The "guilt manipulation" put me in mind of this man's definition of Envy:
Envy is the belief that one person's wealth is the cause of the poverty of others. The envious man blames others for his own want. His primary desire is not so much to obtain their property as to see them deprived of it. This is one reason why socialists cannot be convinced of the undesirability of socialism's inefficiencies, even when they admit that their policies will not result in the benefit of themselves or the poor; for the main goal of socialism is to confiscate and destroy. Socialism is institutionalized envy. When envy dominates a culture, progress is impossible: the envious will hate those who are successful, and everyone will do his best not to appear successful, in fear of being envied. When envy is inverted and turned in upon oneself, it becomes guilt (q.v.). You can sell a lot of copies of books that encourage guilt in an envy-dominated culture. Christians who do not tithe constitute a strong potential market for such books.
Hey Willie,
Very interesting post.
: )
I would have to say "envy" and "wanting to destroy or pull down another person" are NOT the same thing.
They are related, but they are not the same.
There is a causal relationship.
One thing causes the other, like links in a chain.
Envy, left to fester, will eventually move beyond just "wanting what someone else has", and will eventually move to a place where you're quite willing and happy to HARM them.
So, regarding the above quote, I would say this man's definition of envy is just a really bad definition.
He is refusing to distinguish a CAUSAL AGENT (envy) from all the EFFECTS that can come from it (wanting to harm others).
- Envy doesn't mean you're inherently willing to harm someone.
- Envy just means you want what they have.
- Some people in this world have enormous envy, but because they are devoted to capitalism, this envy drives them to just work really hard and EARN what they want.
- So, to envy does not necessitate some willingness to harm or steal.
- But if envy is left to fester and grow, like any sin, it GETS WORSE, and it NATURALLY CAUSES OTHER PROBLEMS, like stealing and willingness to harm... perhaps even a sadistic GLEEFUL desire to harm.
* So, I think his view of socialism is reasonable, I agree it's an awful mess, and it STEMS from all kinds of wrong thinking.
* But I think when he tries to define envy, he just runs off the rails, and just arbitrarily redefines a simple word.
* I think the evils of socialism, and this guys inability to rightly define a word, are also totally unrelated... the fact he can't define a word correctly does NOT make his views of socialism wrong.
So, to reiterate and wrap up:
- Envy does not equal A, B, C, D, E, F, G etc. etc etc.
- Envy is just envy... it has a simple definition, it just means to want what someone else has.
- Envy "could" motivate a person to become a harder working capitalist... maybe an honest one, and maybe a dishonest one.
- But left to fester and grow, like any sin, envy WILL BE the starting point of a long causal chain... which will.. eventually... descend into the kinds of destructive behavior the author describes.
Anyway, I agree with all the sentiment, and the idea that socialism is bad... I totally agree... I just think this guy is so angry he can't rightly define a simple word.
: )