Amazing the impact a title or a uniform can have....
""One hundred years ago, on October 16th, 1906, a German impostor named Wilhelm Voigt masqueraded as a Prussian military officer. He had purchased parts of used captain's uniforms from two different shops. In the Berlin district of Koepenick he went to the local army barracks, stopped four grenadiers and a sergeant on their way back to barracks and told them to come with him. Indoctrinated to obey officers without question, they followed. He dismissed the commanding sergeant to report to his superiors and later commandeered 6 more grenadiers from a shooting range. Then he took the soldiers to the Köpenick city hall and told them to cover all exits".". Source
This came to mind when skimming an article a piece of bilge penned by 'Clinical psychologist Oliver James' over at the BBC site. James thinks that ""selfish capitalism" (the kind of capitalism we have in Britain) is making us sick. Literally"....The citizens of selfish capitalist countries are twice as likely to suffer from a mental illness as the citizens of countries in mainland western Europe, which practise 'unselfish capitalism'".
The thesis scarcely deserves to be fisked, and moreover I lack the energy / inclination to do so. For now, I will highlight the Post hoc ergo propter hoc and cum hoc ergo propter hoc fallacies. However, note that 'Clinical psychologist Oliver James' is not some sort of academic medic ensconced in an ivory tower, but rather a highly political animal: "Whilst Jack Straw was Home Secretary he provided ‘blue skies thinking’ every six weeks at The Home Secretary’s Lunches. He currently performs the same role for the Tory party".
Should the latter be true, there is one very large Cuculus canorus in the nest, as James' own site has some links
- but only to the New Economics Foundation and to Compass Online, both very much of the hard left.
This came to mind when skimming an article a piece of bilge penned by 'Clinical psychologist Oliver James' over at the BBC site. James thinks that ""selfish capitalism" (the kind of capitalism we have in Britain) is making us sick. Literally"....The citizens of selfish capitalist countries are twice as likely to suffer from a mental illness as the citizens of countries in mainland western Europe, which practise 'unselfish capitalism'".
The thesis scarcely deserves to be fisked, and moreover I lack the energy / inclination to do so. For now, I will highlight the Post hoc ergo propter hoc and cum hoc ergo propter hoc fallacies. However, note that 'Clinical psychologist Oliver James' is not some sort of academic medic ensconced in an ivory tower, but rather a highly political animal: "Whilst Jack Straw was Home Secretary he provided ‘blue skies thinking’ every six weeks at The Home Secretary’s Lunches. He currently performs the same role for the Tory party".
Should the latter be true, there is one very large Cuculus canorus in the nest, as James' own site has some links
- but only to the New Economics Foundation and to Compass Online, both very much of the hard left.
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on Thursday, January 17, 2008 at 1:43 pm.
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Wondered why I was mentally ill.
"Der Hauptmann von Köpenick" was a wonderful German film which I saw probably in the 1950s.
Highly recommended.
The man did this because he could not get past officialdom - he needed papers to get a job, but he needed a job to get the papers, or some sililar catch22.
Perhaps he is reincarnated as a long-suffering English person ... ?
Alan Douglas
At first I thought the difference could be the food, but then I remebred Germany.
James - Nice of the good 'doctor' to explain, eh?
Alan - I'll keep an eye out for it.
CF - The long suffering Germans, eh?
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