oaf@mit-vax.UUCP (Oded Feingold) (09/25/86)
MARK TERRIBILE, 09/23/86 ADORNO et al; 1944-1950
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And *that's* [internal- || PREFACE
izing attitudes promoted by por- || This is a book about social
nography, given that he's in a || discrimination. But its pur-
world where everyone partakes] a || pose is not simply to add a few
scary thought. Now I don't fig- || more empirical finding to an al-
ure I'm normal, but I *am* going || ready extensive body of informa-
to be a bit elitist here and || tion.
suggest that people who've made || The central theme of the
it far enough to be talking on || work is a relatively new concept
this group (myself included-may- || -- the rise of an ``anthropolo-
be) are a little more apprecia- || gical'' species we call the au-
tive of their own feelings and a || thoritarian type of man. In
little slower to be manipulated || contrast to the bigot of old he
by media exposure than the aver- || seems to combine the ideas and
age in the population. So I || skills which are typical of a
concluding in this unscien- || highly industrialized society
tific way that there *is* a || with irrational or anti-rational
potential for harm. || beliefs. He is at the same time
[Translation: If it affects || enlightened and superstitious,
me at all it must devastate all || proud to be an individualist and
the inferior people WHOSE JUDG- || in constant fear of not being
MENTS I SHOULD MAKE FOR THEM. || like all the others, jealous of
Better not lead the proles into || his independence and inclined to
temptation.] || submit blindly to power and au-
|| thority. The character struc-
|| ture which comprises these con-
|| flicting trends has already at-
|| tracted the attention of modern
|| philosophers and political thin-
|| kers.
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My primary objection to Mr. Terribile's attitude, to which I admit
I added a willful adumbration, is that I see in it your basic authori-
tarian mindset. Also in Mr. Reagan, and Mr. Meese, and chairman Mr.
Hudson of the pornography commission, and in many USENET contributors.
Computer science is a natural refuge for authoritarians and <Fas-
cistically Inclined> people, who idolize "order" and love imposing it
on systems of machines and coincidentally of humans. Among the early
computer scientists, Norbert Wiener foresaw that problem in his ``On
the Human Use of Human Beings.'' I personally think any self-respect-
ing CS curriculum (and all other curricula, since a major part of the
readership isn't CSers) should include study of the ethical issues
confronting that field. After all, genetic engineers and financial
planners and lots of others are powerful people in this society. They
should have some idea of what their powers are and how they can affect
the world and people they deal with.
I expect to post some more excerpts from that book (Adorno et al.,
``The Authoritarian Personality,'' Harper Bros., New York, 1950) in
side-by-side comparison with the writings of political figures, USENET
personalities, and others. Though I haven't read it all, and already
find it dated, I recommend this book highly. It represents a strong,
honest, scholarly effort to understand how people can let themselves
become the passive or active minions of those humans who wish to domi-
nate others, and the collective folly such behavior can lead to. I
find it one of those special books that can literally be opened any-
where and display a trenchant insight.
It is frightening how many of its passages, quoting people who
rate high on scales of prejudice, pseudopatriotism and receptivity to
propaganda in general and fascist propaganda in particular, sound like
people we know from this forum.
[Note to female readers: One of the book's editors is Else Fren-
kel--Brunswik, who also conformed to the prevailing standard of gener-
ic third person pronoun==he. I did not and will not "correct" the
terminology in this 36-year-old book in future excerpts. The book
presents extensive analyses of psychological tests administered to men
and women. Where the tests differ by gender, all discussion of female
responses are properly pronounized with "she" and "her." It discusses
the oppression of women and gathers attitudinal information from women
in all walks of life, from debutantes to prostitutes. These folks are
not deliberate sexist pigs, and they write from the days when feminism
didn't mean anything on the national political scene. Check it out.]
Though the book's basic message is optimistic, that with close at-
tention to appropriate education we can wean people away from preju-
dice, group hostility and the desire to implement one's irrational
hatreds as public policy, I find cold comfort there. The book's au-
thors carried out their research and published their findings between
1944 and 1950; they were understandably obsessed with the defeat of
Nazi and Japanese Fascism, and being primarily Jewish were also ob-
sessed with understanding and preventing future occurrences of the ex-
termination of Jews (or anyone else.) But the intervening history
shows an accelerating pace of persecutions, exterminations and dimin-
ishing human freedom throughout the world. Even the descendants of
the concentration camp graduates, and in some cases those very same
graduates find themselves inexorably seduced by the siren of authori-
tarianism -- Begin, Shamir and Sharon would have been quite comfort-
able with the fascists of the 1930s and 1940s, and the United States
has taken to sponsoring the latter's direct (and logical) descendants,
perhaps the better to oppose a competing set of totalitarian oppres-
sors, perhaps because it is the only universally accepted coin in in-
ternational relations.
(Lest you accuse me of communist leanings, I'll note that the
``other side'' is if possible even worse. There, does that make the
Wasilewskis of this world happy?)
(Lest you accuse me of sucking up to Arabs by badmouthing the Is-
raeli right, I'm sure Raif Hijab and Farzin Mokhtarian will set you
straight on that score. There, does that make the Yakim Martillos of
this world happy?)
So, if I call people like Terribile, M.E. Smith, Ron Morgan, and
several former contributors fascist, prejudiced or authoritarian, it
doesn't mean I think I can ``reform'' or ``re-educate'' them. I gave
up on that long ago. Frankly, I'm they're going to win. Whereas peo-
ple ``want'' freedom, oppressors ``have to have'' their way. Don't
pay any attention to the Philippines - those guys are experimental er-
ror. (Freedom hasn't won there - I hardly imagine it will.)
While I'm passing out insults, I'd like to note that, unlike the
persons I've maligned above, Tim Sevener can hardly be called authori-
tarian. I consider him an example of the triumph of humanistic pre-
cepts over the temptation to run with the in-crowd and aggrandize one-
self at the expense of both other people and one's own integrity.
People who call him a knee-jerk liberal, and discount his opinions on
that basis, are making a serious mistake: The accusation is true but
the conclusion is false. Sevener operates by testing people and e-
vents against his own, personal perception of proprieties and priori-
ties, be they what he'd do after a nuclear exchange or what he thinks
of Reagan's attempts to filch money from school lunch programs. No
doubt about it, the guy's goofy, and he utters apparent Pollyannaisms
on widely disparate topics. But those are HIS opinions, cooked up to
please his idiosyncratic ideas of what the world should be like, and
not tailored to popular trends in American Commiephobia or much of
anything else. Certainly one doesn't be liberal to be popular, not
that way, anyway. He is true to himself AND DOESN'T PRETEND TO SPEAK
FOR ANYONE ELSE - that puts him ahead of some people I can think of,
and is an example worth emulating.
So my mention of him as ThatFlamingCommie (TFCSevener) was a crude
bit of teasing, a parody of his respondents' attitudes toward him. It
does not mean I think his opinions come from Moscow, nor that I agree
or disagree with them. The party I insulted in that exchange was NOT
Mr. Sevener.
To return to the topic of authoritarianism, I see nothing wrong
with Mr. Sevener calling the present administration fascist, even if
it operates no known concentration camps (within US borders - I ima-
gine we make sure they're running smoothly in several other coun-
tries.) What he is pointing out is not specific conformity to con-
text-free definitions, but a basic orientation. He has the clarity of
sight to note where our policies point, and the foolhardiness to say
so on nutnews. Like I said, the dude is goofy. But worth some atten-
tion. People who complain about such descriptions are like the Boston
drivers I deal with every day; defective in their understanding of dy-
namics, and too lazy mentally to hit the brakes until their car is in-
ches from the onrushing bridge piling.
(Lest you accuse me of supporting humanism in contravention of
God, Jesus and the children I've sacrificed to Moloch this week, I'll
note that Secular Humanism registered as a ``religion'' in California
some years ago for the sole purpose of snagging the same tax shelters
as church-related action groups. This move has been considered one of
the most dumb-ass strategies in a philosophical movement character-
ized by dumb-ass political inexperience. Besides, humanism has only a
coincidental relationship to Secular Humanism, and since the latter is
not a doctrinaire religion, much as the idiot Ken Arndt would like you
to think otherwise, it cannot specify what is and isn't humanistic.
So my ``humanism'' [in this case applied to Sevener,] just like my
``orthodoxy'' is my own creation, not a bogeyman out of some religious
bozo's nightmares, nor wet dreams.)
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Astute readers who have gotten this far will note that the Terri-
bile posting I'm answering did NOT appear on talk.politics.misc. I'm
exercising my feeling on what single newsgroup deserves the whole por-
nography discussion. It ain't an issue of medicine, kids, or singles,
but of who will tell who else what to do, and shoot, beat, torture,
starve out, imprison or merely boycott, badmouth and barratrize any
who-elses who don't fall into line. That's politics, pure and simple,
so it's here. I'd appreciate any counterflames (which I no doubt de-
serve) restricted to this newsgroup.
Thank you very much.
--
Oded A. Feingold MIT AI Lab 545 Tech Square Cambridge, Mass. 02139
{allegra|ihnp4!mit-eddie}!mit-vax!oaf OAF@OZ.AI.MIT.EDU 617-253-8598