Philosophy Professor Examines "Veils" in Democracies

By Peter Grennen

Who can forget the image of three New York City firemen raising an American flag, Iwo Jima–style, atop the rubble of the World Trade Center? Or the ensuing public debate"even before the flames at Ground Zero had been extinguished"over how to immortalize this image in a way that would attest to the ethnic makeup of the rescue teams? A new book by philosophy professor Ajume Wingo offers a compelling look at how matters like these find a place in the popular imagination and the role they play in inspiring people to become politically active.

In Veil Politics in Liberal Democratic States, Wingo examines the use in modern liberal democracies of what he calls "veils," which are idealized versions of a nation's political symbols, myths, rhetoric, and rituals. By glossing over unsavory historical facts"in the way the Lincoln Memorial, for example, is mute with respect to Lincoln's support of an income tax and his imperfect record on the slavery issue"veils transmit beliefs and ideals that tend to foster acceptance of the political culture as a whole. "Veils' main function is to embed the polity's values, bypassing explicit use of rational faculties," Wingo writes. "They provide a means of targeting very different audiences."

Wingo's insights in this area owe much to his own heritage and early-life experience. As a member of a royal family in Cameroon, he took part in the creation of veils designed to secure support for that nation's ruling class. In the United States, however, he discovered a far less pragmatic approach to veils. "America is a culture busy with symbols, but with an important difference"people see a symbol, but they don't see it," he says.

And that's as it should be, contends Wingo. He dismisses the idea that by disguising truth veils stand in opposition to notions like rational consent of the governed, one of the theoretical pillars of liberal democracy; rather, he says, veils serve the aims of the state as long as they remain tacit and translucent.

Veils can be likened to language acquisition," he says, "where citizens learn by immersion in a complex symbolic milieu." By extension, veils that are explicit"he cites President Bush's speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln announcing military victory in Iraq"may fail to arouse our emotions and thus lack the ability to motivate.

Similarly, veils are a critical consideration in efforts to export Western values and models of governance. "Veils are powerful tools that, if left to opportunists"like bin Laden in Afghanistan"can have disastrous consequences," Wingo says. In parts of the world inhospitable to democracy, the United States and its allies must strive for a "living legitimacy" that makes use of veils based on indigenous traditions"on "what makes these people tick," says Wingo. "People everywhere identify with blood and beliefs, with the things in which they have invested their fears and aspirations."

Veil Politics is a primer in a number of centuries-old themes of political philosophy"and it acknowledges its debt to several great thinkers of the Western tradition. But this volume goes well beyond armchair analysis, nimbly interweaving abstract discussion with concrete illustrations drawn from distant and recent U.S. history. "I wrote this book to be as practical a guide to the post-9/11 world as possible," Wingo explains.

Image: Ajume Wingo, professor of philosophy, examines "veils," idealized versions of a nation's political symbols, myths, rhetoric, and rituals, in his first book. (Photo by Harry Brett)

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