Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Friday, May 06, 2005
Where We Are
This topic is (or these topics are)incredibly interesting to me. I think you are really getting at the ideas we must think about and act on in order to change our course.
While reading I was reminded of a book that you might like, Theo Grutter’s “Dancing with Mosquitos.” Have you read it?
It has some great, poetic stuff about our practice of attacking or eradicating disease as well as many other topics.
I have been thinking a lot about human bevavior in war lately, specifically concerning “our” troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and especially due to the marine caught on tape murdering an unarmed Iraqi back in November who just got off. Your comments on the terrain of war have given me more to think about.
I recently posted some excerpts of articles on that incident and others on my blog:
http://wdthu.blogspot.com/2005/05/revisiting-video-taped-shooting-of.html
http://wdthu.blogspot.com/2005/05/well-i-saw-them-bloody-my-buddys-nose.html
Great post.
Posted by James on from Puerto Rico, Earth 05/06 at 08:13 AMMickey,
Noam’s quote and your comments to take me back to Emma Goldman. She once said that “No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure.”
I agree, and think it stands true today. Essentially, some other “fundamental instincts (yet) to be realized”...Posted by RT Griffith on from Houston 05/06 at 09:06 AMWonderful essay, MickeyZ!
We’ve all learned that a common punishment of people already incarcerated is - isolation. “Put ‘em in the hole for a few days!” - is what they say in the movies. Reducing stimuli to minimal levels apparently has a dramatic effect on people; the mind plays tricks, attitudes can change radically, “hard-asses” soften up, or so it seems. When I worked as a psych-tech, we’d take patients who were particularly agitated, and place them in “The S-R Room” (Stimulation-Reduction Room) for an hour or two or three. It - always! - worked.
The truth seems to be that “Who We Are” does not, in fact, end at our fingertips. We are, also, who and what we surrounded by… Surround people with “almost nothing” for a time, and they might feel a little less sure of who they are. Manipulate the environment and you manipulate the person, since the person is, to some extent, the environment.All of the “armed services” require a boot camp process before the new recruit can enter the main military population. Recruits are stripped naked. Their heads are shaved. They are consistently demeaned and terrorized. All manifestations of “individuality” are eliminated as quickly as possible: Same clothes, same food, same beds, same “stuff,” same slavish, immediate obedience to all orders, no matter how absurd or humiliating. They are roughly reminded that mistakes or recalcitrance can get them a free ticket to Federal Penitentiary, Leavenworth. And remember: You - are NOT you! You are Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force - you are US Government. Thus begins the “training” that takes a child and turns him or her into someone who accepts the idea that he or she may soon be killed or tortured or blown up or paralyzed or dismembered. And, he may soon have to kill - or torture or blow up or paralyze or dismember. All this is O.K., though, because- You are NOT you - You are military…
In contrast, take a guy like A.S. Neill, the British professor who worked with troubled children. He built the Summerhill school and created an environment which offered almost unconditional love and freedom. When the new kids arrived, they almost always “acted out,” causing one problem or another. It was astonishing to see how much love and understanding Neill could offer to these kids - no matter what they did. I recall an incident where a new arrival had been in a lot of trouble because he kept breaking windows. When he got to Summerhill, he almost immediately broke a window. Neill brought him into his office and gave him some money and thanked him for breaking the window. He assured him that, as there were lots of windows at Summerhill, there was a lot of money to be made there. He wished the boy much luck at his new job and sent him off to get busy with his work. The kid was so blown away that he never broke another window. Similar, wonderful stories of love and trust and understanding abound in the history of Summerhill. This love and trust and offer of freedom, changed everything for a lot of kids who seemed doomed before their arrival. It was, somehow, like sunshine and cool breezes and open fields… You are YOU, you are here, and it’s wonderful…
Ones entire day can be changed by a smile from someone passing on the street… perhaps ones entire life.
You’re right MickeyZ. - imagine what we might create…
Hello and a Smile, MickeyZ - and to you, too, James and RT.
-joePosted by joe on from grants pass 05/06 at 12:31 PMAnd one’s entire day can be changed by excellent comments like these. Thanks, RT, James, and Joe.
James: Don’t know that book but it sounds like something I will track down.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 05/06 at 01:59 PMJoe...your description of “boot camp” is very accurate. I like your comment. I would add, that brain washing to learn how to Hate is an important part of the process. Formal “Hate Formations” were a part of the training and learning to hate Civilians was another big part. To be referred to as a “civilian” was the worst thing that someone could say to a recruit. Another interesting point, is that boot camp is a relatively short period of time. It can be so because the methods of indoctrination are amazingly effective. Also peer pressure is an important factor. ....Mickey. I think that I understand what you are saying, but I wonder when does a person becomes responsible for his own actions. At some point, I think that individual responsibility shoud kick in. The case that is currently in the news, is relevant here. If Lyndie England has reduced intellectual capacity (I don’t know whether she does or not) how much responsibility does she have for her actions?
Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from 05/06 at 02:44 PMThanks, Rosemarie. It was certainly not my intention to absolve anyone of personal responsibility.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 05/06 at 03:26 PMTo follow one of your threads further… the laboratories: Activists sometimes believe they can wage war on the people in the laboratories, or remotely connected with them—including their families, caterers to their events, conference planners, and secretaries who work in offices doing business with them in some way. And they say we must wage war on those that have the thoughts that other animals should be used. But where did those thoughts come from? They’re connected with the idea that we can and should sacrifice the Other for Our well-being. It’s domination of the Other by the Us, and—once domination is constructed as natural—it’s the idea that the end justifies the means.
Does waging war engage people in thinking? Does it prompt a fundamental change of heart? Was it a war that unlocked the child’s heart in us?
Love & liberation,
Lee.
Posted by Lee Hall on from 05/06 at 03:36 PMThis is a very provocative thread. To follow up on Lee’s comment, I often ponder how some activists look down their noses at anyone who is not willing to engage in violence...yet those same activists decry the actions of the extreme right when they attack abortion clinics and doctors.
Thanks, Lee…
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 05/06 at 03:55 PMMickey, Thanks for making us all think a little bit today. You have awakened in me thoughts of that old philosophical debate about free will vs determinism. I have come to the thought recently that maybe we will never solve that debate but solving the philosophical question is not as important as having some bit of order in society; therefore, individual responsibility is an important concept, as you sort of said.
Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from 05/06 at 05:55 PM
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