Bulletin
N° 784
Subject :
‘Passive Emotions': a sterile wasteland, indifferent to ‘Adequate Ideas’ and hostile to ‘Intuitive
Understanding’.
5
February 2018
Grenoble,
France
Dear
Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
As
we have seen in previous discussions, the epistemology of Baruch Spinoza employes
Euclidian geometry to establish intuitive knowledge unimpeded by “passive
emotions", which is to say reactive emotions received from outside one’s body.
With geometrical certitude, then, Spinoza “understands” that the angles of any
triangle – no matter its size or shape – always equal two right angles. Similarly,
from the knowledge that everything is part of Nature – that body and mind are
simply two ways of looking at the same thing -
he is able to deduce many properties of the human mind, not the least of
which is both the re-active and pro-active roles played by the emotions in our thought processes.
The following story illustrates a common neo-conservative distortion and serves as a warning that reactive emotions can be igored only at great peril. It runs something like this: A young man was invited to an annual barbecue cook-out in a private garden. He had met some members of the group earlier; then had nothing more to do with them. It was a beautiful spring weekend, and he decided to accept the invitation to be their guest of honor. When he arrived they greeted him cordially, and he saw many smiling faces that he recognized. Suddenly he recalled why he had lost interest in these people, he thought that the bond was quickly becoming a bind, that they were too jelously exclusive, their clanishness was too possessive. He later was told that they were a tribe of cannibals. Suddendly awakened by this recollection, he went up to the person who invited him to the picnic and told him that he had to leave immediately. The young man turned to his father and explained to him that he liked this boy and didn’t think they should eat him. "Well, what did he expect?", answered the father. The young guest of honor thought of running away, but the father turned to him and said in a most kindly tone: “Anyway, I think I will like him too, perhaps with some gravy . . . ."
The passionate apostels of the marketplace cloak their particular interests in universal terms, attempting to conceal the harmful effects such policies have on society by evoking emotions such as greed, arrogance, deceit, resentment, fear, hatred, disgust, dispair, etc, etc. . . .
Pain
is exclusively a "passive emotion" which Spinoza tells us originates, like the other reactive emotions, from outside the
body, and if ignored it serves to block any understanding of “adequate ideas” and impedes us from
overcoming our
mental and physical passivity, thereby leading to mental confusion instead of adequate or intuitive understanding. In everyday life,
we see how ontological distortions appear frequently
from contemporary neo-liberal ideology, when a particular event (as in the story
above, when the guest accepted an invitation to a picnic) is not understood in
its full context (i.e. the true intentions of the tribe of cannibals who extended the invitation), and
the passive mind mistakes appearance for essence. Such errors are sometimes
fatal.
In
a world of more and more ‘bean counters’ and ‘number crunchers’ - where
fragmented thought prevails - the human capacity for observation and critical
thinking, and ultimately for “intuitive knowledge,” seems to be receding to the size of a speck of dust on the horizon. For many people, just getting by from day to day
is a painful ordeal, an almost insurmountable challenge; it is a common
temptation to simply stop thinking at all, to allow our reactive emotions to deal with
problems as they arise, without any attempt at understanding, under the guise of adaptability and individual “freedom of choice.” Just blend in and
submit uncritically to the common will (which is usually orchastrated by some corporate interest); this is enough
to guarantee happiness! Is it not . . . ?
A
revisit to the life and times of Baruch Spinoza might provide some insight into our existence
and essence today, when ‘imagination’ and
‘passive emotions’ function to subvert the thought process and the formulation of ‘adequate ideas’ by an
active ‘intellect’, thereby rendering any experience of ‘intuitive knowledge’
unattainable.
Spinoza (1632-1677)
by
Tariq Ali
(1994)
In
Parts IV &V of The
Ethics, we find Spinoza discussing the nature of bondage
to emotions and, also, the power of the intellect to liberate ordinary people
from this servitude, so they may learn to prefer the life of a wise person to
that of an ignorant person.
He
begins Part IV, which is entitled “Of Human Bondage, or the Strength of the
Emotions,” by stating the purpose of this meditation:
For a man at the mercy
of his emotions is not his own master but is subject to fortune, in whose power
he so lies
that
he is often compelled , although he sees the better course, to pursue the
worse. In this Part I have set myself
the
task of demonstrating why this is so, and also what is good and what is bad in
emotions.(p.153)
In
a spectacular series of Propositions and Proofs and Corollaries, Spinoza
elaborates on the first Axiom in this Part:
There is in Nature no
individual thing that is not surpassed in strength and power by something other
thing.
Whatsoever thing there
is, there is another more powerful by which the said
thing can be destroyed.(p.156)
Proposition
2: We are passive in so far as we are a
part of Nature which cannot be conceived independently of other parts.(157)
Proof:
We are said to be passive when something arises in us of which we are only the
partial cause, something that cannot be deduced solely from the laws of our own
nature. So we are passive in so far as we are a part of Nature which cannot be
conceived independently of other parts.(157)
Proposition
3: The force whereby a man persists in
existing is limited, and infinitely surpassed by the power of external causes.(157)
Proposition
4: It is impossible for a man not to be
part of Nature and not to undergo changes other than those which can be understood
solely through his own nature and of which he is the adequate cause.(157)
Corollary:
Hence it follows that man is necessarily always subject to passive emotions,
and that he follows the common order of Nature, and obeys it, and accommodates
himself to it as far as the nature of things demands.(158)
Proposition
5: The force and increase of any passive
emotion and its persistence in existing is defined not by the power whereby we
ourselves endeavor to persist in existing, but by the power of external causes
compared with our own power.(158)
Proposition
6: The force of any passive emotion can
surpass the rest of man’s activities or power so that the emotion stays firmly
fixed in him.(159)
Proposition
7: An emotion cannot be checked or
destroyed except by a contrary emotion which is stronger than the emotion which
is to be checked.(159)
Proof:
An emotion, in so far as it is related to the mind, is an idea whereby the mind
affirms a greater or less force of existence of its body than was previously the
case. So when the mind is assailed by an emotion, the body at the same time is
affected by an affection whereby its power of acting is increased or diminished.
Furthermore, this affection of the body receives from its own cause its force
of persisting in its own being, and therefore this force cannot be checked or
destroyed except by a corporeal cause which affects the body with an affection contrary to the other and stronger than it. So
the mind will be affected by the idea of an affection stronger than and
contrary to the earlier one; that is, the mind will be affected by an emotion
stronger than and contrary to the previous one, an emotion which will exclude
or destroy the existence of the previous one. So an emotion cannot be either
destroyed or checked except by a contrary and stronger emotion.(159)
Proposition
8: Knowledge of good and evil is nothing
other than the emotion of pleasure and pain in so far as we are conscious of it.(160)
Proposition
15: Desire that arises from the true
knowledge of good and evil can be extinguished or checked by many desires that
arise from the emotions by which we are assailed.(163)
Proposition
19: Every man, from the laws of his own
nature, necessarily seeks or avoids what he judges to be good or evil.(166)
Proposition
32: In so far as men are subject to passive emotions, to that extent they
cannot be said to agree in nature.(171)
Proposition
34: In so far as men are assailed by
emotions that are passive, they can be contrary to one another.(171)
Proposition
35: In so far as men live under the guidance of reason, to that extent only do
they always necessarily agree in nature.(172)
Later,
in the same discussion, Spinoza writes,
He who from emotion
alone endeavors that others should love what he himself loves and live
according to his
way
of thinking acts only by impulse, and therefore incurs dislike, especially from
those who have different
preferences
and who therefore also strive and endeavor by that same impulse that others
should live according
to
their way of thinking. Again, since the highest good sought by men under the
sway of emotions is often such
that
only one man can possess it, the result is that men who love it are at odds
with themselves; and, while they
rejoice
to sing the praise of the object of their live, they are afraid of being
believed. But he who endeavors to
guide
others by reason acts not from impulse but from kindly concern, and is entirely
consistent with himself.(p.175)
Proposition
63: He who is guided by fear, and does
good so as to avoid evil, is not guided by reason.(190)
Proof:
All emotions that are related to the mind in so far as it is active, that is,
emotions that are related to reason, are emotions of pleasure and desire only.
Therefore he who is guided by fear and does good through fear of evil is not
guided by reason.(191)
Proposition
64: Knowledge of evil is inadequate knowledge.(191)
Proof:
Knowledge of evil is pain itself in so far as we are conscious of it. Now pain
is a transition to a state of less perfection, which therefore cannot be
understood through man’s essence itself and so is a passive emotion which
depends on inadequate ideas. Consequently knowledge of it – that is, knowledge
of evil – is inadequate knowledge.*(191)
[*Here,
Spinoza refers to Proposition 3, in Part III of the same book: “The active
states of mind arise only from adequate ideas; its passive states depend solely
on inadequate ideas.”(from p.108)]
And
finally, in the Appendix of Part IV, Spinoza writes: Desires that follow from
our nature in such a way that they can be understood through it alone are those
that are related to the mind in so far as the mind is conceived as consisting
of adequate ideas. The other desires are related to the mind only in so far as
it conceives things inadequately; and their force and increase must be defined
not by human power but by the power of things external to us. So the former are
rightly called active emotions, the
latter passive emotions. For the
former always indicate our power, the latter our weakness and fragmentary
knowledge.(197)
In
the fifth and final Part of The Ethics,
Spinoza discusses “the degree and nature of [reason’s] command over emotions in
checking and controlling them.” He begins with a critical exposition of
Cartesian dualism, then proceeds to develop further
his monistic epistemology to explain the power of the intellect and human
freedom.
Proposition
2: If we remove the agitation of the
mind, or emotion, from the thought of its external cause, and join it to other
thoughts, then love or hatred towards the external cause, and also vacillations
that arise from these emotions, will be destroyed.(p.205)
Proof:
That which constitutes the form of love or hatred is pleasure or pain
accompanied by the idea of an external cause. So when the latter is removed, the form of love or hatred is removed with it; and
thus these emotions, and those that arise from them, are destroyed.(206)
Proposition
3: A passive emotion ceases to be a
passive emotion as soon as we form a clear and distinct idea of it.(206)
Proof:
A passive emotion is a confused idea. So if we form a clear and distinct idea
of the emotion, this idea is distinguishable only in concept from the emotion
in so far as the latter is related only to mind; and so the emotion will cease
to be passive.(206)
Proposition
7: Emotions which arise or originate from
reason are, if we take account of time, more powerful than those that are
related to particular things which we regard as absent.(208)
Proposition
10: As long as we are not assailed by
emotions that are contrary to our nature, we have the poàwer
to arrange and associate affections of the body according to the order of the
intellect.(208)
Proof:
Emotions that are contrary to our nature, that is, which are bad, are bad to
the extent that they hinder the mind from understanding. Therefore as long as
we are not assailed by emotions contrary to our nature, the power of the mind
whereby it endeavors to understand things is not hindered, and thus it has the
ability to form clear and distinct ideas, deducing them from one another.
Consequently in this case we have the ability to arrange and associate
affections of the body according to the order of the intellect.(209)
Spinoza
goes on in this section to discuss the three kinds of knowledge: Distorted Knowledge
which originates from confused or fragmentary ideas which originate with
contingency or chance happenings; Adequate Knowledge founded on clear and
distinct ideas of cause and effect; and Intuitive Knowledge, which is based on
the recognition of essence and substance in the larger context of a
Natural System.
According
to the monism of Spinoza, when a candle, brought into existence by a candle-maker, is thrown into a fire the substance is
destroyed, but the essence (the melted wax) remains forever.
In
the 21 items below we will encounter various descriptions and
interpretations of current events - their substance and the essence thereof - all of which bring into focus the burning
question: What lays in store for us in the future - both immediate and
long-term - and what pro-active role will we be able to conceptualize to influence these coming events?
Sincerely,
Francis
Feeley
Professor
emeritus of American Studies
University
Grenoble-Alpes
Director
of Research
University
of Paris-Nanterre
Center
for the Advanced Study of American Institutions and Social Movements
The University of California-San Diego
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https://iak.salsalabs.org/02012018/index.html?wvpId=9623ec16-0340-11e6-ab9d-12c35146c141
===========
b.
Blowback: How ISIS Was Created by the U.S.
Invasion of Iraq
https://static.theintercept.com/amp/isis-iraq-war-islamic-state-blowback.html
&
https://theintercept.com/staff/mehdi-hasan/
Contact the author:
===========
c.
Saber-Rattling,
Nuclear Threat – Or an Even More Devastating War?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48709.htm
by Peter Koenig
The
World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos has come and gone, and nothing has really
changed. The wonderful people of the world struck again – blowing hot air to
the four corners of the world. When in reality the poor get poorer, the rich
get richer, wars and conflicts are on the rise – and humanity, at least in the
western world, is ever more exposed to propaganda lies and mind manipulations,
of which then WEF is just one tiny, miserable example.
For
instance, was anybody still listening to the bombastic nonsense coming out of
Trump’s and Macron’s throat? – It is a soft version of “Fire and Fury” — to
confirm to the World of the Noble who is in charge, and to assure the elite
that nothing, but nothing will change in the balance of power. That’s the
neoliberal Davos Club of always. And they, this elite of beautiful people,
would certainly not want a ‘hard core’ nuclear war to destroy their properties
and luxury yachts, castles and comfort zone.
So,
rest assured, sable-rattling about nuclear Armageddon is just a smoke screen, a
deviation maneuver to hide a much worse atrocity. An atrocity, or rather a set
of atrocities by which the WEF crowd will most likely never be touched. Trump,
for the moment, is the best salesman and mouthpiece the Deep State could muster
for their ploy. He is pompous, pretentiously egocentric, and an absurd bully.
His America First and Make America Great again, repeated over and over – sounds
so silly, but said often enough, it takes hold and becomes the truth in
people’s minds.
===========
Truth
or Treason? Dirty Secrets
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/01/26/truth-or-treason-dirty-secrets-of-the-korean-war/
by George Burchett
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/01/26/the-war-on-dissent/
by
CJ Hopkins
f.
Demystifying
US and Israeli Power
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48705.htm
If
paying attention to the mass media, one would think that politicians have
power, that the President of the USA has power, or even that AIPAC has power —
They don’t. He doesn’t. AIPAC doesn’t. Few people understand American imperial
power because it’s difficult to comprehend the unprecedented concentration of
vast wealth in the hands of a few dozen individuals, and the ramifications for
the rest of the world. Never before have so few people possessed so much
wealth, and thus so much power over everything, including the US government,
Israel, AIPAC, and — everything within the imperial American sphere of
corporate influence. The Earth is under the control of a few hundred
corporations, and a few thousand capitalists. The apparent power of AIPAC to
influence US policy is based upon the intense media presence AIPAC does have
while real power remains present but pushed into the media background. In this paper,
we examine the power relationship between the USA and Israel. We present
evidence supporting the claim that state power is subordinate to corporate
power, and corporate power is driven by the rewards of expanding profits
through manipulating state policies. US transnational corporations,
particularly those assigned to the military-industrial complex (MIC: arms
manufacturers and others engaged in military and police-state support) join
banks and other corporations at the top of USA political power. We remind
ourselves that in the USA and Israel, money is political power, not religion or
the people.
===========
g.
Putin's
Man In Crimea: We've 'Returned To Russia Forever'
===========
h.
Will
U.S. Fight Turkey?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48691.htm
American
Soldiers Will Not Leave City About to Be Attacked, Says Top General
by Tom O'Connor
The
U.S. military intends to remain in the northern Syrian city of Manbij despite
an incoming offensive backed by Turkey, which, along with Ankara's rebel
allies, has launched an assault on nearby Kurdish forces sponsored by the
Pentagon. With the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) mostly defeated in the
east, the focus of Syria's nearly seven-year war has shifted west, particularly
to the northwestern district of Afrin, where Turkey and the insurgent Free
Syrian Army have begun attacking a Kurdish militia known as the People's
Protection Units (YPG). The YPG was the primary faction behind the Syrian
Democratic Forces that led U.S. efforts to destroy ISIS on the ground, but it
also was considered a terrorist organization by Turkey because of its
alleged links to a Kurdish nationalist insurgency at home. As the complex
politics of northern Syria's battlefield erupted into bloodshed between two
U.S. allies, Central Command Commander General Joseph Vogel told
CNN Monday that withdrawing his troops from nearby
Manbij was "not something we are looking into," even as
Turkey threatened to advance into the Kurd-controlled city. The U.S. has so far
stood aside as the Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces attempted to defend
the northwestern district of Afrin from Turkey, a member of the U.S.-led NATO
alliance, and the formerly CIA-backed Free Syrian Army that has
regularly targeted U.S. forces in the area. In November, the
Pentagon revealed it had deployed more
than 1,700 U.S. personnel to support the Syrian Democratic Forces
battling ISIS in Syria.
===========
i.
Interview
with Sumiteru Taniguchi
Kill
Me, Kill Me. 'Fruit of War' Photo of Nagasaki Victim
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48695.htm
j.
Washington
Reaches New Heights of Insanity with the “Kremlin Report”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48696.htm
by
Paul Craig Roberts
In
an act of insane escalation of provocations against Russia, Washington has
produced a list of 210 top Russian government officials and important business
executives who are “gangsters,” “members of Putin’s gang,” “threats,” “people
deserving to be sanctioned,” or however the Western presstitutes care to
explain the list. The absurd list includes the Prime Minister of Russia, the Foreign
Minister, the Defense Minister, and executives of Gazprom, Rosneft, and Bank
Rossiya. In other words, the suggestion is that the entirety of Russian
political and business leadership is corrupt.
The
Russians do not seem to understand the purpose of the list. Presidential
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the government sees the list as an attempt to
interfere in the Russian presidential election. There is no doubt that
Washington would like to reduce Putin’s public support so that Washington can
use the Western-funded NGOs operating in Russia to present American stooges as
Russia’s true voices. However, it is unlikely that the Russian people are stupid
enough to fall for such a trick. Washington’s list has three purposes:
1)
To
undercut Russian diplomacy by presenting the top echelons of Russia as
gangsters.
2)
To present Russia as a military threat as per the ridiculous announcement by
British defense minister Gavin Williamson on January 26 that Russia intends to
rip British “infrastructure apart, actually cause thousands and thousands and
thousands of deaths,” and create “total chaos within the country.”
3)
To shift American and European attention away from the coming release of the
House Intelligence Committee’s report that proves Russiagate is a conspiracy
between the FBI, the Obama Department of Justice and the Democratic National
Committee against President Trump. Washington’s Russian list will give the
presstitutes something else to talk about instead of the act of treason
committed against the President of the United States. Expect to hear nothing
from the presstitutes except that the House Intelligence Committee report is
only a political effort to shield Trump from accountability.
There
is likely a fourth reason for the list. Israel wants Washington’s pressure on
Russia, because Russia has so far prevented Israel’s use of the US military to
create the same chaos in Syria and Iran as has been created in Iraq and Libya.
Israel wants Syria and Iran destabilized because they support Hezbollah, which
prevents Israel from occupying the water resources of southern Lebanon.
The Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which requires
the list, passed the House and Senate by a vote of 517-5. Normally, such
unanimous foreign policy votes are associated with demands from the Israel
Lobby.
===========
From:
Jim O'Brien
Sent: Tuesday, 30 January, 2018
Subject: Notes 1/29/18: Links to recent articles of interest
https://www.historiansforpeace.org/
Links
to Recent Articles of Interest
“The War That Never Ends (for the U.S. Military High
Command)"
By
Danny Sjursen, TomDispatch.com, posted January 28
The
reference is to the Vietnam War. The author is an active-duty military
strategist and a former history instructor at West Point.
By
Lawrence Wittner, History News Network, posted January 28
The
author is a professor of history emeritus at SUN T Albany.
By
Christian Appy, Boston Review, posted January 26
On
resistance to the Vietnam War. The author teaches history at the University of
Massachusetts Amherst and has written several books on the Vietnam War.
"Trump's National Defense Strategy Has the Pentagon
Popping Champagne"
By
Andrew J. Bacevich, The American Conservative, posted January 24
The
author is a professor emeritus of history and international relations at
Boston University.
“South Korea Slips Off the U.S. Leash”
By
Dave Lindorff, CounterPunch.org, posted January 23, 2018
Includes
historical background to the current crisis
“Bacevich and Mearsheimer on Year One of the Trump
Administration”
Interview
with Andrew J. Bacevich and John Mearsheimer by Derek Davison, Foreign Policy
in Focus, posted January 22
"Democrats Are Repudiating FDR's Policy of Detente with
Russia"
By
Stephen F. Cohen, The Nation, posted January 17
The
author is a professor emeritus of Russian history and politics at Princeton
University and New York University.
"The World According to Trump: Or How to Build a Wall
and Lose an Empire"
By Alfred
McCoy, TomDispatch.com, posted January 16
The
author teaches history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Hawaii False Alarm Hints at the Thin Line Between Mishap
and Nuclear War”
By
Max Fisher, New York Times, posted January 14
This
article draws lessons from the aftermath of the downing of the Korean Airlines
flight in 1983.
“Donald Trump’s Vile Words Should Remind Us That America Owes
Everything to Haitians”
By
Jon Schwartz, The Intercept, posted January 12
On
the relation of the Haitian Revolution to the Louisiana Purchase
Thanks
for Rusti Eisenberg and an anonymous reader for suggesting articles included in
the above list. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.
l.
Will
Congress Face Down the Deep State?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48700.htm
The
House Intelligence Committee’s vote on Monday to release a memorandum describing
alleged malfeasance at the DOJ and the FBI could test constitutional
principles.
by Ray McGoverns
With
the House Intelligence Committee vote yesterday to release its four-page
memorandum reportedly based on documentary evidence of possible crimes by top
Justice Department and FBI leaders, the die is cast. Russia-gate and FBI-gate
are now joined at the hip. The coming weeks will show whether the U.S.
intelligence establishment (the FBI/CIA/NSA, AKA the “Deep State”) will be able
to prevent its leaders from being held to account. Past precedent suggests that
the cabal that conjured up Russia-gate will not have to pick up a “go-to-jail”
card. This, despite the widespread guilt suggested by the abrupt way that
several senior-echelon DOJ and FBI rats have already jumped ship. Not to
mention the manner in which FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, was
unceremoniously pushed overboard yesterday, after Director Christopher Wray was
given a look at the extra-legal capers described in the House Intelligence
Committee memorandum. Granted, at first glance Deep State’s efforts to undercut
candidate Donald Trump at first seem so risky and audacious as to be
unbelievable. By now, though, Americans should be able to wrap their heads around,
one, the dire threat that outsider Trump was seen to be posing to the Deep
State and to the ease with which it held sway under President Barack Obama;
and, two, expected immunity from prosecution if Deep State crimes were
eventually discovered after the election, since “everybody knew” Hillary
Clinton was going to win. Oops . . .!.
m.
Responding
to Bernie’s Promotion of the New Cold War
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/02/01/responding-to-bernies-promotion-of-the-new-cold-war/
Bernie
Sanders’ promotion of unproven allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016
election.
In
an otherwise fine video response to Tuesday night’s vapid, flag-waving State of
the Union address, Bernie Sanders once again promoted the neocon
think tank-generated and unproven claim
that Russia interfered in America’s 2016 elections via “cyberwarfare,” and
repeated the completely
baseless insinuation that they colluded with Trump to do so. Bernie
Sanders’ video response to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. “How can
he not talk about the reality that Russia, through cyberwarfare, interfered in
our election in 2016, is interfering in democratic elections all over the
world, and according to his own CIA director will likely interfere in the 2018
midterm elections that we will be holding?” asked
the Vermont Senator. “How do you not talk about that unless you have a
very special relationship with Mr. Putin?”
This
is not an exception to the rule for Sanders, but one more addition to an ready consistent and deliberate pattern.
In February of last year Sanders delivered a widely
viewed video message to his massive online audience solely geared
at promoting the Russiagate narrative. At the end of March, he
did it again.
n.
How
the “Junk Values” of Neoliberalism
Drive
Depression and Anxiety in the U.S.
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/2/1/johann_hari_on_how_the_junk
o.
The
Hacking of the American Mind:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48699.htm
The
Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains
Dr.
Robert Lustig
I’d been trying to figure out what might be peculiar about American culture that
was driving the opioid, obesity and depression crises. Then a longtime
subscriber sent me a video with Dr. Robert Lustig, who’s totally on the case.
He’s cracked the neurochemical-cultural and economic codes of the country where
“Happiness” is legally enshrined as a foremost right in the founding document.
Lustig is a professor of endocrinology at UCSF, where he specializes in neuroendocrinology and childhood obesity. He’s the author of The Hacking of the American Mind,
in which he reveals a massive conflation that exists in American
ideology (and in the American consumerist ideals that have propagated throughout the planet) between pleasure and happiness,
which Lustig explains are completely different:
“Pleasure
is short-lived, happiness
is long-lived; pleasure is visceral, happiness
is ethereal; pleasure is taking, happiness
is giving; pleasure can be achieved with substances; happiness
cannot be achieved with substances; pleasure is experienced alone; happiness
is experienced in social groups. The extremes of pleasure all lead to addiction,
whether they be substances or behaviors, yet there’s no such thing as being
addicted to too much happiness.
“Finally
and most importantly: pleasure is dopamine
and happiness is serotonin.
“These
are two neurochemicals that the brain makes and uses to communicate between one
brain cell and another. It turns out dopamine
excites the next neuron and when they’re excited too much, too frequently, they
tend to die, so the neuron has a defense mechanism against that. What it does
is it reduces the number of receptors that are available to be stimulated, in
an attempt to try to mitigate the damage…that process is called down-regulation
and a lot of different chemicals in the body do that. You get a hit, you get a
rush. The receptors [get down-regulated].
===========
p.
“Mr.
Boston”: Meet the Man Who
Secretly
Helped Daniel Ellsberg Leak Pentagon Papers to the Press
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/2/2/mr_boston_meet_the_man_who
&
(audo)
Part
I
https://www.democracynow.org/shows/1996/6/13?autostart_audio=true
Part
II
https://www.democracynow.org/1996/6/13/pentagon_papers
===========
q.
Mass
Surveillance and the Memory Hole
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/01/31/mass-surveillance-and-the-memory-hole/
The
NSA’s recent destruction of evidence in contravention of a court order follows
a long-established pattern of intelligence abuses, as Ted Snider explains.
by
Ted Snider
===========
r.
“They
Repress Us Because We’re Poor”: Immigrant Rights Activist Speaks from Sanctuary
in Colorado
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/2/2/they_repress_us_because_were_poor
===========
s.
Free
Speech Victory: Federal Court Strikes Down a Law
that
Punishes Supporters of Israel Boycott
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48704.htm
A
federal judge on Thursday ruled that a Kansas law designed to
punish people who boycott Israel is an unconstitutional denial of free
speech. The ruling is a significant victory for free speech rights because the
global campaign to criminalize, or otherwise legally outlaw, the Boycott,
Divestment, and Sanctions movement has been spreading
rapidly in numerous political and academic centers in the U.S. This
judicial
decision definitively declares those efforts — when they manifest in the
U.S. — to be a direct infringement of basic First Amendment rights guaranteed
by the U.S. Constitution.
The
invalidated law, enacted last year by the Kansas legislature, requires all
state contractors — as a prerequisite to receiving any paid work from the
state — “to certify that they are not engaged in a boycott of Israel.” The
month before the law was implemented, Esther Koontz, a Mennonite who works
as a curriculum teacher for the Kansas public school system, decided that she
would boycott goods made in Israel, motivated in part by a film she had seen
detailing the abuse of Palestinians by the occupying Israeli government, and in
part by a
resolution enacted by the national Mennonite Church. The resolution
acknowledged “the cry for justice of Palestinians, especially those living
under oppressive military occupation for fifty years”; vowed to “oppose
military occupation and seek a just peace in Israel and Palestine”; and urged
“individuals and congregations to avoid the purchase of products associated
with acts of violence or policies of military occupation, including items
produced in [Israeli] settlements.”
===========
t.
From:
Moshé Machover
Sent: Saturday, 3 February, 2018
Subject: Fwd: 2018 - 5 - 3 février :
Notes de lecture et textes
http://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/
Francis,
This
blog might interests your readers.
mm
______
From: entreleslignesentrelesmots <entreleslignesentrelesmots@orange.fr>
Subject:
2018 - 5 - 3 février : Notes de lecture et textes
Bonjour,
Parmi les nouveaux textes et notes de lecture mis sur le blog :
Les textes les plus lus en janvier 2018 :
Le féminisme ne se résume pas à l’égalité des sexes
Quel culot ! Pourquoi la gifle d’Ahed Tamimi rend les Israéliens furieux
Nommer la violence, reconnaître ses victimes, briser le silence
La légalisation a fait de l’Allemagne le bordel de l’Europe. Et nous devrions avoir honte !
Naître de sexe féminin impose aux femmes un coût que nous sommes seules à pouvoir comprendre
Le porno est un enjeu de gauche
Prostitution légalisée en Australie : l’envers du décor
Discours d’Oprah Winfrey aux Golden Globes Awards
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Des hommes appuient #Etmaintenant :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/01/28/des-hommes-appuient-etmaintenant/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sur : Adric - Voix de femmes : Lutter contre le mariage forcé
Soutenir le libre choix amoureux et l'autonomie des jeunes :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/01/30/violence-intrinseque-du-mariage-force-et-violences-induites-dont-les-viols/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sur : Zalmen Gradowski : Ecrits I et II – Témoignage d’un Sonderkommando d’Auschwitz :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/01/29/le-diable-lenfer-les-proies-et-la-lune/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michel Husson : Bernard Friot ou la stratégie de l’incantation
À propos de : Vaincre Macron de Bernard Friot, Paris, La Dispute, 2017 :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/01/31/bernard-friot-ou-la-strategie-de-lincantation/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sur : Fred Turner : Le cercle démocratique :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/02/02/rencontre-de-cultures-aux-origines-de-la-contre-culture-aux-etats-unis-dans-les-sixties/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sur : Amir Gutfreund : La légende de Bruno et d’Adèle
Andrew Pepper : Les derniers jours de Newgate
Anila Wilms : Les assassins de la route du Nord
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/01/28/le-coin-du-polar-janvier-2018/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Textes
Nicolas Béniès : Les monnaies virtuelles font la une. Bitcoin, une monnaie ? :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/01/30/les-monnaies-virtuelles-font-la-une-bitcoin-une-monnaie/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeni Harvey : Inoffensif et pailleté : qu’est-ce-que le féminisme contemporain a à offrir aux jeunes filles aujourd’hui ? :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/01/31/inoffensif-et-paillete-quest-ce-que-le-feminisme-contemporain-a-a-offrir-aux-jeunes-filles-aujourdhui/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jean-Pierre Azéma jugé pour diffamation suite à son rapport public sur le sort des malades mentaux sous le régime de Vichy :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/02/01/jean-pierre-azema-juge-pour-diffamation-suite-a-son-rapport-public-sur-le-sort-des-malades-mentaux-sous-le-regime-de-vichy/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Martine Storti : « Vous venez d’insulter une femme, votre bite va se désintégrer dans les trois jours » :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/01/29/vous-venez-dinsulter-une-femme-votre-bite-va-se-desintegrer-dans-les-trois-jours/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Déclaration de peuples autochtones vivant au chili à l’occasion de la visite du pape au Chili :
Nous n’avons que faire de vos croix et de vos bibles :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/01/29/nous-navons-que-faire-de-vos-croix-et-de-vos-bibles/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Geneviève Fraisse : Sur l’incompatibilité supposée entre l’amour et le féminisme :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/02/01/sur-lincompatibilite-supposee-entre-lamour-et-le-feminisme/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solidarité maghrébine avec les mouvements sociaux tunisiens :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/01/30/solidarite-maghrebine-avec-les-mouvements-sociaux-tunisiens/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Élise Gravel : Le consentement expliqué aux enfants (et aussi aux grands) :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/02/03/le-consentement-explique-aux-enfants-et-aussi-aux-grands/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On ne doit pas traîner dans la boue les manifestations pacifiques en Iran : déclaration de militant.es iranien.nes :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/02/02/on-ne-doit-pas-trainer-dans-la-boue-les-manifestations-pacifiques-en-iran-declaration-de-militant-es-iranien-nes/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joël Martine : L'exploitation du travail domestique et son articulation avec l'exploitation salariale dans le capitalisme - Ou le féminisme matérialiste revisité, 2 :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/02/02/lexploitation-du-travail-domestique-et-son-articulation-avec-lexploitation-salariale-dans-le-capitalisme-ou-le-feminisme-materialiste-revisite-2/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
30 janvier 1933 : le désastre :
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2018/01/31/30-janvier-1933-le-desastre/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Affaire Tariq Ramadan : « Nous choisissons d’inverser la charge de la preuve et de croire la parole des femmes »:
https://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/2017/11/12/affaire-tariq-ramadan-nous-choisissons-dinverser-la-charge-de-la-preuve-et-de-croire-la-parole-des-femmes/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Et pour les amatrices et amateurs, une rubrique jazz (jazz) plus régulièrement alimentée (chroniques de disques récents et plus anciens), sans oublier le rayon "polar" (polar) et une fois par semaine le "street art"(street-art)...
N'hésitez pas à reproduire les textes, en indiquant leur source et à faire suivre ce courriel à vos ami-e-s
cordialement
Didier (didier.epsztajn@laposte.net)
Blog : http://entreleslignesentrelesmots.wordpress.com/
Afin de recevoir les textes automatiquement dès leur mise en ligne (et non sur une lettre d’information hebdomadaire), je vous invite à vous abonner sur le blog
===========
u.
Early Facebook and Google employees form coalition
to fight what they built
Nellie Bowles