Chomsky and Foucault

The Hippiest Generation

The reign of the hippies is almost at an end.

Yup, the generation of baby boomers which have been firmly in control of government and business in the United States for the past ten years or so is almost over. Hooray. I for one have had enough of there pro-drug legislation, anti-business and corporate agenda, the loose sexual morals they promote, their absolute aversion to war of a any kind and their devotion of so much of the nations resources to fulfilling the dream of civil rights.

Ah, sarcasm, my old friend. Where would we be without you.

Seriously, people tend to think of 60's counterculture as infusing all the youth of the era. So, how did we end up with a large group of people from that era in positions of authority who have white hot button down white picket fence conforming values? First, you have to realize that as evidenced by the name, counterculture was never mainstream culture. Therefore, one would not expect to see it well represented in the majority of people of that time. While some significant social changes happened in the sixties, it was a really a revolution in perception (hyped by mainstream culture to mobilize the silent majority) more than anything else.



Another interesting thing to note is that as society was moving left, the economy was moving right. The sixties marked a move away from strong unions and a prevalence of unskilled labor jobs. Small businesses were evaporating to be replaced by large corporations created in mergers. The seeds of a culture of consumption where starting to sprout.

(graffiti via Banksy)

More Pointless Babble

Despite the urge not to, please compare the following two quotations:

1. All things whatsoever observe a mutual order; and this the form that maketh the universe like unto God. Herein the exalted creatures trace the impress of the Eternal Worth, which is the goal whereto was made the norm...
2. ...even more purposeless, more void of meaning, is the world which Science presents for our belief...Brief and powerless is Man's life; on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls pitiless and dark.

The first quote is from Dante's "Divine Comedy" and represents the euphoric medieval view of the human relationship with the universe. This view posits that humans are the pillars on which the world rests. Also, we are in fact the image of the greatest aspect of the universe, namely the G-Dog. Third, human life has divine purpose.

The second quote from Bertrand Russell's "Mysticism and Logic" illustrates the ice cold heartless perspective of science on the place of life in the universe. Humans are accidents. Nothing has purpose. No grand conscious force even exists to be indifferent.

At this point, you're probably thinking hey, what the hell are you doing reading Dante and Russell. I answer, Ha! I'm not! I just paraphrased the introduction of EA Burtt's "Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science." You guys fall for that trick every time. Unless of course, you stopped reading a few paragraphs ago.

Is this thing on?

Click below for more fun universe facts courtesy of Tom the Dancing Bug.

I Like it Here. It's Nice.

From this month's Harper's index:

• Percentage of American adults held in institutions (prisons or mental) in 1953 and today respectively: 0.67%, 0.68%
  
• Percentage of institutionalized adults in 1953 in mental institutions: 53%
  
• Percentage of institutionalized adults in prison today: 97%

So, half of those we call criminals today were called mental patients in the 50's. The other possible interpretation is that crime is way up in exact proportion to the amount insanity is way down. Seems unlikely. I discussed these numbers a few months ago with my mom and she thought that the numbers indicate that we are using jails as proxies for mental institutions. There is probably some of that going on but as a whole that explanation feels incomplete.

To me, these numbers indicate that crime and mental health are mere rationalizations for removing people from society. I would go farther to say institutionalization performs some function for society that needs to be justified in clear terms like crime and mental health but probably is much more difficult to understand.

Here's another tidbit from Harper's index that's also justice related:

• Amount by which the salary of Judge Judy exceeds the salaries of all nine Supreme Court justices combined: $26,000,000

(The photo is from Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party, Library of Congress)