We're talking about father's day and what it says to us who either didn't have fathers, had abusive fathers or lost them somehow. Rituals praising things are often forms of exclusion of those who are different for whatever reason and function as a show of power. Lots of pride/humiliation go with that. It is the pride of the strong, though perhaps they'd not even notice the existence of those who are excluded.
I wonder if states/cultures who are not easily humiliated actually have more pride in an unassailable form, and the more easily humiliated have less pride but try to construct and maintain it in public. THose who have less pride and power seem to display what they do have the most visibly, perhaps.
Complex and interesting thought. A group does not have to be strong to celebrate with ritual: the persecuted can do so too, and ritual can then be a solace and a bond. Re the second thought: you're moving pride back to the negative, it seems. Perhaps better to replace the word (too ambiguous?) with 'dignity'. The fear of not having it, or losing it, creates long toes, easily trodden on.
A further thought: humour is part of the complex. About whom can one make jokes, and about whom, not? You can make any amount of jokes about red-headed Dutchmen, but not (in our day, not the 16C) about ________________ (you can fill in, from a looooong list). There was at one point even a joke about that: Q. How many feminists does it take to screw in a light-bulb? A. That's not funny.
Good news from Greeksroger_kuinJune 18 2012, 21:53:34 UTC
Two good moments, in the wake of all this: (1) the Greeks won their football game in the Euro, brilliantly, with a goal by a 36-year-old ancient; (2) collective mock-heroic suicide did not prevail in the election, and the great European experiment (which American media no longer understand or sympathize with) is still afloat. Having lived with it most of my life, I'm trying to put to gether a post about that.
Comments 4
I wonder if states/cultures who are not easily humiliated actually have more pride in an unassailable form, and the more easily humiliated have less pride but try to construct and maintain it in public. THose who have less pride and power seem to display what they do have the most visibly, perhaps.
Reply
Re the second thought: you're moving pride back to the negative, it seems. Perhaps better to replace the word (too ambiguous?) with 'dignity'. The fear of not having it, or losing it, creates long toes, easily trodden on.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment