutely clear that the police would whip you and get away with it and that everyone else- housewives, taxi-drivers, elevator boys, dishwashers, bartenders, lawyers, judges, doctors and grocers- would never cease to use you as an outlet for his frustration and hostilities” (30).
Baldwin is here helping the reader to realize that money would not be what could save them from being oppressed and treated as inferior. The police could still mistreat and abuse the blacks and get away with it. A person needed to inspire fear. In fact this is what the police had to their very own advantage over the African Americans and would not because of some random feeling of sincerity stop oppressing and abusing them with their power. Brody, like Baldwin feels that to be in the upper side of a situation one needs to have a handle to inspire fear or a need to be in subjection. Brody feels that experts have this physiological power over the people. Brody goes on to state of experts:
“ They belong are committed to a world view that prized specialized, scientifically based knowledge and the dividing up of all human experience into problems for which one must consult the correct expert if one is to have any chance of being happy” (111).
Brody here is explaining that the world credits and values the experts because of the special knowledge that they have. As a result of this, many feel they must consult one of these experts in order for their life to be happy. Within itself, this power attributed to the expert serves as a handle or means of inspiring fear or in this case subjection of the patient. A patient’s financial situation would not be enough to spare them from this abuse of power. The key point to the “freedom” mentioned by Baldwin is having a lever or a means to inspire fear. Enough so that police would not be able to abuse their power against the blacks and enough so that even though seeking the help of the expert, the patient can use their owned power effectively. Therefore they would not be held in total subjection. Both Baldwin and Brody realize that the people of higher position have this method of keeping the people under them in subjection.
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After seeing what he has seen within his career, the truth finally forces Baldwin to change. Baldwin chooses to separate himself from the church. He felt that the church, his gimmick, was not actually helping the people. Baldwin goes on to state
“ It is not too much to say that whoever whishes to become a moral human being (and let us not ask whether or not this is possible; I think we must believe that it is possible) must divorce himself from all the prohibitions, crimes and, and hypocrisies of the Christian church. If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, them it is time we got rid of Him” (42).
Baldwin brings to the forefront the idea that the church is not at all the refuge from sin, but in fact harbors the very crimes he once tried to avoid. In order for one to be the moral human being they are truly longing to be, one must separate oneself from the church. Brody, like Baldwin, feels that separation from certain traits is the key towards being a “good” expert. Brody identifies the key problem when he examined the issue of Dr. Walsh. Brody states:
“If Dr. Walsh went wrong, it may be due in part to an inappropriate and unrealized self-preoccupation. She may have been too wrapped up in her needs to vanquish the disease, decide what should be told to the patient, and see herself as a certain kind of compassionate physician. Thus and important character trait for the physician to cultivate would be a way of avoiding, or at least identifying self pre-occupation”(124).
Brody mentions here that the truth should be told to the patient and the experts should not be so preoccupied with themselves. The experts would need to humble themselves and realize that their self-preoccupation is what prohibits them from being moral human beings. As a result of this humbling, after self-analization, the importance of truth is seen. Their overall perspective must change. As the truth is told it will be for the good of the patient. Baldwin likewise had to humble himself and realize that the power he gained through the pulpit was by no means for the good of the parishioners. Seeing the abuse of power and the abundance of corruption in the world around him helped him to see that the same vile things were going on in the Christian Church. His perspective had to change. Brody and Baldwin both realize that separation form the evil of the church and self-preoccupation is the key to being moral.
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Whereas the ancient Catholic Church did not have much of a problem with capital punishment, the modern Catholic Church stands resolutely against capital punishment. The stand of the Catholic Church concerning death penalty gives a clear illustration of centuries of tension in addition to uncertainties. However, the Catholic Church with its stern stand has been able to manage all the tensions that ...
Clearly within both essays, exploitation, power, and truth played major roles. By reading Brody’s essay one can be helped to analyze Baldwin’s essay. One can clearly see how the exploitation of African Americans in his community was similar to the way the experts were able to exploit their patients. The key being to be able to see past the “smoke screen” and realize that neither the African Americans, nor the patients were inferior to the police or the experts. The two essays could help one to see how power was dependant on the ability to inspire fear not money. Both the experts and the police had that over the patients and the African Americans. They key to overcoming that problem would be for both the African American and the patient being able to acquire such a lever or means of inspiring fear to an extent where the police or the experts could not abuse them with their power. As the benefits of truth were seen, one could only be forced to change their perspective. This was clearly the case with Baldwin. In order to be a moral human being, he would have had to have a change in perspective. The experts also would need to have a change in perspective in order to be moral human beings and truly help their patients. The connections between the two essays were evident in numerous ways. By close reading, along with comparing and contrasting the two of them, a reader can truly be helped to understand and appreciate the text from the authors.
