Exactly, Daniel! I confess, I'm relieved to hear you say that. I obviously misunderstood, when I thought you were hoping to rationally “re-direct” the arguments of deeply paranoid people. What you say now is very close to what Chomsky has been saying for decades, about the waste of energy (at BEST) when otherwise well-balanced and inte…
Exactly, Daniel! I confess, I'm relieved to hear you say that. I obviously misunderstood, when I thought you were hoping to rationally “re-direct” the arguments of deeply paranoid people. What you say now is very close to what Chomsky has been saying for decades, about the waste of energy (at BEST) when otherwise well-balanced and intelligent dissenters (which rules out Q-Anons and their ilk) start getting fascinated, and then obsessed by conspiracies. However, the weakness in Chomsky that I see (and I surmise you might agree with me here...) is his near-total neglect of the psycho-spiritual dimensions. He, and many intellectuals like him, seem to think that institutional analysis is sufficient, and that deep psychological insight (never mind spiritual...) is of secondary importance, at best — if I’m not mistaken, Noam even said that once, pretty much… Anyway, he’s mistaken, as are all the Progressives who think like this. The psychic and spiritual aspects are crucially important, if we are to understand what makes Americans, especially, so resistant to 1) acknowledging our huge national Shadow (as many European countries have begun to do), with regard to our history, right up to recent times; and 2) acknowledging the corrupt, oligarchical nature of the “1%” that rules our economy and our government, through the corporate stranglehold on both of them. I don’t want to ramble too much here, so I’ll try to sum it all up with a personal anecdote, which reveals much of this psychological problem revolving around our collective Shadow: A few years ago, I spoke to a relative of mine — a very intelligent, well-educated woman, who began to vote (and worse, think) Republican a decade or so ago. When she accused me of being an “America-hater”, I was inspired to turn the tables: “No. Not only am I not an America-hater — my love for it is realer and deeper than yours. You cannot bear to face America’s Shadow, as I do. You, and your fellow right-wingers, cannot imagine how it is possible to face the full horror of that Shadow, and the crimes it has committed ... and yet, still love this land, and keep faith in the potential it represents. You speak for the America of Reagan, Bush, and their ilk. I speak for the America of Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau, and Mark Twain."
Exactly, Daniel! I confess, I'm relieved to hear you say that. I obviously misunderstood, when I thought you were hoping to rationally “re-direct” the arguments of deeply paranoid people. What you say now is very close to what Chomsky has been saying for decades, about the waste of energy (at BEST) when otherwise well-balanced and intelligent dissenters (which rules out Q-Anons and their ilk) start getting fascinated, and then obsessed by conspiracies. However, the weakness in Chomsky that I see (and I surmise you might agree with me here...) is his near-total neglect of the psycho-spiritual dimensions. He, and many intellectuals like him, seem to think that institutional analysis is sufficient, and that deep psychological insight (never mind spiritual...) is of secondary importance, at best — if I’m not mistaken, Noam even said that once, pretty much… Anyway, he’s mistaken, as are all the Progressives who think like this. The psychic and spiritual aspects are crucially important, if we are to understand what makes Americans, especially, so resistant to 1) acknowledging our huge national Shadow (as many European countries have begun to do), with regard to our history, right up to recent times; and 2) acknowledging the corrupt, oligarchical nature of the “1%” that rules our economy and our government, through the corporate stranglehold on both of them. I don’t want to ramble too much here, so I’ll try to sum it all up with a personal anecdote, which reveals much of this psychological problem revolving around our collective Shadow: A few years ago, I spoke to a relative of mine — a very intelligent, well-educated woman, who began to vote (and worse, think) Republican a decade or so ago. When she accused me of being an “America-hater”, I was inspired to turn the tables: “No. Not only am I not an America-hater — my love for it is realer and deeper than yours. You cannot bear to face America’s Shadow, as I do. You, and your fellow right-wingers, cannot imagine how it is possible to face the full horror of that Shadow, and the crimes it has committed ... and yet, still love this land, and keep faith in the potential it represents. You speak for the America of Reagan, Bush, and their ilk. I speak for the America of Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau, and Mark Twain."