tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283258643623412113.post6356874840180860211..comments2024-03-29T05:24:29.797-04:00Comments on 90 Miles From Tyranny : The Coddling of the American MindMike Mileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14729229224106563792noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283258643623412113.post-15828107761156424072015-08-17T12:54:46.128-04:002015-08-17T12:54:46.128-04:00From a section of my article "Progressive Pru...From a section of my article "Progressive Prudes" (http://www.sol1776.blogspot.com/p/not-so-free-love-progressive-prudes.html). Colleges right now are not paragons of puritanism (though the progressives are trying to change that with "Affirmative Consent" laws) but these students show that a larger War Against Happiness is proceeding well for the collectivists.<br /><br /><i>Collectivism by its very nature -- even voluntary collectivism such as a teamwork -- is less personal and in many cases, even impersonal. The bond between members of a community or team can be strong under the right conditions -- and is not necessarily evil --, but solidarity can never be strong as love. Collectivists, in their quest for total solidarity, attempt to raise a nation, race or proletariat to the status of a family, but even the most hardcore communist realizes that dedication to the group is secondary when the stronger feelings of close friendship and love are present.<br /><br /> "There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science. When we are omnipotent there will be no need of science. There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always — do not forget this Winston — always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever."<br /><br /> -- Passage from Nineteen Eighty Four <br /><br />Solidarity is easy to achieve when the group is under real or perceived attack, but these moments of hate and anger are fleeting, as we are inevitably more concerned about those closest to us than the greater good. To maintain that dedication, it is important to maintain feelings of fear, envy and hatred. To do that, it is necessary to deprive the masses of emotional closeness.<br /><br />Love and happiness are suppressed by creating an emotional gulf between individuals, and hate is maintained by deindividualization of all members of a (real or perceived) enemy group. Emotional separation is difficult to accomplish between adults under normal conditions, but in a sufficiently strong conflict, or under threat of an easily abusable law, one has to fear accusations of "sleeping with the enemy" or arrest under false charges. Deindividualization reduces people to the lowest common denominator (guilt by association), and makes it easy to hate and keep hating.<br /><br />Masses who are lonely, afraid, envious and spiteful will instinctively seek comfort in the weak thrill of stomping a boot onto another person's face.</i><br /><br />In this case, there is little requirement for intervention from the college staff. The masses of college students, perpetually angry and fearful as they were taught to be, enforce the "General Will" (mob mentality) entirely themselves. <br /><br />Tyranny of the majority. Collectivism at its purest. Unless the trance is broken, America will be a land of perpetual hate and anger, with the "General Will" enforced through a combination of mob violence and the machinery of the state.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com