Blair should have been sent off to the veterinarian's....
On Jul 21, 2010, at 9:57 AM, Arthur Cordell wrote: > And of course all of us who are have retired have had to come to terms with > our changed position in the economic/social firmament. Coming to terms and > making the transition is a profound but essential challenge. > > > > Arthur > > > > > > > > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Keith Hudson > Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 1:58 AM > To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, , EDUCATION > Subject: [Futurework] The perfusion of a theme > > > > In a conversation with another member of FW I once made a forecast that when > Tony Blair had resigned as Prime Minister he would then be so ashamed of his > support for Bush's invasion of Iraq that we would hear no more of him and > that he would slide into oblivion. > > I had the precedent of Sir Anthony Eden in mind. After attempting to > assassinate President Nasser of Egpyt (for nationalizing the Suez Canal) in > 1956, and then attempting to invade the country in a secret collusion with > France and Israel, he then had to withdraw after pressure from America. A > medical condition was invented for him and he left the country for a while. > He'd wanted to remain as Prime Minister apparently but he was then > manoeuvered out of office and he retired to a house in the Wiltshire > countryside. Although he wrote a highly acclaimed memoir and was made Earl of > Avon he hardly showed his face again in public. > > I was partly wrong in Tony Blair's case. After his resignation he went on to > make a fortune around the world from lectures, mainly in America and, under > the Old Pal's Act, was made some sort of wunderkind for the problems of the > Middle East. However, even though he has a couple of expensive houses, and > made a brief semi-public excursion at a friend's medical clinic during the > recent General Election, he has hardly shown his face at all in his own > country in the last two years. He is obviously too ashamed of the way he > persuaded the House of Commons and the public on the basis of a flimsy > pretext that Saddam Hussein could rain missiles on this country at 45 > minutes' notice. Essentially it was a lie and he's been found out > (increasingly so as the evidence mounts in the in the present Chilcot > Enquiry). > > Much the same applies -- this time in aces -- to Gordon Brown. Both as > Chancellor for ten years in the Labour Government and Prime Minister for two > he had been increasingly rumoured to be an office bully of the very worst > sort -- and fully revealed more recently in two books by those who knew him > well when in office. He bullied all around him and even Tony Blair himself. > After losing the recent General Election, Brown left London and retired to > his constituency home in Kirkaldly, Scotland, from which he hasn't stirred > since. Unlike Tony Blair, no top jobs have been found for him, he's been on > no lecture tours and his previous closest sycophants have turned on him. > Apparently, he says he will resume his seat in the House of Commons when the > Labour Party selects its new leader but it's doubtful whether he'll ever do > so, or even show his face in London again. His shame and loss of status is > such that I wouldn't be surprised if he commits suicide. > > This is not meant to be a piece of Schadenfreude at Gordon Brown's expense. > Rather, it is to reinforce a constant theme in my thinking and writing -- the > importance of status, particularly in the male. Second to eating food, it is > the strongest genetic predisposition the male has. Without status a male can > never acquire a partner or have sex -- unless he pays spot-price for it or > rapes someone. > > All normally raised boys compete with one another for status long before > puberty while the rear cortex is developing and his sensory and physical > skills are being fully potentiated. During frontal cortex development after > puberty when much more subtle social and intellectual skills are being > refined in preparation for adulthood, competition for rank order continues in > all sorts of other ways, too. Usually it is largely over by the age of about > 30. Most young men "know their place" or, perhaps are content with only > modest advancement within their social or work circle as they grow older. > However, given that modern society consists of many circles -- and highly > stratified ones, too -- then there is no limit to the energy of the highly > ambitious as they seek higher and higher levels of wealth and/or power. > > Sooner or later, even the most able and the most ambitious reach the limits > of their social standing. They will either be checked by fate -- or > "exogenous" circumstances as economists like to say -- or by someone else > (often a younger aspirant with more energy coming upstream ). They will > become depressed to a greater or lesser extent by how deep their loss of > status turns out to be, or how long it endures. > > The male walrus dominates -- or even kills -- all other male walruses in his > vicinity as he acquires his harem of dewey-eyed females. Most mammalian males > have other methods of showing off their rank order to females than by brute > strength -- by their energy, their voice, their wiliness, their body > coloration, by their imaginative displays, or whatever. Humans do so even > more subtley -- by their clothing and speaking voice (to show their social > class), by their income, by their profession, by their possessions, by their > characteristics of dependabilty, etc. All these principally show his economic > value to a female who wants to be married and be looked after comfortably and > securely while they have children. > > Once again -- second to food only -- status is the strongest driving force of > all, whether it's modest or excessive, whether in society or in economics. > Without the mechanism of male status, sex wouldn't occur at all, nor the next > generation ever appear. The sooner that economists are taught the modern > findings of evolutionary biology the better. The sooner that economists > realize that their subject is actually perfused by one powerful theme and one > theme only -- the relative adjustments of status throughout the life of an > individual, or class, or firm, or culture or country. > > Keith > > > > Keith Hudson, Saltford, England > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
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