From: Michael Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Date: Tue Jan 20 1998 - 13:51:43 MST
David A Musick wrote:
>
> Many millions of people like to boss other people around. Why?
>
> We all like to get our way, but many people like to coerce others into
> helping them get their way. And some people just like the feeling of
> power they get from having others obey them. Coercion is a very
> widespread phenomenon, and it is a very deep and ingrained part of human
> interaction. It isn't going to be easy to eliminate it. Getting rid of
> governments won't do it; governments are only the products of a coercive
> society; the problem is not "government", but the coercive nature of the
> society which created and supports government. It's *individual people*,
> working together to force their will on those who won't go along
> willingly, that creates government. *Individuals* are coercive, and they
> form coercive groups. But to eliminate coercion, coercive individuals
> must be taught to be non-coercive, and this may take a lot of
> psychotherapy, or something similar. If we just eliminate coercive
> organizations, like government, coercive individuals will just form other
> coercive organizations. If we're going to stop coercion we must stop it
> at it's source; individuals.
Typically the people who think that psychotherapy is good (for everyone
else), or that things should be such and so a way (for your own good), are
usually motivated out of the best of intentions, and feel that they are
somehow annointed to do so, no matter how conservative or liberal those
people are, for the same reasona Columbus felt annointed to exterminate the
Native Americans, for the same reason the Kennedy's are always in politics,
for the same reason Lenin and Stalin did their deeds, and for the same reason
religious nuts bomb abortion clinics, and Hillary tries to push health care
'reform' on us.
>
>
> Any ideas how to practically do this? Self help books? (_Controlling
> Coercion_: How Coercive Behavior is Self-Defeating)? Lots of Internet
> sites on the subject, with lots of information on how to eliminate
> coercive behavior in oneself? TV documentaries? Popularizing discussion
> of coercion?
>
> David Musick (DavidMusick@juno.com)
>
> - Continual improvement is the highest good.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 14:48:29 MST