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In The Dialectics of Disaster: A Preface to Hope, Ronald Aronson presents the concept of "Social Madness" See below.
The concept of "rational choice" has dominated the discipline of political science; the assumption that political actors weigh "costs and benefits" in making decisions to act.
Based on the history of the 20th century--the reigns of Stalin, Hitler and Mao that consisted of monumental episodes of mass-murder including the murder of their own people--it is clear that the theory that political actors make decisions on the basis of rationality or rational choice--is itself a form of madness.
Now, we have another political reign dominated by madness. Donald Trump has not generated the murder of millions of people, but his policies or proclamations clearly reflect a form of madness or insanity. Imagine if the Super-Bowl were played and the losing coach--instead of shaking the hand of the winning coach--declared for a year after that game that his team had not lost, but actually had "won."
I am not a journalist nor a political prognosticator and I have no ability to predict what will be the results of the ongoing Trump saga.
However, it is clear that the American public at the present time is living within a discourse that smacks of madness. Society has become possessed by this madness.
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SOCIAL MADNESS: Ronald Aronson
The rigorous use of ‘madness’ (to describe a political policy) is deeply disturbing, which is perhaps one reason why it has been so conspicuously avoided in a century rife with madness. The functionalist bias of most systematic thought assumes that there is a reason for every societal act, a more or less rational intention behind political action. It offends the intellect to suggest that there is no reason behind a major policy — or that indeed its reason is profoundly and systematically irrational. ‘Madness’ is even more unsettling in suggesting that we may be living amidst a profound and destructive irrationality.
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Apparently a substantial portion of the American population has embraced delusive propositions; whereas another madness--and called it "reality." Another political faction is caught up in an endless struggle vehemently disputing these propositions.
This is the current state of political discourse: the presentation of insane proclamations--and the struggle to dispute insane proclamations. In short, the entire nation (that is, those who pay attention to politics) are trapped within--enveloped within a reign of madness.
The phenomenon of Trump and his followers leads to a re-evaluation of the 20th Century, which has been dominated insane events or "social movements." We hesitate to state the obvious: that the political history of the 20th century reflected profound irrationality, or madness.
It is time to abandon the fantasy that historical events are produced based on rationality or rational choice.
Richard Koenigsberg
PS: The piece of writing above was Ronald's Aronson's response to Nazism. But please read it once again. Is it applicable to what is occurring in the United States today?
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