Saturday, October 18, 2008

Why Are People Such Assouls?

Probably easier to just write a new post than dig through the arkive for the Saturday re-run.

Ever wonder why human beings -- I mean mankind at large, not this or that individual -- are such assholes?

That's an important question, isn't it? As the cliché goes, the leftist/radical/revolutionary loves mankind. It's people he hates. You know, Joe the Plumber. Sarah the Hockey Mom. Bob the Suburban Mystic.

For the Raccoon -- and any properly religious person -- it's more or less the opposite. He doesn't hate mankind. But he doesn't hold it in much esteem. At best, it is a neutral stance, in that for every great achievement of mankind, there are two or three abominations. For every peak, there is an equal and opposite valley. Charles Murray discusses this point in Human Accomplishment:

"What, I ask, can Homo sapiens brag about -- not as individuals, but as a species?... Military accomplishment is out -- putting 'Defeated Hitler' on the human resume is too much like putting 'Beat my drug habit' on a personal one. I also omit governance and commerce.... those achievements are akin to paying the rent and putting food on the table..."

Amazingly, the left believes that it can turn this situation around by merely increasing the size of government and the amount of rent they will charge us for it. They love to make fun of religious people, but can you imagine a more naive belief system?

The problem is not just that man is fallen, but that if he fails to realize this, he will not recognize the very medium in which he swims. Furthermore, he will mistake movement and agitation for real change, when it is merely disintegration and descent.

Everyone can see that there is a kind of "natural balance" in the biosphere. Or at least there was until the humans moved in and wrecked the neighborhood. People who imagine that only modern humans have done this are strictly fooling themselves. In fact, this is the take-away point of Genesis, isn't it? That the moment Man opens his eyes to dualism and self-awareness, trouble begins. Truly, there were no problem in the cosmos prior to that moment.

You could even delve more deeply into this problem and reduce it to its most basic element. This is what Bion did. He noted that the universal problem facing mankind -- both collectively and individually -- is thoughts and what to do about them. The obvious answer is to think them, but we all know how rare that is.

Or perhaps you don't. But virtually every psychotherapy patient is suffering from this problem if they are lucky. In other words, they are persecuted by depressed thoughts, anxious thoughts, thoughts of inadequacy or low self esteem, envious thoughts, obsessive thoughts, etc. Wealth doesn't matter. If anything, it only serves to underscore their misery, in that they realize better than anyone that no amount of money can eliminate the mind parasites that make one's head uninhabitable.

But most people don't even bother to think those thoughts. Instead, they enact things before they have a chance to become thoughts. Or they evoke them in others and make them miserable. Or they embody the thoughts in the form of pain or dysfunction. Or often they just deaden the source of the thoughts, either through drugs or alcohol, or sometimes just systematic neglect. Most people have never had an original thought in their lives.

So, man is clearly a kind of "new category" in the cosmos. There was no good in the cosmos prior to his arrival. But nor was there any evil. UF writes that man may "go beyond the limits of the law and engender arbitrarily malicious forces whose nature and action are beyond the framework of the law," for example, "the Molochs and other 'gods' of Canaa, Phoenecia, Carthage, ancient Mexico and other lands, which exacted human sacrifice."

Yes, these beings are the product of thought + imagination, except that they are for the purpose of destroying thought and imagination. That such cultures cannot evolve should go without saying, any more than the bloodthirsty Palestinians can evolve. The trouble with Palestinians is that they cannot ask the simple question: why am I persecuted by all these hateful demons? Instead of thinking the thoughts, they violently project them from the psyche, and then murder them. It seems to be the Muslim way.

How much better off they would be if they had a culture that recognized man's fallen nature! Such a culture will not externalize blame or adopt the role of victim. Rather, such a culture will collectively ask, "what did I do wrong, and what can I do to fix it?" You will note that the culture of the secular left has much more in common with the Palestinians, in that it never occurs to them that people are largely responsible for their own problems. Indeed, this is one of the purposes of a culture of liberty: to allow people to fuck up on their own. What a blessing! It has never occurred to me that I am a victim of circumstance. Rather, if I look a little deeper, I can always find something I could have done differently. Or not. Sometimes the problem is just me. Being me simply has a price. It would have been easy to be someone else.

Individuality is freedom lived. Or, to turn it around, freedom in the abstract is meaningless. So too is merely "embodied" freedom. Rather, what we are after is mental and spiritual freedom. These are the freedoms that the left resists. They do not want you to actually be an individual. Rather, you are a member of a group, i.e., black, hispanic, female, homosexual, transgendered, etc. But as UF points out, mystical revelation restores the freedom that has been partially or totally lost, in particular, the freedom to be oneself, which again, is the only real, concrete freedom. The left offers only counterfeit freedom -- for example the "freedom" to choose an abortion, even while they compel the premature sexualization of the innocent. Or a compulsory "fairness doctrine" that eliminates free speech.

Only the awakening of free will can deliver one "from possession by fixed ideas and psychopathological complexes." As Freud put it, "where id was, there ego shall be" (the real meaning of which is where it was, there I shall be). This is just another way of saying that, just as we have been attempting to colonize an enslaved world with liberal principles over the past 250 years, so too must we colonize the individual mind with those same principles. It serves no purpose to free a culture for socialism, as it is a contradiction in terms. It is like freeing an individual to become a slave.

Real lived freedom is a kind of every day sacred magic inserted from on high into the cosmos. For it is an analogue of the Creator's vertical generation of the cosmos itself.

38 comments:

walt said...

Most people have never had an original thought in their lives.

Well, the Left would dispute this -- however,
here
, speaking of A-holes, is a shining example of a collection of their thinking. In fact, in one article, the author illustrates many, MANY themes Bob writes about. And who says that Liberals feel no gratitude? And how about the look in the author's eyes?

Great post, Bob! And your Series on MOTT is terrific!

Gagdad Bob said...

That man is such a case of pure, demented evil. Note that there is nothing on his wish list that he couldn't have been doing in the past eight years, from planting a garden to reading a book to worshipping false gods to engaging in anal sex. As if he needed George Bush's permission to do these things!

As I said, just like the Palestinians.

Gagdad Bob said...

Deepak is not even as coherent as Morford, and that's saying something.

julie said...

Woohoo! I'm now officially a Godmother :)

(I had to interject something more pleasant after those two links. Yeesh!)

Anonymous said...

Ahhhhhh

CoonFood for the Soul

Danke

robinstarfish said...

In fact, this is the take-away point of Genesis, isn't it? That the moment Man opens his eyes to dualism and self-awareness, trouble begins. Truly, there were no problem in the cosmos prior to that moment.

First Impressions
he walked here alone
long before the world was paved
voice in the garden

Anonymous said...

I question the need to stand in judgment of ourselves or others.

Nominally, we think of our thoughts and actions as "ours" but they properly belong to the world movement in general.

There is a general sensation that we own our thoughts, but this sensation is generated by a formation called the ego, which is itself a construct of universal nature.

The witness consciousness (that which observes the thought from one remove) on the other hand, is truly ours.

So don't get fooled. Nature flows in and around you (an in your mind), but it is not you directly and so don't buy in. If you believe your thoughts are "you" then you've taken the first step on the road to dysfunction and pain.

So kick back, relax, watch your mind tick over and note what it does, but don't identify with it.

As far as people being "assholes," might as well send a memo to God, asking him "God, why are you such an asshole?"

Do you want to play that game? Not me.

Anonymous said...

Do not confuse transcending thought with failure to achieve it. Give me a true intellectual over your weak and shallow realizationism anytime. Truth does not deny thought forms from without but transcends them from within those very forms. You cannot transcend the ladder without first climbing it. Nor is denying the ladder the same as having climbed it.

julie said...

People are assholes (actually, I just think this is kind of funny, since I don't really care about world records, but still - they can't wait a few minutes for the measuring done? Assholes). Sometimes, they're also heroes.

julie said...

PIMF - for the measuring to be done...

I swear, my typing is getting worse by the day.

Anonymous said...

There are three kinds of people in the world. First, there are the assholes that don't know it. Then there are the assholes that know it and revel in it. Last, there are the assholes that know it and try to turn their inherent assholyshness to the good. These categories correspond exactly to natural man, wicked man, and saint/hero.

Anonymous said...

From henceforth you may refer to me as Your Assholiness.

Anonymous said...

No one is more surprised than the Saint when he finds himself in heaven.

Anonymous said...

Just so long as I'm not required to kiss your ring...please!

Unknown said...

This thread is starting to go down the toilet.

Unknown said...

Does Bion have anything to say on toilet humor?

Anonymous said...

Strange. In the last eight years, under the oppressive regime of Bush, I planted thriving gardens in four different places. Two in the US, two in Germany. The seeds sprouted, even under Bush's life shriveling gaze

I read lots of books these last eight years too. Two thousand pounds of them returned back to the US with us in 2007.

I always said, "In the Body of Christ, someone's got to be the A-h." I just always thought it was me.

Anonymous said...

Julie,
Coongrats on the Godmother thingie! Do you knit?

Vis-a-vis your Heroes link: Sgt. 1st Class Drew C. Kimmey has gotta be Joe the Plumber's twin-separated-at-birth. Dang

julie said...

Ximeze, I think you're right, which is doubly awesome, given that Joe the Plumber is my new hero.

Re. the knitting, nope, that's not a skill I possess. I vaguely recall trying it as a teenager, but I didn't get hooked (horrible pun intended).

Sehoy, I like that saying. It's most certainly true.

Anonymous said...

Walt & Gagster,

I'll see your Mark Morford, and raise you a Violet Blue. (Note: these two are not teenaged kids spewing sexually-obsessed Daddy-hate on MySpace blogs, but well-paid regular columnists for one of the biggest news organizations west of the Rockies.)

julie said...

Wait, we're not allowed to hear passages from the Koran? Are you kidding me? And I can't believe Sony is self-censoring this way.

Pusillanimous assholes.

Sal said...

Coongrats, Julie- to you and the parents! You will be awesome.

Van Harvey said...

There are three kinds of anonymous's in the world... however since they all have the same name, differentiating between them is kind of pointless.

So we just call them all assholes.

Well... I would, but that soon overloads the crude-o-meter... so... aninnymouse it is.

(but we all know that really just means 'asshole')

Van Harvey said...

"Only the awakening of free will can deliver one "from possession by fixed ideas and psychopathological complexes." "


(What... no Ray with a link proving that free will is just the result of genetic keno games?)

(Yeah, I'm still stuck on the 'asshole' theme.)

Van Harvey said...

"But most people don't even bother to think those thoughts. Instead, they enact things before they have a chance to become thoughts."

And become captured by them.

"Real lived freedom is a kind of every day sacred magic inserted from on high into the cosmos. For it is an analogue of the Creator's vertical generation of the cosmos itself."

The funny thing is, real hocus-pocus type magic would be very ... weak. Pathetic even. It would exclude you from the far more exciting world of thought, virtue, truth, and realizing them into life through your deliberate mental and physical actions... and with that came the dawning realization that maybe you aren't alone in the process.

Took a little bit of the dazzle off of Arthur and excalibur, but man o man, did it make family life exciting.

Anonymous said...

The asshole gets a bad rap, but really it is a useful and gratifying organ.

Without a functioning asshole by day three you'd would give anything if only your rectum would deliver a decent evacuation. By day 5 your life would pretty much grind to a halt.

And, as everyone knows but few discuss, the anus generates a generous portion of feel-good, in both men and women.

Anonymous said...

I didn't know Andrew Sullivan reads this blog.

Anonymous said...

Well...in that case, just call me...ASSHOLIO!!

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Coongratulations Julie! You and your DH are a great choice for godparents! :^)

"Only the awakening of free will can deliver one "from possession by fixed ideas and psychopathological complexes." As Freud put it, "where id was, there ego shall be" (the real meaning of which is where it was, there I shall be). This is just another way of saying that, just as we have been attempting to colonize an enslaved world with liberal principles over the past 250 years, so too must we colonize the individual mind with those same principles. It serves no purpose to free a culture for socialism, as it is a contradiction in terms. It is like freeing an individual to become a slave."

This is why we have a growing number of Leftists.
Public education does the opposite of colonizing young minds with the principles of liberty, the individual replaced by the collective (Borg, and eventually Reavers like the Palestinians).

Ace has a terrific idea I'm sure we have all thought about:
Vetting the vetters

Iowahawk and many others are onboard with this idea.
And this won't be about going after children or stalking or any of the nasty tactics the Left and MSM employ.

This will be about telling the truth about the Leftist vetters.
We can't just passively sit on our butts and allow these scumbags to attack our average Joe's with impunity.

Because as Iowahawk so eloquently points out, the average Joe's (and Janes) is us!
We can't permit them to take our liberty away, and as you all know, this isn't just a horizontal battle, but a vertical one.
A war for the very principles and truth's our Founding Fathers entrusted us with.

This ain't about revenge, this is about truth, justice and the American way!

Anonymous said...

Just call me Cap'n Assho!

Anonymous said...

'Rather, such a culture will collectively ask, "what did I do wrong, and what can I do to fix it?" '

And, thus, continuing to fail. It is only when you realize that you are incapable of fixing things, indeed, that every action of yours makes things worse, that you finally begin to accept that "fixing" is only understood when the appalling reality of "broke" is realized. "Fixed" is a gift.

julie said...

And then of course there's the ass hat, which in this blog's case does bear a fundamental distinction from the asshole. The asshat is gray, furry, and comes equipped with big ears (usually perked up to encourage hair trigger responses to trolls, at least when I'm wearing it). It is also, thank goodness, completely removable. Though sometimes the chin strap makes it a bit tricky.

(See Bob, I swore I could quit wearing it any time. Do we get a button for making it ten days? I'll probably fall off the wagon eventually, though...)

julie said...

*Sigh*
yet another example.

It's interesting how he responded when the police showed up:

And as soon as he saw the police he immediately went calm. He still had the stick in his hand, and you could see the injury on my face, and he admitted it. He was arrested. He actually said, “I don’t know why I did this. It’s just those signs, and this election, it has me so upset.”

Say what you want about conservatives getting overly worried about this election, at least we're not out there randomly assaulting people for holding Obama signs.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

I was watchin' "Huckabee" on Fox news this evenin', which is an hour long show, hosted by Huckabee (which explains the name of the show) 'cause he had Joe the Plumber on.

I didn't realize that Joe is a Veteran.
Yeah! I've read dozens of blogs, and read the reporter, I mean scumbag lowlife attacks on Joe,
and none of them mentioned that Joe is a Veteran. Go figure.
Now, why would professional reporters fail to report that hidden dirt?

I guess they thought his tax returns, wild innuendo and destroying his job was more important.
Not the fact that Joe served his country, protecting the First Ammendment and all of our freedoms, including the Obamabots who are tryin' to destroy this decent man.

Must also be why Obama and Biden are mocking Joe, and smearing him.

That's easier than talkin' about "spreadin' the wealth SocioCommie Obama and hs terrorist friends.

Anonymous said...

"Say what you want about conservatives getting overly worried about this election, at least we're not out there randomly assaulting people for holding Obama signs."

ummm, does sniveling Obots getting thrashed by the Blue-haired-Bloody-Mary-Set at a Palin rally count?

Anonymous said...

"You will note that the culture of the secular left has much more in common with the Palestinians, in that it never occurs to them that people are largely responsible for their own problems."

Deu 21:20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.

21:21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Anonymous said...

Anon said: "And, as everyone knows but few discuss, the anus generates a generous portion of feel-good, in both men and women."

Yes, but what is good for the body politic is for crap to exit by the anus not for it to enter.

julie said...

Ximeze - duly noted. And though I'm trying to stifle a laugh, I'm afraid it probably does count, alas. Even though it does remind me of this.

So what's the random acts of violence (including destruction of property) tally now?
Leftists: a whole lot
Conservatives: one that I know of

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