Re: mindfulness and freedom

Lee Daniel Crocker (lcrocker@calweb.com)
Fri, 11 Jul 1997 01:55:34 -0700 (PDT)


> Let's be very careful here--Richter said nothing about discarding
> philsophy in general and focused entirely on ideology. Philosphy is a
> mental discipline that encourages questioning and rigorous
> examination; ideology discourages critical thinking and relies on
> emotions such as fear and insecurity, and as such it is used as a
> tool by those who would control others. Richter had first-hand
> experirence in his own life of how ideology is used to control and
> imprison other humans, and I greatly admire him for standing up
> against it.

Oh, please. That's not being careful, that's redifining what the man
said into meanings less controversial--evading the issue, not dealing
with it. Let's not pretend that the enemies of "ideology" don't mean
what they say; they do, and should be held accountable for their
beliefs. Those who use the term "ideologue" as derogatory--and there
are many--do not oppose only those ideologies imposed by fear or used
to control others. They hold equal disdain for reasoned ideologies
and ideologies opposed to control. I have been called an ideologue
in the dergoatory sense more than once for being a free-speech
absolutist, for example.