7/29/2009

The dangers with calls for strong leaders – and hearing tramp of boots in the distance...


The Swedish professor in religion psychology Owe Wikström writes at page 44 in his book “In praise of the slowness – or the danger of driving moped through Louvren”(2001) that the age in which we live is formed both by collective (I hardly dare to write this word!!) and personal factors: with a coarse simplification you could say that the divided society is playing together with individualistic personalities. These two processes strengthen each other.

If they are brought together breeding grounds are created for the relativism that appears, the ad hoc* attitudes that often characterizes religious as well as political ideology. Nothing has the obvious' strength. The collective values and Christian interpretations have eroded (and when collective values have eroded many go back to religion; as is the case in for instance a big country like USA?? A strict, moralizing).

Each person has become more deserted to her/himself, to find her/his own way in life. My addition: And an enormous burden can be (and is) laid on the individual's shoulders.

But if the manifoldness becomes confused and straggly you can soon have presentiments of tramps of boots in the distance. The calls for strong leaders, clear command(ment)s and simple solutions can be attractive sooner than we can anticipate.

At least a couple of Swedish bloggers are writing about returning Nazi and fascist tendencies in the society not only here in Sweden...

But see the American neurologist Jonathan H. Pincus on the underlying causes for fascism in the chapter "Hitler and Hatred" in his book "Base Instinct - What Makes Killers Kill."

*From the Swedish Wikipedia: “Ad hoc kan även användas om ett felslut, där man anpassar sitt argument efter situationen genom att lägga till premisser som inte ingick i det ursprungliga argumentet. (Exempel: 'Jag har aldrig druckit alkohol.' 'Men du tog ju ett glas vin till maten.' 'Ja, men jag har aldrig druckit mig redlös.') Jfr ingen sann skotte, generalisering.”

Alexithymia is increasing in the world... Why? And what is this about?

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