Arena Culture

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/opinion/31brooks.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

Dear all:

I also have similar observations. But I think the "arena" culture is not new. It's been with us since the beginning of human history. In the past, it was often infused with religious overtones or war activities. Now, as religious influence is waning because of the advent of scientific knowledge, and war is getting too destructive and horrific, the "arena" culture gets its sustenance from sports stadiums and rock concerts where the attendants get their transcendental moments. Transcendental  "whooshings" that come from quiet contemplation and meditation are the province of the more sensitive and refined folks who are rare anyway. As always, we must ask what kind of people we are and where we stand in the crowd, if we are part of the crowd at all. Where we are affects what and how we see.

Further on this subject and getting more on a slippery terrain, I have the following speculations which are developed by me, but not necessarily original because true originality in ideas is truly rare.

The arena culture is possible because Man is a social and gregarious and yet self-conflicting animal (being). He guards his privacy but delights in occasional gathering with his fellow men where he could experience feelings of communion and kinship and solidarity. Man is also easily affected by colors and sounds. He is drawn to pageantry and music. Religious leaders, festivals organizers, and political movers know about this need of Man, this longing for transcendental moments. So they stage events full of colors (banners and flags) and sound and fury in order to drive the crowd to an altered state of consciousness in hopes of winning them over. Pentecost revival meetings, rock concerts, and political rallies (especially those organized by the Nazis) are of this nature: full of colors, sounds and fury.
And the crowd responds enthusiastically. Hitler was a superb showman. He moved the crowd. He knew what the audience wanted to hear. Alas, he didn't practice moderation. He was full of excesses and thus drove the world to WW II.
China does not practice restraint either (more about this in below).

On a different note, Man is also an animal that practices momentum, not
moderation. He likes excesses and extremes. He wants to push the envelop and to test the borders. He is curious where the true limitations lie. That is why
economic activities run in cycles of boom and bust. That also explains why
empires keep expanding to the point they cannot maintain themselves. Perhaps
that accounts when a nation is on the decline---as the U.S. is experiencing---the
process is inexorable and the country seems unable or unwilling to change course
(Obama is trying but he runs into stiff opposition of the selfish and pig-headed
Republicans).The reverse is also true. When a country is rising, it keeps on rising
until it exhausts its forces of momentum. China is enjoying the positive forces of
upward momentum, with signs of catastrophic consequences for the world due to
the character of the Chinese people: undue arrogance and relentless thirst of
assimilating other races in their path of expansion. The policy of assimilation has
worked beautifully for China for thousands of years, so why should thr Chinese abandon that policy now?

Nations tend to move like an aircraft carrier: slowly and time-consuming in
changing course. To survive, sometimes a nation must move like a speedboat:
swiftly and in accordance with changing currents. Vietnam is a nation that must
move swiftly to respond to the threat of being swallowed by China. We now badly
need a new crop of leaders who love Vietnam and their fellow Vietnamese
kinsfolks more than they love themselves, who know the feelings of tribalism and
who remember the sacrifices and heroism of our ancestors in their valiant fights against the expansionist-minded enemy from the North. Let's face the truth and reality: The Chinese are not our brother; they are our historical enemy.

Wissai