(Note: This is the second in my “Imperfectionist series” - better to do something half-assed that not to do it at all. This was published on Medium in April, 2021, and then censored - my first censorship, a badge of honor, sadly. It was also published on
Well-informed, well-written, thoughtful, enjoyable piece, Diane. Whoever Medium is censoring is a really good guide to who is worth reading these Covid-Crazy days. I, too, was censored by Medium - truly a badge of honour, as you say.
Diane, I really enjoyed. You covered a lot of bases. I remember I first learned about Terror Management Theory at the time of the 2003 war on Iraq. I think plausibility that Laing writes about is important, especially as there are so many elements of society working together to make the fiction function practically. From what I can tell from my family, people got a kick out of being public health authority enforcers. We cannot ignore the element of jouissance, scary though it is
Seligman's learned helplessness reminds me of Hannah Arendt's comment that people in Germany were not only isolated , atomized, lonely, but also that they lost their instinct for self-protection. I heard some odd things at the beginning of the pandemic, people joking about giving oneself to science.
If Arendt's analysis is right, the issue of reason and cognition might come out different. Ideological thinking always begins from a single unassailable premise and then followed deductive logic. It is the rigor of the logic that is danger. It allows people to follow what comes according to logical necessity, and it allows them to negate, dismiss, any counter factual to their premise. She is pretty insistent on this point and says that it is much worse to follow rigid logic from a premise that cannot be questioned, than it is to have a bad, vulgar, bigoted premise. Interestingly, this aspect of the deductive logic fits her explanation for why the highly educated elites were much more zealous than the average working German. A pleasure, even if a reflection on such dark times.
A comment on Diane's self-critique: I thought the piece was very well done, and hung together well, up to the Personality Factors heading. From that point on, I felt I was reading notes for a sketch that hadn't been completed. As an editor, I think it would help to move your Author's note about imperfection to that point, as it unnecessarily diminishes otherwise excellent writing.
I just read this short piece by Aaron Kheriaty on Anatomy of Coercion which also explains some dynamics of domination. https://aaronkheriaty.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-coercion?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cta
Well-informed, well-written, thoughtful, enjoyable piece, Diane. Whoever Medium is censoring is a really good guide to who is worth reading these Covid-Crazy days. I, too, was censored by Medium - truly a badge of honour, as you say.
Diane, I really enjoyed. You covered a lot of bases. I remember I first learned about Terror Management Theory at the time of the 2003 war on Iraq. I think plausibility that Laing writes about is important, especially as there are so many elements of society working together to make the fiction function practically. From what I can tell from my family, people got a kick out of being public health authority enforcers. We cannot ignore the element of jouissance, scary though it is
Seligman's learned helplessness reminds me of Hannah Arendt's comment that people in Germany were not only isolated , atomized, lonely, but also that they lost their instinct for self-protection. I heard some odd things at the beginning of the pandemic, people joking about giving oneself to science.
If Arendt's analysis is right, the issue of reason and cognition might come out different. Ideological thinking always begins from a single unassailable premise and then followed deductive logic. It is the rigor of the logic that is danger. It allows people to follow what comes according to logical necessity, and it allows them to negate, dismiss, any counter factual to their premise. She is pretty insistent on this point and says that it is much worse to follow rigid logic from a premise that cannot be questioned, than it is to have a bad, vulgar, bigoted premise. Interestingly, this aspect of the deductive logic fits her explanation for why the highly educated elites were much more zealous than the average working German. A pleasure, even if a reflection on such dark times.
A comment on Diane's self-critique: I thought the piece was very well done, and hung together well, up to the Personality Factors heading. From that point on, I felt I was reading notes for a sketch that hadn't been completed. As an editor, I think it would help to move your Author's note about imperfection to that point, as it unnecessarily diminishes otherwise excellent writing.