The Audio Stylings of Chris Levens
"I'm a Gangster"

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Providential Reading

Sometimes, I encounter, in one day, two things that might be called companion experiences. They might be called that, but I would never use such a lame designation.

On Thursday, I read this article in the LA Times about a San Diego evangelical minister who is trying to rally 1,000 California pastors to influence their congregations to pass a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

Then, as I was finishing up the Adorno book I mentioned last post, I came across an interesting companion to the LA Times article: "Christianity, idealism, and materialism, which in themselves contain truth, are therefore also responsible for the barbaric acts perpetuated in their name. As representatives of power -- even if of power for good -- they themselves became historical forces which could be organized, and as such played a bloody role in the true history of the human race: that of the instruments of organization."

Christianity has been and is being used as an instrument of organization, and it bears the responsibility for the acts committed in its name.
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Frankfurters

To balance out the Right-Wing Wacko stuff I've been reading, I picked up (again) Horkheimer and Adorno's Dialectic of Enlightenment. Horkheimer and Adorno were part of the Frankfurt school of thought, which was an influential mid-century Western Marxists group.

I'll spare you the details about the book -- except for a few interesting observations. They were writing during the Second World War, and much of their book examines the causal link between Enlightenment rationality, Free-Market capitalism and the rise of Fascism. While talking about the Nazis, they make interesting points about the nature of Fascism that really hit home 60 odd years later. Here are a couple quotes that seem a little too similar to contemporary Right-Wing ideology:

"Hitler demands justification for mass murder in the name of the legal principle of sovereign national rights, which tolerates any act of violence in another country."
Sound like the way we justify our aggressive military actions?

"Fascism replaced involved legal procedures by an accelerated form of judgement and retribution."
Sound like the way we treat suspected terrorists?

"Everyone is either a friend or an enemy: there are no half measures."
Sound like Bush's Messianic declaration, "You are either with us or against us?"

"The mechanism which the totalitarian order uses is as old as civilization. The blind murderer has always seen his victim as a persecutor against whom he must defend himself, and the strongest and wealthiest individuals have always felt their weakest neighbors to be an intolerable threat before they fell upon to destroy them."
Again, sounds like the way we justify mass murder -- we call it "defence" similar to the way the Nazis called their aggression "defence."

"The established group always adopts a paranoiac attitude to others. The great empires and even organized humanity as such are not more advanced than headhunters in this respect."
Illegal immigrants? Homos? Arabs? New Agers? Terrorists?

"They must be exterminated to secure happiness for the world."
And of course, we are waging a world wide war on terror to exterminate the "dangerous people" to make the world a safe place for happiness to dwell.

If you made it through all the quotes, let me know what you think. Did the Frankfurters recognize something in 1940s Fascism that is still alive today in Right-Wing ideology?
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Mind Over Matter

Let's talk about how thoughts can construct reality.

Before I begin, just forget about any sort of Idealism. That stuff will just muddle the waters and make you think I'm saying something I'm not.

I will use two examples to explain how thoughts can construct reality, and then I will follow them up with a little generalization.

Example #1: Micro: Let's say you are sitting in a mall eating a big cinnamon pretzel. You notice a teenager girl look in your direction and then laugh with her friend. They may have not even noticed you, but for some reason you assume they are laughing about you. It makes you a bit self-conscious, a bit worried that something is wrong with the way you look. Is there cinnamon powder all over your face? It makes you agitated. You jump up to look for a reflective surface to see if there is anything wrong with the way you look. Staring at yourself in a window, you can't see anything, so you spin around and look at the people walking by to see if they are looking at you weird. The more you spin and peer at the passers-by, the more you realize that they are looking at you weird. Does everyone think you look weird? You start searching each face that comes by. The more you look, the more attention you draw from everyone around. Next thing you know, the mall security is escorting you out of the mall and searching you for drugs.

Just for the record, this is not autobiography. Instead, it is an example of how the thought that everyone is looking at you weird can actually create the reality that everyone is looking at you weird. It is almost like a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Example #2: Macro: The Classical tradition believes that only war can bring peace. Here are some quotes: Aristotle, "We make war so that we may live in peace;" Publilius Syrus, "The cruelty of war makes for peace;" "We should provide in peace what we need in war;" "He is best secure from dangers who is on his guard even when he seems safe;" Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, "Let him who desires peace prepare for war;" Athenogoras of Syracuse, "If a man does not strike first, he will be the first struck;" Tacitus, "A bad peace is even worse than war;" "Arms keep peace" - Latin proverb.

OK, so there is a little synopsis of the Classical tradition on the relation of peace and war. Now, if a group of people were to believe this tradition, then their beliefs would construct reality in such a way that the real world reflects these beliefs. If two countries believe that they must strike first or they will be struck; if they believe that in order to have peace they need to destroy their enemies, and that no peace is possible without war, then in their world these things will be true. These countries or cultures will constantly prepare for war, and will distrust any peace that is not the result of conquest. The result will be that no peace will be maintained among those countries. Their beliefs about war and peace will construct the world around them like a self-fulfilling prophesy.

In summery, I'd just like to make sure no one misunderstands me. I'm not saying that all reality is Idea. Nor am I saying that we can shape events just by thinking about events. What I am saying is that thoughts can sometimes construct the world around us. "Sometimes" is the key word. If I think you don't like me, I'm going to act toward you in such a way that you probably won't like me -- self-fulfilling prophsy again. But it could also happen that you do something that shows me you do like me, and then my thougths about you will change, and so will my actions. If as a culture we believe we must shed blood to achieve peace, then peace for us will never be possible without war. Our belief about war and peace will actually make it impossible for peace to be achieved without war.
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The O Man is in the High-Ous

The Lakers are in the Finals and Obama is the nominee -- things could be worse.

As I'm sure you've heard, Obama is going to be the Dem nominee. Mrs. Clinton is bowing out.

I have to admit, I'm a tad bit excited about the news. As you can tell from previous posts, I'm not totally gung-ho on Obama -- I think there is only so much that he is going to be able to do as President. What excites me is that Obama is the canidate that I think has the best chance of doing some positive things with that position of power.

Many people I know are actually excited about Obama. I didn't know anyone who was a big Clinton fan.

For V.P., I sort of hope Clinton will not be named. I think she has more people who are crazy-full of hatred toward her than there are those who are crazy-fond of her. I think the election would me more about her than about Obama or the issues. Plus, Clinton would be too much of a move toward the Right for my taste.

I hope Obama picks someone like Edwards or Richardson -- someone who is a shade to the Left of Obama.


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