MMW 6 - Passage Identifications

1) “Modern man is alienated from himself, from his fellow man and from nature. He has been transformed

into a commodity, experiences his life forces as an investment which must bring him the maximum profit

obtainable under existing marketing conditions. Human relations are essentially those of alienated

automatons, each basing his security on staying close to the herd, and not being different in thought,

feeling or action. While everybody tries to be as close as possible to the rest, everybody remains utterly

alone, pervaded by the deep sense of insecurity, anxiety and guilt which always results when human

separateness cannot be overcome.” (Erich Fromm “Love and Its Disintegration”)

Eric Fromm, the author of this passage, was trained as a Freudian psychoanalyst but distinguished by his

influence of the Frankfurt School, a post-Marxist capitalist point of view. In this particular passage, Fromm talked

about two things that relate to his perspective about the relationship of satisfaction and happiness of humans.

Fromm’s perspective was not as simplistic or one-dimensional as compared to Freud’s “simple craving for

gratification”. He deemed Freud’s explanation for everything as the result of the unsatisfied libido of the sex drive as

naïve because Fromm believed that some individuals who are completely satisfied could still be unhappy.

In this passage, when Fromm brings up how “modern man is alienated from himself” and “transformed into

a commodity”, this relates to Fromm’s idea of the personality package where people put together their most

appealing and attractive face to present to society. This removes the true nature of the human being from the world

and only shows the superficial side that they want to present. As a result, modern man is alienated from himself and

from others because he is living under a mask. The next part about “an investment which must bring him the

maximum profit obtainable” relates back to Fromm’s perspective about how people who might be satisfied can still

be unhappy. People are satisfied but unhappy want to overcome that unhappiness so they modify themselves into the

perfect personality package that would maximize the profit (i.e. happiness) obtainable.

The second thing Fromm brings up is about how “human relations are essentially those of alienated

automatons, each basing his security on staying close to the herd”. This relates to the concept of the power-team

marriage where it consists of a couple who are compatible professionally, socially, economically, and politically. To

Fromm, this type of marriage is a marriage of convenience, farthest away from intimacy.

2) “Once multilateral aid begins, the neo-colonialist masters are faced by the hostility of the vested interests

of their own country. Their manufacturers naturally object to any attempt to raise the price of the raw

materials, which they obtain from the neo-colonialist territory in question, or to the establishment there

of manufacturing industries, which might compete directly or indirectly with their own exports to the

territory. Even education is suspect as likely to produce a student movement and it is, of course, true that

in many less-developed countries the students have been in the vanguard of the fight against neo-

colonialism.” (Kwame Nkrumah “Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism”)

Kwame Nkrumah was the Prime Minister and the first president of independent Ghana. He studied abroad

so his education to become a leader was influenced by the west. This passage was written in the 1950s, where

Kwame Nkrumah characterized neo-colonialism as the last stage of imperialism that most colonial claims were

facing. In theory, neo-colonialism was another way for the mother countries to take rein of power in their colonies.

Many colonies had obtained their “independence” and took on tactics of sovereignty like having their own flag, own

constitution, etc. However, these colonies were also incredibly dependent to the mother country when it comes to

economic, military, and political matters. Hence, there was no single colony that was dictating matters for

themselves. Instead, there was another “person” at play.

With neo-colonialism, it is hard to point fingers at who was really the one in charge. This was because the

mother country had left the country physically, but held the reins of transparent and secret control. This control is

through the “multilateral aid”, mainly developmental and military aid, where the mother country would provide

monetary aid to the colony. Henceforth, the colony must obey the mother country since the colonies are receiving

money from them.

3) “Thus, for instance, the instinct of self-preservation is certainly of an erotic kind, but it must

nevertheless have aggressiveness at its disposal if it is to fulfill its purpose. So, too, the instinct of love,

when it is directed towards an object, stands in need of some contribution from the instinct of mastery if

it is in any way to possess that object. The difficulty of isolating the two classes of instinct in their actual

manifestation is indeed what has so long prevented us from recognizing them.” (Sigmund Freud “Why

War?”)

According to Freud, there were only two kinds of human instincts: those which seek to preserve and unite,

named as erotic, and those which seek to destroy and kill, named as aggressive or destructive instinct. The erotic

instinct is patriotism, which is the love of country, and this love is so intense that you are willing to kill to preserve

or expand your country. Love and hate are intermingled and neither can be eradicated while one exists, meaning that

as long as the love impulse is there, there would always be hate impulses.

In this passage, Freud brings up that “the instinct of self-preservation is certainly of an erotic kind”, hence

the love impulse exists in human beings. Therefore, in order for the love impulse to “fulfill its purpose”, then there

must be “aggressiveness at its disposal”, the hate impulse. Freud utilized this explanation for one of the many causes

of World War I. It was because of the society’s inability to distinguish between their patriotism and the extent and

effects o their patriotism that led to the disastrous and deadly World War I.

4) “Secondly, a revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing

embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and

magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.”

(Mao Zedong “Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan, March 1927”)

Mao Zedong was a Huanese peasant who became one of the founding members of the Chinese Communist

Party in 1921. He believed that the peasants should create the revolution by attacking the local tyrants, the evil

gentry, and the lawless landlords. Mao Zedong defined revolution as one class overthrows the other where

aggressiveness is mandatory. Mao Zedong saw that the only true aspect of human nature is human nature that is tied

to one’s own social class. At the end of the day, every human being’s loyalty to his or her social class determines

everything.

This passage embodies Mao Zedong’s definition of a revolution as “not a dinner party, or writing an essay,

or painting a picture, or doing embroidery”. A revolution required violence and aggressiveness as it needed one class

to overthrow the other, namely the peasants to take uprising and overthrow the upper classes. Hence the pivotal role

in the revolution would require and be played by the peasants as seen in China’s history.

Mao Zedong’s definition of revolution contradicts what he determined to be aspects of the western

liberalism. For example, Mao Zedong saw liberalism as a hypocritical and weak ideology as it was always making

compromises. He also deemed liberalism as preaching for apthetic conformity rather than inspiring passion. Hence,

Mao Zedong’s communism’s “a revolution is an insurrection” stirred up the passion of the peasant class, resulting in

what Mao Zedong would deem as a revolution, where one class would overthrow the other.

5) “The moral and political consciousness of the Indian elite does not permit, for example, a major famine

in India, and when a serious famine threatens, public intervention is swift and effective. Even reports on

pockets of acute starvation by probing journalists—and there are many excellent ones in India—get

prominent attention in newspapers and produce some response. On the other hand, removing the quiet

presence of non-acute, endemic hunger does not have high priority in that elitist morality and politics.”

(Amartya Sen “How Is India Doing?”)

In India, there were many social contradictions. Amrtya Sen, a Nobel Prize winner, spoke of one

contradiction in his essay “How is India Doing?”. In 1982, about 1/3 of India’s population dealt with persistent

malnutrition and hunger. There was a lingering malnutrition and hunger in the large underclass, where the

government or the elite took no notice of. However, if there was a famine, there was swift and effective action. This,

according to Amrtya Sen, was a result of the hypocrisy that society was willing to tolerate.

The hypocrisy regards malnutrition and famine. These two types of hunger differ because one is not being

able to afford the food, and the other is forced starvation. In this passage, Amrtya Sen wrote that “the moral and

political consciousness of the Indian elite does not permit… a major famine in India”. It is clear that the two types of

hunger have very different implications in society. When it comes to a famine, it is so drastic and dramatic that the

government has to do something about it hence “public intervention is swift and effective”. On the other hand, with

malnutrition, it can almost fall under the radar and the government would allow the problem to persist mainly

because “the quiet presence of non-acute, endemic hunger does not have high priority in that elitist morality and

politics”. This exemplifies how inequalities fall under the radar because of the mere fact that they are not dramatic

enough. Hence, this was a problem of “headline conscience” in the age of mass media.

Liberalism proposed for the freedom of press. However, this freedom of press sought for dramatic and

drastic news that was important and had an appeal to people’s want to help. Therefore, a famine would be on the

front page news more so than malnutrition issues.

6) “We have had enough of the intelligent movements that have stretched beyond measure our credulity of

the benefits of science. What we want now is spontaneity. Not because it is better or more beautiful than

anything else. But because everything that issues freely from ourselves, without the intervention of

speculative ideas, represents us. We must intensify this quality of life that readily spends itself in every

quarter. Art is not the most precious manifestation of life. Art has not the celestial and universal value

that people like to attribute it. Life is more interesting.” (Tristan Tsara “Dadaism”)

Dada of Dadaism means “apolitical development” that is aimed towards complete spontaneity and freedom

from everything. In Dadaism, ideals and knowledge do not matter because the destruction of these things is what

leads to a greater sense of freedom. Rationality is relative therefore Dadaists were against systems, structures, and

organizations.

In this passage, Tristan Tsara deemed the need for spontaneity as the utmost importance because

“everything that is issued freely from ourselves, without the intervention of speculative ideas, represents us”. The

intervention of speculative ideas refer to the rationality because to Dadaists, the rationality controlled society. In

order to be unique, to the Dadaists, it is okay to be irrational. In fact, it was best to be irrational because you want to

be unique. Dadaists also wanted to have this sprit of non-attachment

Tsara also mentioned about how “art is not the most precious manifestation of life…not thecelestial and

universal value that people like to attribute it”. Dadaists wanted to celebrate a new sense of freedom in art. They

believed that there are already so many things in daily life that can be labeled as art that the seriousness of artists in

claiming that they “created” this or that piece of artwork to be dumb. For example, Duchamp’s LHOOQ was a spoof

of the Mona Lisa where Duchamp, a cubist who embraced Dadaism, added a mustache and goatee.

Dadaism was a response to the atrocious World War I. The Dadaists believed that the war was a result of

the structure of reason. Hence the call for spontaneity was a way to prevent something like World War I from

occurring again.

7) “And yet if they resorted to incivility it would spoil their Satyagraha, like a drop of arsenic in milk. I

realized later that they had less fully learnt the lesson of civility than I had expected. Experience has

taught me that civility is the most difficult part of Satyagraha. Civility does not here mean the mere

outward gentleness of speech cultivated for the occasion, but an inborn gentleness and desire to do the

opponent good. These should show themselves in every act of the Satyagrahi.” (Mohandas Gandhi “An

Autobiography”)

a. Satyagraha -> true force of truth, integrity, someone who holds firmly to the truth -> civility without

fear, exhibit “inborn gentleness and willingness of personal sacrifice”

8) “The settlement of every question, whether of territory, of sovereignty, of economic arrangement, or of

political relationship upon the basis of the free acceptance of that settlement by the people immediately

concerned, and not upon the basis of the material interest or advantage of any other nation or people

which may desire a different settlement for the sake of its own exterior influence or mastery.” (Woodrow

Wilson “Fourteen Points” and “Four Points”)