Art and Wit are Subversive of Civilization; in a ‘Playful Way’

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coberst
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Art and Wit are Subversive of Civilization; in a ‘Playful Way’

Post by coberst »

Art and Wit are Subversive of Civilization; in a ‘Playful Way’

The repressions of modern life have lost for us the “primary pleasures of which the censorship disapproves”. Art and wit liberates repressed instinct; both rid us of our inhibitions and open the unconscious for inspection and pleasure. Art and wit are avenues for play.

Art and wit battle against repressive reason and the reality-principle in an effort to regain lost liberties. A special pleasure in wit is derived from an “economy in the expenditure of inhibitions or suppressions”.

Modern life causes us to constantly expend psychic energy in order to repress fundamental desires; in overcoming these repressions and activating the playful primary process both art and wit allow us to divert that energy toward other ends.

Group psychology inclines us to develop subversive groups, which become authoritarian ideologies, whereas art and wit incline us to form subversive groups which can communicate to third parties and therefore not become authoritarian but inclusive and democratic. “In contrast with the repressive structure of the authoritarian group, the aim of the partnership between artist and an audience is instinctual liberation.”

One result of our successful technology is human longevity. We continue to extend life and often prolong a period of slow and expensive dying. I am 76 and therefore consider myself to be allowed to speak about such things as cessation of this madness of an ever expanding old age. It is time to seriously discuss the fact that we cannot continue with the foolish process that results in an ever expanding population that includes an ever expanding percentage of old folks dying slower and slower.

Quotes from Life against Death: The Psychoanalytic Meaning of History by Norman O. Brown
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TruthBringer
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Art and Wit are Subversive of Civilization; in a ‘Playful Way’

Post by TruthBringer »

coberst;1307766 wrote:

One result of our successful technology is human longevity. We continue to extend life and often prolong a period of slow and expensive dying. I am 76 and therefore consider myself to be allowed to speak about such things as cessation of this madness of an ever expanding old age. It is time to seriously discuss the fact that we cannot continue with the foolish process that results in an ever expanding population that includes an ever expanding percentage of old folks dying slower and slower.




You are assuming we will completely run out of space and resources for those people, which means that you must also be assuming that we will never colonize on other planets. You attribute Human longevity to technology, but you appear to place no faith that technology will bring us to the point where we can move from out of our current sphere of existence to the point where overpopulation becomes impossible.

It could be 500 years before this becomes a reality, but I guarantee you that the Earth has it's own mechanisms in the meantime for dealing with the problem of overpopulation. Man need not interfere with the balance of nature. To do so could result in disturbing that balance, which would lead to the creation of new problems which could be far worse than the problem of overpopulation.
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coberst
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Art and Wit are Subversive of Civilization; in a ‘Playful Way’

Post by coberst »

TruthBringer;1307768 wrote: Man need not interfere with the balance of nature. To do so could result in disturbing that balance, which would lead to the creation of new problems which could be far worse than the problem of overpopulation.


We are meaning creating creatures. Humans differ from other animals primarily because we can create abstract concepts. With these abstract ideas we have developed many ways to master and often to destroy the work of Mother Nature.
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