|
"SOCIAL MADNESS:" Click this link to read and download the entire article, then read the excerpt by Aronson below and the comment by Koenigsberg below that.
EXCERPT FROM ARONSON'S ARTICLE DIRECTLY BELOW
Comment by Koenigsberg directly below the excerpt
The rigorous use of ‘madness’ (to describe a political policy) is deeply disturbing, which is perhaps one reason why it has been so conspicuously avoided in a century rife with madness. The functionalist bias of most systematic thought assumes that there is a reason for every societal act, a more or less rational intention behind political action.
It offends the intellect to suggest that there is no reason behind a major policy — or that indeed its reason is profoundly and systematically irrational. ‘Madness’ is even more unsettling in suggesting that we may be living amidst a profound and destructive irrationality.
The entrance of Donald Trump into the Political Arena may help to generate a revolution in human thought. The psychopathology of politics that I have long drawn attention to--the madness of political leaders--is happening right before our eyes.
Political statements and observations that are bizarre, crazy, mad occur endlessly: The insanity of contemporary political discourse.
Insanity as entertainment. Clowns in power. No longer any need for political "satire." The imitations of political leaders on Saturday Night Live are tame and lame--in comparison with the people they try to imitate. In fact, contemporary politics often resembles a Saturday Night Sketch.
A world in flames. And the brave commentators: doing their best to stem the tide of madness: Western rationality fighting the good fight.
But they too become mad in fighting madness.
RICHARD KOENIGSBERG
|