I suspect that aspirations are, like most ideological constructs, less causal than we think they are. Going back to what Marcus actually meant, it seems to me that (most) humans are so ultimately/fundamentally social, that all they _ever_ do is seek out community just for the comfort of being in the community ... that those of us who look for, or form, or switch amongst, communities in order to achieve various objectives are somehow psychopaths ... or narcissists, abusers or exploiters.
In that same vein, these articles caught my eye: http://www.girlfriendcircles.com/blog/index.php/2013/08/not-a-joiner-club-class-meet-people-make-friends/ http://www.salon.com/2015/07/11/addiction_is_not_a_disease_how_aa_and_12_step_programs_erect_barriers_while_attempting_to_relieve_suffering/ http://www.overcomingbias.com/2013/10/joiners-v-middlers.html The last one, in particular, seems to imply that those who are most likely to think a community really has a mission (as opposed to the illusion of a mission) are the most extreme of the bunch, the hard-liners, the obnoxious ones. Everyone else just kinda buys into it (or the illusion of it) and goes about socializing. With AA, perhaps what happens is that most people just join the community to burn time and socialize _until_ they spontaneously mature out of their habit (the extremes become evangelicals or have lots of lapses). As such, perhaps rather than people voting according to their aspirations, they just vote according to whatever forcing structures their embedding social system tells them to vote for. I hope I'm wrong and you're right, because this would make me a psychopath, narcissist, abuser, exploiter, et al, concept with which I don't really want to identify. 8^) On 07/15/2015 02:34 PM, Vladimyr Burachynsky wrote:
Sometimes I wonder if our society may in fact be a collaboration of the criminal minded. The fact that it appears to promote civilization seems a convenient Cover-Up story. If money is the only incentive how can we distinguish corporation execs from drug lords or war lords. Even the courts seem to be nothing more than an appendage of the system that defines itself as much as politicians define their labours as "Hard work, deserving of ample rewards." Well I am somewhat cheered that a machine is delivering pictures from Pluto. Civilization thrives beyond the planet but apparently not in our neighborhoods. Let 's assume civilization and society have less in common than a Hot dog vendor and a bank robber. Given a choice the people would always vote for the one that appears to represent what common people aspire to be... Glamourous Rascals.
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