Mystic Babies were made by Mega in the late 2000s, targeted towards young girls above 4 years of age. These fancy plastic dragon toys were a wonder for their egg-cellent design concept! Today we’ll be discussing this toy line that didn’t last the test of time…
Mystic babies were a series of plastic baby dragons with brush-able hair. Each dragon would come with its own egg that you could open to transform into a playset. Their tagline was “Discover the secret world of baby dragons!”
Initially, when watching Tár you may be tempted to compare it to a fictional biopic. After all, it follows the story of a highly successful woman in music, highlights her passion, and is dramatic! It may even remind you a bit of Whiplash or Black Swan, as these movies also follow an obsessed artist with a crumbling psyche. (If you’re interested in this type of genre I would highly suggest watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba-CB6wVuvQ).
But I think Tár is different.
While Black Swan’s protagonist believes her suffering was ‘worth it’ because she ‘was perfect’ and Whiplash’s protagonist finally gains approval and a chance to showcase his hard work, Tár’s main character Lydia just keeps devolving into an abusive figure.
When we’re introduced to Lydia she’s already at the top of her career and seems to have it all. She has awards, a dream job, a family, and is climbing up the music world’s political chain. But throughout the film, her actions become her downfall.
So, I want to discuss my thoughts on this film because it still gnaws at my brain since I watched it in the cinemas all the way back in early February of 2023 (yes, Australia still gets some films super late).
Firstly, we should read this extract from What “Tár” Knows About the Artist as Abuser by Tavi Gevinson (published November 24, 2022):
Of all the disturbing scenes in “Tár,” Todd Field’s movie about the downfall of a world-famous conductor, I was most haunted by a frame of the titular character laughing. Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) is driving a young cellist named Olga home from a private rehearsal in Lydia’s apartment. By this point in the film, we have spent nearly two hours closely observing the artistic rigor, tasteful luxury, and careful self-promotion that characterize Lydia’s daily life. Her movements are agile and precise. Her words hang in the air, sonorous with authority. She appears to possess the inner peace of someone with a steady spiritual practice, and invokes Jewish mysticism to discuss her work as an interpreter of music. She is also egomaniacal and inaccessible, and she evades accountability in even the most trivial interactions. At home with her partner and her grade-school-aged daughter, who addresses her as Lydia, she often seems to be somewhere else. The audience, too, is held at arm’s length; we know more about Lydia’s professional credits than about her origin story. She does not fit the mold of an openly tyrannical boss or an irate, bullish tycoon. She is, more chillingly, able to control her surroundings through the artful subtlety of a cold stare, a warm hand, or the rebuffing of a too-needy request. By the time she drives Olga home, Lydia’s worse transgressions are catching up with her. She seems to have a habit of taking her young female acolytes as lovers, and now a jilted former mentee, Krista, has died by suicide. But Olga, sitting shotgun in Lydia’s car, is rosy-cheeked, disarmingly unmannered, holding a stuffed animal. She playfully pushes the toy in Lydia’s face and laughs. Lydia, caught off guard, laughs back.
Watching her mask momentarily fall, I felt a flash of recognition. This was the expression of temporary abandon I’d seen on the faces of male artists enlivened by relationships with younger women. It was not simply the face of a predator seeking renewal from young flesh but the face of an older artist suffering a creative impasse and therefore an identity crisis. Through the attentions of an unjaded young woman, the artist momentarily recoups a lost memory of unbridled joy. You can see a version of this face on Woody Allen’s comedy-writer character in “Manhattan,” beside himself at the childlike wisdom of Tracy, the seventeen-year-old he makes his girlfriend. You can imagine it, reading Joyce Maynard’s memoir “At Home in the World,” when a fiftysomething J. D. Salinger tells the prodigal author, then nineteen years old, “You know too much for your age. Either that, or I just know too little for mine.” Both of those works feature men telling young women how corrupted they will be by the outside world, and by their creative fields in particular. The men don’t acknowledge that they, too, are corrupting forces. Perhaps, however unconsciously, they even relish the chance to be the first. I recognize the face from my own life, from situations in which I felt chosen, thanks in part to works like “Manhattan,” which make the exchange between a teen girl’s youthful energy and an older man’s knowledge seem as symbiotic as any relationship found in nature.
The face on Lydia is tragic, because it suggests that, at the apex of her career, she can surrender to unselfconscious expression only through interactions tinged with predation. Conducting has become inextricable from her sexually charged relationships with members of her orchestra, and from the godlike power she feels at the podium. Describing the feeling in a staged interview with The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik (playing himself), Lydia says, of her role as a conductor, “You cannot start without me. I start the clock.” Through conducting, she can stop time, reset it, accelerate it. She can also ignore phone calls, delete incriminating e-mails, lie to her family, obstruct careers, manipulate institutions, change her name, and create, as artists do, something that didn’t really exist before: Lydia Tár. She’s crafted herself in the image of great men, and insists that her gender hasn’t inhibited her career in any way. When intimidating her child’s bully in the schoolyard, she introduces herself as “Petra’s father.” By creating a character who can’t be written off as another predictably problematic man, “Tár” draws our attention to how Lydia learned to become one. And, by following Lydia closely, the film relieves the audience of a neurotic cultural obsession with the artistic legacies of real-life powerful figures, focussing instead on their tools. In lieu of asking “Can you separate the art from the artist?” or “But what will happen to these poor, bad men?,” “Tár” asks, “What does power look like, feel like, not only within an institution but within an individual psyche?”
I think this is a wonderful interpretation of the film, however, I think there is another lens from which we can view Lydia’s character. While I agree with the first paragraph regarding Lydia’s actions, from the second paragraph onwards Gevinson interprets Lydia as a rather tragic character.
My own interpretation is less heroic and less grand though. I believe that the film can instead be easily explained, and lacks greater meaning. This is because Lydia’s actions can easily be chalked up to her just being on the anti-social personality disorder (ASPD) spectrum.
ASPD is a mental health disorder characterised by disregard for other people. Those with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) may begin to show symptoms in childhood, but the condition can’t be diagnosed until adolescence or adulthood.
Those with ASPD sorder tend to lie, break laws, act impulsively, lack regard for their safety or the safety of others, lack a sense of guilt, show no remorse for their behaviour, antagonise others, and manipulate or treat others harshly or with blunt indifference.
It is important to note that ASPD is a spectrum. For example, there are psychology studies suggest that people with ASPD who are caught violating crimes usually have lower IQs and come from abusive backgrounds. They also usually lack self-awareness and genuinely believe they are better than others. People with ASPD who are in high-level corporate roles usually come from an educated/privileged background though. They are more aware of how to manipulate others and have a single-minded determination that they use to their advantage to better their career. Then, people with ASPD who have a higher IQ and high level of self-awareness may tend to have depression and suicidal tendencies, and they can’t ‘fix’ what is ‘wrong’ with themselves.
But enough about ASPD. I shouldn’t dive too deep into the topic because it’s very under-understood and misunderstood by the general public due to fictional media, and academics don’t have many volunteers with ASPD jumping at the chance to be involved in research (either because they don’t realise they may have ASPD, or they realise they do and therefore don’t want to participate due to stigma).
One of the perhaps more accurate representations of ASPD in a person who is considered ‘well functioning’ in society is Brad Pitt’s character in Ad Astra. This character from the beginning of the film narrates how he feels a lack of adrenaline in adrenaline-inducing activities, always reacts logically, and doesn’t panic.
Lydia showcases many traits of someone with ASPD. She likes to be authoritative and in control of all types of situations. She frequently cheats on her wife, is very concerned with appearance, lies easily, manipulates well, and only becomes distraught when her child is taken away from her when she cannot control the situation. People with ASPD can also tend to hyperfocus, such as how Lydia’s main goal is to prepare for the concert and nothing else matters in her life and can be ignored until the concert is finished.
Lydia also, in my opinion, shows no sign of an identity crisis. She’s always in charge and likes to be controlling the situation. She purposefully doesn’t tell her wife that she’s stealing her pills, she lets her wife ignore her affairs, and she doesn’t seem enlivened by young artists. Instead, she’s interested when she wants to pursue them sexually. She doesn’t struggle with the ethics of her actions, and is only upset by the consequences when things don’t turn out her way.
While this idea is probably much less interesting than Gevinson’s, I don’t think that Tár requires such deep thought if you don’t want it to. Perhaps it can just be viewed as the story of a woman whose actions have consequences.
What do you think?
Pinki Lili is a pink bear character from Sanrio. She was a US-exclusive character who was featured on the Sanrio English website between 2006 and 2006. But is there more to her?
She was a US-exclusive character, as she was never featured on Sanrio’s Japanese site or any other international Sanrio sites. There’s also no evidence that her merch was sold outside of the US either.
She does have a Wikifanpage on the Hello Kitty Wiki, with the sources all being listed as: her character page (which can be seen on archive.org), and the 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015 Happy Birthday announcements for her on the Hello Kitty blog. They show she’s a bear with pink fur, her birthday is March 22, and she has a friend who is a bee character named Boo Bee.
On a 2016 Sanrio Facebook post I found, it also states that she adores cherry blossoms.
So, let’s begin the deep dive…
What would cause a mass riot in the Tokyo Dome, designed for a 55,000 person capacity? Well, a poorly executed Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament of course!
Casting our time travel machines back to 1999, Konami and Yu-Gi-Oh! were having a massive year. By a massive year, I mean by August they had held/released: 2 national tournaments, 2 starter boxes, 3 volume packs, 3 books, 3 character packs, 4 booster packs, a national raffle, 2 video games, and 3 books.
But when it came time to hold their 3rd national tournament, the Duellist Legend at Tokyo Dome tournament, everything went wrong.
Konami had announced that a special ‘Premium Pack I’ would be available to purchase at the tournament, and it was never being re-released! It even included the final piece of Exodia that collectors needed.
Konami underestimated how many people would attend this tournament, especially after they changed the entrance requirements. According in a 1999 LA times article written by Mark Magnifer and Times Staff Writer with Makiko Inoue in the Times, Tokyo Bureau said Konami was only expecting 40,000 people to show up. Instead 65,000 people showed up…
1. Inasa is 190cm tall, his blood type is B, and he was born in Yamanashi Prefecture. His character profile from volume 12 reveals he likes “hot blood,” and that Horikoshi says his hero costume is very hard to draw.
2. Inasa’s surname Yoarashi contains the kanji for “night” (夜 yo) and “storm” (嵐 arashi). His first name Inasa (イナサ) is written in katakana and therefore doesn’t have an accurate kanji reading, but his name may refer to the strong winds that Japan experiences during typhoon season.
Inasa’s first name could also be a reference to going from east to west in direction, which could be referencing that Inasa initially was planning on going to UA before going to Shiketsu. His name could also reference something called the Coriolis effect, which causes prevailing winds (winds that blow from a single direction over a specific area of the Earth) in the Northern Hemisphere which flows east to west.
3. Inasa’s Japanese voice actor is Ryota Iwasaki, who is also known for his roles as Suruga Hamamatsu in Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion the Animation and Heishi and Chosa-hei in Attack on Titan.
Inasa’s English voice actor is Matt Shipman, and Matt also voices Mr Brave (the Pro Hero with the Quirk Hair-Raiser with the blue, yellow and red costume), Sen Kaibara (the UA Class 1-B student with the Quirk Gyrate with the white hero costume with the funky grey and blue diagonally striped pants) and Takeshita (the Pro Hero with the green costume whose a former classmate of Danjuro Tobita/Gentle/Gentle Criminal) for My Hero Academia.
Matt is also known for his roles as Chrome in Dr Stone, Floch in Attack on Titan, Kazuma Hokao in 2.43 Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley Bu, Alecdora in Black Clover, Nanatsuki in Tokunana, Nao in Stars Align, Hajime in Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Takeda in Boogiepop and Others, Greenhorn Warrior in Goblin Slayer, Byakuya in Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits, Hiro in Darling in the Franxx, Julian Mintz in Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These, Teruaki Nagata in Osama Game, Shay Obsidian in Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V, and Kazuya Kujo in Gosick.
4. Horikoshi has a previous work called Oumagadoki Zoo. He has a character whose called Isana, which is very similar to Inasa’s name. Isana from Oumagadoki Zoo’s design and personality also ended up being used for the character Curator, featured in My Hero Academia: Clash! Hereos Battle. Isana himself and his personality was also used by Horikoshi has the initial base concept for Overhaul/Kai Chisaki.
5. According to the Ultra Analysis Book, Inasa’s stats are:
Power 5/6 (A)
Speed 5/6 (A-)
Technique 5/6 (A+)
Wits 2/6 (D-)
Vocal Volume 6/6 (S)
Ellen Van Neerven’s poem “The Wheel” from Heat and Light makes use of literary techniques such as imagery, tone, and point of view to explore themes of place and identity. This allows for the poem to create a sense of disconnection but ends in a hopeful tone.
The first stanza creates imagery as detailed descriptions are given such as, “Stephanie’s hand stuck in mine. I looked in her eyes, and saw the red lids” (Van Neerven, line 1). This imagery is present throughout the poem to create vivid details about the area readers can envision. This allows for the youth of Grace and the persona’s relationship to showcase how they feel about indigenous women’s struggles and the disconnect they feel between this place and their identity.
The prose is used to show off imagery that showcases the point of view in the poem. The longer lines used in the poem allow the author to investigate their ideas and give more vivid descriptions to develop tension. The stanzas are each broken up in disconnect with different ideas. The first stanza contains thoughts about the disconnect between their identity and place with regards to indigenous women’s struggles, the second focuses upon their missing mother and how this furthers their sense of disconnect, the third is grounded in reality by descriptions of the area and their negative thoughts, and the fourth returns to thoughts as the persona shifts to a more hopeful note about their disconnect between identity and place.
This is further evident as the poet describes: “Women at Ceremony travelled the same journey each year and Ceremony with each other – didn’t know if I was on the ancestral track” (Van Neerven, lines 2-3). Prose also allows in the second stanza for readers to gain insight into how the persona feels about their mother and how they feel her presence and miss her; regretting their choice to leave and the subsequent disconnect they feel between the place she is currently in and her identity.
Similes are also used to showcase a shift in tone. The tone shifts in the third stanza – going from describing Stephanie as a “weight” on the persona’s back and describing “a giant spiderweb” (a trap), until the third line where the voice shifts to describe themself as an adult in a sailboat, “sails raised against the sun,” and reflects upon their feelings of community/connection between place and identity and a “new part that like home” (Van Neerven, lines 10, 14, 17). This simile provides vivid imagery and shifts to end on a hopeful tone.
Hanahaki Disease is a fictional disease in which a person will cough up flower petals when they are experiencing unrequited love. The disease doesn’t end until their love is romantically requited, or when the victim dies from the disease. Often, there is also an alternative to removing the disease via surgery with the consequence of having their feelings removed.
Origin
The word Hanahaki comes from the Japanese words words “hana” (花) meaning “flower”, and “hakimasu” (吐きます) meaning “to throw up.” The disease originated from a 2009 Japanese shoujo manga (meaning its target audience was 8 to 18-year-old girls) called Hanahaki Otome (in English titled The Girl Who Spit Flowers) across 3 volumes by Noaka Matsuda.
In Hanahaki Otome, the protagonist is a teenage girl called Katsuki who experiences heartbreak. She begins to suffer from a slow and painful disease that began with sharp pains in her chest. While it seems like she’s suffering from ‘normal’ heartache physical ailments that’s similar to mild depression, the disease slowly turns into experiencing stomach pains and then vomiting.
She begins coughing up flower petals. Eventually, she reaches the worse peak of the disease when she coughs up an entire flower. She is immediately diagnosed with Hanahaki Disease but unfortunately dies from the disease.
With regards to the origin of Hanahaki Disease, among East Asian fandoms, the concept of flower regurgitation however is said to have existed prior to this manga. These origins are unknown.
The Hanahaki trope was popularised first in East Asian fandoms among Korea, Japan and China before spreading to western audiences. It is most common in fandom, especially in M/M pairings.
Its most popular tags include angst, hurt/comfort, hurt/no comfort, pining, etc. Hanahaki Disease features across a range of media including fanart, poetry, songs, music, videos and more, with fanfiction being its most popular medium.
Interestingly, in 2017 the Korean webtoon Spring in Heart by Bboong was nominated as the 2nd Prize winner of Lezhin’s 3rd World Comic Contest but was disqualified because it utilised Hanahaki disease. Turns out, you Bboong in a translated statement said, “I did not know that the Hanahaki disease was a fictional concept with property rights owned by the original creator.” It’s believed Bboong is referencing Hanahaki Otome.
In 2017 as well, tags and mentions about of the disease gained a massive increase on social media sites like A03 and Reddit, which further popularised the disease.
Popularity
There is a myriad of reasons why Hanahaki Disease is a popular trope – from the romantically tragic and angst potential, and also the horrific beauty of a trail of bloody, beautiful flowers.
TV Tropes’ entry on the disease states: “This trope is popular because it has a lot of melodramatic angst potential, while also being pretty. Death by Hanahaki Disease is tragic but beautiful. The victim is killed from within by something as beautiful as flowers… They’ll leave behind trails of bloody flowers, which are both horrific and aesthetically pleasing.”
Because this is a fictional disease, many creators will put their own spin on the concept as well. Some popular alternatives to the surgical removal removing feelings include that the person may forget about the one they had feelings for, or they become incapable of feeling any emotions towards their loved one.
This is possible because the flowers tend to act like a parasite. Many creators will also utilise flower symbolism (particularly in western fandoms, while eastern fandoms tend to use cherry blossoms), and explore not only romantic love but also platonic or parental.
How a person dies from the disease is they begin coughing up flower petals, then they progress to vomiting up entire flowers. As the flowers grow either: the person will die by choking on the entire flowers, or the flowers will take root in their lungs and this will choke them with the roots and entire flowers.
Additionally, creators will add symptoms such as fever, depression, loss of appetite, shaking, hallucinations and low body temperature. In some works, a person will also experience inner tearing of their lungs, throat, and mouth as some flowers (such as roses which have thorns) cut their internal anatomy. Even if the Hanahaki Disease is cured, the lungs can be permanently damaged.
Could Hanahaki Be Real?
While the real-life emotional and mental pain of heartache can manifest into physical ailments like nausea, fatigue, and depression, Hanahaki Disease has also been compared to non-fictional diseases such as Sporotichosis and Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy.
Sporotichosis (nicknamed the ‘rose gardener disease) is compared to Hanahaki because it involves plant matter that enters a cut and settles under the skin, infecting someone.
It’s an infection caused by the fungus Sporothrix. The fungus lives in soil and on plants like moss, roses bushes and hay. If someone comes in contact with the Sporothrix fungal spores they can get this disease. This disease is most commonly a skin infection where the fungus ends up entering a person’s skin via a laceration when someone comes in content with the Sporothrix spore.
Symptoms will vary depending on where the fungus is growing in/on the body. The most common location is hands or arms. The infection affects the skin and/or tissues underneath the skin. For most people, their first symptom is a small and painless pink, red or purple bump on their skin. This is where the fungus has entered the skin.
The bump will keep growing and will look similar to an open sore or ulcer and heals very slowly. Additional bumps can appear around the original one as well. Rarely, people also can experience lung ailments such as cough, shortness of breath, chest pain and/or fever. If the joints are also affected by this disease, the symptoms and disease can be confused with rheumatoid arthritis. If the central nervous system is also infected, people can experience headaches, difficulty thinking, and even seizures.
Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy (also known as ‘broken heart syndrome’ or ‘stress cardiomyopathy’) is compared to Hanahaki because it is a response to intense emotional or physical experiences, such as the loss of a loved one.
Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy is a temporary heart condition in which the heart’s main pumping chamber changes shape. This negatively affects the heart’s ability to pump blood around your body.
The most common abnormality of this condition is ballooning of the lower part of the left ventricle. During contraction, the ballooned ventricle will look like a tako-tsubo. A tako-tsubo is a pot used by Japanese fishermen to trap octopuses. From tako-tsubo, this condition received its name.
The most common triggers for this condition are the death of a loved one, a serious accident, unexpected loss, sudden illness, or stressful triggers such as extreme arguments. The condition most commonly affects older women, however, can occur at any age among any sex.
Symptoms include sudden chest pain, fainting and shortness of breath. They appear very similar to a heart attack. Usually, this condition is assumed to be a heart attack until a doctor has tests done to rule out a heart attack to confirm a diagnosis. Usually, tests performed include:
1. She’s about 260-300cm tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She also has an unnamed fox Quirk that makes her fur green with a white furry underbelly.
2. Her name is Ordinary Woman in English and Ippan Josei (meaning Ordinary Woman) in Japanese
3. Horikoshi said in her character profile that he designed her to leave a lasting impression among his audience, and he also said that she is the cutest character in the history of MHA
4. Her Japanese voice actress is Minori Suzuki (also known for her roles as Dianet in I’m Quitting Heroing, Rosina in Ascendance of a Bookworm, and provides vocals as well opening theme in I’m Quitting Heroing and the ending theme of Magical Sempai).
Her English voice actress is Brianna Robers (also known for her roles as Kayoko Huang in Fire Force, Miranjo in Ranking of Kings, Machi’s mother in Fruit’s Basket, and Charlotte Galette in One Piece). Brianna also another character in MHA – Toga’s mother.
5. She debuted in Chapter 310 of the manga and Episode 133 of the anime. She actually though so far has appeared in two arcs of MHA – the Dark Hero Arc and UA Traitor Arc.
In the Dark Hero Arc she is introduced when Deku saves her before she goes to the UA shelter. She is then seen in this arc again when Deku returns to UA, as she runs to him with Kota when Deku returns.
In the UA Traitor Arc she also appears when Class 1-A is leaving UA, as she’s shaking Shoji’s hand and saying goodbye to him.
Shastra Deo’s poem “The Boxer’s Son (3)” from The Agonist makes use of a distinct poetic persona to explore grief through the gruesome physicality of the body. In this close reading, I explore how Deo creates meaning between these two ideas by creating vivid imagery and making use of word choice, assonance, and stanzas.
Deo makes use of spaces between stanzas separated by the symbol ‘*.’ It is used to indicate separation between stanzas which each tell of a separate time throughout the boxer’s son’s life. This distinct separation causes a sense of fragmentation, highlighting the agony that the persona feels throughout the poem due to their fragmented memories.
Use of free form also highlights the persona’s grief by letting their thoughts wonder throughout the poem. For example, the first stanza uses 4-8 syllables per line, the second 2-10, and the third 4-13, meaning that there is little pattern. The second stanza also shifts to having its last line only containing two syllables/one word, “again,” followed immediately by longest line which is found in the third stanza, first line which contains 13 syllables (Deo, line 18-19).
However, these thoughts and varied line lengths are pulled together in coherence by assonance to create a hard rhythm sound and imagery such as with lines including, “Rasp/dry,” “shake/winces,” “blood under my fingernails,” and, “gnarled and knotted/twisted” (Deo, lines 16, 17, 22).
Additionally, in the first stanza a tactile sense of body is created as the persona describes themselves, “Sitting atop his shoulders” (Deo, line 2). The persona makes use of vivid imagery to show how the boxer held his legs like a “steel trap” to grasp on something that was already lost (Deo, line 6).
Physicality is further foregrounded as the persona focuses upon the boxer’s face and hands, his blood and sutures, “I pull the needle through/his cheek, dirt and grease trapped/in the stitching of his wounds,” and, “shaking and winces,” “laughing as blood will be under my fingernails again” (Deo, lines 11-13, 16, 16-17).
This graphic medical imagery has a dark voice that showcases a tactile reality the persona experienced. The medical body and the persona’s interiority portray agony and grief at the violence that he lived through; while also showcasing the deeper pain he experiences.
In the final stanza, the boxer is dead and grief is highlighted in the final line especially. Deo choices to use the words, “Spreading salt on the earth” (Deo, line 26). This references how salt on the earth causes plants to die such as the leaves they describe in the stanza. This finalises the persona’s grief as they are cursed and left with a dead world and dead heart.
In the Oxford Handbook of Political Ideologies: Conservatism edited by Michael Freeden and Marc Steras, keywords include:
• Human malleability – the idea that humans can be influenced/manipulated.
• Limited politics – the idea that the government should be limited in its power.
• Reactionary school – political ideas that want to return to a previously existing state.
• Radical school – the want for an extreme change to either a part or whole existing system.
• Moderate school – being ‘moderate’ within the spectrum of political ideas.
• New Right school – conservative policies from parties post-Soviet Union collapse.
In this reading, it is argued that conservatism defends limited politics, with different schools of conservatism theorising different concepts of how and what to limit the government’s power over. The reading examines if each school has a coherent argument for the defence of limited politics.
I believe that the reading is persuasive because it fulfils its aim to examine each school’s defence of limited politics. For example, the modern school offers a positive alternative to the current incoherence within conservatism schools’ defence – as the modern school defends against the belief that conservatism has to hold optimistic beliefs about political action being able to transform society and bring unity under a parliament that will be subscribed to.
The reading explores varied ideas to support its arguments, such as Muller van den Bruck’s goal for peace and order; Carlyle’s idea to get rid of parliaments in favour of leadership that bridges the nation’s goals and its citizens’ spiritual values; and Hayek’s emphasis on custom and tradition, rather than planning, as the way to ‘force’ social order among citizens.
To summarise the argument, the reading discusses what remains relevant in schools of conservatism for each’s defence. What remains relevant in organic school is the idea of one nation that is compassionate and fair with welfare; the liberal strand of the conservative idea of civil association if relevant, as it’s used with a constitutional commitment to checks on power; what is relevant in New Right is the acceptance of the need to encourage economic productivity.
The reading concludes that linking these three schools together is a critique of conservatism’s exaggeration of human malleability and ability to reshape social order, and the idea of treating the power of the state as a being that can be transformed into a changeable and effective instrument to promote well-being can be cohesive and help reshape social order.
Walking away from this text, unfortunately, I’m still not sure exactly how the argument that rationalism links together with conservatism is being explained. Initially, I had been thinking of rationalism as a framework based upon following a method to determine how to govern a society, however, I don’t how the schools’ policies critique rationalism that is mentioned in the reading. I am unable to find any accessible texts expanding upon the idea online either.
Perhaps then I have totally misunderstood? If any explanation can be provided (in a nice, ‘easy to understand even when you’re running on low fumes’ manner), I would greatly appreciate it!
The Spooky Red Head Blog 