is this list still alive?

[Liechty, Daniel]

Hello People of the GDA List! I have had a few inquiries in the last few days as to whether this list were still alive and well. The answer is, of course, that it is still ‘living’ but certainly not very alive! Should we keep it that way, or let it die a natural death? Of course, the only way to keep it actively alive is for people to post on it. I would have thought that in this age of DJT, the list would be so lively it would be hard to control! But perhaps we are all just too worn out by the end of the day?

 

There are couple of alternatives. The discussion list associated with the EBF facebook page gets regular postings (or actually reposting.)

 

Another thing that might be interesting to some on this list is a regular column I have been doing for the website ProgressiveChristianity.org  I have been posting something I have tentatively called Theses in Support of a Theory of Generative Death Anxiety, based especially on Ernest Becker, but also material from Terror Management Theory, Robert Lifton, Rollo May, David Loy, Jerry Piven, Kirby Farrell and many other who would be familiar to people on this list. The idea is to put things out there in short, digestible form, and solicit reaction and discussion in the response section. So far it hasn’t reached enough ‘hits’ to be very far up in the search engines. But if you know where to look for it, well, there it is! I think I am up to about thesis #5 or 6 at this point. If you are at all interested, take a look and see what you think.

 

https://progressivechristianity.org/author/daniel-liechty/

 

Or, post something to this list and resurrect it from the near-dead!!

 

Dan Liechty (list moderator, not doing much moderating of late…)

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel Liechty, PhD., DMin., ACSW, LCSW

Professor of Social Work

The School of Social Work 4650

Illinois State University

Normal IL 61790-4650

(309) 438-7615

dli...@ilstu.edu

 

"Any system of social ethics that fosters

destruction of the very environment on

which society depends for its continued

existence is morally bankrupt."

 

[John Wilson]

Dan,

I would appreciate anything you would post to this list and the conversation that it generates Please do.

I can respond briefly to your thinking that what's happening in the country, to the country might have stimulated some action on this list. 

As I have witnessed the political spectacle, I would describe my response as stunned and incredulous and quite unable to clearly identify my feelings until just recently. My thoughts are clear. Feelings have not been. I 

[John Wilson]

Whoops.. writing on this phone is terribly awkward.

The core response I have to what is happening is grief.  It is definitely associated with loss as significant as a death.  As Trump continues to use the country for his own immortality project, what has been my idealism, nearly unquestionably correct idealism, that defends my own denial, slips away toward an unrevivable end. It has become what in the ER would be a "No Code." It's terrifying.  It's not a new situation. Ideals have been challenged and lost before. (Yeats, ...what...slouches...) But, what new view can arise that will not be immediately at war with an opposition? 

johnkw

[Steve James]

John,

I share your concerns.  I think we need to find common ground with the Trump supporters.  Part of that will mean recognizing what we hold as "nearly unquestionably correct idealism" to be tribal values that are not held by the other tribe.  I think we must examine terms like "politically correct" as insulting to well-intentioned people who disagree.  I'm not saying you used that term, but "correct" is a loaded word in this environment.  The real problem is that the country has torn itself in half and the gulf is widening.  Trump is a symptom, not the cause.

At the same time everyone must stand up when we are threatened by the erosion of our common American values.  3,000 lies by the Trump administration in their first 15 months is beyond anything America can consider rational.  It poses a real threat to our society.  I say the administration because it includes the president, his spokespeople, Republican leaders, and their apologists.  We must arm ourselves with facts, and call bullshit when we hear outrageous lies.

The focus should be on the policies, not the tweets.  Trump tweets are mostly a distraction, both if they are lies or if they are delusional brain farts.  What is at stake is a radical shift to ultraconservative policies by Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White House that needs to be the subject of discussion, not Trump's tweets, Trump's hair, and Trump's boorish behavior.  Leave all that to the comedians.

From a Becker-informed perspective, I agree that some of what is going on is Trump's immortality project, but that is no different from anyone else's, except in this case we are dealing with someone with personality issues.  The other Beckerian issue is control, which is linked to immortality.  In this case, we have little control and feel powerless.  But we are not completely powerless, merely struggling with belonging to the tribe that has lost control.  This is what the other tribe has been feeling for many years.  What goes around comes around, as the saying goes.  It has gone around and our tribe is on the losing end.  I don't share your grief, but I do share your sense of urgency.  It's time to focus on the threat to our society that tribalism poses.

Steve

[Rob Gierka]

I also agree that grief is what the planet is experiencing. I feel the solution starts with acknowledgement, so I acknowledge your grief, John. I also want to acknowledge the grief everyone, or most everyone I imagine, is experiencing on this email list. It's grief for the children separated from their parents and for the parents. It's grief for the citizens in more countries than I can count who are suffering from being bombed, imprisoned and shot, very often by weapons made in the good ol' U.S. of A. I grieve that my countries' resources are put to such heinous purposes while I feel powerless to stop it. I grieve that my elected officials are impotent or callous. I grieve that animals are incarcerated and flayed for food that's not just bad for us, but is the primary cause of most if not all chronic illness in Western societies: diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, coronary disease, among others.

I think the answer is not simple...these are mainly cultural problems. Culture, as Becker reminds us is the symbolic heroics that balms us and blinds us. We drive our cars when we should walk or ride a bike, use air conditioning when a fan would suffice, buy more clothes when we can't find a thing to wear in a stuffed closet. We're a mess, y'all!

My response is to, like some of you no doubt, use solar panels on my home, get rain barrels, ride a bike to work, have zero children, wear fewer clothes, become vegan and generally eliminate excess consumption.

• Thomas Malthus was right, so is Dr. Albert Bartlett. We're an increasing population on a finite resource (Earth).
• Richard Heinberg is right. We'll see wars and rumors of wars and not know that resource depletion is the main cause.
• The scientists are right. Global warming is turning the Earth in to a hostile environment and uninhabitable for humans.
• The religions are right. Love, not fear, is the answer.

Bottom line: the problems today are a matter of the heart not of the mind. If each one of us, or enough of us, change our hearts and act on that change, we have a chance. It's not the policy makers, politicians, billionaires, or pundits that matter. It's you. I hear your pain and I care about you. We need less fear and more love.

Peace and love!

Rob
~~~~~
Robert E. Gierka, EdD, Pet Chaplain®
(919) 213-0707