The system that was trying to control your mind and destroy your freedom … What Laing and the counter-culture were doing was tearing down Britain’s institutions in the name of freedom. ibid.
A group of right-wing economists in America now put forward a theory why this was happening. At the heart of their idea was Game Theory. They said that the fundamental reality of life in society was one of millions of people continually watching and strategising against each other, all seeking only their own advantage. An assumption had become a truth. The self-interested model of human behaviour that had been developed in the Cold War to make the mathematical equations work had now been adopted by these economists as a fundamental truth about the reality of all human social interaction. ibid.
Public Choice theory … James Buchanan: ‘no meaningful concept that could be called the public interest.’ ibid.
Psychiatry, said Laing, was a fake science used as a system of political control to shore up a violent collapsing society. Its categories of madness and sanity had no reality. Madness was simply a convenient label used to lock away those who wanted to break free. ibid.
All human judgment would be removed and replaced instead by a system based on the power of numbers; they gave up on the idea they could understand the human mind and cure it; instead, American psychiatry created a new set of measurable categories that were only based on the surface behaviour of human beings. ibid.
More than 50% of Americans suffered from some type of mental disorder. ibid.
This new system of psychological disorders had been created by an attack on the arrogance and power of the psychiatric elite in the name of freedom. But what was beginning to emerge from this was a new form of control: the disorders and checklists were becoming a powerful and objective guide to what were the correct and appropriate feelings in an age of individualism and emotion. ibid.
In November 1989 the Berlin Wall collapsed and the Cold War was finally over. A new era of freedom had begun. The shape that freedom was going to take would be defined by the victors – the West, and as this programme has shown, the idea of freedom that had now become dominant in the West was deeply rooted in the suspicion and paranoia of the Cold War. ibid.
People are caught in the trap that they feel that they ought to trust or believe the person they love because they love them. But I don’t see that that follows at all. R D Laing, psychiatrist
The so-called normal families that I studied in the course of this work – it was like walking into carbon monoxide gas chambers. People induced their children to adjust to life by poisoning themselves to a level of subsistence existence that they called life. R D Laing
All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
There is no greater honour for a woman than to be the mother of Germany’s sons and daughters. This is the highest honour she can attain. Adolf Hitler
I don’t care how poor a man is. If he has family, he’s rich. MASH, Identity Crisis, authors Wilcox & Mumford
You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you as you are to them. Desmond Tutu
When our relatives are at home we have to think of all their good points or it would be impossible to endure them. George Bernard Shaw
The happiness of the domestic fireside is the first boon of Heaven; and it is well it is so, since it is that which is the lot of the mass of mankind. Thomas Jefferson, 1813
The happiest moments of my life have been the few I have passed at home in the bosom of my family. Thomas Jefferson
Family quarrels are bitter things. They don’t go by any rules. They’re not like aches or wounds. They’re more like splits in the skin that won’t heal because there’s not enough material. F Scott Fitzgerald
If you look deeply into the palm of your hand you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people. Thich Nhat Hanh
One of the most beloved myths of our culture ... The traditional American family. It’s all bullshit. Penn & Teller, Bullshit! s3e21: Family Values, Showtime 2005
One third of lesbian couples are raising children; one-fifth of men. ibid.
It’s all right. I came back. Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman 2006 starring Xavarian Dramatic Society, Warren Able Theatre starring Daniel Valez & Amanda Magnavita & Michael Longo & Michael Maldonado et al; viz also 1949 Morosco Theatre New York, Willy to Linda
I’m tired to the death. I couldn’t make it. I just couldn’t make it. ibid.
Your mind is overactive. And it’s the mind that counts. ibid. Linda
Some people accomplish something. ibid. Willy
I simply asked if he was making any money. Is that a criticism? ibid.
I think he’s very lost. ibid. Linda, re Biff
You are my foundation and my support. ibid.
I can’t get near him. ibid. Biff to Happy
To suffer fifty weeks of a year for the sake of a two week vacation. ibid. Happy to Biff
I don’t know what the hell I’m working for. ibid.
I don’t know what to do with him. He’s getting embarrassing. ibid.
Never leave a job till you’re finished. ibid. Willy
If business doesn’t pick up, I don’t know what I’m going to do. ibid. Willy to Linda
When I walked into the jungle I was seventeen. And when I walked out I was twenty-one. And by God I was rich. ibid. Uncle Ben
Nothing grows any more. ibid. Linda to Willy
Pull yourself together, kid. ibid. Howard to Willy
The only thing you’ve got in this world is what you can sell. ibid. Charley to Willy
You’re the only friend I got. Isn’t that a remarkable thing? ibid. Willy to Charley
May you rot in Hell if you leave this house. ibid. Willy to Biff
We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house. ibid. Biff to Willy, with Linda & Happy
What am I doing in an office making a contemptuous begging fool of myself? ibid. Biff
I’m just what I am. That’s all. ibid. Biff
Not finding yourself at the age of thirty-four is a disgrace. Death of a Salesman 1985 ***** starring Dustin Hoffman & John Meldovich & Stephen Lang & Kate Reid & Charles Durning & Louis Zorich et al, director playwright Arthur Miller, Willy to Linda
Why does dad mock me all the time? ibid. Biff
There’s more people now. There’s more people – that’s what’s ruining this country. The population is getting out of control. ibid. Willy
Biff: Are you content?
Happy: Hell no. ibid.
A man who can’t handle tools is not a man. ibid.
The greatest things can happen. ibid.
Willy, the jails are full of fearless characters. ibid. Charley
A man is not a bird to come and go with the springtime. ibid. Linda
He’s dying, Biff. He’s been trying to kill himself. ibid. Linda
It’s not what you say but how you say it. ibid. Willy
Remember that – you’ve got all kinds of greatness. ibid. Willy to Biff
In those days there was personality, Howard. There was respect and comradeship and gratitude. Today it’s all cut and dried. ibid. Willy
It’s not what you do, Ben. It’s who you know. ibid. Willy
Sometimes, Willy, it’s better for a man just to walk away. ibid. Bernard
My salvation is that I never took any interest in anything. ibid. Charley
You end up with more dead than alive. ibid. Willy