<blockquote>More than all, he/she has lost a fundamental characteristic of the human brain: empathy, the capability of understanding the feelings and the needs of other human beings. </blockquote>
I don't think this is always true. My mother seemed to be empathetic, nearly to the end. Even after she stopped talking, she made eye contact, and followed the conversations of those in the room.
Early in her stay at a care facility, I'd visit, and she'd say, "I'm sorry, but can you tell me who you are again?"
People without empathy don't lead with "I'm sorry," which indicates that they have an anticipation about how their statement will affect the recipient.
Indeed there are many variations. My oldest neighbor just passed away at 99 years old, still seemed happy, making small jokes, and pleasant to everyone, but no clue where she was, who I or others she'd known for years were, etc.
No way she could have lived on her own for at least the last 15 or 20 years, maybe longer, so her daughters (both retired themselves) shared her care for many years.
Still distressing, but in a different way, I guess. We are all human, we all age, but depending on the the judgment of anyone retirement age or older does not seem wise. And that is the age of most of the world’s leaders and money men ... The Powers That Be as you say.
Trump isn't likely to push the nuke button? Do what now? The guy wanted to NUKE a HURRICANE. What we saw in the term was top-shelf defense played by his handlers.
Propaganda as societal senility...A sort of psycho-morphology, in Oswald Spengler's mould.
You say "At least, societies periodically replace their members", but, perhaps, as the literate, educated generations go their way (naturally or with a little help), our societies shall continue, not with Alzheimer patients, but with a new breed of humans with ADHD, Autism, Tiktokism, a lack of deep literacy...etc.
If we also consider that IQ is falling and that leaders on average will be less intelligent and that less smart people display less empathy (on average), senility is but the tail of our current gerontocracy, and will soon be replaced by Idiocracy.
A dementia patient is a bit like a Rorschach test for an adult child, in that they present a great many disconnected responses to established family dynamics. It's easy to see what you want to see in a victim, simply by selecting what details you want to pay attention to.
A phenomenon that has come to my attention since I published this blog post is that the moments of lucidity (the "good days") that a victim has are moments of almost unbearable suffering, as the realization of loss of consciousness hits home. Dementia becomes refuge. That may apply to the political sphere as well.
Certainly the USA has good, pain-avoiding reasons to avoid moments of collective self-consciousness. Trump reliably serves as an excuse to avoid any national self-examination, as he's always directing attention outward, toward scapegoats. He also has a Potemkin quality that allows people to see in him what they want to see, good or bad. In Roman terms, he's "every man's wife and every woman's husband."
As for Biden, was elected as a known quantity, an aging Cold Warrior in a world that has forgotten how violent and repressive the Cold War was before detente. Biden was all ritual/reflex from the get-go, so he doesn't need to be managed unless a bug appears in the software. If his mental decline makes him easy to manage, so much the better.
If Trump, who for whatever reason isn't a known quantity, should offer the Russians something besides nuclear stalemate, it's a much less stable world, with thirty or forty nuclear-capable nations suddenly responsible for their own security. It's hard to extrapolate a future for humanity in those circumstances.
Thanks for taking my thoughts into new territory, Ugo. I very much appreciate your thinking.
This is an interesting theory. I wish I could bring myself to completely believe it, but somehow it seems to let some of the world’s worst people off the hook for their bad behavior too easily.
Regarding your discussion about social dementia, I have often had the same thought about propaganda—there seems to be no cure, even when you know it is present. If someone could bottle a cure for it, his fortune would be made. It can be frustrating to see it in action and yet find that in dealing with others, you are often helpless to disarm it.
The list of former world leaders showing dementia systems was interesting. Note that all of them are people no longer with us, or at least no longer active in public life. Unfortunately, analysis of the mental states of active politicians is often fraught with bias, especially when that politician behaves in ways that arouse strong emotions in others.
As an example of the latter, I would refer to Rember’s post. I believe he fell victim to just this kind of bias in his evaluations of Biden and Trump. Much of what he says about Trump more or less mirrors the hit pieces written by Trump’s detractors that have found their way into the popular press ever since 2016. Personally, I’m not a great fan of either Trump or Biden, but I can’t see how anyone who is objectively non-partisan can have any doubt about which of them has better overall mental function at present. Also, Rember takes it for granted that Biden has chosen the people around him, and never considers the possibility that THEY chose HIM because his advanced mental decline makes him easy to manage.
Yes, I think Rember is too harsh with Trump, even though he is right in detecting signs of mental instability in him. Personally, I must say that I appreciated Trump's willingness to fight for his ideas and the fact that he was one of the few presidents (perhaps the only one) in recent times who didn't start any major wars or bombing campaigns.
<blockquote>More than all, he/she has lost a fundamental characteristic of the human brain: empathy, the capability of understanding the feelings and the needs of other human beings. </blockquote>
I don't think this is always true. My mother seemed to be empathetic, nearly to the end. Even after she stopped talking, she made eye contact, and followed the conversations of those in the room.
Early in her stay at a care facility, I'd visit, and she'd say, "I'm sorry, but can you tell me who you are again?"
People without empathy don't lead with "I'm sorry," which indicates that they have an anticipation about how their statement will affect the recipient.
I wrote that sentence thinking of my father, but maybe there are several kinds of dementia, just like there are many kinds of people.
Yes, dementia is like alcoholism a bit: there are the mean ones, and then there are the sweet, sad ones.
"I'm your son, Mom!"
"Oh, I have a son?"
"You have THREE sons, Mom!"
On another occasion, after my Dad visited, "They tell me that man is my husband. But why would I ever want to marry HIM!" Dad was a narcissist.
Indeed there are many variations. My oldest neighbor just passed away at 99 years old, still seemed happy, making small jokes, and pleasant to everyone, but no clue where she was, who I or others she'd known for years were, etc.
No way she could have lived on her own for at least the last 15 or 20 years, maybe longer, so her daughters (both retired themselves) shared her care for many years.
Still distressing, but in a different way, I guess. We are all human, we all age, but depending on the the judgment of anyone retirement age or older does not seem wise. And that is the age of most of the world’s leaders and money men ... The Powers That Be as you say.
Trump isn't likely to push the nuke button? Do what now? The guy wanted to NUKE a HURRICANE. What we saw in the term was top-shelf defense played by his handlers.
Bonjour Ugo,
Propaganda as societal senility...A sort of psycho-morphology, in Oswald Spengler's mould.
You say "At least, societies periodically replace their members", but, perhaps, as the literate, educated generations go their way (naturally or with a little help), our societies shall continue, not with Alzheimer patients, but with a new breed of humans with ADHD, Autism, Tiktokism, a lack of deep literacy...etc.
If we also consider that IQ is falling and that leaders on average will be less intelligent and that less smart people display less empathy (on average), senility is but the tail of our current gerontocracy, and will soon be replaced by Idiocracy.
Yves-Marie
A dementia patient is a bit like a Rorschach test for an adult child, in that they present a great many disconnected responses to established family dynamics. It's easy to see what you want to see in a victim, simply by selecting what details you want to pay attention to.
A phenomenon that has come to my attention since I published this blog post is that the moments of lucidity (the "good days") that a victim has are moments of almost unbearable suffering, as the realization of loss of consciousness hits home. Dementia becomes refuge. That may apply to the political sphere as well.
Certainly the USA has good, pain-avoiding reasons to avoid moments of collective self-consciousness. Trump reliably serves as an excuse to avoid any national self-examination, as he's always directing attention outward, toward scapegoats. He also has a Potemkin quality that allows people to see in him what they want to see, good or bad. In Roman terms, he's "every man's wife and every woman's husband."
As for Biden, was elected as a known quantity, an aging Cold Warrior in a world that has forgotten how violent and repressive the Cold War was before detente. Biden was all ritual/reflex from the get-go, so he doesn't need to be managed unless a bug appears in the software. If his mental decline makes him easy to manage, so much the better.
If Trump, who for whatever reason isn't a known quantity, should offer the Russians something besides nuclear stalemate, it's a much less stable world, with thirty or forty nuclear-capable nations suddenly responsible for their own security. It's hard to extrapolate a future for humanity in those circumstances.
Thanks for taking my thoughts into new territory, Ugo. I very much appreciate your thinking.
Thanks John. I discovered your blog only recently, but I am sure I'll follow it!
This is an interesting theory. I wish I could bring myself to completely believe it, but somehow it seems to let some of the world’s worst people off the hook for their bad behavior too easily.
Regarding your discussion about social dementia, I have often had the same thought about propaganda—there seems to be no cure, even when you know it is present. If someone could bottle a cure for it, his fortune would be made. It can be frustrating to see it in action and yet find that in dealing with others, you are often helpless to disarm it.
The list of former world leaders showing dementia systems was interesting. Note that all of them are people no longer with us, or at least no longer active in public life. Unfortunately, analysis of the mental states of active politicians is often fraught with bias, especially when that politician behaves in ways that arouse strong emotions in others.
As an example of the latter, I would refer to Rember’s post. I believe he fell victim to just this kind of bias in his evaluations of Biden and Trump. Much of what he says about Trump more or less mirrors the hit pieces written by Trump’s detractors that have found their way into the popular press ever since 2016. Personally, I’m not a great fan of either Trump or Biden, but I can’t see how anyone who is objectively non-partisan can have any doubt about which of them has better overall mental function at present. Also, Rember takes it for granted that Biden has chosen the people around him, and never considers the possibility that THEY chose HIM because his advanced mental decline makes him easy to manage.
Yes, I think Rember is too harsh with Trump, even though he is right in detecting signs of mental instability in him. Personally, I must say that I appreciated Trump's willingness to fight for his ideas and the fact that he was one of the few presidents (perhaps the only one) in recent times who didn't start any major wars or bombing campaigns.