Some comments on Lawrence Wilkerson
Although my previous post is testament to my growing sense of alienation vis-à-vis the Iran war coverage, or maybe rather my unyielding sense, since I've been uncomfortable with it from the start, fleeing to the least bad coverage I could find, I'll comment on some of the things that Lawrence Wilkerson dangled in front of Glenn Diesen, though I'll not link to the interview, because it is upsetting.
So, Wilkerson revived the idea that people need a common enemy to bind them together. That argument was very popular in the early '90s and I remember it well, as well I should given that I mandatorily served my year in '93-'94.
Wilkerson was 48 then, so with the wisdom that comes with being four years older I'm stating now that civilisations simply aren't built on that: Whatever allowed the United States to flourish, it wasn't that, and if the United States are falling apart today, then they must have lost whatever it was along the way.
Glenn Diesen acts like a professor who lets other professors talk. Having spent a good many years in universities myself, I actually like his style. However, the devil must have gotten into Wilkerson trying to start an argument with Diesen. So Wilkerson in effect tested Diesen, putting forth an outright evil suggestion, which Diesen recognised as such but evaded rather than fight it.
Couldn't we overcome the fear of the other with the fear of the sun?
Couldn't we replace Christian ethics with: Thou shalt not pump oil?
There is one thing worse than tribalism. Tribalism is the mistrust of foreigners and the only thing that is a priori, without further analysis, worse than that is the mistrust of everybody. What, then, results in the mistrust of everybody? Well, obviously the unreliability of everybody. And how does that show most commonly? In the ubiquitous readiness to lie, to not defend the truth, to bear false witness against others, to defend lies. And by what are people like that ruled? By a government that shares this trait and incentivises it in its subjects, that is by a tyranny.
People have been slain so that the sun would rise the next morning before, at least that's what we've been told by the Catholic Church. But even if that were a fabrication, people acting out of fear of their fellow citizens certainly are not. So, in the face of the great, though elusive, evil that people are visiting on the earth by producing carbon dioxide, we sure would overcome the fear of foreigners by the fear of watchful neighbours.
The way the people of the United States behave today is most like that of the Danes, if I had to compare them to another nation, maybe with a little bit of Italy thrown in there. Anyway, if the United States were as big and populous and powerful as Denmark is, then that behaviour shouldn't cause them any serious problems, but it makes no sense to demand that
Protestants are co-operating with anybody who supports their respective cause and that effort lifted the fate of the United States over the obstacles in their way. If the United States have made a historic mistake, then it's to trust money more than good will, because money lends itself to a very calculating mindset that was never more than a convenience in their affairs. That is not to say though that opportunities would otherwise not have diminished, only that the United States are now in a more traditional place as an empire than they'd otherwise have been.
Well, and with that I end my little excursion.
So, Wilkerson revived the idea that people need a common enemy to bind them together. That argument was very popular in the early '90s and I remember it well, as well I should given that I mandatorily served my year in '93-'94.
Wilkerson was 48 then, so with the wisdom that comes with being four years older I'm stating now that civilisations simply aren't built on that: Whatever allowed the United States to flourish, it wasn't that, and if the United States are falling apart today, then they must have lost whatever it was along the way.
Glenn Diesen acts like a professor who lets other professors talk. Having spent a good many years in universities myself, I actually like his style. However, the devil must have gotten into Wilkerson trying to start an argument with Diesen. So Wilkerson in effect tested Diesen, putting forth an outright evil suggestion, which Diesen recognised as such but evaded rather than fight it.
Couldn't we overcome the fear of the other with the fear of the sun?
Couldn't we replace Christian ethics with: Thou shalt not pump oil?
There is one thing worse than tribalism. Tribalism is the mistrust of foreigners and the only thing that is a priori, without further analysis, worse than that is the mistrust of everybody. What, then, results in the mistrust of everybody? Well, obviously the unreliability of everybody. And how does that show most commonly? In the ubiquitous readiness to lie, to not defend the truth, to bear false witness against others, to defend lies. And by what are people like that ruled? By a government that shares this trait and incentivises it in its subjects, that is by a tyranny.
People have been slain so that the sun would rise the next morning before, at least that's what we've been told by the Catholic Church. But even if that were a fabrication, people acting out of fear of their fellow citizens certainly are not. So, in the face of the great, though elusive, evil that people are visiting on the earth by producing carbon dioxide, we sure would overcome the fear of foreigners by the fear of watchful neighbours.
The way the people of the United States behave today is most like that of the Danes, if I had to compare them to another nation, maybe with a little bit of Italy thrown in there. Anyway, if the United States were as big and populous and powerful as Denmark is, then that behaviour shouldn't cause them any serious problems, but it makes no sense to demand that
- one's nation should reflect the private choices of its citizens and
- be the dominant empire on earth,
- separate the nature of the citizens from the nature of the empire or
- mould the nature of the citizens according to the needs of the empire or
- give up the empire.
Protestants are co-operating with anybody who supports their respective cause and that effort lifted the fate of the United States over the obstacles in their way. If the United States have made a historic mistake, then it's to trust money more than good will, because money lends itself to a very calculating mindset that was never more than a convenience in their affairs. That is not to say though that opportunities would otherwise not have diminished, only that the United States are now in a more traditional place as an empire than they'd otherwise have been.
Well, and with that I end my little excursion.
Labels: 42, formalisierung, geschichte, gesellschaftsentwurf, gesellschaftskritik, gesetze, identitäten, institutionen, sehhilfen, wahrnehmungen, zeitgeschichte, ἰδέα, φιλοσοφία
Eingetragen Am/um
18:27
