Dear LO'ers
Since december I struggle with a strange thought: why do enemies
create such a strong attraction so that they could create a unity?
What and where is the source of this attraction power?
Let me first give some simple examples.
Communist Soviet Union created co-creativity in the western world.
There was a strong feeling of uniteness. At present this 'enemy' has
disappeared and the unity in the western world fell apart.
Perhaps the struggle against the sea was here in the Netherlands the
attractive binding force. Water as enemy is fluid and vivid, but still
it creates a strong focal point. At present this enemy is not felt as
such and the unity in the Netherlands is far from ideal. Most people
fight the smokers among us :-)
I wonder what will happen with the unity in the minds and governments
who started the war against Irak, now Sadam Hussein is catched. Is the
unity already broken, or will that happen soon?
You could easily find many other examples.
An enemy creates a common goal and thus a strong community feeling. I
realise that a goal could be positive or negative. But according to my
experiences, an ideal as goal (positive) is a much less strong focal
point and its attraction far less as binding force than an enemy
(negative) is.
What does this imply for the concept of a LO? For most of us on this
list a LO is an ideal and after some years on this list I see that
even among us the power of co-creativity is not impressive, or at
least not strong enough to create a global movement.
Should we look for a common enemy to create a strong community?
Leo Minnigh
--"leo minnigh" <minnigh@dds.nl>
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