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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Sigismund on July 8, 2009, at 18:21:04
The following is quoted in "Black Mass" and intrigued me as soon as I saw it....
'To destroy a city, a state, an empire even, is an essentially finite act; but to attempt the annihilation - the liquidation of so ubiquitous but so theoretically or ideologically defined an entity as a social class or racial abstraction is quite another, and one impossible even in conception to a mind not conditioned by western habits of thought'
"The Politics of Hysteria: The Sources of Twentieth Century Conflict" by Stillman and Pfaff.(This immediately brings to mind the various wars on the abstract nouns of poverty, terror and evil.)
In Crime and Punishment Dostoyevsky has a character remark that someone is more abstract and therefore more cruel.
Posted by Angela2 on July 9, 2009, at 20:29:09
In reply to Western Habits of Thought, posted by Sigismund on July 8, 2009, at 18:21:04
Hi Sigismund,
is he talking about genocide and destroying an empire and how it can only come about through western ideas? When he says western thought, does he really mean the ideas that have developed through the ages, a specific idea that resides in the west now? or is he just attacking western thought? I don't know much about what he said but I'd like to know more.
Also, the book cover for "Black Mass" looks old but amazon said it was published in 2008? hmm
Posted by Sigismund on July 9, 2009, at 21:45:08
In reply to Re: Western Habits of Thought, posted by Angela2 on July 9, 2009, at 20:29:09
Hello Angela
I think the reflection is on the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany with either classes or races slated for extinction. The suggestion is that it is the habit of abstraction within western thought that makes those kinds of ambitious projects conceivable (as opposed to pacifying a province by killing every second person). The idea might be that it is a Christian idea of progress and meaningfulness in history that has been refracted through the Enlightenment thinkers. I've only read Black Mass, and thought it was particularly good. It is actually a straight old fashioned conservative argument. I've ordered The Politics of Hysteria through my library so I may be able to read that too.
Posted by fayeroe on July 9, 2009, at 23:18:51
In reply to Western Habits of Thought, posted by Sigismund on July 8, 2009, at 18:21:04
> The following is quoted in "Black Mass" and intrigued me as soon as I saw it....
>
> 'To destroy a city, a state, an empire even, is an essentially finite act; but to attempt the annihilation - the liquidation of so ubiquitous but so theoretically or ideologically defined an entity as a social class or racial abstraction is quite another, and one impossible even in conception to a mind not conditioned by western habits of thought'
> "The Politics of Hysteria: The Sources of Twentieth Century Conflict" by Stillman and Pfaff.
>
> (This immediately brings to mind the various wars on the abstract nouns of poverty, terror and evil.)and drugs, surely?
>
> In Crime and Punishment Dostoyevsky has a character remark that someone is more abstract and therefore more cruel.
Posted by Sigismund on July 9, 2009, at 23:48:40
In reply to Re: Western Habits of Thought » Sigismund, posted by fayeroe on July 9, 2009, at 23:18:51
Of all these wars the one I like most is the war on evil.
Posted by Bobby on July 19, 2009, at 2:28:45
In reply to Western Habits of Thought, posted by Sigismund on July 8, 2009, at 18:21:04
I think old the Beach boys--old school. A great big slice of Americana is difficult to wash down with a pint of Eastern thought. I'm just happy it's Saturday. I'm helping out a division at work--who's behind. An old co-worker asked me how I liked it and I said, "I feel like I've been drafted by government in 1961---or the height of the cold war---dropped behind the iron curtain-- captured---and sent to a Russian Gulag in Siberia--in solitary confinement. It's only temporary---but I'm getting a glimpse of how Gary Powers felt when his U2 plane was shot down----the uncertainty of what's going to transpire next. I did find one guy who speaks English---but I feel isolated ---like a foreigner in my own country. that's my Western habit of thought
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