Topic awaiting preservation: argument thesis, preliminary. help? (Page 1 of 1)

I need some critique on my proposed thesis for an end-of-term argument piece. As such, in brief, in rough:


Heidegger proposed, and Sartre expounded upon, the concepts of the phenomena, appearance (appearance as projections of the phenomena) and therein the derived anxiety, bad faith, and ultimately, hope (e.g. ?Existentialism and Human Emotions,? where Sartre concludes existentialism to be an optimistic philosophy).

Sartre?s philosophies can be considered a ?symptom? of World War 2, as existentialism can be viewed as allegorical to a War/post-War Europe, and provided a philosophical system (e.g. ?Being and Nothingness?) reflecting this environment and seeking to improve it (human choice; defeating cycle of bad faith; overcoming ?anxiety?) by giving man direct control of his environment and values for better or for worse (i.e. without a god).

This pattern of thought gripped both European and American society and was a main factor (? Please let it be ?) in the post-bellum and Cold War mien of improving society, especially in the societal underground, and in politics, for the betterment of America. A sense of human responsibility (freedom) provided values which provided reason and hope.

Sept. 11 was the first major tragedy to strike America in two generations. America has become less ?Free? especially without some type of a priori value system, and merely become lax ? especially in forgetting about betterment of the human condition, by and large. There was no central unifying force, especially for the younger generation, the Cold War and anti-Communist sentiment aside.

Sept. 11 was a great trauma, and the resulting upsurge of patriotism and religion were merely ?appearances? (i.e. ?distortion? of the phenomenon; like appearing ?making itself known as something that does not show itself.? [?]) which acted as band aids, or escapes (bad faith, I think?I need to reread Sartre now that I understand where he was coming from, with Heidegger) not meaning to actually address the issue, but let people run from the sheet horror of it. It let them deny the tragedy, because it focused their mind elsewhere (especially patriotism as retribution).

Because this patriotism/religious upsurge affected many Americans by allowing them an escape from reality, political leaders, grasping this, could utilize patriotism to their advantage, because it so enthralled many Americans, especially in pushing the USA PATRIOT Act and NSPS reforms through. These two pieces of legislation, among others, specifically, because they draw upon popular patriotic sentiment to mask their true agendas: the Patriot Act violating civil liberties underlined in the Bill of Rights and the NSPS (National Security Personnel Act) allowing the government to cut the pay of government workers and more easily fire them (crucial to Rumsfeld?s government lay offs (?reforms?) to show how the government as ?saved money?). Additionally, the Republican party (?Rove?) harnessed patriotic sentiment moreso than the traditionally anti-imperialist Democratic party to both elect itself into the presidency and dominate the senate.


Bad, good, evil, fallacious? ehh...help...

Of course, the paper will be long, and pompous. I don?t feel like using large words tonight. They get boring, and nobody really cares.

Basically I just need to prove all that, I think, if it?s evil true in some preliminary analysis.

So basically I don't know what I'm trying to prove. Just that I was thinking about a thesis while working today, came up with this, and think maybe I might try to include some "malicious intent" into the last paragraph; or something.

And if not, maybe it will provide some discussion here?

AHA. No, I'm an idiot, that's all. Augment that sentence with "fucking," and it might closer approach the truth. I read an article in the Atlantic recently dealing with a Frenchman's retracing Tocqueville's path through America and documenting what he sees, and a section regarding patriotism made me think; especially that the modifying and underlying assumption in the above remained unexpounded, proved, and/or elaborated upon.

I went to Starbucks to outline what the essay required, and while first defining terms required to being the above paper, especially regarding existentialism, I realized that inter-relations of patriotism and existential anxiety remained unproved, in a sense. Which then led me to question if this even had any validity. So why? So I pulled out some books I'd brought along, and came up with some quotes by Arendt and Sartre on violence, government and violence, and the example of vertigo as anxiety.

Which led me to think, is patriotism a function of anxiety; in essence, a pattern of bad faith? So my new thesis is, that patriotism as a function of the existential conceptualization of anxiety, and following trauma, is likened to alcoholism or various other forms of escapism by subverting the reality of trauma into patriotism, expressed as need for and a rekindling of unity and jingoism.

Which means I need to research patriotism. I'll check the used bookstore Powell's near me, which has every book written, ever, almost, (it seems like). Any reccomendations?

Wikipedia suggests these as "further reading:"

* Bar-Tal, Daniel, and Ervin Staub. Patriotism. Wadsworth Publishing: 1999. ISBN 083041410X.
* Blattberg, Charles. From Pluralist to Patriotic Politics: Putting Practice First Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 0198296886.
* Cohen, Joshua, and Martha C. Nussbaum. For Love of Country: Debating the Limits of Patriotism. Beacon Press: 1996. ISBN 0807043133.
* Primoratz, Igor. Patriotism. Humanity Books: 2002. ISBN 1573929557.
* Viroli, Maurizio. For Love of Country: An Essay on Patriotism and Nationalism. Oxford University Press: 1997. ISBN 0198293585.
* Alasdair MacIntyre's essay on patriotism was published as a pamphlet by the Department of Philosophy of the University of Kansas and is
available in many university libraries.
* The Second World War by John Keegan (various editions; e.g. Penguin USA 1990, ISBN 014011341X) addresses the intensification of patriotic
feeling in Europe during the 19th century, and how it ultimately helped facilitate the First and the Second World Wars. Keegan also vividly
describes how Adolf Hitler used accusations of treason to help attain power.
* Treason : Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism, by Ann Coulter (Crown Forum, 2003; ISBN 1400050308) attempts to
show that liberals in America have often been disloyal to their country.


gah.

edit:

by patriotism i mean specifically the current incarnation of patriotism following 9/11, because obviously nationalism, revolution, etcetera, all inspire patriotism but as a different function.

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"Abortion clinics are like expressways to heaven."

(Edited by cfb on 04-12-2005 08:49)

"Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious." - Oscar Wilde.

(Just wanted to add that as food for thought, since you seem to be making good progress on your own. Sometimes you just need to bounce ideas off of someone or just write them down before they become clear.)

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