I experienced that time as a time of mistakes. A kind of busybody that intruded into people's lives and gave them things and when they didn't act the way the busybody wanted, they then punished them in some way either by demeaning or by actual punitive regulations. Many people learned that their job was to outsmart the authorities in order to deserve the money, apartment or whatever that they were receiving. It was a classic psychological "Reaction formation" that swung back and forth and destroyed whole community cultures. The reason turned out to be because poor people were an embarrassment to the CIA and the government in the Cold War for the hearts and minds of Europe and the rest of the world. There is a whole book by Francis Stoner Saunders who traces this same process in the Arts and Academics during the 1960s and 1970s. It's called the "Cultural Cold War" and it includes the Civil Rights movement into the Arts and the War on Poverty.
True compassion allows people their freedom and their timetable for growth. It doesn't infantilize them in order to see that the money is being "spent correctly" and not wasted. The true waste is the waste of a talent and the psycho-physical resources for the nation. REH -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mike Spencer Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2010 11:29 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Futurework] Re: America's Deepening Moral Crisis (fwd) > Collective compassion (whatever that is) is not big in the United > States. "[W]hatever that means"? >From the article: There was a time, not long ago, when Americans talked of ending poverty at home and abroad. Lyndon Johnson's "war on poverty" in the mid 1960s reflected an era of national optimism and the belief that society should make collective efforts to solve common problems, such as poverty, pollution and healthcare. America in the 1960s enacted programs to rebuild poor communities, to fight air and water pollution, and to ensure healthcare for the elderly. - Mike -- Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~. /V\ [email protected] /( )\ http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/ ^^-^^ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
