Friday, October 5, 2007
Learned Helplessness
We're apathetic about politics because we've learnt our helplessness, as a dog might. It follows that people will only become politically active if they are powerful or could be powerful; where they can see or could imagine that they do have influence and the ability to change things (if only by changing the opinions of others). The unabomber was certainly a madman, and a criminal. But he was right that people need to be involved in "the power process" more than they are today. Perhaps had he been he wouldn't have committed the crimes that he did.
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3 comments:
Thus does every democracy eventually die. People get tired of its inherent messiness and succumb to the sweet promises of some dictator to clean it up, sweep out the capitalists, whatever, and to do all the thinking for them.
Yep, he was trying to do that...he was a would-be dictator, one that wanted the population to fall for his own sweet promises.
but, as usual, it's not all-or-nothing...he might have been involved in the power process to a lesser degree than in being a president or something else.
though i'm sure the political system would have crushed his aspirations as he was a radical idealist.
but perhaps he still would have, only from a loftier post.
did you think about... THAT?
what if the radical idealists really did have the power? chaos... but its not much better as it is now.
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