Re: [Marxism] interesting but long article on R. D. Laing

[Gary MacLennan <gary.maclennan1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Barry,
I have found over the years that it is pointless and near fatal to broach
the question of sanity, madness, medication etc on the Internet.  The truth
is that libertarians and Nietzscheans are everywhere even on a Marxism
list.

At the first opportunity out they come foaming etc and it all becomes too
painful for words.  But I do admit that debunking Laing is a temptation -
possibly one too far.;  It is just that my experience is that faced with a
psychosis that the anti-psychiatry stuff is not worth a bucket of spit.

There I have said it but will add no more on the topic.

comradely regards

Gary

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 8:31 PM, Barry Brooks <durable@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Gary MacLennan wrote:
>
> > Vietnam War raging, many could
> (can still)
>  >sympathize with Laing's belief that
> > bourgeois society itself was
> (is)
>  >insane.
>
> > Nowadays few people outside the literature departments of some colleges
> > take R.D. Laing seriously.
>
> An element of truth is not to be overlooked. One needs
> to take bits of truth however immersed they may be in the sea
> of bs that passes for the vulgar reality or pop culture or in the
> minds of the deranged.
>
> On the same shelf we may have had Eric Fromm.
> The wrote "The Sane Society." (Escape from Freedom...)
> That book explores the definition of "sane." Sane may be confused
> with "normal." Normal is easier to fake.
>
> Does anyone up there take Fromm seriously? Lits have the most
> condescending (insane) cocktail parties.
>
> Barry
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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