After living through the "student -68" - years I was thinking of political ideologies as stages of development belonging to different ages: conservatives are 10-year old, good age for developing selfishness. Liberals are 15-year old, good age for trying out the limits. Socialists are in their 20-ies, good age to discover that there are other people around, with same needs and wishes as yourself. After that you have to grow up, and remember all of your stages without getting stuck in any of them.
my only quibble would be with the ten-year-olds. don't you think that's a little late in the game to be developing selfishness. I feel like it's more of a toddler thing...those are the ones who go around saying "I HATE sharing!" but this is entirely the result of observing other people's kids, a LOT of them, though.
I was thinking of the terrible abuse of children's loyalty to their parents in the 70ies: "we must start with the children" (to make people socialists). This was just the adults, not being able to live with their ideology, demanding it from their kids. The appropriate thing to do would be to acknowledge the selfishness in children until they are safe enough to maybe give up a little bit of it in their 20ies, out of themselves.
Fascism to me is about surviving at the cost of others, which as archetype is only legitimate for women that can give birth. As such we are all involved in fascism from one ancestor or other, and it is not something we should attribute to "the other", to make an enemy that we are entitled to fight. All socialist experiments that I know of have deteriorated into a minority taking advantage from a lot of people giving up their natural selfishness. The extreme selfishness of "conservative" oligarchs must be opposed weather they were mistreated in their teens or not.
Does this mean I can ignore the newly arrived email from Frump Social Media whose title is "We emailed you 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 times"? (Spoiler Alert: It came in the mail only once)
Or the one from the FLA guy whose title is "Holly Woke Punches Florida"?
Plus, I've received several other GOP emails this past week. They must be hurting for $$ as I rarely hear from them.
Fits TFG up to a point. He’s not a jolly man, has probably known any true joy in his life, has never experienced the awe that overwhelms one in the presence of true beauty. Art, music, literature mean nothing to him.
See, Tom, this is why I'm here and still on Facebook, for references from my FB friends like this..... I like the C.S. Lewis quote, but the Santayana one is gold.....
Thank you TC for my Good Friday reflection. And , per TS Eliot, may tfg, the hollowest of men, have his world end "...not with a bang but a whimper."
Interesting how the more things change, the more they stay the same.
After living through the "student -68" - years I was thinking of political ideologies as stages of development belonging to different ages: conservatives are 10-year old, good age for developing selfishness. Liberals are 15-year old, good age for trying out the limits. Socialists are in their 20-ies, good age to discover that there are other people around, with same needs and wishes as yourself. After that you have to grow up, and remember all of your stages without getting stuck in any of them.
my only quibble would be with the ten-year-olds. don't you think that's a little late in the game to be developing selfishness. I feel like it's more of a toddler thing...those are the ones who go around saying "I HATE sharing!" but this is entirely the result of observing other people's kids, a LOT of them, though.
I was thinking of the terrible abuse of children's loyalty to their parents in the 70ies: "we must start with the children" (to make people socialists). This was just the adults, not being able to live with their ideology, demanding it from their kids. The appropriate thing to do would be to acknowledge the selfishness in children until they are safe enough to maybe give up a little bit of it in their 20ies, out of themselves.
Fascism to me is about surviving at the cost of others, which as archetype is only legitimate for women that can give birth. As such we are all involved in fascism from one ancestor or other, and it is not something we should attribute to "the other", to make an enemy that we are entitled to fight. All socialist experiments that I know of have deteriorated into a minority taking advantage from a lot of people giving up their natural selfishness. The extreme selfishness of "conservative" oligarchs must be opposed weather they were mistreated in their teens or not.
Does this mean I can ignore the newly arrived email from Frump Social Media whose title is "We emailed you 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 times"? (Spoiler Alert: It came in the mail only once)
Or the one from the FLA guy whose title is "Holly Woke Punches Florida"?
Plus, I've received several other GOP emails this past week. They must be hurting for $$ as I rarely hear from them.
Fits TFG up to a point. He’s not a jolly man, has probably known any true joy in his life, has never experienced the awe that overwhelms one in the presence of true beauty. Art, music, literature mean nothing to him.
Nor the joy and beauty of fellow humans.
Thanks for these excerpts. The descriptions certainly fit - and they likely fit a few others as well.
Good ones. I wish Mary Trump would add her own in writing. She certainly has him figured out!
I love excellence.
See, Tom, this is why I'm here and still on Facebook, for references from my FB friends like this..... I like the C.S. Lewis quote, but the Santayana one is gold.....