Sande, I hear you. Perhaps anytime we elevate someone to such a revered
status, it is a way for us to abdicate responsibility for taking action
ourselves. No one is perfect, but admirable character traits do not
necessarily indicate a seamy underside. There is genuine "Good", and
some people are committed to it and pursue it in the public interest,
but they are then "banalized" as being "do-gooders" or having a seamier
agenda (witness Saturday Night Live's opening skit of the Spitzer news
conference). I think this is the poisonous, glib propaganda of the
individualistic, selfish and "normative" status quo. This includes the
media pundits of the Left and Right who quickly and self-righteously
reduce complex issues to moralistic "I told you so's". On the Right
they use a narrow moralistic view of Christian scripture and
laissez-faire economics (Wealth=Worth; Good guys end up on Top"). The
Left resorts to the prophet of modernism, Sigmund Freud, who reduces any
of our higher aspirations as originating in the impulse to saving our
own skin, or getting inside someone else's. Reductionism on both sides
protects the vicious status quo where we allow our children to be the
bait of marketing predators, political education theorists and social
service agencies (and ultimately prison) because this benefits the
institutions involved and the preservation of our view that the system
we prosper from is "good" and in the words of our Commander and Chief -
"a few bad apples" or "evil doers" are responsible for the inhuman
conditions of Abu Graib or the Philadelphia Public School system. Kill
the messenger, but expose his peccadillo's first in order to discredit
him and to show that he was motivated just like the rest of us by venal
self-interest.
It is interesting timing that in the Christian calendar, it is the
beginning of Holy Week, the culmination of which has Jesus executed by
the state for being a "pretender" to something higher and loftier than
the emperor. This time the headline or "I told you so" ordered by
Pilate is written and hung on top of his inhuman instrument of
execution: "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." According to the
accounts shaden freude was just as much a crowd pleaser as it is now. I
guess that was cold consolation for those subjects who had to live on.
Joe Clarke
SKnight wrote:
Joe,
It was never my intention to be glib. I guess I don't always
understand your humor is all. Perhaps it is drier than I realize.
Funny you should write this. In Sunday's Inquirer, Chris Satullo
wrote an interesting article examining Spitzer's personality in light
of a couple of psychiatric terms, ie, projection and reaction
formation. His article explains Spitzer beautifully. Very sad
really. I don't know about you, but when anyone suggests that someone
is a "pillar of the community" I blanch b/c I immediately think of a
very different way to describe such a person. These types are more
commonly found to be molesters of their children too, witness the
father of a Miss America some many years back.
Sande
----- Original Message -----
*From:* Joe Clarke <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*To:* SKnight <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ; University City
List <mailto:[email protected]>
*Sent:* Thursday, March 13, 2008 11:26 PM
*Subject:* Re: [UC] I weep for him.
Sande,
Now, you're the glib one. No I wasn't excusing them at all. I've
read the articles and saw the movie(s) about this guy. I just
wanted to
point out that he had this moralistic side that blinded him to his
own
"real" moral depravity.. This guy is a case study for the utter
insanity that can be associated with a "true believer". Do these
cult's of certainty - absolute good versus absolute evil - have a
special draw to people who can not reconcile their own humanity
with the
ideal. (By the way, the cults of certainty can be any form of
ideology
whether religious, political, ethnic, etc. )
At the same time any quick judgments of someone else's immoral
behavior are usually a red flag that warrants a closer look at the
accuser aand his/her scrupulosity.
Joe
SKnight wrote:
> Gee, Joe,
>
> I guess it was his evil twin who taped those sex sessions with his
> wife to send to other men. No, he didn't indulge in moral
relativism
> at all.
>
> Sande Knight
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Joe Clarke <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> *To:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ; University City
> List <mailto:[email protected]>
> *Sent:* Thursday, March 13, 2008 3:26 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [UC] I weep for him.
>
> Melani,
> Yes, they have their discrepancies too: Privilege has its
> privileges
> even when they are, in the very least, unethical. I think
of Robert
> Hanson, the hyper-traditional Catholic, who never did any of the
> naughty
> things that the other men in the bureau (F.B.I.) did;
instead he sold
> state secrets to the Soviets resulting in billions of
dollars in lost
> technologies and research and lost lives. He was a true
American
> patriot (and Catholic) in his own mind: He hated communism,
> homosexuality and, no doubt, moral relativism. I think that
the Right
> confuses piety with morality, while the Left confuses
"correctness"
> with "justice". Both sides exalt the ideal form rather
than the
> messy
> substance of the "real". You can do this when you're up
their on the
> summit of privilege - whether in academia, politics, business or
> religion.
>
>
> Joe
>
> "He loved humanity, but just couldn't stand people." - ????
>
> When elephants fight it is the grass that suffers. Indian
proverb.
>
>
>
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> > In a message dated 3/13/08 12:26:03 PM,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> >> I
> >> think if you want someone who passes the squeaky clean
criteria
> (read
> >> sexless & passionless) you will have go back to Rick
Santorum, Dick
> >> Cheyney, Dan Quail and that lot.
> >
> > Didn't Rick Santorum have his PA county, where he was no
longer
> > living, paying for the home schooling for his children,
when he
> moved
> > to DC? Perhaps people just don't think, when it's about
> themselves.
> > Even when they see the "big picture," they can't apply it to
> their own
> > lives.
> >
> > Melani
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > *Melani Lamond, Associate Broker*
> > *Urban & Bye, Realtor*
> > 3529 Lancaster Ave.
> > Philadelphia, PA 19104
> > cell phone 215-356-7266
> > office phone 215-222-4800, ext. 113
> > office fax 215-222-1101
> > /*Recipient of the Greater Philadelphia Association of
Realtors
> awards:*/
> > /*Diamond award for over $8 million in sales,*/
> > /*and ALL SIX of the West Philadelphia awards:*/
> > /*- Top Lister*/
> > /*- Top Seller*/
> > /*- Top Overall Combined Volume*/
> > /*- Top Listing Units by Area*/
> > /*- Top Selling Units by Area*/
> > /*- Top Overall Combined Units by Area*/
> >
> >
> >
> > **************
> > It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms, and advice on AOL Money &
Finance.
> > (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolprf00030000000001)
>
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