You must go on. I can't go on. You must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on.
Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
EXEMPLAR HUMANAE VITAE - SPECIMEN OF A HUMAN LIFE. I am not really a sofa. But I try to be a filosofa. This is the parent blog of my other blogs which all began here, and which in totality constitute the views of an urban peasant living in London. Including some thoughts on politics, psychology, religion, employment and education. And a little humour. I am a rationalist, a humanist and an atheist and I write from a green/socialist/libertarian perspective.
27 February 2009
25 February 2009
24 February 2009
Turkish-style mosques
Turkish-style mosques are often based originally on a church: The Hagia Sophia.
23 February 2009
Area Studies
Studying a geographical area is meaningless without studying a conventional discipline or science in its entirety and globally.
Hence language learning and area studies are not in themselves academic disciplines.
Without a study of philosophy, a study of history is practically meaningless.
Hence language learning and area studies are not in themselves academic disciplines.
Without a study of philosophy, a study of history is practically meaningless.
21 February 2009
Once again
"Iran rejects liberalism and secularism." Or words like it.
BBC documentary.
Liberalism and secularism in Iran were deliberately and ferociously
destroyed by the USA and England.
BBC documentary.
Liberalism and secularism in Iran were deliberately and ferociously
destroyed by the USA and England.
20 February 2009
Odd name
There's a pro-airport expansion organisation called "The Modern Movement".
This name is odd.
It seems about a hundred years out of date.
Is TS Eliot a member?
Also, what happened to the elusive post-modernism?
I think if you are in favour of destroying the planet then you are in the Barbarian Movement.
This name is odd.
It seems about a hundred years out of date.
Is TS Eliot a member?
Also, what happened to the elusive post-modernism?
I think if you are in favour of destroying the planet then you are in the Barbarian Movement.
"Taking Liberties" and "Babylon" at The British Library
Went to the Taking Liberties exhibition at the British Library. It's great.
One thing that is revealed quite extensively was the extent to which the English Revolution of the 1640s was, like the French Revolution, an attempt - at least by some - to create a new kind of society.
The Great Seal of England around this time was called:
"THE GREAT SEAL OF ENGLAND / IN THE THIRD YEARE OF FREEDOME BY GODS BLESSING RESTORED."
In other words 1649 was regarded as the first year of freedom, in a similar way to the French Revolution.
It was also regarded as the re-establishment of freedom, as freedom had been taken away by absolute monarchy.
Later on the same day I went to the Babylon Exhibition at the British Museum where you can see the oldest map of the world.
Babylon itself is now sat upon by an American base. Hopefully for not too much longer.
Was glad to see that they acknowledged the Rastafarian identification of "Babylon" as the corrupt and uncaring "Western" or, more specifically, English-speaking world.
One thing that is revealed quite extensively was the extent to which the English Revolution of the 1640s was, like the French Revolution, an attempt - at least by some - to create a new kind of society.
The Great Seal of England around this time was called:
"THE GREAT SEAL OF ENGLAND / IN THE THIRD YEARE OF FREEDOME BY GODS BLESSING RESTORED."
In other words 1649 was regarded as the first year of freedom, in a similar way to the French Revolution.
It was also regarded as the re-establishment of freedom, as freedom had been taken away by absolute monarchy.
Later on the same day I went to the Babylon Exhibition at the British Museum where you can see the oldest map of the world.
Babylon itself is now sat upon by an American base. Hopefully for not too much longer.
Was glad to see that they acknowledged the Rastafarian identification of "Babylon" as the corrupt and uncaring "Western" or, more specifically, English-speaking world.
19 February 2009
The Bohemian King of Bohemia
The Bohemian King of Bohemia
I can't think of a life that was steamier.
All he did was smoke crack
And lie on his back
Whilst holding a post in academia.
I can't think of a life that was steamier.
All he did was smoke crack
And lie on his back
Whilst holding a post in academia.
10 February 2009
BBC Propaganda
I am watching a BBCTV 10 o'clock news item about Iran by John Simpson.
This man as usual presents a biased and deliberately misleading picture of Iranian history.
He has just said how repressive the secret police are there nowadays.
He has spoken of SAVAK but neglects to point out how terribly repressive SAVAK was, how it was supported by the US and that one of the reasons that Iranians are or were so anti-American was because of the ferociously destructive American intervention in their country from 1953 onwards.
This man as usual presents a biased and deliberately misleading picture of Iranian history.
He has just said how repressive the secret police are there nowadays.
He has spoken of SAVAK but neglects to point out how terribly repressive SAVAK was, how it was supported by the US and that one of the reasons that Iranians are or were so anti-American was because of the ferociously destructive American intervention in their country from 1953 onwards.
7 February 2009
Some Szasz Quotes
Some Szasz Quotes.
A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has a right not only to be right but also to be wrong.
A teacher should have maximal authority, and minimal power.
Adulthood is the ever-shrinking period between childhood and old age. It is the apparent aim of modern industrial societies to reduce this period to a minimum.
Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is.
Clear thinking requires courage rather than intelligence.
Doubt is to certainty as neurosis is to psychosis. The neurotic is in doubt and has fears about persons and things; the psychotic has convictions and makes claims about them. In short, the neurotic has problems, the psychotic has solutions.
Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily.
Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic.
Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly often attributed by the living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children, and by children to adults.
He who does not accept and respect those who want to reject life does not truly accept and respect life itself.
If the dead talk to you, you are a spiritualist; if God talks to you, you are a schizophrenic.
If you talk to God, you are praying. If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.
In the animal kingdom, the rule is, eat or be eaten; in the human kingdom, define or be defined.
It is easier to do one's duty to others than to one's self. If you do your duty to others, you are considered reliable. If you do your duty to yourself, you are considered selfish.
Narcissist: psychoanalytic term for the person who loves himself more than his analyst; considered to be the manifestation of a dire mental disease whose successful treatment depends on the patient learning to love the analyst more and himself less.
No further evidence is needed to show that 'mental illness' is not the name of a biological condition whose nature awaits to be elucidated, but is the name of a concept whose purpose is to obscure the obvious.
People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates.
Permissiveness is the principle of treating children as if they were adults; and the tactic of making sure they never reach that stage.
Psychiatric expert testimony: mendacity masquerading as medicine.
Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility.
The proverb warns that 'You should not bite the hand that feeds you.' But maybe you should, if it prevents you from feeding yourself.
The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.
The system isn't stupid, but the people in it are.
There is no psychology; there is only biography and autobiography.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but they make a good excuse.
When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him.
Knowledge is gained by learning; trust by doubt; skill by practice; and love by love.
Masturbation: the primary sexual activity of mankind. In the nineteenth century it was a disease; in the twentieth, it's a cure.
Self-respect is to the soul as oxygen is to the body. Deprive a person of oxygen, and you kill his body; deprive him of self-respect and you kill his spirit.
Suicide is a fundamental human right. This does not mean that it is morally desirable. It only means that society does not have the moral right to interfere.
Men are rewarded or punished not for what they do but for how their acts are defined. That is why men are more interested in better justifying themselves than in better behaving themselves.
The greatest analgesic, soporific, stimulant, tranquilizer, narcotic, and to some extent even antibiotic -in short, the closest thing to a genuine panacea -known to medical science is work.
Although we may not know it, we have, in our day, witnessed the birth of the Therapeutic State. This is perhaps the major implication of psychiatry as an institution of social control.
Since the Freudian revolution, and especially since the Second World War, the secret formula has been this: If you want to debase what a person is doing, call his act psychopathological and call him mentally ill; if you want to exalt what a person is, call his act psycho-therapeutic and call him a mental healer.
In the past men created witches: now they create mental patients.
We often speak of love when we really should be speaking of the drive to dominate or to master, so as to confirm ourselves as active agents, in control of our own destinies and worthy of respect from others.
Whenever masses of people, especially educated people, know something - and when what they know is something they greatly fear because they believe it affects virtually everything they do or want to do - then most likely we stand in the presence of a vast falsehood.
A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has a right not only to be right but also to be wrong.
A teacher should have maximal authority, and minimal power.
Adulthood is the ever-shrinking period between childhood and old age. It is the apparent aim of modern industrial societies to reduce this period to a minimum.
Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is.
Clear thinking requires courage rather than intelligence.
Doubt is to certainty as neurosis is to psychosis. The neurotic is in doubt and has fears about persons and things; the psychotic has convictions and makes claims about them. In short, the neurotic has problems, the psychotic has solutions.
Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily.
Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic.
Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly often attributed by the living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children, and by children to adults.
He who does not accept and respect those who want to reject life does not truly accept and respect life itself.
If the dead talk to you, you are a spiritualist; if God talks to you, you are a schizophrenic.
If you talk to God, you are praying. If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.
In the animal kingdom, the rule is, eat or be eaten; in the human kingdom, define or be defined.
It is easier to do one's duty to others than to one's self. If you do your duty to others, you are considered reliable. If you do your duty to yourself, you are considered selfish.
Narcissist: psychoanalytic term for the person who loves himself more than his analyst; considered to be the manifestation of a dire mental disease whose successful treatment depends on the patient learning to love the analyst more and himself less.
No further evidence is needed to show that 'mental illness' is not the name of a biological condition whose nature awaits to be elucidated, but is the name of a concept whose purpose is to obscure the obvious.
People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates.
Permissiveness is the principle of treating children as if they were adults; and the tactic of making sure they never reach that stage.
Psychiatric expert testimony: mendacity masquerading as medicine.
Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility.
The proverb warns that 'You should not bite the hand that feeds you.' But maybe you should, if it prevents you from feeding yourself.
The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.
The system isn't stupid, but the people in it are.
There is no psychology; there is only biography and autobiography.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but they make a good excuse.
When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him.
Knowledge is gained by learning; trust by doubt; skill by practice; and love by love.
Masturbation: the primary sexual activity of mankind. In the nineteenth century it was a disease; in the twentieth, it's a cure.
Self-respect is to the soul as oxygen is to the body. Deprive a person of oxygen, and you kill his body; deprive him of self-respect and you kill his spirit.
Suicide is a fundamental human right. This does not mean that it is morally desirable. It only means that society does not have the moral right to interfere.
Men are rewarded or punished not for what they do but for how their acts are defined. That is why men are more interested in better justifying themselves than in better behaving themselves.
The greatest analgesic, soporific, stimulant, tranquilizer, narcotic, and to some extent even antibiotic -in short, the closest thing to a genuine panacea -known to medical science is work.
Although we may not know it, we have, in our day, witnessed the birth of the Therapeutic State. This is perhaps the major implication of psychiatry as an institution of social control.
Since the Freudian revolution, and especially since the Second World War, the secret formula has been this: If you want to debase what a person is doing, call his act psychopathological and call him mentally ill; if you want to exalt what a person is, call his act psycho-therapeutic and call him a mental healer.
In the past men created witches: now they create mental patients.
We often speak of love when we really should be speaking of the drive to dominate or to master, so as to confirm ourselves as active agents, in control of our own destinies and worthy of respect from others.
Whenever masses of people, especially educated people, know something - and when what they know is something they greatly fear because they believe it affects virtually everything they do or want to do - then most likely we stand in the presence of a vast falsehood.
Anti-Psychiatry is NOT an "imbecilic term"!
"...the imbecilic term "antipsychiatry""
Thomas Szasz.
"As a result of the antipsychiatrists's self-seeking sloganeering, psychiatrists can now do what no other members of a medical specialty can do: they can dismiss critics of any aspect of accepted psychiatric practice by labeling them "antipsychiatrists."
The obstetrician who eschews abortion on demand is not stigmatized as an "antiobstetrician."
The surgeon who eschews transsexual operations is not dismissed as an "antisurgeon.""
Thomas Szasz.
Perhaps in a sense it is a silly term.
But in the sense that Psychiatry cannot be a medical discipline - and in many other senses - it is a very acceptable term.
It is important to note that like almost all terms in this area of verbal abuse "imbecile" has NO scientific meaning whatsoever.
It may supposedly have done in origin. But it simply a term of abuse now.
"Cretin" meant "Christian" in origin.
"Idiot" is a term of abuse and nothing more with an obscure pseuod-scientific origin as so many have.
------------------
"While many antipsychiatrists pay lip service to rejecting the "medical model" of psychiatry, they continue to conceptualize certain human problems and efforts to resolve them in medical terms and, even more importantly, do not categorically reject "therapeutic" coercion and excuse-making."
Thomas Szasz.
Well I am very much opposed to "Psychiatry" and hence ANTI-PSYCHIATRY.
As everyone of conscience should be.
If not an "Antipsychiatrist" and it is not clear what one is!....
.......
---------
Since psychiatry is a bogus endeavour, the profession and medical speciality should simply be abolished. It has no use and no future.
Given the crimes of psychiatry, regardless of the crimes of those who invented the term "anti-psychiatry", the term has a place I believe.
Is "anti-slavery" or "anti-racism" an imbecilic term?
Thomas Szasz.
"As a result of the antipsychiatrists's self-seeking sloganeering, psychiatrists can now do what no other members of a medical specialty can do: they can dismiss critics of any aspect of accepted psychiatric practice by labeling them "antipsychiatrists."
The obstetrician who eschews abortion on demand is not stigmatized as an "antiobstetrician."
The surgeon who eschews transsexual operations is not dismissed as an "antisurgeon.""
Thomas Szasz.
Perhaps in a sense it is a silly term.
But in the sense that Psychiatry cannot be a medical discipline - and in many other senses - it is a very acceptable term.
It is important to note that like almost all terms in this area of verbal abuse "imbecile" has NO scientific meaning whatsoever.
It may supposedly have done in origin. But it simply a term of abuse now.
"Cretin" meant "Christian" in origin.
"Idiot" is a term of abuse and nothing more with an obscure pseuod-scientific origin as so many have.
------------------
"While many antipsychiatrists pay lip service to rejecting the "medical model" of psychiatry, they continue to conceptualize certain human problems and efforts to resolve them in medical terms and, even more importantly, do not categorically reject "therapeutic" coercion and excuse-making."
Thomas Szasz.
Well I am very much opposed to "Psychiatry" and hence ANTI-PSYCHIATRY.
As everyone of conscience should be.
.......
---------
Since psychiatry is a bogus endeavour, the profession and medical speciality should simply be abolished. It has no use and no future.
Given the crimes of psychiatry, regardless of the crimes of those who invented the term "anti-psychiatry", the term has a place I believe.
Is "anti-slavery" or "anti-racism" an imbecilic term?
2 February 2009
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