“the tear is an intellectual thing”
March 22, 2016 9:46 AM Subscribe
The Luxury Of Tears by Matthew Sweet [1843: The Economist] The old idea that people in developed countries suppress their emotions is being overturned. As Matthew Sweet discovers, we cry more as our societies get richer.
This thread could get serious hijacked, as Girlfriend/Altered Beast and the covers project with Susannah Hoff are all treats for the ears.
posted by C.A.S. at 10:18 AM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by C.A.S. at 10:18 AM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
I am delighted by the (ahem) nexus of recent threads invoking fully automated luxury communism, humaniform androids, pop socialist websites, Harrison Ford, and now this.
Roy Batty's tears roll down his face.
posted by mwhybark at 10:29 AM on March 22, 2016
Roy Batty's tears roll down his face.
posted by mwhybark at 10:29 AM on March 22, 2016
I didn't realize there was an idea that people in developed countries suppress their emotions! If anything, I could see that the worse your life is, the more you need to suppress emotion.
The Victorian English concept of the aristocratic stiff upper lip seems to be something unto itself.
posted by maggiemaggie at 10:43 AM on March 22, 2016 [4 favorites]
The Victorian English concept of the aristocratic stiff upper lip seems to be something unto itself.
posted by maggiemaggie at 10:43 AM on March 22, 2016 [4 favorites]
Is the writer Matthew Sweet related to the artist Nick Cave?
posted by Lyme Drop at 11:46 AM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Lyme Drop at 11:46 AM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
I didn't realize there was an idea that people in developed countries suppress their emotions
I think particularly in colonial Britain it was a fairly popular notion that what it meant to be "civilized" was that one's actions were dictated by intellect and, occasionally, morality, and certainly not by emotions. And anyone living outside of a British or at least Northern European social structure clearly could have no structure mediating their emotions or base physical impulses*. Which might be why they were such poor sports about being killed/subjugated.
* emotions were pretty base too, I guess.
posted by aubilenon at 12:01 PM on March 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
I think particularly in colonial Britain it was a fairly popular notion that what it meant to be "civilized" was that one's actions were dictated by intellect and, occasionally, morality, and certainly not by emotions. And anyone living outside of a British or at least Northern European social structure clearly could have no structure mediating their emotions or base physical impulses*. Which might be why they were such poor sports about being killed/subjugated.
* emotions were pretty base too, I guess.
posted by aubilenon at 12:01 PM on March 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
I didn't realize there was an idea that people in developed countries suppress their emotion
The Victorian English concept of the aristocratic stiff upper lip seems to be something unto itself.
This argument is a pretty standard justification of empire--which was essentially Stoicism combined with 19th century racial "science."
posted by mmmbacon at 12:02 PM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
The Victorian English concept of the aristocratic stiff upper lip seems to be something unto itself.
This argument is a pretty standard justification of empire--which was essentially Stoicism combined with 19th century racial "science."
posted by mmmbacon at 12:02 PM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Well that explains the 18th Century idea of Virginia Stoicism (expected every proper Virginia gentleman).
posted by Atreides at 12:14 PM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Atreides at 12:14 PM on March 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
The Victorian English concept of the aristocratic stiff upper lip seems to be something unto itself.
...as carried to an absurd extreme in the subculture of the "Vickies"/New Atlanteans in Neal Stephenson's book "The Diamond Age."
posted by wenestvedt at 12:23 PM on March 22, 2016
...as carried to an absurd extreme in the subculture of the "Vickies"/New Atlanteans in Neal Stephenson's book "The Diamond Age."
posted by wenestvedt at 12:23 PM on March 22, 2016
I didn't realize there was an idea that people in developed countries suppress their emotion
Civilized rationality usually goes together with not only the suppression of emotion but altogether the disappearance of them. The human being cannot think and feel at the same time. Or, in the words of Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
Compassion must, in fact, be the stronger, the more the animal beholding any kind of distress identifies himself with the animal that suffers. Now, it is plain that such identification must have been much more perfect in a state of nature than it is in a state of reason. It is reason that engenders self-respect, and reflection that confirms it: it is reason which turns man’s mind back upon itself, and divides him from everything that could disturb or afflict him. It is philosophy that isolates him, and bids him say, at sight of the misfortunes of others: “Perish if you will, I am secure.”
posted by sapagan at 12:28 AM on March 23, 2016
Civilized rationality usually goes together with not only the suppression of emotion but altogether the disappearance of them. The human being cannot think and feel at the same time. Or, in the words of Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
Compassion must, in fact, be the stronger, the more the animal beholding any kind of distress identifies himself with the animal that suffers. Now, it is plain that such identification must have been much more perfect in a state of nature than it is in a state of reason. It is reason that engenders self-respect, and reflection that confirms it: it is reason which turns man’s mind back upon itself, and divides him from everything that could disturb or afflict him. It is philosophy that isolates him, and bids him say, at sight of the misfortunes of others: “Perish if you will, I am secure.”
posted by sapagan at 12:28 AM on March 23, 2016
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posted by wenestvedt at 9:59 AM on March 22, 2016 [17 favorites]