Comments on: Run. Hide. Believe. Be Afraid.

By: Celebrating Independence By Beating Up Gays | SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

Celebrating Independence By Beating Up Gays | SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:07:03 +0000

[…] boneheads trying to intimidate a round-table event on intolerance or a (called but cancelled) fascist rally in downtown Ljubljana, modus operandi which is usually associated with shitheads who thing that Der […]

By: Global Voices po polsku » Europa Centralna i Wschodnia: Swinska grypa („Kalifornia 0409”)

Sat, 09 May 2009 21:45:42 +0000

[…] strachu przed świńska grypą oraz ksenofobii Sleeping With Pengovsky pisze tak: […] Niemniej jednak, obecny wzrost faszyzmu jest połączony z występowaniem innego zjawiska- […]

By: Central & Eastern Europe: Swine Flu (aka “California 0409”) :: Elites TV

Central & Eastern Europe: Swine Flu (aka “California 0409”) :: Elites TV — Sat, 09 May 2009 06:14:20 +0000

[…] With Pengovsky writes this about the fear of swine flu - and xenophobia: […] However, the rise of Fascism today is […]

By: Official Russia | Central & Eastern Europe: Swine Flu (aka “California 0409”)

Fri, 08 May 2009 19:08:54 +0000

[…] With Pengovsky writes this about the fear of swine flu - and xenophobia: […] However, the rise of Fascism today is […]

By: Global Voices Online » Central & Eastern Europe: Swine Flu (aka “California 0409”)

Fri, 08 May 2009 15:49:38 +0000

[…] With Pengovsky writes this about the fear of swine flu - and xenophobia: […] However, the rise of Fascism today is […]

By: pele

pele — Sat, 02 May 2009 10:19:38 +0000

What a splendid… Pengovsky for president!

By: alcessa

alcessa — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:49:39 +0000

Actually, things are not always the same… There is one important parameter that has changed significantly in the course of our history and it is quite important, IMHO: every second, we know much more about our world, ourselves and the possible worlds outside. We thus also know more about mass psychology, historical developments, ways of reporting them (!) … You name it. So it is correct to expect that things can be turned into something more or less positive and beneficial. It is our right to expect our politicians to be better than, say, during the socialist or nazi dictatorship. We should expect government offices to have learnt enough lessons to serve us better, guide us better, help and push us better than ever before. Especially in Slovenia.
We have every right to expect from our neighbours to learn to behave better and to judge more objectively - morals, ethics, judgement… these things we are not born with, we learn them, I guess for most of our lives. It is OK to expect a certain level of them from other people and from ourselves.

To sum it up: I think we should always expect development. And get it.

By: dr. filomena

dr. filomena — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:41:27 +0000

He and his pal Engels did draft a formidable analysis of history and predict the cycles in the future, but though they failed to offer any constructive suggestions how to resolve the amplification effect of each crisis coming after the previous one.

What people seem to forget is that after each crisis, humanity as a whole arguably did better than before. WWII brought about a nearly universal appreciation of human rights, which - along with particular understanding of the need to protect prisoners of war after WWI - kept growing gradually.

So many things, both material and immaterial are taken for granted today that would have been unthinkable a hundred years ago. And yes, still many issues remain unresolved. Given that people continuously feel they’re entitled to ’something more’ (life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?), I have no doubt that although in cycles, things will continue to… improve.

By: pengovsky

pengovsky — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:19:29 +0000

That’s the problem. There is nothing new. Which is what makes the whole situation so terrifyingly predictable.

Of course there will be peaks. It is the depth of the fall preceding the peak that worries me. Didn’t Marx have something to say about every crisis being much more severe than the previous one?

By: dr. filomena

dr. filomena — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:28:16 +0000

“But rather than answering those questions, short cuts are being taken. Ways to eschew difficult questions. Decoys. Manoeuvres which give those in charge time to breathe. But it is a vicious cycle. Pauses between challenges are ever more rare and ever shorter. And soon a society will find itself plunging from crisis to crisis.”

So what else is new? This is the way human society has been functioning since its recorded beginnings. How is the current situation different from other similar spots in the cycles of human history?

From crisis to crisis can also be seen as from one peak to another.