--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Angela Mailander <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I wouldn't say that New Age tendencies in the U.S. are likely to lead to a fascist regime for three reasons (which comment and expand upon one another endlessy). 1) causal relationships are difficult enough to distinguish from 100% correlations in the "hard" sciences. In the area of intellectual history it would be next to impossible.
I'd say it's extremely unlikely on its face, because (a) there aren't that many New Age devotees in the U.S.; (b) "New Age" is not sectarian--it encompasses a very wide range of very different belief systems; and (c) what New Age beliefs do tend to have in common is a loathing for war and strong opposition to fascist-style thinking and to injustice and intolerance of any kind. > 2) There are many ways to see history, but they fall essentially into two camps. One is the "shit happens" theory of history, which is generally preferred by the academic establishment. They tend to write things like so-and-so "came to power" or "the war broke out." Well, they do if they're writing an outline for high school students. But if they're writing scholarly papers or books, they're likely to go deeply into causes. So I don't think it makes any sense to say the "shit happens" theory is preferred by the academic establishment. > The other is the "conspiracy nut" point of view, which is expressed by Franklin D. Roosevelt when he says, "In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way." Maybe it was expressed by FDR, maybe it wasn't. I've never seen it sourced (so there's no way of knowing the context), and I have seen it attributed both to FDR and Teddy Roosevelt; so probably just as well not to hold it up as an authoritative conclusion born of significant experience. If either of them actually said it, it's entirely possible it was a throwaway line referring to some relatively minor incident that appeared spontaneous but turned out to have been planned. In other words, it may not have much of any bearing on the issue at hand. That said-- > The truth must lie somewhere in between those two extremes --you're surely right about this. > but, as you know, I tend toward the conspiracy nut perspective by virtue of my programming. Which you seem to be trying to impose on us. It's usually possible to change one's programming, you know, if it turns out not to hold up under examination. <snip> > Given all that, what I see in today's world is a contraction into fascism. I've seen it before. Why does it happen and is it evil, is it necessary and if not how can it be avoided? Those are not, ultimately, questions I can answer. But here is how it looks to me. People (who look like us) are leading the world into a period in which hell on earth looks pretty much like what I was born into in 1940 in Berlin. Why are they doing it? Or is this just part of the cyclical shit that happens in the history of an intelligent species? It sure looks to me that those leading us into such an unpleasant experience use religion, whether it's new age or christian or whatever, to herd us down that road. That doesn't necessarily mean that either religion or new age practice is not also all the good things they claim to be. > > How does it look to you? Well, we certainly aren't marching firmly *away* from fascism. We're definitely in a dangerous period, where all kinds of pretty awful things could happen because of the twisted perspectives of those in power and those who support them. But it's not always religion that is used to create an oppressive regime (unless you want to define "religion" so loosely that it encompasses, say, Marxism-Leninism). It does seem, however, that Christianity has greater potential to be used that way than have New Age-type spiritual movements, because of Christianity's exclusivist theology and its moralism via St. Paul, not to mention the apocalypticism of some of its branches. I have no doubt there are powers behind the scenes who are working on various nefarious schemes to further what they see as their own self-interest, or who may even be motivated by idealism of some sort. But I think the purported New Age connection is about as flimsy as any conspiracy theory I've ever come across.
