[FRIAM] millenarianism

[thompnickson2 at gmail.com]

.or the 900 other people that they have infected in the meantime. 

 

n

 

Nicholas Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology

Clark University

ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> 

https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

 

 

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Friday, June 5, 2020 7:23 PM
To: friam at redfish.com
Subject: [FRIAM] millenarianism

 

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.

 

"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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