tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4516524448870006829.post4109779063115543350..comments2023-10-17T08:04:08.714-04:00Comments on The Examined Life: Necessary EvilAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04614116686638969278noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4516524448870006829.post-48978717956589289362012-01-09T23:16:02.779-05:002012-01-09T23:16:02.779-05:00Edge,I never think of you as foolish. We aren'...Edge,I never think of you as foolish. We aren't that far apart. I agree that organizations are vessels for human intention. The reason that I nitpick about assigning human qualities to the entities themselves is because I think that it allows us to create the fiction that it is the entities that are evil and that we have no control over them. We then tell ourselves that we can't do anything about the consequences wrought by the entity. I see it as a matter of taking responsibility for those organizations that negatively impact people.<br /><br />As for Hedges, I think that he points out mcuh that is true but I also think that he fails to do much more than point out the problems but fails to suggest that there are any solutions short of tossing out the entire system. <br /><br />I just don't think that it takes a lot of guts to continually point out failings; I think it takes a a whole lot more guts to recognize the deficiencies, point them out, and offer paths towards solutions. Pessimism merely begets pessimism.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04614116686638969278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4516524448870006829.post-54477569300198935852012-01-09T22:15:15.818-05:002012-01-09T22:15:15.818-05:00OK, enough already. It would be foolish for me to ...OK, enough already. It would be foolish for me to propose that inanimate entities have goodness or evil. However, we humans build intent into our machines. Handguns, for example, are not designed to hammer nails (at least not primarily).<br /><br />Organizations ARE vessels for human intention.<br /><br />As to Hedges, there has been a lot of ad hominem criticism of him, but he seems to be one of the few Americans willing to investigate the actual borders of American exceptionalism. That takes guts.<br /><br />Sure, it may seem bleak, even hopeless. But looking at the corporate-commercial coma holding citizens in thrall, I think a few more Hedges types might actually be useful.<br /><br />Don't we already have more than enough apologists for the operators of the present control structures?<br /><br />It's BECAUSE of Hedges and a few others like him that I am beginning to actually find hope.The Edge Columnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06729303735171811656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4516524448870006829.post-71469375102921787282012-01-08T20:14:53.470-05:002012-01-08T20:14:53.470-05:00I do not believe entities are evil, just selfish a...I do not believe entities are evil, just selfish and self-centered.Ken Richeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09425810816600512504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4516524448870006829.post-86445755092599337302012-01-07T22:42:07.367-05:002012-01-07T22:42:07.367-05:00Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Nance.
I have...Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Nance.<br /><br />I have been taken aback by the number of intelligent liberals that I encounter who have sunken into a black abyss where the message on the entrance is "Abandon all hope, all ye who enter here."<br /><br />In spite of my propensity for visiting the blues far too often, I'm not ready to accept that America is doomed.<br /><br />I agree with Edge's observation on the Zone,<i> Corporate cultures are surprisingly enduring and pernicious and survive entire leadership and management changes.</i><br /><br />Where I disagree is that this is evidence that non-human entities are good or evil. They are what we shape them to be. The reason that I think it is imperative to make the distinction is because it's our willingness to attribute intent and purpose to inanimate structural organization systems that allows us to abdicate responsibility for the actions and policies of those entities. Ultimately, we, human beings, are the authors of good or evil. The ability of a corrupt corporate culture to survive beyond the terms of those who initiated such a culture is only a sign that the practices and policies that created such a culture are being continued by those who follow those who originated such a culture.<br /><br />In my thinking, declaring systems or entities to be evil does nothing to eradicate such structures. Instead it allows us to declare our inability to control such evil. To address making critical change we must first fully acknowledge that any "evil" that exists is of our own making. What we do, we have the wherewithal to undo.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04614116686638969278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4516524448870006829.post-79524579674522143752012-01-07T09:15:10.125-05:002012-01-07T09:15:10.125-05:00I've read about half of Hedges' The World ...I've read about half of Hedges' The World As It Is and have dropped in on his blog off and on. He articulates the socialist perspective well, but he stoops to bathos from time to time and manages to make me feel guilty for even a modicum of pragmatism.<br /><br />On a recent trip to DC to visit the Occupy gathering there, we stayed with older friends. Our host is an educated, intellectual liberal who had suddenly turned disgusted and embittered with liberalism in America since we saw him last. He handed us this book and asked why we were wasting our time on OWS, a doomed writhing of the masses ground under the heel of America's so-called liberal Democratic party. I was shocked and borrowed the book to get through as much as I could in our three days with our friends.<br /><br />Alarmed by his sudden shift of stance, I asked our host, "But you are planning to vote, aren't you?" (He votes in SC, as do we.) He answered, "Oh, sure. I'll throw my vote away. It's useless." And I argued that, to the extent Hedges is right (and the man can strike some chords!), I still must choose my stand in the time I have left as a citizen and I believe that stand matters. The alternative is unthinkable. And he argued that, in America, it no longer matters who wins and the sooner we sink ourselves, the sooner cometh the revolution. I think he had become a total Hedges convert and he believed Hedges didn't condone half measures. I'm sad to report that we parted under this cloud and haven't had a chance to make it better yet.<br /><br />Two days later, after we were back home, Chris Hedges came out as an unequivocal champion of Occupy Wall Street and seemed ready to enthrone himself as their public voice. I wonder how my friend took it.<br /><br />Can institutions be evil? I think McEachern makes a good argument at the Zone that the culture of institutions can be evil. For me, the bigger question is whether the Chris Hedges of the world play a useful, positive role in moving the institutional or party conversation toward greater humanitarianism. I say they <b>can</b>, but it must be very, very careful not to slop over into becoming cheerleaders for Armageddon. Chris Hedges plays a little fast and loose with that razor's edge. It's not easy to exhort without inciting or embittering.<br /><br />I applaud your thoughtful, tempering line of reasoning here.Nancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15166865250789996825noreply@blogger.com