Sandwichman wrote:
> So I'm left wondering where this hostility comes from just because
> I'm talking about something that doesn't fit in the boxes that he
> thinks are the only boxes there are?
That's pretty much it. I long ago came to the conclusion that very many
people simply don't have inquiring minds and don't want to learn new
stuff. Some people find learning new stuff an onerous task. Some
probably are bent psychologically after a childhood and youth of being
told they're worthless. [1] In addition, there is a fear of and
hostility to ambiguity. Not to mention the inculcated notion seen in
religious doctrine and in various non-religious self-improvement
movements that what you *believe* -- having unassailable beliefs -- is
is the key to success, self-fulfillment, heaven and a better you.
(And this notion plays to the fear of ambiguity: you just *believe*
ambiguity away. Some preacher, guru, priest or 21st c. juju (wo)man is
ready to tell you *what* to believe.)
So you get some answers, The Answer, a job and/or profession. And
then you're Grown Up. Do your job, repeat the answers (or The Answer)
to yourself and don't let nobody tell you you don't know what's what.
This is what passes as "thinking for yourself", viz, comparing what
Tom (or anybody) says to your unambiguous Answers. If they don't
match, Tom's wrong, malicious, stupid and evil. If you get to feeling
a little shaky on that, hang with your peer group and get your beliefs
firmed up again.
All of this, I'd guess, is that from which dictatorship and other
authoritarian regimes and policies emerge. If we can't tell 'em, by
ghod we'll *make* 'em. It's for their own good. Winston (in _1984_)
tried to "tell 'em" and gave up. "There's no hope in the proles."
Minds, as well as houses, can be made out of ticky tacky.
LITTLE BOXES http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/MALVINA/mr094.htm
[2]
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky, [3]
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.
And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
Jeez, I sound kinda sour here, don't I? When my was was interviews
for her last job before retirement, they asked her that -- well, I
have to say it -- *stupid* curve-ball question, "What is your greatest
shortcoming?" And she answered, "I have no patience with stupid
people." They did not ask her to rigorously define "stupid".
FWIW,
- Mike
[1] This is probably where the notion that education amounts to
instilling "self-esteem", independent of achievement, arose.
[2] Notes: words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1962
Schroder Music Company, renewed 1990. Malvina and her husband
were on their way from where they lived in Berkeley, through
San Francisco and down the peninsula to La Honda where she was
to sing at a meeting of the Friends? Committee on Legislation
(not the PTA, as Pete Seeger says in the documentary about
Malvina, ?Love It Like a Fool?). As she drove through Daly
City, she said ?Bud, take the wheel. I feel a song coming on.?
[3] The term "ticky tacky" is now included in the Oxford English
Dictionary, and credited to Malvina. [4]
[4] But "tacky" was a southern term of opprobrium long before it
gained wide exposure via the media.
--
Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~.
/V\
[email protected] /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/ ^^-^^
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