I ran across the following in Steven Ozment's /A Mighty Fortress, A new
History of the German People, /published 2006:
"Over most of their history Germans have embraced ideals of order and
authority without totalitarianism, and pursued freedom and equality
without liberal democracy. The German difference from American,
British, and French models of society and politics does not lie in any
German rejection of individual freedom in favor of absolute, or
totalitarian, rule. Historical experience has instead left Germans more
fearful of anarchy than of tyranny, inclining them to hedge, if hedge
they must, on the side of good order. This they have done in a
compelling belief that it is not freedom once attained, but discipline,
carefully maintained, that keeps a people free."
This seemed an interesting passage at first reading, but when I reread
and kept rereading it I decided I didn't understand it. There are too
many abstract terms, too many implications, many of which are probably
not intended. Also, I do not know what "historical experience" Ozment
is referring to. No doubt he'll explain himself later on (the quote is
from pages 13 & 14) What, if Ozment is accurate, do the Germans mean by
anarchy? What does Mike Geary (who called himself an anarchist a few
years ago) mean by it? What does Noam Chomsky (whom I just ordered two
books by), calling himself an Anarchist, mean by it? What do Geary and
Chomsky think of Germany's fear of anarchy?
{Maybe I should have used a different word than "tired" when I said I
was "tired" of an earlier discussion. I had a stiff-neck and a
headache, both of which were getting worse as I tried to reconcile what
I had read to what interlocutors were thinking it said, and I could only
imagine them getting worse as time went on -- "tired" may not be
precisely a "headache and stiff neck," but their effects are wearing.
Having a headache and stiff neck leads to tiredness. Pitchers who have
headaches and stiff necks are pulled after only one or two innings. I
don't as I post this note have a fear of anarchy but of tiredness and
having to explain myself.]
Lawrence
