Francis Wheen's STRANGE DAYS INDEED

[xiphias]

Lis is reading Francis Wheen's history of the 1970s, which is subtitled "The Golden Age of Paranoia". It is a history of the 70s, mainly in the United States, but also in the UK (where Wheen is from), and around the world.

Lis just told me that she's just got to the part where Wheen makes the argument -- and backs it up -- that the reason Richard Nixon was ABLE to go to China was because Mao and Nixon were both psychotically paranoid -- and they thought of each other's fears as reasonable. Mao and Nixon had actual sympathy for each other, because nobody else actually BELIEVED that there were conspiracies out to topple and/or kill them, but they found kindred souls in each other, people who actually ACKNOWLEDGED the dangers that the other one lived under, and lived under similar ones themselves.

It sounds like an amusing and terrifying book.

One thing that keeps me from despair and apocalyptism is studying history. You think it's bad now? What about in the 1930s, when criminals ruled most of America's cities, and organized crime literally ran the justice system? Or the 50s, when there was a real clear danger of nuclear annihilation, and fascist elements in the United States ran witch-hunts against dissidents? Or the 1970s, when a real good chunk of the world's population was under the governance of people who were literally, clinically insane, and heavily armed?

When you study history, it puts today's problems in perspective.

Comments

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I like this post. I need more reminders that we're not living in the worst times the world has ever known. Sometimes it feels that way.

[msmidge.livejournal.com]

Fascinating. And good point.

Off topic:

[whuffle.livejournal.com]

One of my two gaming groups, the one that meets nearest you, is looking to possibly pick up a couple new players. Interested in coming by for an evening to watch, chit chat, and see if you think it'd be a good fit?

Re: Off topic:

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Love to: I'm in severe gaming withdrawal.

I also have a campaign I'd like to run, sometime. I'm under the impression that you've got your next three or four campaigns under control, though.

Re: Off topic:

[whuffle.livejournal.com]

Next time that group is due to meet is on Thursday the 26th, next week. Want to come kibitz over that session? We usually show up at the house around the corner from you at something like 7:30-8pm. If you want to join us, I can let everyone else know that we're expecting a visitor for this session.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I keep encountering people who have trouble with the history of, say, three years ago. (Blaming Obama for things Bush did, for ex.)

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

Could be worse... when I first heard the title my mind immediately thought of Paranoia the RPG rather than where the book was going :-)

I'm not sure that we aren't just in a 'pause' period between terrifying cycles.... there are too many of the forces of unreasonableness of a violent nature trying to stir things up in the background for their own fear, paranoia and profit.

The drum beats of the Tea Party folk is starting to sound more racist, more proto-fascist and more prone to violence as time goes on.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I'm certain that there will be other terrifying periods in history. And, sure, there's a possibility that we're on our way into another one of them. But I'm also certain that we'll get through it somehow. Not without damage, because damage always happens. But getting through nonetheless.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Back when that was actually transpiring, I was able to keep from turning into a gibbering wreck by holding onto the thought that Zhou Enlai would keep Mao from doing anything too crazy, while Henry Kissenger would perform the same vital function for the US. Because, yeah, both Tricky Dickey and Mao were batshit crazy.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Yes, Kissenger was saner than Nixon. But "saner than Nixon" isn't a very high bar, and I'm not convinced that, by an absolute standard, Kissenger was sane.

[fibro-witch.livejournal.com]

I agree that both men were in their own way crazy. But in think in order to be clinically insane they would need to have a doctor diagnosis them as clinically insane. And I don't think either man was ever treated for their special brand of crazy.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

This gives me an opportunity to repeat one of my favorite maxims: The good old days weren't.

Here's to the future, and a hope that we'll do better then than now!

[jehanna.livejournal.com]

I think this is how my father actually manages to remain calm in the face of current events. Apart from actually having lived through a good chunk of recent history by now, he always studied history both recent and less-so. We talked a fair bit once about how the economic situation compared to the last big stinky recession he had lived through as a kid.