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We instinctively condone mean, bullying behavior as part and parcel of the exercise of legitimate power.
That must be the reason Liberals loved Saddam.
Such dynamics offer the potential for identification that can be transformed, he writes, into a movement to create a dignitarian society where “the dignity of all people is honored and protected.”
And you question why rational people snicker at Left wing ideas.
Posted by texasindependent on Nov 29, 2006 at 4:37 PM
This article addresses an important aspect of social justice struggles: The lengths people will go to when they don’t see simple and clear victory.
“Rankism”? And we are supposed to adopt this invented term in place of the specific, accurate multiple (though related) issues that cause oppression—simply to be more unifying and positive?
If someone is unsure of what to do given “the diminishing returns of identity-based politics,” I suggest getting out into the communities and helping people live freer, safer, healthier lives on any “small” level like, say, helping someone get a meal, or modeling how to talk respectfully to a child, or standing up to tell a stranger that certain words are not acceptable to sling around on the bus.
Any of these actions would be more sincere and useful than trying to rewrite the history of racism, patriarchy, etc by attempting to undercut the only thing that ever has worked for significant social change:
Honoring diversity, Understanding the nature of oppression, Acknowledging priviledge, and Uniting all who can be united to fight injustices everywhere with every tool one has.
And that must include the Courage to call injustices by their real name, regardless of the popularity and appeal of the truth.
Posted by Mars.Caulton on Dec 1, 2006 at 6:51 PM
First of all Liberals and the Left were the first to condemn Saddam and demand he be sanctioned for his human rights abuses at the very same time the Republicans were taking him off the US Dept. of State terror list and sending him all manner of weapons and funding including VX nerve agent and weaponizable biotoxins. The US put the Ba’athists in power in 1963.
People are tought hate. There is no hate gene. I could’nt grasp the rest of the psychobabble.
Texass as usual your comments make no sense whatsoever. Do you
really the people taunting that black girl in England are leftists ?????????
More like the rightist trash down there in your state.
Posted by blondemike on Dec 6, 2006 at 9:59 AM
Left out “think” between “really” and “the” in my second sentence above.
Posted by blondemike on Dec 6, 2006 at 10:00 AM
I have often wondered if it’s kindness and camaraderie that are the things that need to be taught, i.e. because they don’t appear to form in the absence of specific efforts to inculcate them (hell, even then!). The bits about hardwired primate-style hierarchical thinking resonate with me, considering my own educational background and the things I’ve observed in a variety of social, cultural, and subcultural settings. It’s especially apparent when you see the habit of forming pecking orders that show up in so many divergent facets of human society, not least among groups who have been shoved down as societal “nobodies”. Youth gangs and convicts come to mind.
I would be curious to see some anthropological data about malignant forms of ranking among oppressed ethnic groups or, if it could be had, among women in places where they are legally relegated to a low status. Maybe we’d see some kind of solidarity among the oppressed, but maybe instead we’d just see more meanness. I know which I think is more likely, but of course if there is something empirical to latch onto I’d prefer that over my suppositions, which are not exactly uplifting.
Posted by Kuya on Dec 11, 2006 at 12:54 AM
Must be why, just like you, I am older and wiser and shorter and lighter and nicer and richer and sexier and funnier and louder and darker and taller and morally superior and smarter and heavier and stronger and younger and softer and better dressed, and yet too humble and gracious to notice.
Posted by barkless1 on Dec 11, 2006 at 6:10 PM
That must be pretty cool, that “stronger and younger” along with that “older and wiser”. A trick worth learning! :-) My kingdom for whatever magic pill you dropped, barkless.
Posted by Kuya on Dec 11, 2006 at 7:20 PM
Diverse rankings, imaginary and not, leave us equals. Unlike our animal cousins, we ignore physicality as much as possible. Society abhors cruelty. From the playground to Paraguay, niceness wins, wins nicely.
Posted by barkless1 on Dec 12, 2006 at 3:30 AM
Hmm, “equals” I’ll buy for a ten-dollar gold piece; however “ignoring physicality” I’m not so sure of. Seems to me that most people are still hung up on physical differences such as color of skin, although inshallah we might be gradually, ever-so-slowly crawling toward the point where such illusory divisions (genetically speaking) can be left behind. Long journey, time to begin.
Peace be with ya, barkless, gracias.
Posted by Kuya on Dec 13, 2006 at 12:33 AM
I accept your good wishes, kuya, and your gold piece, unless you can point out someone who is better than the rest of us, in which case I stand corrected.
Posted by barkless1 on Dec 14, 2006 at 9:01 AM
OK, I apologise for lashing out. I resented the playful marginalisation and offhand dismissal of ideal empathy, which seems to me priceless.
To feel like (a nasty) somebody by making another feel like nobody is oh so common, but inexcusable. Etiquette provides us with rituals to recognize each other and our differences in ways where everybody feels like somebody, wherever they stand in the hierarchies of the moment.
The author has missed this point: rank without rancor. Look at the mentor who guides without correction or coercion. The novice savors their time together.
The legendary bully Machiavelli claimed he would rather be feared than loved. But if he had really tried being loved, that method, not cruelty, would have trickled down to the greater good, and his story would read very differently.
Perhaps unimaginably so.
Posted by barkless1 on Dec 21, 2006 at 9:16 PM
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Reader Comments
We instinctively condone mean, bullying behavior as part and parcel of the exercise of legitimate power.
That must be the reason Liberals loved Saddam.
Such dynamics offer the potential for identification that can be transformed, he writes, into a movement to create a dignitarian society where “the dignity of all people is honored and protected.”
And you question why rational people snicker at Left wing ideas.
This article addresses an important aspect of social justice struggles: The lengths people will go to when they don’t see simple and clear victory.
“Rankism”? And we are supposed to adopt this invented term in place of the specific, accurate multiple (though related) issues that cause oppression—simply to be more unifying and positive?
If someone is unsure of what to do given “the diminishing returns of identity-based politics,” I suggest getting out into the communities and helping people live freer, safer, healthier lives on any “small” level like, say, helping someone get a meal, or modeling how to talk respectfully to a child, or standing up to tell a stranger that certain words are not acceptable to sling around on the bus.
Any of these actions would be more sincere and useful than trying to rewrite the history of racism, patriarchy, etc by attempting to undercut the only thing that ever has worked for significant social change:
Honoring diversity, Understanding the nature of oppression, Acknowledging priviledge, and Uniting all who can be united to fight injustices everywhere with every tool one has.
And that must include the Courage to call injustices by their real name, regardless of the popularity and appeal of the truth.
First of all Liberals and the Left were the first to condemn Saddam and demand he be sanctioned for his human rights abuses at the very same time the Republicans were taking him off the US Dept. of State terror list and sending him all manner of weapons and funding including VX nerve agent and weaponizable biotoxins. The US put the Ba’athists in power in 1963.
People are tought hate. There is no hate gene. I could’nt grasp the rest of the psychobabble.
Texass as usual your comments make no sense whatsoever. Do you
really the people taunting that black girl in England are leftists ?????????
More like the rightist trash down there in your state.
Left out “think” between “really” and “the” in my second sentence above.
I have often wondered if it’s kindness and camaraderie that are the things that need to be taught, i.e. because they don’t appear to form in the absence of specific efforts to inculcate them (hell, even then!). The bits about hardwired primate-style hierarchical thinking resonate with me, considering my own educational background and the things I’ve observed in a variety of social, cultural, and subcultural settings. It’s especially apparent when you see the habit of forming pecking orders that show up in so many divergent facets of human society, not least among groups who have been shoved down as societal “nobodies”. Youth gangs and convicts come to mind.
I would be curious to see some anthropological data about malignant forms of ranking among oppressed ethnic groups or, if it could be had, among women in places where they are legally relegated to a low status. Maybe we’d see some kind of solidarity among the oppressed, but maybe instead we’d just see more meanness. I know which I think is more likely, but of course if there is something empirical to latch onto I’d prefer that over my suppositions, which are not exactly uplifting.
Must be why, just like you, I am older and wiser and shorter and lighter and nicer and richer and sexier and funnier and louder and darker and taller and morally superior and smarter and heavier and stronger and younger and softer and better dressed, and yet too humble and gracious to notice.
That must be pretty cool, that “stronger and younger” along with that “older and wiser”. A trick worth learning! :-) My kingdom for whatever magic pill you dropped, barkless.
Diverse rankings, imaginary and not, leave us equals. Unlike our animal cousins, we ignore physicality as much as possible. Society abhors cruelty. From the playground to Paraguay, niceness wins, wins nicely.
Hmm, “equals” I’ll buy for a ten-dollar gold piece; however “ignoring physicality” I’m not so sure of. Seems to me that most people are still hung up on physical differences such as color of skin, although inshallah we might be gradually, ever-so-slowly crawling toward the point where such illusory divisions (genetically speaking) can be left behind. Long journey, time to begin.
Peace be with ya, barkless, gracias.
I accept your good wishes, kuya, and your gold piece, unless you can point out someone who is better than the rest of us, in which case I stand corrected.
OK, I apologise for lashing out. I resented the playful marginalisation and offhand dismissal of ideal empathy, which seems to me priceless.
To feel like (a nasty) somebody by making another feel like nobody is oh so common, but inexcusable. Etiquette provides us with rituals to recognize each other and our differences in ways where everybody feels like somebody, wherever they stand in the hierarchies of the moment.
The author has missed this point: rank without rancor. Look at the mentor who guides without correction or coercion. The novice savors their time together.
The legendary bully Machiavelli claimed he would rather be feared than loved. But if he had really tried being loved, that method, not cruelty, would have trickled down to the greater good, and his story would read very differently.
Perhaps unimaginably so.
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