One can call this the attitude of a rugged individualist. The authorities claimed that this man underpaid his workers and exploited them. In other words, he did not give them their own chance of equality with respect to the recognized minimum standards of life. He denied the rights of his fellowmen. This contention may, roughly, be the point of view of "social consciousness".
This man was apparently not only a business man, but a "nothing-but-business"
man. His world was altogether centered around his business, his plant, his own way
of making a living. This determined his attitude toward life, and his matter-of-course
understanding of the world. To understand such a point of view as was held by the
authorities of the New Deal was impossible for him. Within his world such ideas
had no place; they did not fit in and lay beyond its limits, beyond the scope of
his thoughts. Since he was entirely centered by this world, he was unable to look
at such a theory in an objective way. The facts to which this theory pertained,
such as the private life of a worker, had no relevant place in his world; instead,
he could see such thoughts only in relationships determined by his world. These
relationships meant simply: these are unjust disturbances.
His complete fixation on and determination by this world already existed before
his illness. It made his whole life the life of a "business man." He wore
the clothes of the "business man," rented the appartment appropriate for
the "business man," had the manners, the style of the "business man"
and his evaluation of other people and other professions was, as a matter of course,
the evaluation of the "nothing-but-business" man. In this respect the
psychosis only revealed and emphasized what was already there, but essentially did
not add anything new.
This closed world was suddenly destroyed. Realities which originated outside
his sphere entered and became powerful factors: the laws of the New Deal. The particular
reasoning which entered from the outside did not fit into this world, and could
not reasonable be accounted for; it worked simply as a disturbance. It violated
the rules, the structure and dynamic laws of this world, and therefore seemed to
be a true injustice. Just and unjust were defined in relation to his own system
of reference, his business world. He had not done anything unjust. He simply followed
the rules of the business world and therefore it was to him an act of wilfulness
to punish him because he obeyed the laws of his own system.
The idea of starting anew, of getting a new job, did not occur to him. He was
simply distressed; this was the depressed phase. Later he tried to assert himself
as he understood himself as a part of this world. This was the manic phase. It was
obvious, however, that he was at bottom keenly aware of the precarious situation,
aware that actually he was no longer a business man and that this continuation of
his world was artificial and in constant jeopardy. His attack was a form of defense
and he was hurt and afraid.
Why was he so unable simply to accept the situation, to face it and to try to
find some way out? Why was it that he could not find a new world?
It is indeed astounding that an apparantly normal human being can be reduced
to nothing but a business man, and his world to nothing but a business world. This
appears to be a rather narrow world and a rather poor sort of human being. The process
of reduction to this shape, which must have taken place throughout this man's life,
appears to have been some sort of psychological amputation, a more or less voluntary
crippling. [1] Such a process seems to be artificial.
No one is born to be a mere oil man.
Footnotes:
[1] Crippling here means the inability to
perceive facts other than the one-sided way which was determined and centered
by the rigid structure of his special world. This is the extreme opposite to
open-mindedness. Facts cannot be perceived as they demand to be perceived, objectively
and with open-mindedness. This happens very often in normal persons, but in
this case it jeopardized the dynamic equilibrium which is an essential factor
of sound behaviour. [-> back to text]
GTA Home page Deutsch |
GTA
Home page Italiano |
GTA
Home page Français