by threadbear » Tue 09 May 2006, 12:36:30
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'H')anah Arendt in her monumental study, The Origins Of Totalitarianism pointed out that the European resentment against Jews had part of its origins in resentment of their tight communal spirit. Modernism had destroyed the Christian communal spirit, but the Jews, with their long history of defensive reactions to a hostile world, were more resistant to the caustic, dissolving effects of the modern world. Some kind of binding mythos seems to be very neccessary for human beings. We need a history and customs and a connection to the past and our ancestors. Now I do think that it's verging on paranoia to blame the majorities' loss of community on the Jews, but the reality of the Jews' resistance to the community-dissolving influence of modernity should be understood and appreciated for the lesson it gives us all.
Alright PMS--You summed it up beautifully. This little crowd is rallying around apocolyptic visions, like peak oil, but lacking a redeemer God or gods to provide a rallying point, and give suffering some meaning..
The reason neo-Nazis and peak oil theory go hand in hand so nicely, is Peak Oil has an exclusive though negatively oriented message. Many here are Social Darwinists who happily cling to the assertion that only really intelligent people (like themselves) will stand a chance in the future. How is this different than neo-Nazism? It actually takes it one step further. Peak Oilers often hate everybody, regardless of race creed or colour.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have the therapeutic community, who have replaced God with Skinner, Freud and Jung, They want to rescue the people-haters from their parents and other abusers. Hilarious and not useful with this crowd. These people need a guiding mythology that leaves them feeling empowered, with their family ties intact. Why would they be attracted to an ideology that tells them that rather than being powerful, they are children that have to be rescued?
What people should be doing, if they want to be succesful, is to tighten positive ties with family and extended family and their immediate communites, as you have described. When you sever family ties, you are further severing ties with your past and this is something that relationship based communites just do not do.
If you want a blueprint for successful group dynamics, do what the Christian-Zionist fundy community are doing. And as Nordic has emphasized-- These groups are working synergistically, and in tandem, having great effect on domestic and international politics. They can only be defeated by others observing what has made them successful, and mirroring them.