I recently was reminded that not everyone shared many of the experiences I mention on this weblog. Specifically visiting City Lights Bookstore and the entire San Francisco experience I enjoyed back in the 1960s. Just today I was pointed towards an excellent introduction to City Lights and San Francisco available on YouTube, This is part 3 and it really takes me back to my college days, Jack Hirshman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and the City Lights Bookstore.
“Scientism” in politics still presupposes that human welfare is its object, a concept which is utterly alien to totalitarianism. It is precisely because the utilitarian core of ideologies was taken for granted that the anti-utilitarian behavior of totalitarian governments, their complete indifference to mass interest, has been such a shock.
This introduced into contemporary politics an element of unheard-of unpredictability. Totalitarian propaganda, however….indicated even before totalitarianism could seize power how far the masses had drifted from mere concern with interest.
