Some heady thoughts here. I've often argued with people about what to do about the rise of acts of violence on a mass scale, which is probably mostly unique to one gender. Fromm makes some good observations here:
"Compensatory violence is not, like reactive violence, in the service of life; it is the pathological substitute for life; it indicates the crippling and emptiness of life."
And here:
"The only cure for compensatory destructiveness is the development of the creative potential in man, his capacity to make productive use of his human powers."
Any society that leeches the capacity of an individual to make meaning, to freely 'do' and pursue and evolve in a way that feels in the service of something deep inside, can't possibly have a *surprised pikachu face* when the individual develops maladaptive behaviour in the form of the violence Fromm's talking about.
Can you provide a link? The rages against daddy thing is ubiquitous in the artists of our culture going way back. Thanks for noting this. In the middle of a very long post involving this aspect of our psychology.
So true. Having known the frustration of the unlived, I can say there is a desire to blame others. Upon escaping the mundane, I developed empathy, by experiencing things I never could have thought doable, from the impoverished situation of my adolescence.
Some heady thoughts here. I've often argued with people about what to do about the rise of acts of violence on a mass scale, which is probably mostly unique to one gender. Fromm makes some good observations here:
"Compensatory violence is not, like reactive violence, in the service of life; it is the pathological substitute for life; it indicates the crippling and emptiness of life."
And here:
"The only cure for compensatory destructiveness is the development of the creative potential in man, his capacity to make productive use of his human powers."
Any society that leeches the capacity of an individual to make meaning, to freely 'do' and pursue and evolve in a way that feels in the service of something deep inside, can't possibly have a *surprised pikachu face* when the individual develops maladaptive behaviour in the form of the violence Fromm's talking about.
Great post!
Love this thanks. I believe it fits well with what I spent the morning writing about - Hunter Thompson.
I'm reading the memoir written by his son - think it's pretty new. A worthwhile read, though sometimes it def reads like 'raging against daddy.'
Can you provide a link? The rages against daddy thing is ubiquitous in the artists of our culture going way back. Thanks for noting this. In the middle of a very long post involving this aspect of our psychology.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/12/juan-thompson-book-hunter-s-thompson-stories-i-tell-myself
Thank you. Looks super. We have two "IT manager kids" ourselves. One a creative internet architect, one a creative musician & IT manager. Interesting.
Can we have the source for this text please? Much appreciated. Is it 'The anatomy of human destructiveness'?
The source is there at the bottom.
It's from "The Heart of Man: Its Genius for Good and Evil" by Erich Fromm.
So true. Having known the frustration of the unlived, I can say there is a desire to blame others. Upon escaping the mundane, I developed empathy, by experiencing things I never could have thought doable, from the impoverished situation of my adolescence.