Comments on: Freud and the Fascists http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/ Exposing the ugly truths about the Bush Administration. Sat, 05 Jul 2008 10:53:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1.3 by: Douglas http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-53534 Mon, 04 Dec 2006 15:24:47 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-53534 They shorten the process of changing masters. They have learned that a hundred years of hard intellectual work on your freedom, of personal sacrifice for your happiness, even of sacrificing life for your freedom, was much too high a price for your new enslavement. They shorten the process of changing masters. They have learned that a hundred years of hard intellectual work on your freedom, of personal sacrifice for your happiness, even of sacrificing life for your freedom, was much too high a price for your new enslavement.

]]> by: Coleen http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-52410 Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:14:44 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-52410 I thought the program was brilliant, and wish I could provide you a link. Anyway, one of the things I remember about it is that Hitler’s eroticism became very messed up - he often had erections while delivering his speeches - at some level he had a sort of love relationship with the German masses. I thought the program was brilliant, and wish I could provide you a link. Anyway, one of the things I remember about it is that Hitler’s eroticism became very messed up - he often had erections while delivering his speeches - at some level he had a sort of love relationship with the German masses.

]]> by: LB http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7412 Wed, 03 May 2006 01:05:24 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7412 Another classic Maha post. I am glad someone else out there has a Liberal eduction! Thanks Another classic Maha post. I am glad someone else out there has a Liberal eduction!

Thanks

]]> by: maha http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7308 Sun, 30 Apr 2006 23:26:19 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7308 D.R.! How've you been? I've missed you. D.R.! How’ve you been? I’ve missed you.

]]> by: Donna http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7298 Sun, 30 Apr 2006 20:26:27 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7298 Swami, you are so succinct and so funny! Thanks! D.R, you nailed it......Reich understood the mechanisms of hitlers and advertisers. alyosha, another tidbit about Reich. When he was imprisoned, he set out an imperative to his heirs that they not publish any of his unwritten works until 50 years past his death [which is about now]. Seems he came to believe that he was ahead of his time in his expounding about human behavior. After 50 years, I wonder if we've all grown some and would more receptive to his material today..... but for sure the fundamentalists would burn his books today, inasmuch as a theme of his work was that violent behavior is powered by unfulfilled sexuality.....especially when teens who are biologically/hormonally ready must sublimate and deal with that unfulfillment for many years before society allows them 'appropriate outlets' in marriage. Swami, you are so succinct and so funny! Thanks!

D.R, you nailed it……Reich understood the mechanisms of hitlers and advertisers.

alyosha, another tidbit about Reich. When he was imprisoned, he set out an imperative to his heirs that they not publish any of his unwritten works until 50 years past his death [which is about now]. Seems he came to believe that he was ahead of his time in his expounding about human behavior. After 50 years, I wonder if we’ve all grown some and would more receptive to his material today….. but for sure the fundamentalists would burn his books today, inasmuch as a theme of his work was that violent behavior is powered by unfulfilled sexuality…..especially when teens who are biologically/hormonally ready must sublimate and deal with that unfulfillment for many years before society allows them ‘appropriate outlets’ in marriage.

]]> by: alyosha http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7291 Sun, 30 Apr 2006 19:04:07 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7291 re Comment 4, I saw something on PBS a year or two ago (or was it the History channel?), that was about Hitler's pathologies, both physical and mental. I thought the program was brilliant, and wish I could provide you a link. Anyway, one of the things I remember about it is that Hitler's eroticism became very messed up - he often had erections while delivering his speeches - at some level he had a sort of love relationship with the German masses. The way we know about this, is that he sought treatment for this physical "problem". Thanks Donna for the info and quote from Wilhelm Reich. I am impressed by the large number of writers and thinkers from that time and place who left us analyses of what happened. I'm hoping that our national nightmare won't be as dramatic as what happened to Germany, but I have my doubts. re Comment 4, I saw something on PBS a year or two ago (or was it the History channel?), that was about Hitler’s pathologies, both physical and mental. I thought the program was brilliant, and wish I could provide you a link. Anyway, one of the things I remember about it is that Hitler’s eroticism became very messed up - he often had erections while delivering his speeches - at some level he had a sort of love relationship with the German masses. The way we know about this, is that he sought treatment for this physical “problem”.

Thanks Donna for the info and quote from Wilhelm Reich. I am impressed by the large number of writers and thinkers from that time and place who left us analyses of what happened. I’m hoping that our national nightmare won’t be as dramatic as what happened to Germany, but I have my doubts.

]]> by: Swami http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7288 Sun, 30 Apr 2006 17:44:17 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7288 Maybe Frued is right about our relationship to Dear Leader being an erotic one...it seems he has screwed us all. Maybe Frued is right about our relationship to Dear Leader being an erotic one…it seems he has screwed us all.

]]> by: D.R. Marvel http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7281 Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:56:18 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7281 Sounds t' me like Ol' Sigmund slurped down a couple beers with George Orwell at some point... And this Reich fella ought'a be known as the "John the Baptist" of the "Advertising Age"... Sounds t’ me like Ol’ Sigmund slurped down a couple beers with George Orwell at some point…

And this Reich fella ought’a be known as the “John the Baptist” of the “Advertising Age”…

]]> by: Donna http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7277 Sun, 30 Apr 2006 14:19:27 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7277 This will be a longish post because I want to type in a paragraph from a 1945 book that is out of print. The book is titled, "Listen, Little Man" and written by Wilhelm Reich. Wilhelm Reich was a student of Freud, but diverged from Freud over some psychiatry issues in the 1920's. Wilhelm Reich was brilliant [if ponderous] in his book, "Mass Psychology of Fascim".[yes, he was banned from his homeland, Germany] Wilhelm Reich, by the way, died in prison in the USA in the 50's....and his books were burned by federal agents.....a shameful piece of national history, given the fact that Reich's original and thorough spadework on character analyses still provides, to this day, the indispensable ground for all subsequent study of character patterns in our psychiatry and psychology programs.. But here are Reich's own words to 'Little Men' everywhere, distinguishing them from the Hitler types whom he calls 'little great men' who manipulate the masses: "In distant nations, little men have industriously studied your craving for being anybody's slave and have thus learned how, with little intellectual effort, one can become a little great man......They shorten the process of changing masters. They have learned that a hundred years of hard intellectual work on your freedom, of personal sacrifice for your happiness, even of sacrificing life for your freedom, was much too high a price for your new enslavement. What really great thinkers for freedom had elaborated and suffered in 100 years could be destroyed in less than five years. The little men from your ranks, then, shorten the process: they do it more openly and more brutally. More than that, they tell you in so many words that you and your life, your family and your children, amount to nothing, that your are stupid and subservient, that one can do what with you what one pleases. They do not promise you personal freedom, but national freedom. They do not promise you human self-confidence but respect for the state, not personal greatness, but national greatness. Since 'personal freedom' and 'personal greatness' are nothing to you but vague concepts, while 'national freedom' and 'the interests of the state' make your mouth water like a bone that of a dog, you loudly acclaim them. None of these little men pays the price for genuine freedom, as did Jesus, Karl Marx or Lincoln. They do not love you, they dispise you........They have sacrificed you to a symbol, and you carry them to power over yourself...." This will be a longish post because I want to type in a paragraph from a 1945 book that is out of print. The book is titled, “Listen, Little Man” and written by Wilhelm Reich.

Wilhelm Reich was a student of Freud, but diverged from Freud over some psychiatry issues in the 1920’s. Wilhelm Reich was brilliant [if ponderous] in his book, “Mass Psychology of Fascim”.[yes, he was banned from his homeland, Germany] Wilhelm Reich, by the way, died in prison in the USA in the 50’s….and his books were burned by federal agents…..a shameful piece of national history, given the fact that Reich’s original and thorough spadework on character analyses still provides, to this day, the indispensable ground for all subsequent study of character patterns in our psychiatry and psychology programs..

But here are Reich’s own words to ‘Little Men’ everywhere, distinguishing them from the Hitler types whom he calls ‘little great men’ who manipulate the masses:
“In distant nations, little men have industriously studied your craving for being anybody’s slave and have thus learned how, with little intellectual effort, one can become a little great man……They shorten the process of changing masters. They have learned that a hundred years of hard intellectual work on your freedom, of personal sacrifice for your happiness, even of sacrificing life for your freedom, was much too high a price for your new enslavement. What really great thinkers for freedom had elaborated and suffered in 100 years could be destroyed in less than five years. The little men from your ranks, then, shorten the process: they do it more openly and more brutally. More than that, they tell you in so many words that you and your life, your family and your children, amount to nothing, that your are stupid and subservient, that one can do what with you what one pleases. They do not promise you personal freedom, but national freedom. They do not promise you human self-confidence but respect for the state, not personal greatness, but national greatness. Since ‘personal freedom’ and ‘personal greatness’ are nothing to you but vague concepts, while ‘national freedom’ and ‘the interests of the state’ make your mouth water like a bone that of a dog, you loudly acclaim them. None of these little men pays the price for genuine freedom, as did Jesus, Karl Marx or Lincoln. They do not love you, they dispise you……..They have sacrificed you to a symbol, and you carry them to power over yourself….”

]]> by: Sam http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7266 Sun, 30 Apr 2006 05:40:33 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2006/04/29/freud-and-the-fascists/#comment-7266 Leave it to Freud to explain it all. I hadn't read much of his later writings. Thanks for bringing this and Beinart's article to our attention, Maha. Much to think about. Ambiguity - the bugbear of conservatism. I think my kids grew up as thoughtful liberals in part because whenever they were curious about a social or political topic, I would explain both (or more) sides of the issue. They were raised with ambiguity. Ambiguity is a friend of ours. Life is ambiguous. And if I hear another conservative praise Reagan for ending the cold war, I'm going to scream. Remember how Rush ridiculed Gorbachev during those years? Recent Russian history is astonishingly complex in how the USSR dissolved. Reagan had little to do with it compared to numerous other factors including, most of all, Gorbachev. Now there was a man comfortable with ambiguity. Leave it to Freud to explain it all. I hadn’t read much of his later writings. Thanks for bringing this and Beinart’s article to our attention, Maha. Much to think about.
Ambiguity - the bugbear of conservatism. I think my kids grew up as thoughtful liberals in part because whenever they were curious about a social or political topic, I would explain both (or more) sides of the issue. They were raised with ambiguity. Ambiguity is a friend of ours. Life is ambiguous.
And if I hear another conservative praise Reagan for ending the cold war, I’m going to scream. Remember how Rush ridiculed Gorbachev during those years? Recent Russian history is astonishingly complex in how the USSR dissolved. Reagan had little to do with it compared to numerous other factors including, most of all, Gorbachev. Now there was a man comfortable with ambiguity.

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