>I'd suggest reading the following for a better understanding of
>primitivism. - Tom
>
>The Primitivist Critique of Civilization
>Richard Heinberg
>http://www.primitivism.com/primitivist-critique.htm
At the end, Heinberg seems frightened by the implications of his own argument, and starts talking about a new form of civilization. Why not do that in the first place, instead of indulging so foolishly in his primitivist fantasy?
I've long thought that anarchism is the infantile "NO!" inflated into a political philosophy. That's not an entirely bad thing; I'm pretty fond of the "NO!" impulse myself, and there's a lot that I find appealing in anarchism. Heinberg sort of confirms this analysis, though, when he seems to argue that the whole psychosocial problem is having to grow up:
>People are shaped from birth by their cultural surroundings and by
>their interactions with the people closest to them. Civilization
>manipulates these primary relationships in such a way as to
>domesticate the infant--that is, so as to accustom it to life in a
>social structure one step removed from nature. The actual process of
>domestication is describable as follows, using terms borrowed from
>the object-relations school of psychology.
>
>The infant lives entirely in the present moment in a state of pure
>trust and guilelessness, deeply bonded with her mother. But as she
>grows, she discovers that her mother is a separate entity with her
>own priorities and limits. The infant's experience of relationship
>changes from one of spontaneous trust to one that is suffused with
>need and longing. This creates a gap between Self and Other in the
>consciousness of the child, who tries to fill this deepening rift
>with transitional objects--initially, perhaps a teddy bear; later,
>addictions and beliefs that serve to fill the psychic gap and thus
>provide a sense of security. It is the powerful human need for
>transitional objects that drives individuals in their search for
>property and power, and that generates bureaucracies and
>technologies as people pool their efforts.
>
>This process does not occur in the same way in the case of primitive
>childbearing, where the infant is treated with indulgence, is in
>constant physical contact with a caregiver throughout infancy, and
>later undergoes rites of passage. In primal cultures the need for
>transitional objects appears to be minimized. Anthropological and
>psychological research converge to suggest that many of civilized
>people's emotional ills come from our culture's abandonment of
>natural childrearing methods and initiatory rites and its systematic
>substitution of alienating pedagogical practices from crib through
>university.
As the Spartacist League might put it were the SL so inclined: "Against separation/individuation! For the lifelong pursuit of primary narcissism!"
Doug