"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"

In class we say that the whole society is a single body as an effect of terror in totalitarianism. I don't quite understand how this works. If the whole society is a single body, then where does this terror come from? Does the terror come from others or from oneself? If the society is a single body, does it necessarily imply that others and self are the same? If everyone knows that he/she is a potential victim of others, wouldn't he/she try to avoid accusing others?

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" This is a quote from Animal Farm by George Orwell. Is there a superior secret power that is "more equal than others" to exert this terror among men?

On Violence - Decolonization

1. Decolonization is the taking or reclaim of land or territory from colonizer.

2. Violence is necessary. "Decolonization is always a violent phenomenon."

3. Q: Why is violence necessary?

a. To liberate and free the natives
b. Natural response to the violence in acted by the colonizer
c. To physically bring down the institutions/structures put in place by the colonizers
d. To build solidarity in the struggle for freedom

Fanon - Decolonized Values

David expressed in his presentation that the decolonized take on the values of the past colonizers. However, Fanon, in his chapter "On Violence," writes that because the supremacy of these white values were imposed on the colonized with such violence, the decolonized individuals responded to these "rock-solid values" with ridicule and rebelled against them. I'm just wondering how to reconcile this.

This latter point is also interesting, though, in that one will see when examining decolonized nations that they have kept intact the church, though this, too, is a belief system imposed on them by the colonizers.

Arendt Ch. 13 Questions

1.) According to Arendt, why is totalitarian regime not arbitrary and how does it operate under "guidance of law" if it sometimes defies the laws it has established (461)? What does Arendt mean by the laws of History/Nature?  How does she critique the execution of these laws (does totalitarian rule execute these laws justly) ? How does terror "liberate the forces of nature or history" (465)?
2.) How does totalitarian rule "pretend" to be just? What does Arendt mean when she states, "the criminal can be judged justly only because he takes part in the consensus iuris" (462)?
3.) What does the author want to express when she says that totalitarianism "claims to make mankind itself the embodiment of the law" (462)? How do laws become "laws of movement" (463)?
4.) Why does terror have to eliminate the concept of freedom? What does this achieve?

Ideology and Terror Discussion Questions

1. What is totalitarianism in comparison to the other forms of political oppression?
2. Is totalitarianism a legal form of political ruling, or is it an arbitrary power?
3. How is terror different from fear? Is there a difference?
4. If you abandon solitude, will there be no feelings of loneliness? 

Fear and Terror

When Hannah Arendt described totalitarianism, I was interested in the distinction between fear and terror. Fear seems to be described as a threatening emotion used to force people to obey to the law in a society and terror suggests fear beyond simply forcing people to obey the government. Terror is described as being constantly present, even when people don't need to be forced to do things anymore. Since terror is the essence of totalitarianism and in this system there are no guides for human behavior, would fear still be present in totalitarianism?

Discussion Questions

1. Would we naturally repress our own sexual desires without a civilizing force?

2. Why does civilization necessarily oppose sexual freedom?

3. On page 109, Freud cites a passage from Faust in a footnote, in which the description of evil coincides with his idea of destructive instinct. Faust is literature work rather than a patient's account. Do you think it can be treated as a source of knowledge about human nature?

4. Freud rejects the practice and institution of religion as delusional, but he frequently make references to Jewish history. Do you think it's contradictory?

Freud - Jordan S

I agree with Freud's point that aggressiveness came before private property - and so to say that with communism, everyone will be able to get along and share the wealth and work when work needs to be done -- doesn't make sense. People will still want to fight, and climb over one another, and love each other, and break up, and do all of the basic human emotions -- because those have existed since the beginning. Man in the state of nature still had aggression before he realized he could take something as his own.

However, I don't agree that all of us immediately want to fight with our neighbors and that we have an urge to kill them (Page 95). Perhaps we feel competitive with them, especially if they don't seem friendly. But I don't think we all automatically feel hostile towards others. It depends on the environment (work, home, school, etc.)

Cogito Food

Quote: "A life spent entirely in public, in the presence of others, becomes, as we would say, shallow. While it retains its visibility, it loses its quality of rising into sight from some darker ground which must remain hidden if it is not to lose its depth in a very real, non-subjective sense. "

                                                      -Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition

Wednesday, May 7th--BRING YOUR COMPUTERS

Please bring your computers to class on Wednesday.  We will need them to complete course evaluations.

Thank you.

Professors see this and imagine the worst.