This is Rupert Chapman's post ... Substack is a little screwed up in that sending it to the whole list still requires my name on it (HUMBUG). I'm gonna fix this.
The tea party was no historical accident. It was funded by the koch brothers. This is the modern innovation: billionaires setting the social and political “solution” that is the exact opposite. The rise in union ORGANIING IS A POSITIVE
My parents came from Ohio. My dad’s family were small shopkeepers, townies if you will. My mom’s people were farmers. Her parents, my beloved grandparents, never owned a house with indoor plumbing. My parents were actually able to buy a retirement home in Florida and bring her parents down there over the harsh Ohio winters so they could enjoy indoor plumbing and things like the dishwasher, which they seldom used, and washing machine and dryer. I can live anywhere, under any circumstance I might find in America. I might have problems in some more primitive places, but I’m kind of handy. At least until I turned 80 four years ago. Now I feel tired a lot of the time, but I still remember what my childhood was like. I was also brought up a Methodist. But I no longer go to any Christian church. I’m a long-time follower of the work and ideas of Carl Jung so I think I vibe more to the Greek gods and goddesses. But there are no altars to them in my home. My cat is my little house god. He rules the roost here. I’m his servant.
Your article was illuminating. I saw the changes you describe play out in my own family and life. Midwestern farm life was in many ways as idyllic as you describe life in the South. That’s how I grew up, even though my parents were lousy at growing things and chose suburban life rather than rural. My dad was a salesman and my mom stayed at home until I was in high school when the economy changed such that she had to find a job. I have always worked. Divorce pretty much impoverished me, so that I now live in public housing in Chicago with my books and art and not much else. But, get this: I have earned two degrees: a BA in English and a BFA in photography and printmaking, both of which are too expensive to do on my own. So I doodle as I can, when I am not paralyzed by fear or distress about money. My boss, Max, keeps me company.
Thanks for the information. It wasn’t exactly new to me but it was well phrased and informative. I could never write such things but I might be able to make art about them.
Brilliant and substantive . This should be a gift for all as it helps understand and thus eliminates judgement.
We are not the enemy!!! Either Urban or Rural. We are a part of a mechanism that works for all until disrupted by lack of caring, education, kindness, greed, unregulated . As noted the reasons vary with time. And of course by ones purpose throughout history.
Wouldn’t it be nice if AI could become the answer to solve humanities existence? The question now is: are we smart enough ? Do we understand that Choice is available if we understand what that actually pertains to. Do we care enough about our own existence to go a step further because we now can study what happened in past history to make choices that could affect us differently and in a positive way?
I am not betting on any future outcome… but our young people should definitely be taught the history and to become aware of their options.
@Dr. Sinclair and/or Dr. Chapman - could you speak more about the distinction made in the article between authority and compulsory power?
Does power seek/need to become compulsory by virtue of multiple kinship groups living interwoven being unable to achieve consensus or mutually recognize authority, and so enforcement becomes necessary?
In the rural-urban political debate and mudslinging, it seems like the scale and source and nature of authority is at issue - who’s the alpha and does that alpha-image transfer to me and mine?
Source quote midway through article by Dr. Chapman - “This new form of social organisation involved a single ruler, who was vested with both authority and compulsory power.”
Thank you. I think I understand most of what you’ve said here and I agree.
I didn’t realize what the underlying issue was for the people who were willing to lay down their lives for a conman.
This is so on target. I have lived in the South for all of my 76 years. I have lived through what you wrote. You are spot on this topic.
This is Rupert Chapman's post ... Substack is a little screwed up in that sending it to the whole list still requires my name on it (HUMBUG). I'm gonna fix this.
And yeah, he is spot on.
The tea party was no historical accident. It was funded by the koch brothers. This is the modern innovation: billionaires setting the social and political “solution” that is the exact opposite. The rise in union ORGANIING IS A POSITIVE
My parents came from Ohio. My dad’s family were small shopkeepers, townies if you will. My mom’s people were farmers. Her parents, my beloved grandparents, never owned a house with indoor plumbing. My parents were actually able to buy a retirement home in Florida and bring her parents down there over the harsh Ohio winters so they could enjoy indoor plumbing and things like the dishwasher, which they seldom used, and washing machine and dryer. I can live anywhere, under any circumstance I might find in America. I might have problems in some more primitive places, but I’m kind of handy. At least until I turned 80 four years ago. Now I feel tired a lot of the time, but I still remember what my childhood was like. I was also brought up a Methodist. But I no longer go to any Christian church. I’m a long-time follower of the work and ideas of Carl Jung so I think I vibe more to the Greek gods and goddesses. But there are no altars to them in my home. My cat is my little house god. He rules the roost here. I’m his servant.
Your article was illuminating. I saw the changes you describe play out in my own family and life. Midwestern farm life was in many ways as idyllic as you describe life in the South. That’s how I grew up, even though my parents were lousy at growing things and chose suburban life rather than rural. My dad was a salesman and my mom stayed at home until I was in high school when the economy changed such that she had to find a job. I have always worked. Divorce pretty much impoverished me, so that I now live in public housing in Chicago with my books and art and not much else. But, get this: I have earned two degrees: a BA in English and a BFA in photography and printmaking, both of which are too expensive to do on my own. So I doodle as I can, when I am not paralyzed by fear or distress about money. My boss, Max, keeps me company.
Thanks for the information. It wasn’t exactly new to me but it was well phrased and informative. I could never write such things but I might be able to make art about them.
Great truthful interpretation of what's happened to America and pretty much who's to blame ...
Brilliant and substantive . This should be a gift for all as it helps understand and thus eliminates judgement.
We are not the enemy!!! Either Urban or Rural. We are a part of a mechanism that works for all until disrupted by lack of caring, education, kindness, greed, unregulated . As noted the reasons vary with time. And of course by ones purpose throughout history.
Wouldn’t it be nice if AI could become the answer to solve humanities existence? The question now is: are we smart enough ? Do we understand that Choice is available if we understand what that actually pertains to. Do we care enough about our own existence to go a step further because we now can study what happened in past history to make choices that could affect us differently and in a positive way?
I am not betting on any future outcome… but our young people should definitely be taught the history and to become aware of their options.
Insightful. Includes an excellent description of how school consolidation impacted small communities in the South.
@Dr. Sinclair and/or Dr. Chapman - could you speak more about the distinction made in the article between authority and compulsory power?
Does power seek/need to become compulsory by virtue of multiple kinship groups living interwoven being unable to achieve consensus or mutually recognize authority, and so enforcement becomes necessary?
In the rural-urban political debate and mudslinging, it seems like the scale and source and nature of authority is at issue - who’s the alpha and does that alpha-image transfer to me and mine?
Source quote midway through article by Dr. Chapman - “This new form of social organisation involved a single ruler, who was vested with both authority and compulsory power.”