i come in the front door after doing shopping and my flatmate's all 'hi, did you know that being gay is the same as being a pedophile or fucking an animal? Sigmund Freud said so and he was a psychologist. Haha, you're mad because it's true'
April 9th 1935
PROF. DR. FREUD
Dear Mrs [Erased],
I gather from your letter that your son is a homosexual. I am most impressed by the fact that you do not mention this term yourself in your information about him. May I question you why you avoid it? Homosexuality is assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation; it cannot be classified as an illness; we consider it to be a variation of the sexual function, produced by a certain arrest of sexual development. Many highly respectable individuals of ancient and modern times have been homosexuals, several of the greatest men among them. (Plato, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, etc). It is a great injustice to persecute homosexuality as a crime – and a cruelty, too. If you do not believe me, read the books of Havelock Ellis.
By asking me if I can help, you mean, I suppose, if I can abolish homosexuality and make normal heterosexuality take its place. The answer is, in a general way we cannot promise to achieve it. In a certain number of cases we succeed in developing the blighted germs of heterosexual tendencies, which are present in every homosexual in the majority of cases it is no more possible. It is a question of the quality and the age of the individual. The result of treatment cannot be predicted.
What analysis can do for your son runs on a different line. If he is unhappy, neurotic, torn by conflicts, inhibited in his social life, analysis may bring him harmony, peace of mind, full efficiency, whether he remains a homosexual or gets changed. If you make up your mind he should have analysis with me — I don't expect you will — he has to come over to Vienna. I have no intention of leaving here. However, don't neglect to give me your answer.
Sincerely yours with best wishes,
Freud
P.s. I did not find it difficult to read your handwriting. Hope you will not find my writing and my English a harder task.
That's like using Mendel's work as the summary of all genetic science.
Hey.
Mendel did actual research and actual work, that lead to significant results. Mendel contributed and was doing actual learning and increasing the sum of human knowledge. Mendel was a fantastic example of what a scholar, or a natural philosopher, or what a scientist (though that term has been much degraded by today) should do.
Don't be comparing him to Freud. That gives Freud way, way, way too much credit.
Oh, hey, Norman Chomsky, the whole "a lot of grammar knowledge is innate to humans and this is called Universal Grammar; and wait guys that was a terrible name for it I never actually said that there is an innate universal grammar that every human knows oh gosh dang it." guy.
in EU4, I want to mod in a unique "Muslim Spanish" idea set to give to save-converted Muslim nations in Spain. Like the Berber Idea Set that Morocco, Tunisia, etc. share.
You see me now a veteran of the Chomksy/Zizek wars I've been living on the edge so long Where the winds of limbo roar And I'm young enough to look at And far too old to see All the scars are on the inside I'm not sure if there's anything left of me
Don't let these shakes go on It's time we had a break from it It's time we had some leave We've been living in the flames We've been eating up our brains Oh, please don't let theses shakes go on
You ask me why I'm weary, why I can't speak to you You blame me for my silence Say it's time I changed and grew But the war's still going on dear And there's no end that I know And I can't say if we're ever... I can't say if we're ever gonna to be free
Don't let these shakes go on It's time we had a break from it It's time we had some leave We've been living in the flames We've been eating out our brains Oh, please don't let theses shakes go on
You see me now a veteran of the Chomksy/Zizek wars My energy's spent at last And my armor is destroyed I have used up all my weapons and I'm helpless and bereaved Wounds are all I'm made of Did I hear you say that this is victory?
Don't let these shakes go on It's time we had a break from it Send me to the rear Where the tides of madness swell And been sliding into hell Oh, please don't let shakes go on Don't let these shakes go on Don't let these shakes go on
Yeah, Freud had a lot of problems but he made a real contribution in that he opened up the possibility of studying the human mind systematically. None of his specific ideas are still valid today (in particular, I think people still take his concept of the unconscious mind too seriously), but he deserves credit for being a pioneer and popularizing talk therapy, which is still effective and in use in various forms today.
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
heh, I would probably still have inequality-godzilla as my url if someone hadn't pointed out that it broke all my links and I was feeling too lazy to change them.
Kinder Surprise, one of the most popular chocolate products on sale all around Central Europe, are empty egg shells made of chocolate and wrapped up in brightly colored foil; after one unwraps the egg and cracks the chocolate shell open, one finds in it a small plastic toy (or small parts from which a toy is to be put together). A child who buys this chocolate egg often nervously unwraps it and immediately breaks the chocolate, not bothering to eat it at first and worrying only about the toy in the center. Is such a chocolate-lover not a perfect case of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan’s dictum “I love you, but, inexplicably, I love something in you more than yourself, and, therefore, I destroy you”? And, effectively, is this toy not l’objet petita at its purest, the small object filling in the central void of our desire, the hidden treasure,agalma, in the center of the thing we desire?
This material void in the center, of course, stands for the structural gap on account of which no product is “really it,” no product lives up to the expectations that it elicits. In other words, the small plastic toy is not simply different than chocolate (the product we bought); while materially different, it fills in the gap in chocolate itself, i.e., it operates on the same surface as the chocolate. As we know already from Marx, the commodity is a mysterious entity full of theological caprices, a particular object satisfying a particular need, but it is at the same time also the promise of “something more,” of an unfathomable enjoyment whose true location is fantasy. All advertising addresses this fantasmatic space (“If you drink X, you will experience not just a drink, but also...”). And the plastic toy is the result of a risky strategy of directly materializing, rendering visible, this mysterious excess: “If you eat our chocolate, you will not just eat a chocolate, but also have a (totally useless) plastic toy.” The Kinder egg thus provides the formula for all the products which promise “more” (“buy a DVD player and get 5 DVDs for free,” or, in an even more direct form, more of the same—“buy this toothpaste and get one third more for free”), not to mention the standard Coke bottle trick (“look on the inside of the metal tab and you may find that you are the winner of a prize, from another free Coke to a brand new car”). The function of this “more” is to fill in the lack of a “less,” to compensate for the fact that, by definition, a merchandise never delivers on its (fantasmatic) promise. In other words, the ultimate “true” merchandise would be the one which would not need any supplement, the one which would simply fully deliver what it promises—“you get what you paid for, neither less nor more.”1
Comments
Also a psychologist: Noam Chomsky.
i did express concerns about him to the disciplinary office
PROF. DR. FREUD
Dear Mrs [Erased],
I gather from your letter that your son is a homosexual. I am most impressed by the fact that you do not mention this term yourself in your information about him. May I question you why you avoid it? Homosexuality is assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation; it cannot be classified as an illness; we consider it to be a variation of the sexual function, produced by a certain arrest of sexual development. Many highly respectable individuals of ancient and modern times have been homosexuals, several of the greatest men among them. (Plato, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, etc). It is a great injustice to persecute homosexuality as a crime – and a cruelty, too. If you do not believe me, read the books of Havelock Ellis.
By asking me if I can help, you mean, I suppose, if I can abolish homosexuality and make normal heterosexuality take its place. The answer is, in a general way we cannot promise to achieve it. In a certain number of cases we succeed in developing the blighted germs of heterosexual tendencies, which are present in every homosexual in the majority of cases it is no more possible. It is a question of the quality and the age of the individual. The result of treatment cannot be predicted.
What analysis can do for your son runs on a different line. If he is unhappy, neurotic, torn by conflicts, inhibited in his social life, analysis may bring him harmony, peace of mind, full efficiency, whether he remains a homosexual or gets changed. If you make up your mind he should have analysis with me — I don't expect you will — he has to come over to Vienna. I have no intention of leaving here. However, don't neglect to give me your answer.
Sincerely yours with best wishes,
Freud
P.s. I did not find it difficult to read your handwriting. Hope you will not find my writing and my English a harder task.
As far as i'm aware he's just an extremely important linguist, and one of the foremost speakers for the academic left.
Mendel did actual research and actual work, that lead to significant results. Mendel contributed and was doing actual learning and increasing the sum of human knowledge. Mendel was a fantastic example of what a scholar, or a natural philosopher, or what a scientist (though that term has been much degraded by today) should do.
Don't be comparing him to Freud. That gives Freud way, way, way too much credit.
the way he explains this is so great, so deadpan
I even "sampled" it in you-know-what
He also said a lot that was erroneous, dishonest or downright stupid, unfortunately.
Wisdom is something I never would expect from Freud. Cleverness, certainly; but not wisdom-Ludwig Wittgenstein.
You see me now a veteran of the Chomksy/Zizek wars I've been living on the edge so long Where the winds of limbo roar And I'm young enough to look at And far too old to see All the scars are on the inside I'm not sure if there's anything left of me
Don't let these shakes go on It's time we had a break from it It's time we had some leave We've been living in the flames We've been eating up our brains Oh, please don't let theses shakes go on
You ask me why I'm weary, why I can't speak to you You blame me for my silence Say it's time I changed and grew But the war's still going on dear And there's no end that I know And I can't say if we're ever... I can't say if we're ever gonna to be free
Don't let these shakes go on It's time we had a break from it It's time we had some leave We've been living in the flames We've been eating out our brains Oh, please don't let theses shakes go on
You see me now a veteran of the Chomksy/Zizek wars My energy's spent at last And my armor is destroyed I have used up all my weapons and I'm helpless and bereaved Wounds are all I'm made of Did I hear you say that this is victory?
Don't let these shakes go on It's time we had a break from it Send me to the rear Where the tides of madness swell And been sliding into hell Oh, please don't let shakes go on Don't let these shakes go on Don't let these shakes go on
:(
It was a very specific amount of laziness.
walla walla bing bang
Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day are two of the greats.
it's just that no one sells them because honestly, they're kinda hard to market.
Kinder Surprise, one of the most popular chocolate products on sale all around Central Europe, are empty egg shells made of chocolate and wrapped up in brightly colored foil; after one unwraps the egg and cracks the chocolate shell open, one finds in it a small plastic toy (or small parts from which a toy is to be put together). A child who buys this chocolate egg often nervously unwraps it and immediately breaks the chocolate, not bothering to eat it at first and worrying only about the toy in the center. Is such a chocolate-lover not a perfect case of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan’s dictum “I love you, but, inexplicably, I love something in you more than yourself, and, therefore, I destroy you”? And, effectively, is this toy not l’objet petita at its purest, the small object filling in the central void of our desire, the hidden treasure,agalma, in the center of the thing we desire?
This material void in the center, of course, stands for the structural gap on account of which no product is “really it,” no product lives up to the expectations that it elicits. In other words, the small plastic toy is not simply different than chocolate (the product we bought); while materially different, it fills in the gap in chocolate itself, i.e., it operates on the same surface as the chocolate. As we know already from Marx, the commodity is a mysterious entity full of theological caprices, a particular object satisfying a particular need, but it is at the same time also the promise of “something more,” of an unfathomable enjoyment whose true location is fantasy. All advertising addresses this fantasmatic space (“If you drink X, you will experience not just a drink, but also...”). And the plastic toy is the result of a risky strategy of directly materializing, rendering visible, this mysterious excess: “If you eat our chocolate, you will not just eat a chocolate, but also have a (totally useless) plastic toy.” The Kinder egg thus provides the formula for all the products which promise “more” (“buy a DVD player and get 5 DVDs for free,” or, in an even more direct form, more of the same—“buy this toothpaste and get one third more for free”), not to mention the standard Coke bottle trick (“look on the inside of the metal tab and you may find that you are the winner of a prize, from another free Coke to a brand new car”). The function of this “more” is to fill in the lack of a “less,” to compensate for the fact that, by definition, a merchandise never delivers on its (fantasmatic) promise. In other words, the ultimate “true” merchandise would be the one which would not need any supplement, the one which would simply fully deliver what it promises—“you get what you paid for, neither less nor more.”1