Political compass for the21st century

[pbrower2a]

(02-10-2019, 11:24 AM)Hintergrund Wrote: Self-actualization... what are the actual results of this? Many people even neglected their own families for this during the "Awakening", but was that worth it? I don't think so.

or in a stagnant image:




The most effective way to control people is to put people in fear of the loss of the 'privilege' at the lowest levels possible. At the extreme one has the horrific existence in a Gulag, a Nazi KZ-Lager, or the rubber plantations of King Leopold II of Belgium in his hypocritically-named Congo Free State. Life, including the barest psychological needs, is never certain. At the second level one might be a slave on a plantation who knows that if one does as told and does not try to escape one will not be beaten. Or one is in prison and knows that one gets three hots and a cot but can never feel safe from bigger, tougher crooks than oneself. Or one is homeless and does not know where the next food will come from or where one will get shelter from cold, rain, or wind. Or one has a crisis of health or faces so dangerous a reality as military combat. Or one is an addict in need of a fix.

The most effective to get the most out of people for as little as possible is to keep them at the first two levels. Anything that one gets, even if it is an enumerated right or a basic assumption in life is a privilege to be earned through suffering and fear. People driven to those low levels from above can easily give up hope. One is obliged to work as hard as possible just to survive -- and one's work might be the crass indulgence of some ostentatious elites.

Love and belonging are essential to feeling good about oneself. At this point one probably has some modicum of economic security. It helps to be in a place that one happens to like to a certain level. If you pity yourself for being in a dreary hick town or a slum, you might find it hard to love people. Do you like the people that you are around? if not, then you are in trouble. You are probably not in poverty, although you may be close -- or be poor by the local standard.

At the fourth level you are able to make choices between good things -- between a showy car and an investment, between a tract house or a Victorian in some places, having a great job at CDE Corporation or at FGH Corporation, getting a PhD or an MBA... corporate law or politics. Getting to this level is a choice for few people, and going beyond it is a rarity.

At the top we have the apices of human achievement. All is genuine. One is not supremely successful at one aspect of life and a failure at others. Maslow made clear that such people as Vincent van Gogh and Richard Wagner were miserable people despite their achievements. I could say the same of gangsters like Capone and Gotti or tyrants like Ceausescu and Idi Amin. Maybe religious ecstasy might bring one to the top as one transcends personal needs.

I'll say it here -- Donald Trump is too much of a fake and a a fraud to be anywhere near self-actualization.