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November 19, 2008
A Useful Concept
Yesterday, quite by accident, I happened to hear a reference to “Crony Capitaism” on NPR during a discussion of (what else) the financial "crisis” pundits use in preference to the more realistic, but more frightening: “depression.”When googled, “crony capitalism” generated a modest number of hits, including a Wikipedia entry that doesn’t seem to have yet been tampered with yet by right wing watchdogs. A spot-on New York Times item from the days leading up to our tragic misadventure in Iraq led me to the realization that plain old “cronyism” may be the best generic term for describing the behavior that has plagued our species since we became smart and verbal enough to rely on our superior brain power as our preferred survival tool.
I’m now more convinced than ever that the rich connections between our amygdalas (amygdalae?) and cortical cognitive centers have been a mixed blessing; while they have allowed us to create art by intellectualizing our emotions, they have also lured us into conflicting religious beliefs we defend to the death by such devious means that we’ve been fighting wars throughout our recorded history, and probably long before ever learning to write.
Doctor Tom
Posted by tjeffo at November 19, 2008 04:09 PM