It is all the same problem. Militarization of the police, violence against women, against minorities, against the environment: all related to the invention of this beehive.
I’m a beekeeper, so all week people have been asking my opinion on this new hive that has a lever or a faucet that allows honey to flow out without the inconvenience of interacting with the bees. My opinion is that we have a problem.
The two examples I’ve used to define the problem are picturesque. The one is the bad old joke of the camel driver who showed the traveler how he made his camel drink enough water for the journey: he took two bricks and smashed them together on the beast’s scrotum, after which the camel drank deeply. The traveler asked, “My lord, doesn’t that hurt?” and the driver replied, “Only when I get my thumbs caught between the bricks.” The second example is the aorta plug from the movie, Dune, where all the sex slaves of the Harkonnens had this feature installed for the convenience and pleasure of their master.
It is convenient to not care about others, to not be interested in their lives, their needs, convenient to make ourselves untouchable, invulnerable. Is that what we want, to not have to be bothered by anyone’s needs, to not have to interact with others? When we get to the check-out aisle, do we naturally choose the ‘self’ checkout to avoid interaction with another human? Why else are these so popular? Why else is secession from the union so popular, gated communities, private clubs, TV in every room? It’s all the same problem.
The easiest mistake to make as a new beekeeper is to take too much honey so the bees die out the first year. How do you think you will act with a faucet? The other great mistake new beekeepers make is to use plastic comb, the kind in this new beehive. Why would bees want to live in plastic? They only do it because you force them to. If you had the slightest interest in their needs, you’d know they would prefer their own wax combs over your silly plastic. Why do we feed bees sugar water instead of honey? All new beekeepers do it because “that’s what’s done.” It’s done because of the convenience of sugar, that it’s cheaper than honey. What does it matter that bees can’t digest cane sugar, beet sugar, corn syrup, without getting ill? They don’t die directly, and it’s cheaper than honey, so …
Our laziness is, perhaps, our strongest motivator, perhaps equal to fear if not greater. Why do we invent policy? We invent policy to keep people from having to actually examine the individual in the situation and come up with a human solution. Efficiency is beauty in some realms, but in human interactions it is lack of interest. Policy and bureaucracy are de-humanizing, but there is no sign we are backing off on their implementation. It is efficient to apply overwhelming force to crush the opposition, but it is also fear of contact, fear of vulnerability, and laziness to not have to listen to the demands of “those people.”
I teach beekeeping without veil or gloves. If you enter a hive without the overwhelming force of a bee suit, you actually have to care about how the bees are feeling today, and you have to be interested in any subtle messages they may give you about your actions. If my goal was making money or saving time, this would be terribly inconvenient. But my goal is to work with the bees, to see that they are alright. If they have extra honey and I remove it without a sting, even though I was completely vulnerable, I feel differently about everything afterwards. The bees and I were somehow working together as equals, both vulnerable, both benefiting from the relationship.
We say that love is the greatest thing. We may even know love is the greatest thing. Yet love requires, first and last and foremost, interest in the other, interest in the world. And rather than bemoan the “others” who are inventing and buying into ways to avoid contact with the world, let’s you and I get together.