Tom, At 05:48 05/10/02 -0700, you wrote: >Keith, > >As much as I may or may not agree with your ontological speculations, my >point was not about smuggling hierarchy back into society but back into >*concepts* that superficially appear to oppose hierarchy. Hierarchy itself >is a tremendously important and inescapable factor of human interaction but >it is one of several factors that co-exist in dynamic tension. All that I'm >saying is that we should be wary of "concepts" that promise to free us from >conditions they don't really free us from.
Well . . . now that you've put it this way, I couldn't agree with you more. Utopia freaks, who ignore human nature (and human history) and promise us freedom and perfection, always lead us into various degrees of dystopia. >Is there a concept that could free us from hierarchy? Maybe posing the >question in that way better exposes the absurdity of the proposition. Having >been born an infant, I realize that my survival depended on a hierarchy >between infant and adult. To deny that hierarchy, for example, would be >delusional. However, my survival may also depend on not transfering that >infant/adult relationship to my dealings with employers, politicians or >purveyors of snake oil. "Is there a concept that could free us from hierarchy?" Now that I read that you accept hierarchy as part of man's nature (as is deference to it, all too often) then I can offer a quote instead: "Man will become better when you show him what he is really like" (Chekhov). Keith Hudson ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Keith Hudson, General Editor, Handlo Music, http://www.handlo.com 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________
