Atrophy of feeling is a characteristic of modern man and
always shows itself as a reaction when there is too much feeling around, and in
particular too much false feeling. From the lack of feeling in “Ulysses” we may
infer a hideous sentimentality in the age that produced it. But are we really
so sentimental today?…there is a good deal of evidence to show that we actually
are involved in a sentimentality hoax of gigantic proportions. Think of the
lamentable role of popular sentiment in wartime! Think of our so-called
humanitarianism! The psychiatrist knows only too well how each of us becomes
the helpless but not pitiable victim of his own sentiments. Sentimentality is
the superstructure erected upon brutality.
-Carl Jung
The nostalgia (or sentimentality) we feel towards "what
America used to be" is the superstructure we have erected upon OUR
brutality. This applies especially to so-called "conservatives" and
members of the Tea Party.
No saints live here.
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