Monday 24 October 2011

Negativism

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The Left, political correctness, is clinically insane (if it were a person, it would be an insane person).

In the type of insanity known as catatonia, there may be a phenomenon called negativism: the patient understands instructions, then does the opposite (they can, indeed, be made to do what the nurses want by asking them to do the opposite).

Ask them to take their clothes off and they get dressed, tell them not to eat the food on the table and they will eat it.

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The insanity of the Western governments of the Left (i.e. all of them) is surely now running very close to the surface.

I cannot begin to make sense of Western government policy at present – foreign policy, economic policy, social policy etc.

Indeed, even making the mental effort to make sense of it, I can feel my mind starting to become un-hinged.

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Current affairs make about as much sense as the negativism of a catatonic - or the tantrums of a 2 year old toddler who doesn’t want this, doesn’t want that and stamps around in a fury – punching the wall and scraping their own knuckles, poking sticks at big dogs which then bite them, breaking their own toys and crying about what they have done.

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It is a practical error to try and understand insane catatonics or toddlers in a tantrum - instead we should act swiftly to remove them from situations where they can harm themselves or others.

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6 comments:

GFC said...

A short post packed with much wisdom.

Unfortunately there is no removing the madmen who squat atop our political and civic institutions - so they will be removed via catastrophe. The West's collapse is imminent - that is a sort of solution to the problem.

Bruce Charlton said...

@GFC

Indeed.

The interesting question is who will replace the madmen?

My guess: No single group, because existing nation states will break-up.

The result would then be a mosaic of any different polities where large nation states used to be (presumably after some violent etc. conflict; except in those places fortunate (?) enough to have a single strong non-mad candidate government-in-waiting).

Daniel said...

"so they will be removed via catastrophe. The West's collapse is imminent - that is a sort of solution to the problem."

Or, perhaps, they will be removed through eucatastrophe. Who, in the long, despairing reign of Denethor, could have seen the coming of Aragorn?

@bgc

I also think nation-state break-up is very likely (and to be welcomed). Here in the western United States, the inclination remains very strong to view Washington as a foreign occupying power.

dearieme said...

@bgc: this evening's University Challenge played a snippet of Scott Joplin's opera. It was recognisably his work.

The Crow said...

I don't know how long I've been discussing this very topic with my wife, but it's been a long time.
I used to try to understand leftism, but decided if I did understand it, I would really be in trouble.
Clearly, leftism is madness.
I was looking at some typically heartrending images on the net the other day: homeless kids in India, starving kids in Africa, and thinking how grateful I felt that this was not my lot in life.
While every comment, by other viewers, made it clear that all anybody else felt was guilt.
All the life has been removed from peoples' lives, and they, themselves, are not really living, any more.
Only emoting all over the place.

Bruce Charlton said...

@Crow.

Charming vision of Mr and Mrs Crow on their nest, chatting! ;=)

@Dearieme - Yes, I have listened to Treemonisha. It was Joplin right enough, with good bits; but didn't seem to be at his highest level.