Neo authoritarianism and self centeredness…

There are a couple of themes I am thinking on…

Our bosses and how they are acting. How our female, and highest boss, is acting.

The self-centredness today.

My quiet thoughts: Not mentioning the purpose is quite authoritarian. We are treated in tis way in both small and bigger things. Told what to do with no information of why. We are supposed to just accept, i.e. not really call things in question. We have no right to know. We are treated as if as if we are no thinking people? We shall just do. Obey and keep quiet.

Our female boss doesn’t even seem to think on this. Explaining why we shall do this and that or change things to something else doesn’t seem to exist in her repertoire of thoughts or behaviors? No, it plainly doesn’t seem to exist (how was she as parent?). Why this lack? Was she born like this? Her genes? Innate traits in all of us? Or?

A sidetrack: how is this model for us when we deal with our students? Do we expect the same obedience from our students? That they shall just swallow what we tell them to do?

I can’t help wondering how she was brought up.

It’s the same neoauthoritarian (and neoconservative) tendencies in the whole society. It’s those models (good and bad) bosses have from the highest bosses in this society and the most authoritarian leaders are elected too? Obey and keep quiet. Don’t question any state of affairs or at least not certain state of affairs (i.e. what the power says, but “weak” people you can use as scapegoats). And, yes, amazingly few people seem to question this. How have we been raised?

I searched on an earlier posting on those themes and found a posting where Arthur Silber has written:

“The wish for unquestioning, unresisting obedience is coming true in America, more and more each day.”

And this made me think even further on something else I had read on he psychohistory list, in an essay about teaching children obedience (in school, the authoritarianism) and found what I was looking for in the essay “Freedom of Speech”:

“US state power over its citizens has been steadily increasing since the civil war, yet children are trained in schools to be blind to this fact. The US media and University system has heavily groomed the adult population to look to the national government to solve all their problems, even problems of basic emotions like fears and anxieties. The efficacy of this indoctrination into passivity can clearly be seen in lack of outrage over the recent destruction of the US legal system.

I don't think it's a coincidence at all that the same vote that over turned a speedy trial by jury also legalized torture. This is an action to frighten the population into unquestioning obedience. It is the next logical step for absolute state power after torturing people outside of the US. This vote purposely says to the US people 'when government people say jump, you say ‘how high’ or you will probably get tortured and raped just like the Iraqi's.’ The unsaid but obvious threat is the classic psychological assault of bullies, abusers and organized criminals everywhere.

However, the big secret for slave states is that it doesn't matter what you say or do, you will get impoverished, imprisoned, tortured and killed at some point no matter what. By speaking out we have absolutely nothing to lose and our very lives to gain.”

Societal approval...

Another theme is something a blogger (and leader writer) here wrote in a blogposting. She was going to take part in a café talking about

“I, I, I. What about ‘We’ then? - How to create a ‘We’ in a self centred era.”

What would a sound selfishness be about? Or should we use another vocabulary? Is the word 'selfishness' appropriate? Because it’s rather a question of sound protection of oneself? How do we achieve such a sound protection of ourselves?

By (truly) respecting our kids boundaries? By not violating them? How many of us are really capable of doing this?

Earlier postings on texts by Helle Klein. See for instance "In the individualism’s era..."