Customer Reviews:
Worth it for the discussion of Marxism.......2007-10-10
Popper's criticism of Marxist thought is the real payoff of the two volumes of this work. He writes with a passion that is at times overwrought - especially when teeing off against Plato and Hegel. Whether his criticism of their views is on the mark is incidental to the attack on Marx, and I leave it to the scholars of each to debate the merits of his critique. What Popper brings to the table is a clear exposition of his ideas. He makes a solid case for "social engineering" (an accurate but unfortunate term) as both a description of the past century and a prescription for addressing the problems with economic and social systems. This is a valuable and challenging book which will reward the reader willing to think through Popper's analysis.
Philosophy of History: Prove untruth, not truth.......2007-05-04
To Popper, science is a process of "conjectures and refutations"-- advancing bold conjectures about the state of the world and then trying to refute them. "Even in the study of history, objectivity should be sought in the institutions and traditions of a discipline. It is only through the give and take of open criticism and the ongoing interplay of many different kinds of biases that anything approaching objectivity will emerge." Thus, "truth" is seen as a hypothesis--you can't prove truth, you can only prove untruth. This is because one cannot know everything, therefore, nothing can be proved to be true.
Open societies, in Popper's definition, with their ideals of freedom and reason, of men who may create their own future, are opposed to the regimes of authoritarianism and totalitarianism. Hegel and Marx are the main focus of the book. Aristotle built his theory on Plato; Hegel on Aristotle; Marx on Hegel. Popper is concerned with their philosophies of history. A philosophy of history is an attempt to interpret systematically the historical process by a principle that unifies the results of research and points to an "ultimate meaning" behind the process. It involves systematic reflection on scientifically derived data about the past. All the parts are unified to form a whole with "ultimate meaning."
It was thus not Marx's historicist method which led him to success, but instead the "methods of institutional analysis." In many democratic, capitalist countries production has been so great that the workers have a higher standard of living than Marx ever envisaged. He also had an unrealistic view of human nature--that because man is born good, changing his environment will bring happiness. But this view ignores the universality of human imperfection, and the sacredness of personality that is lost in the communist state.
Yet, Popper claims that Marx has done Christianity a great service by pointing out the humanitarian demands of Christ. Popper made many generalizations about Christianity without describing the basic tenets that have made Christianity "the strongest opponent of Communism." Popper does not view Christianity as being a "substitute from dreams and wish--fulfillment; it should resemble neither the holding of a ticket in a lottery, nor the holding of a policy in an insurance company." Popper opposes a "leap in the dark" of faith, whether by Marxists probing the beginning of evolution, or by those experiencing a personal relationship with God. Faith is necessary, but it is to be based on a rational understanding of the difference between belief and fact, and the appropriate place for both.
Portrait of the Philosopher-King as an Artist.......2006-08-22
When confronted with the rise of totalitarianism and the destruction of all that he held dear, Poper felt a single, overwhelming urge: to return to the Greeks, to the dawn of our civilization, so as to understand the root of the evil and to offer a practical way out of bestiality. His search was motivated by the insight that "this civilization has not yet fully recovered from the shock of its birth--the transition from the tribal or 'closed society', with its submission to magical forces, to the 'open society', which sets free the critical powers of man."
Heraclitus set the stage with his claim that "the cosmos, at best, is like a rubbish heap scattered at random." If "everything is in flux" and "you cannot step twice into the same river", then at least we can try to discover the historical or evolutionary laws which will enable us to prophesy the destiny of man.
Plato's claim to greatness is to have discovered such a law: that "all social change is corruption or decay or degeneration," and that the only way to break this cycle of decay is to arrest development and return to the Golden Age, where no change occurs. His belief in perfect and unchanging things, the Platonic Ideas from which all things originate, finds its expression in all fields of inquiry: be it social justice, nature and convention, wisdom and truth, or goodness and beauty.
Behind these lofty ideals, Popper uncovers a discomforting truth: Plato envisioned the ideal Greek polity as a totalitarian nightmare, where the 'race of the guardians' had to be kept pure from any miscegenation and where the role of the rulers was to breed the human cattle according to some esoteric formula (the 'Platonic Number', a number determining the True Period of the human race). Along his apology of Sparta came his endorsement of infanticide and his recommendation that children of both sexes be "brought within the sight of actual war and made to taste blood."
Popper demonstrates that these crazy ideas were not the vague mumblings of an otherwise sound philosopher: they were central tenets in Plato's philosophy, a system which has been characterized by another author as "the most savage and most profound attack upon liberal ideas which history can show."
Popper connects this extreme radicalism of the Platonic approach with its aestheticism, i.e. with "the desire to build a world which is not only a little better and more rational than ours, but which is free from all its ugliness." Plato, the Philosopher-King, can be best characterized as an artist: a man attracted to a world of pure beauty, a craftsman who tries to visualize an ideal model of his work and to copy it faithfully, and for whom "the part has to be executed for the sake of the whole, and not the whole for the sake of the part." His desire to "start from a clean canvas" or his claim to prefer "the original to the copy" find disturbing echoes in contemporary political debates. Contrary to Plato's belief, however, the canvas can never be made clean, and the copy often improves upon the original.
Let's give Popper the last word: "But there I must protest. I do not believe that human lives may be made the means for satisfying an artist's desire for self-expression. We must demand, rather, that every man should be given, if he wishes, the right to model his life himself, as far as this does not interfere too much with others. Much as I sympathize with the aesthetic impulse, I suggest that the artist might seek expression in another material."
Read the free excerpt - pg 7 Plato vs Pericles.......2006-03-10
Click on the book and keep clicking to page 7 - two quotes from Plato vs Pericles, which could have been written yesterday.
I may be moving and I'm busy, so no I have not read the book, but every now and then I reread that page 7 - how INSPIRING !
A DIFFERENT VIEW OF PLATO.......2005-10-30
I wish Popper were still alive because there are so FEW philosophers who can write so clearly.
Volume 1 of the Open Society is a critique of historicism and an analysis of how Plato's later thought supports totalitarianism, not democracy.
Popper presents a convincing argument about the danger of deifying philosophers of the past. He shows how some of the ideas of Plato are imbedded in our culture in ways that do not always support an Open Society, by which he means not only democracy but a society that is OPEN to learning from its mistakes and adapting to change.
If you are interested in political philosophy or the interaction of philosopy and society, this book is worth your time.
Customer Reviews:
Quick review and comment on previous review by Joseph Biskup.......2005-10-22
This is an excellent book for someone who would like to meditate on or provoke discussion on the connection between the individual psyche and warfare as a social phenomenon. I think reviewer Joseph Biskup was right is saying that this is more of a philosophical treatise than an academic monograph, as citations are totally absent. But I would add that it is also interesting from a psychoanalytic perspective, as much of the structures that underly his psychological assertions about the individual are based on the Freudian tradition.
I used the chapter "The Psychology of Enmity" in a class on post-colonial criticism and theory recently with incoming university freshmen, and it was a hit (if a bit overwhelming as an introduction to college). The graphics of propaganda from around the world are great conversation fodder.
One point on which I would disagree with Joseph Biskup's review. He argues:
"There seemed to me to be several contradictions in this book; for me the most glaring was the following. On page 178 the author states "we are not instinctually sadists...Homo hostilis must be created by the media and the institutions that subject him to constant indoctrination". From this (and the rest of what he states on this page) it seems to me an obvious conclusion that without extra effort we would naturally revert to a more peaceful state; that there is a natural energy already pushing us in that direction. However, on page 184 the author then states, "Since the process of education for paranoia and warfare requires a total social effort, we must assume that the effort to create a compassionate psyche and society will require a similar or greater effort." Such obvious contradictions should not be in a well thought-through book. "
This criticism assumes that the subject returns to his 'natural state' after an influential stimulus stops. I'm not sure why Biskup assumes this. I believe that Sam Keen's argument in the book is based on the idea that humans, once indoctrinated in the discourse of warfare to the degree 'we' are, do not just revert to a natural peaceful state. Also, Keen doesn't say positively that we are naturally good or peaceful--just that peacefulness or warmongering can be taught equally well by concerted social efforts to educate and influence through arts and media. Of course Keen is speaking idealistically--that's the goal of his book. It's not a policy analysis or recommendation, but a way of inciting people to think outside popular assumtions of psychic territoriality and the paranoid construction of an imagined other on which to project our hatred and seek to destroy.
Although I agree with Biskup that policy analysis and change is needed as a complement to Keen's kind of thinking, I don't think that the criticism that Keen doesn't accomplish this is a valid criticism--a book can only do so much.
A Very Good Idea.......2005-09-18
Altogether, this is a very good book but there are several serious problems that affected my enjoyment of this book. First, the graphics and quotes reproduced throughout this book are excellent. In the one-sided world we are forced to live in it is really refreshing to see the other perspective and for me it brings a whole range of thoughts and emotions to realize that the other perspective is really our own. The world really is round.
I consider this a philosophy book. There really are no sources or studies to back up the author's ideas. There is a short bibliography section but it is short and philosophical, in my opinion it falls far short of "rigorous", in a scientific sense. There is also a short notes section for sources in the text, but again it is short, there is no expansion on the notes, and mostly they seem to me to be attributions for quotes. I would say that part 4 "In the Meantime" is a complete waste of time. In a few paragraphs the author tries to elucidate a new world order (there are several different scenarios), a new paradigm on how to govern our planet. Obviously, in a few paragraphs all these ideas feel shallow and short, very unsatisfactory; the inevitable conclusion is "Viola...details to follow at a later date". This is a completely unacceptable way to promulgate policy and the book would have been much better without this section, or at least a radically changed section.
Another major problem is that there will always be people who just don't get it. In the back of my mind I always was thinking about these people. Obviously the other reviewer from Canada who resents violence being committed in his name being compared to other people's violence is one of these people and his review is just plain silly (is George Bush's pre-emptive war for peace really being fought in his name?...I guess that is a thought for another time). The author is not trying to describe a utopia, but is actually trying to explore a way to make our world a better place; therefore, I believe he should confront the issue of what to do with people who just don't get it. I would say that if you look at the last 100 years (even 10 years) of history you could make a strong argument the really high possibility that at least one of these people will find his way into a position of power...what then?
There seemed to me to be several contradictions in this book; for me the most glaring was the following. On page 178 the author states "we are not instinctually sadists...Homo hostilis must be created by the media and the institutions that subject him to constant indoctrination". From this (and the rest of what he states on this page) it seems to me an obvious conclusion that without extra effort we would naturally revert to a more peaceful state; that there is a natural energy already pushing us in that direction. However, on page 184 the author then states, "Since the process of education for paranoia and warfare requires a total social effort, we must assume that the effort to create a compassionate psyche and society will require a similar or greater effort." Such obvious contradictions should not be in a well thought-through book.
Finally, for a book that seems to have such direction, a pre-determined point to make, the author ends the book with five pages of unanswered questions. I don't really understand this. It is OK to have some questions, but five pages of them seems like a lot to me. Did the author start out with a strongly held position, then after exploring it for 200 pages end up only with questions? I don't really believe this but I don't have a good explanation either.
So I would say that this book has serious problems, but even after considering these, I would still recommend reading it, this is a very good book.
What we need to remember.......2004-05-06
Whatever side of the war argument the reader lands on, this book will provide necessary information to supplement the discussion.
This book addresses the way past wars have been intensified by demonizing the enemy beyond whatever real reasons caused the wars.
The history presented in this book -- the posters, the commentary, the pictures -- is not commonly taught. The author may have a point a view with which the reader disagrees, but the examples presented should be known if society is to make reasoned decisions on behavior and not just react to base emotions.
I recommend this book highly for a look at an aspect of history that we often quickly forget once the battles are over.
The defender and the aggressor are not alike...........2003-12-24
The author seems to have set out to show that throughout history the source of wars has been inherent in the participants on both sides .He has in no way proven that to be the case.He ignores the evil people and regimes that have been the source of much of the misery,death and destruction that has occurred .Are we really expected to buy into the thinking that the people and countries that were butchered and destroyed in Europe by the Nazis and Fascists,for example, can be equated with the Allied Forces that had to fight back and destroy them?I think not!What about the the efforts now being made to hunt down the evil,misguided terrorists behind the 9\11 attacks on the Unites States?Are they operating on the same principles as those who conceived and carried out those evil deeds? I think not.
History has repeatedly shown that there have always been forces of good and evil.It is not at all difficult to differentiate between them and those who fail or refuse to do so will soon regret it.Again;history has provided many lessons.
I sure hope that this naive ,academic thinking is not used as a history course resource;unless it is used to demonstrate the kind of thought process that Neville Chamberlain follwed.
Generally a waste of time.......2002-07-01
This book is too ambitious and falls flat. Had the author been content to describe how war propaganda is used to target certain emotions, this book would be an essential addition to the libraries of those who are interested in thought control by the state. However, the author overreached himself and tried to make explain all hostitilities in the world. He falls into the trap of using theory that is questionable at best to overanalyze certain forms of propaganda and extrapolates that to explain all forms of enmity. However, the author overlooks the fact that often pre-hostilities, most common people really don't have enmity towards other lands. (Is not a common lament by academics that Americans don't know of other countries unless they're attacked by them?) Thus the author's main contention falls apart.
The book also posseses many other problems such as: 1)the author thinking that war can be eliminated. Such sentiment, while admirable, is naive and dangerous. Certain problems will exist as long as humanity exists. War is one of them as is crime. There will be evil people who will resort to war like Hitler, Pol Pot, etc. The author fails to take this into account just as a hypothetical person who believes crime can be eliminated fails to take into account Jeffrey Dahmer, Albert Fish, and John Wayne Gacy. 2) the author implies there is no difference between the Nazi Reich's army and the US army in Vietnam. Furthermore, the author calls the US's war in Vietnam "immoral". Such belief is inexcusable. The US was attempting to save South Vietnam from communist takeover and, after the US pulled out, millions of lives were lost to the communists. The author briefly mentions the deaths in Cambodia but apparently misses the connection between the US's "immoral" war and the keeping of those millions alive. Also inexcusable is the author not mentioning the thousands who died taking to rickety boats fleeing from North Vietnam and those who died in "reeducation camps". 3) the author denouncing the efforts against the USSR and Sandanista Nicaragua. In both cases, the US enmity that the author decries helped end both nations and bring about freedom at least more than existed before. Eastern Europe is free as is Nicaragua which repeatedly turned away commmunist candidates. 4) the author relies on high-sounding rhetoric that doesn't stand the test of reality such as war rarely solves conflict. Tell that to the city fathers of Carthage or Hiroshima.
This book's only bright spot is its reproducing of war propaganda, much of which has gone unseen since the time it was first used.
Average customer rating:
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Feasting With Mine Enemy: Rank and Exchange Among Northwest Coast Societies
Abraham Rosman , and
Paula G. Rubel
Manufacturer: Waveland Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Native American Studies
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ASIN: 0881332216 |
Book Description
The potlatch and the Northwest Coast have been subjects of in-
terest in anthropology since the beginning of the discipline. The data from this area have been the arena of theoretical discussions since the time of Boas. In this book, the authors demonstrate the value of a structural approach in answering some of the perennial questions posed by the rich body of data on the Northwest Coast collected by generations of anthropologists.
Customer Reviews:
Know the past to protect the future.......2005-06-21
This was not an easy book for me to acquire. Nevertheless, it was worth the wait and the expense put forth to get it in my hands and pass the content thorough my eyes and into my mind!
Put simply, this book is about how hard it was for Western society to achieve economic liftoff and how we could (and often do) slide backwards when we set aside the essential ideas that allowed us to break free in the first place.
In the early chapters, Johnson lays out the thesis that the world had the basic tools to begin growing economically for thousands of years before material wealth was actually achieved. For thousands of years, each generation trudged along just like the one before it. There was little innovation or rise in living standards until certain ideas took hold. Then, humans began to get it and accumulate knowledge and better practices. Finally, life spans began to grow and human life began to have more enjoyment.
What were these precious ideas? They are complex and explained in detail in Johnson's book, but they are not mysterious or unknown. Equality before the law, for example, is a darn good idea if you want to attract investors. The right to profit from one's labor is a grand idea if you want people to work hard. Recognizing that some ideas are better than others is a great idea if you want an ordered society where well meaning hard working people can accumulate enough wealth to cultivate the finer things of life.
Chaos, in contrast, is easy. One simply encourages people do whatever they want at the expense of the successful.
A society of wealth and knowledge is not an accident and can be overwhelmed by barbaric forces. The world is awash in such forces and anyone who cares to see civilization protected might get this book and learn a bit of how our systems and practices came about in the first place. Our good lives are built on the trial and error of our forebears, and this book lays out their struggle.
The origons of political correctness.......2005-03-11
Fabulously erridite book that spotted the reasons for the decline of the social structure of the west. His central premise is the politically correct thinking has undermined the west values by the maipulation of the language to make all feel perfect .Has an incredible bibliography.I'ts a long time since I read this so it gets 4stars from memory
Book Description
Enemy Lines captures the extraordinary story of boys and girls coming of age during a civil war. Margaret Trawick lived and worked in Batticaloa in eastern Sri Lanka, where thousands of youths have been recruited into the Sri Lankan armed resistance movement known as the Tamil Tigers. This compelling account of her experiences is a powerful exploration of how children respond to the presence of war and how adults have responded to the presence of children in this conflict. Her beautifully written account, which includes voices of the teenagers and young adults who have joined the Tamil Tigers, brings alive a region where childhood, warfare, and play have become commingled in a world of continuous uncertainty.
Product Description
History: Fiction or Science? is the most explosive tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by solid scientific data. The book is well-illustrated, contains over 446 graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays, which never cease to amaze the reader. Eminent mathematician proves that: Jesus Christ was born in 1153 and crucified in 1186 The Old Testament refers to mediaeval events. Apocalypse was written after 1486. Does this sound uncanny? This version of events is substantiated by hard facts and logic - validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources - to a greater extent than everything you may have read and heard about history before. The dominating historical discourse in its current state was essentially crafted in the XVI century from a rather contradictory jumble of sources such as innumerable copies of ancient Latin and Greek manuscripts whose originals had vanished in the Dark Ages and the allegedly irrefutable proof offered by late mediaeval astronomers, resting upon the power of ecclesial authorities. Nearly all of its components are blatantly untrue! For some of us, it shall possibly be quite disturbing to see the magnificent edifice of classical history to turn into an ominous simulacrum brooding over the snake pit of mediaeval politics. Twice so, in fact: the first seeing the legendary millenarian dust on the ancient marble turn into a mere layer of dirt - one that meticulous unprejudiced research can eventually remove. The second, and greater, attack of unease comes with the awareness of just how many areas of human knowledge still trust the three elephants of the consensual chronology to support them. Nothing can remedy that except for an individual chronological revolution happening in the minds of a large enough number of people.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Book Description
Our century has witnessed violence on an unprecedented scale, in wars that have torn deep into the fabric of national and international life. And as we can see in the recent strife in Bosnia, genocide in Rwanda, and the ongoing struggle to control nuclear weaponry, ancient enmities continue to
threaten the lives of masses of human beings. As never before, the question is urgent and practical: How can nations--or ethnic groups, or races--after long, bitter struggles, learn to live side by side in peace?
In An Ethic for Enemies, Donald W. Shriver, Jr., President Emeritus of Union Theological Seminary, argues that the solution lies in our capacity to forgive. Taking forgiveness out of its traditional exclusive association with personal religion and morality, Shriver urges us to recognize its
importance in the secular political arena. The heart of the book examines three powerful and moving cases from recent American history--our postwar dealings with Germany, with Japan, and our continuing domestic problem with race relations--cases in which acts of forgiveness have had important
political consequences. Shriver traces how postwar Germany, in its struggle to break with its political past, progressed from denial of a Nazi past, to a formal acknowledgement of the crimes of Nazi Germany, to providing material compensation for survivors of the Holocaust. He also examines the
efforts of Japan and the United States, over time and across boundaries of race and culture, to forgive the wrongs committed by both peoples during the Pacific War. And finally he offers a fascinating discussion of the role of forgiveness in the American civil rights movement. He shows, for
instance, that even Malcolm X recognized the need to move from contempt for the integrationist ideal to a more conciliatory, repentant stance toward Civil Rights leaders. Malcolm came to see that only through forgiveness could the separate voices of the African-American movement work together to
achieve their goals.
If mutual forgiveness was a radical thought in 1964, Shriver reminds us that it has yet to be realized in 1994. "We are a long way from ceasing to hold the sins of the ancestors against their living children," he writes. Yet in this poignant volume, we discover how, by forgiving, enemies can
progress and have progressed toward peace. A timely antidote to today's political conflicts, An Ethic for Enemies challenges to us to confront the hatreds that cripple society and threaten to destroy the global village.
Customer Reviews:
The Power of Forgiveness in Political Relationships.......2006-11-30
The following was a review I handed in for my "Confession and Forgiveness in Pastoral Care" class at Princeton Theological Seminary.
In "An Ethic For Enemies," Donald Shriver seeks to bring about a shift in the current understanding of how we should treat enemies in the realm of politics. More plainly, Shriver is trying to give us a fresh and satisfactory answer to how we can get along with people who are different from us, and with whom we share a history of evil. The historical necessity for such a discussion is, of course, the "hundred million or so people who in fact have perished in war since 1900" (p.9), not to mention contemporary global conflicts fueled by an increasing ability to destroy one another with sophisticated and powerful weaponry. In contrast to most modern political discussions of ethics, which tend to center around notions of justice, Shriver contends that political theorists and philosophers must begin taking seriously the moral concept of forgiveness. He is aware of the response this word invokes: "The word forgiveness has a religious ring in the ears of the most modern westerners in a way that justice does not" (p.7), and is often charged with being too idealistic for politics. In order to rescue forgiveness from a purely religious connotation, Shriver references history and narrative as evidence for how much power this concept has had in the past, and how much it can have for secular politics today.
Shriver defines forgiveness as a moral concept that is actualized in human transactions. The first transaction occurs by remembering the wrongs conducted, taking a moral assessment. Once consensus is built on what wrongs were committed by both parties involved, the second transaction is to discuss and enact the proper restitution that "should be leveled against the offender" (p.7). Shriver makes clear that whatever restitution means, it must mean "the abandonment of vengeance" or "forbearance" (p.8), effectively stopping the cycle of violence. As these discussions of corporate memory and restitution take place, the third transaction of empathy of the enemy's humanity begins to happen. This mutual humanizing (and thus the end of de-humanizing) brings the possibility of co-existence. Finally, the relationship between former enemies is renewed through the fourth transaction as a "civil relationship between strangers" (p.8), which may or may not grow into something more interdependent over time.
In the first chapter, Shriver draws on ancient historical texts that have defined the nature of justice and forgiveness, including the Greek play by Aeschylus, the history of Thucydides, the story of Cain and Abel, and the story of Joseph. In the second chapter, Shriver turns to the theme of forgiveness in the New Testament, which Jesus affirmed in "the five settings [of] (1) healings, (2) prayer, (3) eating, (4) public enemies, and (5) discipline inside the new community" (p.36). However, as Shriver examines the political ethics from Augustine to Kant, he finds that the emphasis on forgiveness has been set aside in favor of justice. In the third chapter, Shriver begs the question "Can humans in our time agree on any ethical standards?" (p.10). He argues that we can and must agree that "the first `law' of politics is the preservation of human life" (p.66) The second half of the book is devoted to case studies describing the role of forgiveness in our relationship to Germany, Japan, and African-Americans.
For years I have struggled to know exactly how to articulate the kind of political attitude and practice that Shriver has described here. After trying to describe it in my own way recently to a conservative proponent of American foreign policy, he replied that, while my intentions were clearly in the right place, I was an idealist who would one day wake up to the reality of politics. "Unless you can point to some historical evidence that this works, I'm not convinced otherwise." This book equips us with a deeper historical knowledge that will demonstrate that, without a doubt, forgiveness belongs in politics today. It is not only crucial to preventing war, but also in taming the hostile bi-partisan climate of American domestic politics, as evidenced in the seething negative-ad campaigns before the election takes place. Shriver shows he has a wealth of knowledge of a variety of texts which political theorists, religious and secular, are familiar with. He could have elaborated more on what sort of idealism feeds such theories today, such as the conservative idealism of the free-market or liberal democracy. If Shriver wants to examine American politics, the modest interest in preserving life needs to push us to identify our own ideals, which we consider to be right and worthy of protecting from our enemies.
Theologically, while Shriver forgoes any sectarianism in his treatment of Christian literature for the sake of his primary secular audience, a more robust Christology would have helped to crystallize the otherwise shaky relationship between what he calls the "horizontal" and the "vertical" aspects of forgiveness. Unfortunately, his treatment on the "vertical" is relegated to a small section on the Hebrew Bible entitled "Who Can Forgive Sins but God Alone?" (p.29), after which he discusses Jesus in the New Testament as one who redefined social life through the concept of forgiveness, and taught a community how to embody this concept in a way that was wholly foreign to the political structures of his time. While a rereading of the Gospel for its political undertow is important, the figure of Christ remains a completely separate entity from God. Yet at least some treatment of the atoning death of God on the cross as the very definition of forgiveness could have answered the question "What will God do about all this human evil that only God can do?" (p.29)
Book Description
Rather than an aberration enacted by "bad apples," police misconduct is a function of law enforcement's emphasis on repressive values and unenlightened tactics, argues Kristian Robert Williams. Firmly rooted in history and current practice, Our Enemies in Blue offers a clear-eyed account of law enforcement practices, including how police target certain groups and work to preserve power imbalances within society. Efforts to grow the prison industry are revealed along with a surprising account of modern police forces — many of which evolved from protection rackets and slave patrols. As a growing number of United States citizens encounter the criminal justice system, this resource provides useful historical perspective and real-life strategies for opposing abuses of power.
Customer Reviews:
Politically and Intellectually Bracing.......2006-01-31
This book deftly serves up a wealth of material to try to convince your liberal friends (I'm presuming 'you' are a radical) that the police really are a pillar of racism and capitalism, and not simply a bunch of oppressed workers who don't understand that the protesters they are hitting on the head are actually on their side. But even better, Williams account has real intellectual substance, both historical and sociological. As history, he grounds the evolution of the police in the evolution of American racism, dating back to the slave patrols. As sociology, he scoops the 'bringing the state back in' crowd, which, for all its talk about the importance of looking at institutions of the state, has missed the growing autonomy and political power of the police in the US. My only kvetch is that he fails to look more than superficially at the roots of public support for the police--but I suppose you can't do everything in one book.
Right On Point.......2005-07-30
Mr Williams exposes not only the extreme ignorance among the general population (as evidenced by the one-star reviews) of the United States regarding police abuse and corruption, but the institutions that benifit from the existance of a police force. It's no accident that those in positions of power rely on brute force to keep the "rabble" in line. Since 9/11 the violations into people's lives in the form of "sneak-n-peek searches", the TIPS program, spying into library reacords - and then threatening the librarians with prosecution if they inform anyone of this activity - is completely outrageous. The increasing number of unjustifiable searches and seizures, arrests and killings by the police in their "War on Drugs" fiasco has led to the biggest increases in prison populations and deaths. A greater increase in law enforcement does not mean a more protected populace; on the contrary, the more cops you have on the streets the more crime there is. Remember, police forces don't want to eliminate crime all together, because then there would be no reason for a police force, and all the graft and corruption that exists within them. Also, the culture of the police acts as a safe haven for those who have an authoritarian mentality. So, when the powers-that-be want your head clubbed by a cop, he shouldn't be that sympathetic towards your condition.
You may not agree........2005-06-24
This book will appeal to those of you who are already educated to the reality that police exist for one reason and one reason alone : To maintain the current class order and hierarchies of society.
Let's be honest here. Poor people go to jail. Not the rich.
The idea that this book is filled with "distortions, lies, urban myths, twisted logic,absurd claims and bizare conlusions" (as one reviewer wrote) is certainly true if you've spent your life living in those wonderful, white, suburban hoods. If, however, you grew up in the neighborhoods consisting primarily of poor, black folk, you'll have no trouble seeing where the author is coming from. The fact that people either love or hate this book speaks volumes in and of itself. It proves many of the points the writer is trying to make. The police no longer 'protect and serve' the citizens of this country. If they ever did. They protect and serve the masters of America. The rich policy makers. The ruling white class.
You may not believe this, but that does not make it any less true.
A Misleading and Simplistic View .......2005-05-15
Mr. Williams book, despite its shocking title, neither proves the police to be "our" enemy nor offers any constructive suggestions as to how to correct existing police excesses. The book relies on the archaic concept of the "capitalist" or "ruling" class and the "worker" class as the basis for its argument. I find it difficult to believe that Mr. Williams truly sees these divisions in 21st Century America. The current American service economy filled with small business people and contract labor is not the 19th Century of Mr. Williams' fond memory. He writes for a country of robber barons and oppressed workers that never existed. In his vastly simplified view of the Industrial Revolution, Mr. Williams idientifies the police as the iron fist of capitalist control of American society. It is a view that might have found more traction 100 years ago than today.
The only solutions he offers are policing without the state. The two hopeful examples he cites involve homogenous minority communities, without access to the perquisites of the majority. The people's court he cites as a sign of hope could not survive in a diverse society such as our own. He is also forced to readily admit that the solution he proposes was for the accused often worse than existing system.
The book is full of misrepresentations and inconsistencies that seriously undermine his basic thesis. He claims that while police are currently obessed with officer safety, policing is not a particularly dangerous line of work. He cites government statistics that show mining and agriculture as more deadly. This completely misses the point. The relevant statistic would be the number of homicides within a given field. Seen in that light, policing is suddenly much more dangerous than mining or agriculture. Mr. Williams tells of the Boston Police strike of 1919. While arguing that police are an unnecessary instrument of capitalist oppression, he tells of city overcome by looting, vandalism and gang rape when three quarters of the police went on strike. This would hardly seem to prove police unnecessary. Yet Mr. Williams seems unaware of this contradiction. This is not an isolated problem,but occurs throughout the book. Mr. Williams frequently cites court cases or the passage of laws as part of police abuses. Legislatures pass laws, judges interpret them, police enforce them. This distinction seems to elude the author.
This book is probably an enormous hit on college campuses where undergraduates can complain about the time a police officer caught them necking or made them pour out their beer and the injustice that represents. The greater injustice seems to me to be that Mr. Williams oppressed poor workers at the Soft Skull Press by making them print this nonsense and that he keeps this book from poor workers by charging $17.95 a copy.
My Rating is based onthe book not my politics.......2005-05-12
This book is so full of distortions, lies, urban myths, twisted logic,absurd claims and bizare conlusions; that you wonder when reading it, if the author is really serious or the whole thing is some kind of Saturday Night Live parody. On the back cover where they print the endorsements you have Ward Churchill (of little Eichmans fame) and convicted cop executioner Muma. You think they must be kidding, who in their right mind thinks these guys endorsement adds to the credibility of your book.
One expects books like this to be biased and demagogic, but make some effort to be persuasive to those who may be sympathetic to their point of view.
Reading this book is like listening to a paranoid Schizophrenic ramble on about how the CIA has installed a listening device into one of there fillings. You are so tempted to say it's not the CIA, its the NSA that puts listening devices in peoples fillings.
I would read the 5 star ratings with some skepticism; I would interpret them as approvals of the premise not necessarily the quality of the content.
Average customer rating:
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New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, Peer Relations, No. 102 (J-B CAD Single Issue Child & Adolescent Development)
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Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
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Book Description
The darker side of peer relations is subject that has been largely ignored by researchers. This volume begins the much-needed theoretical and empirically based explorations of the factors involved in the foremation, maintenance, and impact of enemies and other mutual antipathies.
Using diverse samples, the chapter authors provide an empirically based exposition of factors relevant to the formation and maintenance of these relations, as well as their developmental impact. Both distal (for example, attachment styles with parents, community violence exposure) and proximal (for example, perceptions of enemies' behavior, social structure of the peer group) factors related to inimical relations are explored, and the developmental sequelaw (for example, affective, behavioral, interpersonal) of having enemies are examined with concurrent and longitudinal designs.
Books:
- The Origins of FBI Counterintelligence (Modern War Studies)
- The Origins of Totalitarianism
- The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers
- The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity Ad 200-1000 (Making of Europe)
- The Scalpel and the Silver Bear: The First Navajo Woman Surgeon Combines Western Medicine and Traditional Healing
- The Shi'is of Iraq
- The Story of the World Volume 2: History for the Classical Child (Story of the World: History for the Classical Child (Audio))
- The Things They Carried
- The Twilight of the Intellectuals: Culture and Politics in the Era of the Cold War
- The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy
Books Index
Books Home
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- Keep What You Own: Protect Your Money, Property, And Family From Courts, Creditors, And The IRS
The Logic of Scientific Discovery (Routledge Classics)
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