Neither Left Nor Right | Charles Konia, M.D.

What is Anti-authoritarian Society?

It is commonly believed that anti-authoritarian society means the absence of authority. In fact, the exact opposite is true. The origin of the term, anti-authoritarian must be understood in its historical context. Anti-authoritarian means opposition to the authoritarian social order that existed prior to around 1960.
At that time the structure of the majority of the population and of society as a whole was authoritarian. Compared to today, society was well ordered. Individuals exercised essential authority and influence on the local and peripheral, not central levels of society. Authority consisted of both rational (constructive) and irrational (destructive) components. On the one hand, it served to protect certain core functions of life against impulses from the destructive middle layer. On the other hand, it opposed certain core functions , in particular, the sexual function in it’s role in regulating the individual’s energy economy. Depending on the degree to which authoritarianism was in conflict with the core functions, authority became increasingly irrational, repressive and destructive. Yet, conversely, authoritarian measures were often necessary to counteract the destructiveness of armored people.
To learn more about how our society was transformed from authoritarian to anti-authoritarian and the consequences of the transformation please refer to my recent book, Neither Left Nor Right.

August 30, 2015
Categories: emotional plague, Politics, Social Sciences . Tags: anti-authoritarian society, authoritarian society, Neither Left Nor Right . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: Leave a comment

Greece’s Financial Crisis

The futility of applying political solutions to socioeconomic problems is discussed in my current book, Neither Left Nor Right. It is illustrated in the current economic crisis in Greece which is the result of the government’s spending more money than it had and incurring a national debt of billions of euros.
The Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipris, called for a referendum on the creditors’ demands for more austerity in exchange for more bailout funds to keep the country solvent by putting the problem in the hands of the people. By doing so, he neatly stepped out of facing the problem head on. The public’s debate over this single question has swept the country down ideological and socioeconomic lines. For some, Greece’s identity as a fully developed European country is at stake. For others, the vote is a chance to stand up to Europe. The Greek people and their politicians seem to have learned nothing about the importance of fiscal responsibility.

July 4, 2015
Categories: emotional plague, Politics, Social Sciences, socio-political character . Tags: economics, financial crisis, Greece, Neither Left Nor Right . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: 1 Comment