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OML Archives-
Subject: Re: Accountability - Mon, 11 Mar 1996 03:32:00 -0500
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 1996 03:32:00 -0500
From: "Jim Martin" <flatland@mail.mcn.org>
Message-Id: <199603110822.AAA08687@mail.mcn.org>
To: orgonomy@jefferson.village.Virginia.EDU
Subject: Re: Accountability
Sender: owner-orgonomy@jefferson.village.Virginia.EDU
Jogg,
Apologies for misspelling your name. You dislike my tone, and I dislike yours.
Let's call it even. However, I have tried to substantive, specific issues.
By saying "you do not know what you are talking about," I did not intend to make
a universal statement about you. I was referring specifically to your suggestion
of "alternative" ways to study the long-range effects of the cloudbuster. I am
sorry if you took it any other way, but the fact remains, that in this instance,
you did not know what you were talking about. We both know it. Of course, you
could elaborate on this, explain how your "alternatives" might work and show me
my error. I doubt you will. Again, the obligation is yours. This comment of
yours was part and parcel of your critique of DeMeo's work. You made the
criticism, I have objected. I'm ready and willing to hear your response.
Regarding my use of the term "idiot", please notice that this was not connected
to any individual person. I've said that one's own subjective impressions the
best place to start investigations. I do not discount anyone's subjective
impressions, but neither do I accept them as fact. All I said was that
acceptance of orgone based solely upon subjective impressions leads to cultism.
The mystics believe that all truth comes from subjective impressions mediated by
authority figures. Since I do not claim to have a "clean tool" as Reich put it,
meaning my perceptive apparatus may be faulty, I need independent verification
of these subjective impressions. I see what Reich described as "orgone energy
units". Could it be merely a speck of dirt in my eye? Not hardly, but this is
why Reich devised the orgonoscope, to eliminate the possibility of "something
going on in the eyes" and magnify the observed phenomena. Since subjective
impressions cannot be magnified through a lense, this is one way to objectively
verify orgone energy. I've never made one; has anyone else?
So it's good to know you've done some informal experiments. I wasn't asking you
for final proof. I wouldn't offer my studies up for the annals of science
either. I was just trying to guage if experimentation, or empirical evidence,
means anything to people on the OML. Having several friends try out the
accumulator is more than one person's subjective impression, it's independent
verification of several subjective impressions. I'm just pointing out, the
further we drift from science, the shakier ground we stand on, if we expect
"outsiders" to respect orgone as a real possibility. To build one's whole
world-view upon subjective impressions, gut-feelings, and surging of the blood,
as Hitler called it, will lead to totalitarianism. I think it's very significant
that so far, only you and I have conducted any kind of informal experimentation
among current OML subscribers.
The quotation I cited in Listen Little Man applies to me as well as it does to
you and probably a lot of others on the OML. I cautioned you not to take
everything I say personally, but I think you've read the part about the
schoolteacher who hates children just that way. I don't know you, really, beyond
the text that appears on my screen. I in no way wanted to imply that you "hate
children". The point I was trying to address was that feeling of emptiness, that
void, that your comments implied to me. I looked in the text for the part I
remembered which talked about "emptiness" and how we try to fill it. It's not my
fault Reich talked about school teachers, and I'm sure he wasn't talking about
you. I feel that void as well. I have any number of ways I neurotically try to
fill that void. To attack anyone personally here, by bringing up their private
habits and personal defects, would be very unfair, unless these defects exhibit
themselves in the public realm, in politics and society. That's why it was very
important for DeMeo, and as you did, to cite Carlinsky's long record of public
psychosis. I can safely say Carlinsky is psychotic, if for no other reason that
he receives a SSI disability check each month on that basis.
The point I wanted to address with that quotation was more to the "gobbling up"
of other people's work without giving much back. On your public web page, you
have assembled a lot of work done by others. That includes republishing every
mention of "Reich" and "orgone" you can find on the usenet, without even asking
these people. You have also scooped up OML posts, and I was not even aware of
this until you mentioned it around the middle of January. In addition, you
edited them according to what you felt "appropriate" to the extent that I did
not recognize the forum I had participated in. I didn't like it then, and I
don't like it now. I know it's common practice on the internet, but that doesn't
make it right. The key sentence I wanted you to think about was: "You can spoon
it in to the last drop, you can help yourself and gobble it up, but *you can't
create*."
I ask myself the same question Reich did: I sell a lot of books on orgonomy and
related topics. Am I just a profiteer off other people's work? I don't think so,
because there is a reciprocal relationship between my work and scientists,
doctors, and practitioners of various different "camps" surrounding the field of
orgonomy. I'm open to any suggestions as to how I can more effectively support
the scientific work, but Flatland Books isn't exactly a goldmine.
The part of the quotation that hit home to me personally was the part about
sitting in a dreary office punching an adding machine. I had to look around the
old shop at that moment. Pretty dreary, I must admit.
But what I really wanted to get you to think about is the level of reciprocity,
what you give back compared to what you take. I remembered that somewhere in
Lil' Man WR talked about that feeling of a void, and how it related to the ways
WE Little Men (& Women) try to fill it, without success. It is my subjective
impression that you have tried to fill that void with the PORE page. I know it
must be frustrating work for you, trying to inject the principles of
self-regulation in the public schools. I know others who have tried. This is
important work.
I'm sure a lot of us on the OML feel a bit frustrated with our jobs, and
compared to the tantalizing possibilities offered up by Reich - work democracy,
self-regulation, etc - that void can feel pretty painful sometimes when we
compare it to the realities of our everyday lives. For the lovelorn and the
lovesick, this feeling of emptiness can reach devastating proportions. What to
do?
We all feel frustrated that we can't always be completely open about our private
conviction that Reich was right in so many things. Suddenly, an opportunity
opens up where people all over the world can speak their minds and find a space
to open up a bit. However, when this excitement translated into a rather abusive
treatment of Jim DeMeo, I wonder if there aren't other operating factors than
freedom and sharing.
It gives me no pleasure at all to take you to task. It's more like dread. There
was no rage in what I wrote. There was a definite purpose, too.
DeMeo's "Response" ably summarized much of Reich's writing on the emotional
plague. Reich, in books like *The Mass Psychology of Facsism* and *Listen Little
Man*, was one of the first to point out how emotional plague characters are
basically incapacitated, and really can't do much damage at all without help
from everyday people. There is a very understandable fear, when confronted by
bullies pounding the crap out of somebody in the street, to intervene. We all
know what happened to Kitty Genovese. None of the names of the people on the
street where she was killed are remembered today. We only remember the victim.
This is why Reich called attention to Mocienego, a little-known footnote to
history who played a pivotal role in getting the Inquisition to kill Galileo.
Reich combined the names of Mocienego and Stalin's orginal name to form "Modju"
to encapsulate plague functions.
It's widely accepted, but false, that Hitler mesmerized the public into
perpetrating horrendous crimes, or at least ignoring them. In 1933, Reich laid
bare the responsibility of the "salt of the earth" for what happens in society.
I had to confront my own little man just to stick my neck out here.
The most effective tool we have in fighting the damages of the emotional plague
is the clear light of publicity. I have heard all kinds of advice about dealing
with social irrationalism. DeMeo has been advised to ignore Carlinsky, enter
dialog with him, and lots of things have been tried but still the behavior
continues. I'm certainly open to suggestions. This month's Skeptical Inquirer
published Carlinsky's rumor that Terry Nichols, arrested in connection with the
Oklahoma City bombing, had a cloudbuster in his back yard. No substantiation is
given. But the intent, to me is clear: connect cloudbusting with terrorism.
There is indeed a price to pay for "siding with DeMeo" or with anyone else
against Carlinsky, as there is a price to pay for any public confrontation with
social irrationalism. For my part, I have been attacked by Joel in a porno zine
called EIDOS. Carlinsky identified my therapist, while insinuating that I was a
mind-controlled patsy of the Knights of Malta. It's amusing really, but only to
a point. I can't say I have much of a character to defame in the first place.
And, I'm self-employed, so I don't have to worry about the boss thinking I'm
crazy. My customers already think I'm crazy, and the feeling is often mutual.
But how would such a smear affect you? If you haven't considered this on a
conscious level, please do so. And let's remember meanwhile, that Carlinsky has
been published in three locales I know of: Skeptical Inquirer, EIDOS, and the
PORE web page. Is this significant?
Most important, there seems to be *no cost* attached to standing above the fray,
as you wish to do, jogg. It's my analysis that the only way to effectively deal
with Carlinsky's attacks is to focus on those people who *knowingly* abet his
behavior. Carlinsky can't help himself, but most people can, including you,
Jogg.
So now you've posted his original smear against DeMeo on your web page, in the
Usenet section. As word of what you've done spreads, there will be less and less
support for your efforts among those seriously interested in orgonomy.
Eventually, there will be more material attacking orgonomy than supporting it.
Perhaps this is your real intention, I don't know.
I am writing for the record, and to attach some level of accountability on those
who hope to stand apart, take no sides, and let the chips fall where they may.
Also, to remind those who post here that their comments will be carefully
examined. Mine have - no one gets a free ride.
Your failure to address my questions speaks volumes. Careful readers will know
it. If you have real objections to DeMeo's work, restate them, coherently;
deliver the goods or remove all such statements from your web page and refrain
from posting them here.
It is also my *subjective impression* (that inalienable of all truths) that what
you wanted to do, rather than confront Carlinsky directly (and appear impolite)
was to have DeMeo deal with Carlinsky instead "once and for all" as you put it.
You wanted to "expose the plague". I've seen this before, where people continue
to receive Joel's calls even though they intensely dislike him, just because
they are uncomfortable with cutting him off. There is also the subconscious
awareness of what Carlinsky's done to others who he believes are members the
alleged "DeMeo gang," the "ACO conspiracy" or any other "reichian" association
that has failed to recognize Carlinsky's genius. This fear of being the
assassin's next victim, while undertandable, must be confronted. There really
are no innocent bystanders, no safe point of objectivity from which others can
be judged without any consequences. We're either engaged, or disengaged, from
seething life.
To return to the issue of impoliteness, we Americans are far too polite. My
German friends pointed out how strange it is that, in the U.S., strangers greet
each other with "How are you doing today?" when the greeter doesn't really care
to know. Every time I pass through the check out stand, the lady asks me "How
are you doing today?" And out of a similar habit, I say, "pretty good." I think:
what if I really told you? It'd take at least five minutes, maybe a lot more,
and you don't want to know anyway, not really. Besides, there are other people
standing in line waiting too be asked "How are you doing today?" ....Oy, my back
is killing me, my sides ache, my heart goes pitta-pat...
So we don't really mean it. Reich called it "Socialitus Americanus". The
inability to confront, to tolerate sharp disagreement.
Disagreement becomes personal attack. Flat statements of fact are interpreted as
rage. Simple questions, aimed toward confusion and conflict, are ignored.
> Again thank you for expressing yourself and I wish you the best in your
> pursuits in orgonomy.
And all the best to you, Jogg. How are you doing today?
Tonight, I'm thinking of Sue Crane, who will be appearing for sentencing Monday
a 9 am at the federal building in San Jose, Ca., for a "Plowshares" action. I
watched her kids grow, met her several times, and her ex-husband was a formative
influence on me. She and a priest destroyed a Trident D-5 nuclear missile. She's
probably looking at several years jail time. She refused to be an innocent
bystander. The justice system certainly doesn't want this kind of thing to
become a trend.
And what have we done to stop the emotional plague today? Carlinsky really is
small potatoes, which is why it's frustrating to even have to deal with him on
any level. Each of us can't fight the plague at every appearance. But we must do
the small things that count.
-Jim Martin
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