[iDC] The Politics of Perception

[Lucia Sommer]

On Sun, 9/21/08, Zbigniew Lukasiak <zzbbyy at gmail.com> wrote:

> You are assuming that your apparent lack of fear is the more 'normal'
> state, and that there needs to be something special to move people
> from that base state into the 'fearful' state.
Wow, who said I don't have fear? I also said nothing about what emotions are "normal" or not. My only point is that one of the effects of the discourse surrounding this study is normalization of the status quo, because the doctors assume that emotion can ONLY be produced by "deeply ingrained" factors like "childhood,"  "reflexes," or "genetics."  I have no doubt it can -- but why not ALSO things like media discourse, politics, and current experience, just to name a few?

Because if the doctors are right, and emotion is only produced by such deeply intransigent factors, AND there is some kind of one-to-one or tight correlation with political views, then anyone who hopes to change anything really might as well throw in the towel. I choose to believe otherwise.


Best,

Lucia

--- On Sun, 9/21/08, Zbigniew Lukasiak <zzbbyy at gmail.com> wrote:
From: Zbigniew Lukasiak <zzbbyy at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [iDC] The Politics of Perception
To: sommerlucia at yahoo.com
Date: Sunday, September 21, 2008, 3:08 PM

On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 7:29 PM, Lucia Sommer <sommerlucia at yahoo.com>
wrote:
> Thanks, Paul.
>
> Amusing indeed! The article should be perhaps be titled "The Politics
of
> Hard-Core Biological Determinism." The real question is WHY are some
people
> so afraid?
>
> I'd reckon it has more to do with historical and political factors
than
> "physiology", "reflexes" or "genetics": the
Politics of Fear, the rise of
> neoliberalism, the historical destruction of the left and of independent
> journalism, the absence of perceived political alternatives...

You are assuming that your apparent lack of fear is the more 'normal'
state, and that there needs to be something special to move people
from that base state into the 'fearful' state.

Cheers,
Zbigniew
http://brudnopis.blogspot.com/
http://perlalchemy.blogspot.com/



      
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