Re: Civilization and its Discontents.
All this talk about the need to harness "male energy" and "male drives" made me think of Freud's essay on "Civilization and its Discontents." Has anyone else read it?
Freudianism is in disfavor these days, and for very good reasons, in my opinion. But the Prophet sure could write, and some of the things he had to say are still worth listening to.
Anyway, Freud pretty much equates "civilization" and "culture." The job of the "cultural super-ego" is to channel & harness not just the sexual drive (Eros)of human beings (men AND women), but their aggressive, destructive drives (Thanatos) as well. The problem, as Freud saw it, was that the "cultural super-ego" demands too much of the average human being, and so it creates the subjective feeling of guilt, followed by "neurosis," which in turn creates resentment against the repressive nature of the "cultural super-ego." What you get from Freud is the image of a civilization precariously sitting atop a rage-filled volcano, ready at any minute to erupt.
Considering that Freud wrote that essay in 1929, one could say he was not wrong about the volcano.
Joan |
