From last time, for Chapter 1, consider these questions:
- Since the beginning of the Bush presidency, what events have actually caused you to feel fear?
- Have there been events during the Bush presidency that seemed to cause fear in other people but you, personally, weren’t afraid?
- Consider what you know of American history. List, and try to put in some order, five times when America was in great danger. Do those times have things in common?
- Consider this quotation (page 24): "Leadership means inspiring us to manage through our fears. Demagoguery means exploiting our fears..." What does that make you think?
More questions, about this diary, a Chapter 1 overview and next time below.
- Gore discusses how technology has allowed us to better understand how the brain works, particularly the connections between the cognitive and emotional systems. His emphasis is on how fear, and other emotional trauma, affects the brain. If you have some good links for further investigation, please include them in a comment then.
- Gore discusses "amygdala politics based on vicarious traumatization, feeding off memories of past tragedies." He ties this to ancient hatreds that still cause conflict in places like the Balkans in the 1990s, in Africa, in the Middle East and more. Consider America today; what people use something from the past (particularly something beyond living memory) to instigate or perpetuate conflict now?
- Gore quoting Ed Muskie (1970): "There are only two kinds of politics. They’re not radical and reactionary or conservative and liberal or even Democratic and Republican. There are only the politics of fear and the politics of trust. One says you are encircled by monstrous dangers. Give us power over your freedom so we may protect you. The other says the world is a baffling and hazardous place, but it can be shaped to the will of men." Consider that quotation. What do you think of from the past six years?
8 from Keith Olbermann: "How do you cure a country that doesn’t know it has a disease?"
Information relating to the diary:
This is not a "will he? or won’t he?" diary. Please.
This is the second of a series of diaries about the ideas in, and the ideas inspired by, Al Gore’s book: The Assault on Reason. Anyone may participate in this forum. The book is just the "text." This diary is centered on Chapter 1, "The Politics of Fear." Please feel free to open a thread with something you have thought of while reading the chapter or while considering the subject of the chapter. If you are a "reader," it would be helpful if you could include page numbers to help others know what it was that inspired your thought.
For those who have not read the book, I have included an overview of the current chapter. For everyone, I have included questions for you to consider for next time at the end of the diary.
The next diary will appear on Friday, June 8, at 6 pm PDT and will be centered on Chapter 2, "Blinding the Faithful." Please notice the time change. This time change will have to stand for the rest of the series; I am a married man with two teenage daughters and I do not control my own schedule! I had a poll about this in the first diary; in the end, I had to make the best decision I could with the choices I had.
I will humbly ask if you find this discussion interesting, would you click on the "subscribe" button? If you do, you will be able to access this discussion more readily each week. I am not concerned whether this series ever makes it to the "rec list." I am concerned that you, the contributors, have access. Thank you to the people who made this suggestion and I invite further suggestions. And a special thank you to Sea Turtle and those of you who visited the first of the series.
This is the link to the first of the series:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Al Gore talks with Keith Olbermann (three videos):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
An overview of Chapter 1: "The Politics of Fear"
"Fear is the most powerful enemy of reason." (Gore, 23) Some of Gore’s major points:
The founders and designers of American self-government rejected direct democracy due to their concerns that, in a difficult time, a demagogue would exploit the fears of the people. In a backhanded way, this is exactly what Gore believes has happened during these past few years. He compares dangerous times in American history to today and finds it an "insult" to be manipulated into a higher state of fear.
Gore says that this constant state of fear is new in our society in part because we have difficulty distinguishing between real and imagined, long-term and temporary threats. In a general way, he discusses how the brain works and notes that emotions affect reason more than reason affects emotions. This is a constant in humans and is tied to the need for instant reaction in a life-threatening situation. On the other hand, using emotions to make decisions can affect judgment.
Emotions affect memory and are affected by memory. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is an example of this; today’s emotions can be a product of long-ago events. The part of the brain that is directly involved in this is the amygdala. When it comes to fear, the amygdala learns, stores and affects storage in other parts of the brain. This is part of a higher-order of thinking; the brain can both perceive threat and imagine threat. That fact contributes to conflicts that have a historical basis in a form of "vicarious traumatization." An example of this was in the 1990s when Slobodan Milosevic aroused the Serbian people by bringing the history of the Battle of Kosovo six hundred years forward.
Television contributes to this "vicarious traumatization." People who watch television news can feel threatened by events that are barely connected to them. People who watch television regularly were far more traumatized by 9-11 than people who don’t. The fact that people can be affected emotionally so much by what they see on television is actually exploited by the television news industry. Gore quotes two adages, one well known: "If it bleeds, it leads," and one just as true but not as familiar, "If it thinks, it stinks."
Gore concludes the chapter with connecting President Bush to the phenomena of fear exploitation. This part is, perhaps, best read though I have culled the Muskie quotation from it.
Remember, June 8, 6 pm PDT (subscribe!):
Questions for Chapter 2: "Blinding the Faithful"
From page 46: "They had confidence that the twin daughters of reason- science and law- would enlighten us and empower us to restrain our passions and build our courage."
- In what ways do you think science enlightens you and empowers you? In what ways do you feel threatened by science?
- What do you think of the current state of "law" in this country? What needs to be changed, restored or eliminated?
From page 47: "It may well be that the global epidemic of fundamentalism- Muslim, Christian, Hindu, and Jewish, among others- has been partly caused by the dizzying pace of technologically driven change."
- Do you think "technologically driven change" is the source of fundamentalism today? Do you think there are other causes?
- If "technologically driven change" is the cause of fundamentalism, does that mean virulent fundamentalism can be tempered, if not prevented, by easing change and the effects of change?
- Consider Arthur C. Clarke’s Third Law: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Do you feel challenged, threatened or pleasantly excited by new technology?
From page 48: "...when fear and anxiety play a larger role in our collective society, logic and reason play a diminished role in our collective decision making. Unfortunately, the new expressions of power that surface in such circumstances often spring from the deep, poisoned wells of racism, ultranationalism, religious strife, tribalism, anti-Semitism, sexism, and homophobia, among others. And the passions thus mobilized are exploited most of all by those who claim divine authority to restore security and order."
- Is there a way to arouse and mobilize passion without claiming divine authority or at least moral authority?
- What are the first steps in combating fear and anxiety? What are more advanced steps that need to wait until the first steps have wide acceptance?
Gore discusses President Bush’s belief system in Chapter 2. What he says may surprise some people. Without giving too much away, if you are familiar with Oliver Stone’s movie, "Nixon," you may recognize
Bush’s belief system in Nixon’s concept of "the establishment." Consider from Gore (page 61): "Some mistakenly malign the president as not being smart enough to have normal curiosity...Others seem convinced that his personal religious conversion experience was so profound that he relies on religious faith in place of logical analysis." Be prepared. Gore says, "I know President Bush is plenty smart" and Gore acknowledges but rejects Bush’s religion as the ultimate source of his beliefs.
- Well, if it’s not his intelligence and it’s not his religion, what else could it possibly be?