[lit-ideas] Re: 21. century European anti-Semitism
- From: Scribe1865@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 00:27:34 EDT
In a message dated 4/19/2004 9:53:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
mccreery@xxxxxxx writes:
My point is a general one, having to do with the character of
historical (or sociological or anthropological) explanation: Fear and
violent defense occur in specific social, cultural, historic
circumstances that any decent theory must provide an account for. That human
beings are capable of infantile rage or calculated cruelty is too general a
potential to account for why specific acts of barbarity occur in specific times
and places.
_________________
Agreed. Is it possible to discuss what characteristics of "specific social,
cultural, historic circumstances" may lead to fear and violent defense?
For example, prolonged, everyday exposure to Others with neither group making
an attempt to assimilate across groups, perhaps where one group is felt to be
responsible in some way for the setbacks of the other group?
Is it necessary to account for all acts of barbarity in order to establish a
trend? I don't think so. Perhaps it is enough to describe conditions that
induce violent trends.
My attempts to understand violence and cruelty have lead me to these texts:
Erich Fromm's _The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness_
Colin Wilson's _The Criminal History of Mankind_
Arthur Koestler's _The Ghost in the Machine_
Norman O. Brown's _Life Against Death: the Psychoanalytic Meaning of History_
Karl Menninger's _Man Against Himself_.
None of these have really satisfied, although all have provided some hints
about cruelty and destructiveness, but no more than one could get from reading
history or biography.
Eric
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