Authoritarian? Anyone?

You've seen dependent personality disorders, narcissistic personality disorders, borderline personality disorders. You think these people have made your life hard!

Wait until you encounter authoritarian personality disorder whose first demand is unquestioning obedience and trust in his declarations/delusions "Mission Accomplished" "Rich people need money too" and "I'm for Democracy." "I've never made any mistakes." "Stay the course." "Eat your dinner."

Deaf to criticism, blind to reality, authoritarian personality disorder believes in the use of force and the force of repetition to get his point through our thick numbskulls. He believes, truly that he is infallible. See especially transcript of W.'s April 13, 2004 press conference.

But W. is not alone: his techniques work because well, we've been prepared for the authoritarian personality disorder. Many people suffering from authoritarian personality disorder are highly successful and live to obscure the truth of their worthiness.I think intelligent people on the right identify with Karl Rove Bush's Brain As servant to the body of authoritarianism, you can really get AHEAD.

Danger! Charisma at Work!

Why do we fall so hard for the charismatic personality? Because he or she appears to offer us a way out of the daily grind. As Max Weber has written, "In contrast to any kind of bureaucratic organization of offices, the charismatic structure knows nothing of a form or of an ordered procedure of appointment or dismissal. It knows no regulated 'career,' 'advancement,' 'salary.' It knows no agency of control or appeal, no local bailiwicks or exclusive functional jurisdictions; nor does it embrace permanent institutions like our bureaucratic 'departments,' which are independent of persons and of purely personal charisma." While charisma may lie beyond the realm of criticism, its charms are deadly, and only appeal to those made so desperate by the depersonalization of the administered life that a regression towards semi-feudal relations of fealty for a big "personality" seems the only appealing alternative to the "peer review."

But now, the "free" market wants to corner the monopoly on charisma -- Free marketeers promote the idea that ONLY the market is dynamic and innovative, only the market can "act" in a sovereign manner. The market is actually imagined as the sole force that can disregard economic rationalization in order to project a more exciting relationship with money - the most important thing about the ethics of generalized entrepreneurialism is that in this fantasy, money is transformed from the dull and predictable creativity-killing weekly paycheck into BOOTY! Pirate's booty!

Everybody an expert! Revolt against Modernity!

It seems to be a good thing that we are advised by many New Agers to privilege intuition over science: if science is to be mistrusted, getting in touch with our instinctual, experiential life is crucial if we are to find wisdom from within. This is known as "self-empowerment." Intuition is considered the gift of the generations - handed down to us through this mysterious force called tradition.
Tradition is idealized as some purveyor of hidden wisdom to be opposed to the ham-fisted exploitative principles of "Western Science," or a suspect knowledge, guarded by "experts." Everybody can be an expert (of oneself), if only one can listen to the voices within!
But it is only when the cycle of inter-generational transmission is effectively broken that advice industry enters upon the scene, brimming over with admonitions about how to balance a checkbook, cook a roast, how to breastfeed one's children, how to succeed in business. The advice industry banks on one thing - the obsolescence of our parents' experiences. When the advice industry advises us to connect with tradition, to simplify our lives, to reorganize our closets, it is showing us how completely alienated we are from "tradition" itself. It is telling us that we are helpless before modernity, against which it advises us to rebel.