[FRIAM] millenarianism

[Russ Abbott]

OK.

-- Russ Abbott
Professor, Computer Science
California State University, Los Angeles


On Fri, Jun 5, 2020 at 8:36 PM <thompnickson2 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Aw come on, Russ.  We all have itches.  Let him scratch.
>
>
>
> Nick
>
>
>
> Nicholas Thompson
>
> Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
>
> Clark University
>
> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com
>
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> *On Behalf Of *Russ Abbott
> *Sent:* Friday, June 5, 2020 7:31 PM
> *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <
> friam at redfish.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] millenarianism
>
>
>
> I completely agree. It is assertive, bombastic, and stated without nuance.
> More importantly, it's primarily name-calling with little useful substance.
>
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> On Fri, Jun 5, 2020 at 6:23 PM Prof David West <profwest at fastmail.fm>
> wrote:
>
> I was asked some questions just as I was leaving vFRIAM today. The
> following is a continuation of the thoughts that i started to articulate
> then. I can pretty much predict that no one will agree with my
> observations, but hope that vituperation will be kept to a minimum.
>
>
>
> My last year at St. Thomas, I team taught an honors course with a
> Professor of Catholic Theology. The topic was *"Millenarianism in1899 and
> 1999."* His contribution centered on religious movements, including some
> within Catholicism, and mine was ethnographic.
>
>
>
> The groups we studied and taught about were about 2/3 preparing for the
> End Times, the other third focused more on what you might call a
> socio-cultural phase change, a transformation of society.
>
>
>
> The role of an anthropologist is "to make the strange familiar and the
> familiar strange." A prime example of the latter is found in the various
> studies of the Nacerima.
>
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> *"The main belief of the Nacirema appears to be that the human body is
> ugly and that the only way to prevent it from growing weak and diseased is
> to practice powerful rituals devoted to this purpose. Every household has
> one or more shrines devoted to this goal. The more powerful people in the
> society have several ritual shrine rooms in their houses.  ... While almost
> every family has at least one shrine in the home, the ritual ceremonies
> associated with it are not family ceremonies but are private and secret.
> The rites are normally discussed only with children, and then only during
> the period when they are being initiated into these mysteries."*
>
>
>
> If I were to write an ethnography of FRIAM, one chapter would be devoted
> to Millenarianism, especially as practiced at the Mother Temple.
>
>
>
> A calendrical event precipitated the overt expression of millenarian
> behavior and thought. instead of the turn of a century (1899, 19990 or the
> end of a calendar (2012), it was the election of 2016.
>
>
>
> A Trump was sounded (pun intentional) in the heavens, opening the Doors of
> Hell and loosing the Dogs of Chaos. The end was clearly nigh. 'He' had his
> finger on the button of nuclear annihilation! 'He' is a Russian agent! 'He'
> is certifiably insane (narcissistic personality disorder at minimum)!  More
> concerning, the conviction that once installed 'He' would never leave.
> American was at the verge of a precipitous drop into Fascism.
>
>
>
> Basically, destruction was at hand The Learned Authorities confirmed every
> fear. The Forces of Good were marshalled, and salvationary doctrine was
> issued. The Good marched, multiple crusades were launched to retrieve the
> Holy Land from the Infidel(s).
>
>
>
> The system of beliefs, the reading of omens, the predictions and the
> prognostication of the Millenarians of 1899,199,and 2012 survived but a few
> days or months. That of 2016 persists to date, and will persist, I am
> pretty sure, for another four years.
>
>
>
> Millenarianism is a mind set, a perspective, that takes hold in a culture,
> or subculture, and predisposes the manner in which other events, other
> aspects of the world, are interpreted. It affects how, and by what process,
> people make decisions, individually and collectively.
>
>
>
> COVID, and the response thereto, is an example. From the point that people
> began taking it seriously, it was interpreted as yet another apocalyptic
> disaster to be laid at 'His' door. Correct courses of action are given
> credence in direct proportion to their opposition to what 'He' might have
> said or opined.
>
>
>
> Arcana, e.g. the Master Question List that Nick distributed and the
> "official pandemic models," are consulted. Convoluted combinations of
> interpretations of elements of that arcana, determine how questions like,
> "Is it safe to walk the streets of Wuhan on June 6, 2020? Simpler ways to
> answer that question are available but ignored. For example, some 10
> million people, over half the population, in Wuhan have been tested. Only
> 300, all of them asymptomatic, have tested positive. What are the odds of
> meeting one of those positives on my stroll to the 'wet market'?
>
>
>
> ------
>
>
>
> I know the preceding is assertive, bombastic, and stated without nuance.
> But, it is not wrong, in the sense that if I were to write a book, i could
> document and argue point by point to the same conclusions.
>
>
>
> davew
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