Book Thread

[unsunghero]

Originally Posted by Rethalis [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

UNSUNGHERO with your psychology stuff you might find this one interesting.

I chose these two excerpts from the book:

"Still, the reasoned intervention is an extremely compelling idea because of a factor that has nothing to do with rationality. When redemptive liberals make interventions the agents of change over people, they avail themselves to one of the most popular formulas for power in the twentieth century.

This formula always begins in the same way: A society runs into a problem that shames it. At the turn of the century, it was the inequities and backwardness of a society stuck in czarist-imposed feudalism against the backdrop of a rapidly modernizing western Europe, that brought shame to Russia. In Germany it was the grating defeat in World War One, the specter of a great power humiliated. In the United States it was the shame of three centuries of virulent racial oppression that contradicted every principle of the society supposedly stood for. These societies then conjured ideas-of-the-good that they hoped would redeem them from the shame. Against the inequities of feudalism Russia would have a "classless society." Against its postwar lowliness Germany would have Aryan supremacy. And against the shame of American racism there would be a new "multicultural," "inclusive" "diversity."

"In our age of the New Sovereignty the original grievances those having to do with fundamental questions such as basic rights, have in large measure been addressed, if not entirely redressed. But this is of little matter now. The sovereign fiefdoms are ends in themselves, providing career tracks and bases of power. This power tends to be used now mostly to defend and extend the fiefdom, often by exaggerating and exploiting secondary, amorphous, or largely symbolic complaints. In this way, the United States has increasingly become an uneasy federation of newly sovereign nations."


I would recommend it if you are interested in hearing a different perspective on racial issue in the USA other than the usual critical theory or "systemic structural theory" (the irony here is palpable if you read the book)

Yeah that's interesting, shame is a powerful thing. Not to get too political but IMO the left decries when they are shamed in various forms, usually for things within their control, but definitely leans into the shame tactic politically. Ends justify the means kinda thing

What I like to do, but don't always do, in my job based on the presenting initial information is ask the person "do you have any particular expectations with our interaction?". The most common answer is no or I don't know. But sometimes you can tease out some really unrealistic stuff and nip that in the bud. And even if they don't know, the question is also a mini-suggestion to think of some

What is the expectation of any political ideology? What are parameters we can use for things being "fixed" or "better", and are those realistic? I feel just like individuals the most common responses are either I don't know or sometimes something completely unrealistic