Re: [OPE-L] President Bush and the fear of the vacuum

[Jerry Levy <Gerald_A_Levy@xxxxxxx>]

Jurriaan:

I think the "fear of the vacuum" has been used by states to
rationalize state policy so long as there have been states.

The message that is meant to be conveyed is the belief that
with the state you have stability (including "law and order")
but  without the state there is the unknown.  It is the fear of
 the unknown - what and who would fill the vacuum -- that is
the source in part for the fear of the vacuum.  Note how when some
have challenged the states's right to exist the same fear of the
unknown is used to rally public resentment  against "anarchists" and
other "trouble makers" who would bring about the unknown "chaos".
In other words, the myth is that without state stability (and all of the
repression that this implies)  you will have the march into the vacuum of
Lions,  Tigers, Bears,  The Devil, Anarchists (and Communists and other
"fanatics")  =>  Chaos.

In solidarity, Jerry