Comments on: Anti-Socialist Personality Disorder

By: e7th04sh

e7th04sh — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:10:23 +0000

It's like this brochure on Totalitarism that i was reading recently, preparing for my presentaion on Matura (polish exam for 19 yr old)… The guy shows different definitions of totalitarism, and i coulkd not agree on any – they all were pointing only similarities between CCCP and Nazi Germany… For a particular example, one party system.. So if there are 5 parties, and generally it's hard to make new one and get to parliament, then it's all freedom and happiness right? Not really sir! Anyways… The guys was elaborating on some aspects of totalitarism, and shown that they can happen in democratic countries, like "McCarthism"… I can't believe that so many years have passed, and poor McCarthy is still lamed for being withchunter… After it turned out only few people were innocent, and the rest werecommunist traitors… But that's one of the tools of leftists… The "science". You read a scientific brochure, and it cleearly tell you who is right, and all the rest is either stupid or evil… Yeah, give me a break.

By: william krebs

william krebs — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:07:34 +0000

Regarding your initial excerpt from Ms. Napier:

You could take Ms. Napier's premises and draw the conclusion that leftists are less happy because leftist ideology foments discouraging levels of envy in those holding this ideology.

Continuing, if right wing ideology is a palliative, left wing ideology is an autoimmune disorder. I actually kind of like this: left-wing politics as a form of social psoriasis.

Yes, I agree, such remarks are uncivil. But they aren't less civil than this entire conference, and I'm just some guy on the net.

By: Amy Sterling Casil

Amy Sterling Casil — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:18 +0000

LOL! Sometimes I am so grateful to lead a sheltered life – assuming that mentally-ill people actually had some type of disorder that they could not help, and believing that people could make choices of their own free will to behave the way they choose to behave. OF COURSE it's mental illness! My goodness, one must be deluded to be happy by living a decent, honest life minding one's own business and earning (OMG – MONEY) from doing (OMG – WORK). What idiots.

By: SmartDude

SmartDude — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 01:11:20 +0000

Absolutely despicable misuse of “diagnosis” by obvious political hacks.

These worthless frauds and demented escapees from the nursing home would be immediately hauled before professional clinical societies for disciplinary hearings, except for the fact that they are, well, apparantly not qualified to be current members of any professional clinical society.

By: Free-market personality disorder

Free-market personality disorder — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 13:05:32 +0000

[...] Might your skepticism about government programs amount to a form of mental illness? Some conferees at Harvard Law School are willing to help with making a diagnosis. [...]

By: BG

BG — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 01:26:45 +0000

I haven't read the book and don't have the time. Looks like everyone will be diagnosed with some sort of psychological disorder if he/she is involved in politics or economics I suppose every profession has its hacks. Anyway, I think the post is hoot and it is unfortunate that so many are taking such things seriously! There are plenty of better things on which to spend research money.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:53:07 +0000

What a hack, BG. Per Amazon:

Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr., M.D. received his medical and psychiatric training at the University of Chicago. He is board certified in both general and forensic psychiatry and has diagnosed and treated mental disorders for more than forty years.

Which means that Rossiter was probably 70 when the book was published. Based on my extensive training and education (I've deposed dozens of psychiatrists), I'll diagnose him as old, angry, and senile.

By: BG

BG — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:01:40 +0000

Found the antidote (or maybe tit for tat):
The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness
by Lyle H. Rossiter; Jr.; M.D. (Author)

By: Rich Rostrom

Rich Rostrom — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:33:59 +0000

I remember reading many years ago of a conference at Harvard which examined anti-Communism as a mental disorder. It was, IIRC, partly funded by a grant from Ben and Jerry (the ice cream guys).

By: BradK

BradK — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:29:16 +0000

"…That their junk science attempts to portray differences of opinion as mental defects is dangerous only to civility and political discourse, not to individuals…"

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one.

Sure, those of us rational thinking humans that exist in a world with real actions and real consequences can easily dismiss this pseudo-intellectual babble as the inane ramblings of a bunch of ivory tower elitists. Unfortunately, these are the same people whom we regularly expose to young and impressionable student minds that lack the wisdom and perspective to see this bullshit for what it truly is.

By: Ken

Ken — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:22:31 +0000

Sounds like they are finding a lot of very long-winded ways of saying "false consciousness."

By: Danimal

Danimal — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:19:16 +0000

My God, why did it take me so long to find this blog? Another excellent post.

By: PLW

PLW — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:05:09 +0000

Although he is technically a member of the Harvard Economics department, I'll note that Prof. Margolis has not actually published a paper in an economics journal in over 30 years.