[lit-ideas] Re: It Doesn't Stay in Vegas

  • From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 09:02:22 -0700

Andreas,

 

Fukuyama in countless places, even in the article I just posted praises
Liberal Democracy.  He loves Liberal Democracy.  He wants it to succeed.  He
points out that Hegel, who thought wars were necessary for the exercise of
thymos, was right for his time, but now (as Hegel was replaced in Fukuyama's
thinking by Kojeve) there are other less violent means for exercising
thymos.  Bill Gates can conquer in the modern world in a way impossible in
the age of Hegel short of a major war. Britney Spears and Madonna I'm quite
sure do not feel deprived.  They are megalothymotics par excellence.  Do you
think Barry Bonds is feeling deprived of his ability to be a megalothymotic?
Well, perhaps he is a bit because some men with no chests want to put an
asterisk by his numbers because of steroid use.  Did you ever watch Ward
Churchill on CSPAN?  I have, and saw megalothymos in action.  Look about our
society and you see enormous opportunity for thymos.  As long as people feel
fulfilled with such opportunities as these, we will not need war and we will
not become men with no chests.  This is all in Fukuyama's book.  It is too
soon to tell whether such opportunities as the ones available to us today
will satisfy Liberal Democrats indefinitely.  He hopes they will, for if
they won't then bored megalothymotics may start history up again.

 

Lawrence

 

-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Andreas Ramos
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 8:24 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: It Doesn't Stay in Vegas

 

From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

 

> America isn't a man with no chest.  America is

> the preeminent example of Liberal Democracy today and it is a good thing -

> regardless of the whining of the continental European men with no chests.

 

Let's distinguish carefully here: America that fights wars is good; America
that doesn't 

fight wars is a European weakling.

 

You see now, don't you? For Fukuyama, democracy has an inherent flaw: the
legal system gives 

everyone equal recognition, regardless whether they deserve it or not.

 

Or, said large, a global legal system (treaties, etc.) gives every country
equal 

recognition, regardless whether they deserve it or not. Iran is a country,
therefore it has 

rights. That's the error of European diplomacy.

 

That's the whole point of thymos, the core idea in the book.

 

yrs,

andreas

www.andreas.com

 

 

 

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