links for 2010-08-03

It’s not Palin’s positions people respond to — it’s her use of symbols. Mama grizzlies rearing up to protect their young? That’s straight out of Jung’s “collective unconscious” — the term Jung used to describe the part of the unconscious mind that, unlike the personal unconscious, is shared by all human beings, made up of archetypes, or, in Jung’s words, “universal images that have existed since the remotest times.” Unlike personal experiences, these archetypes are inherited, not acquired. They are “inborn forms… of perception and apprehension,” the “deposits of the constantly repeated experiences of humanity.”

Congratulations, Iranian expatriates! You have been presented with a fantastic opportunity to contribute to the betterment of your already over-inflated sense of self-importance and victimhood. If you are a secular, Westernized, wealthy Tehrani Persian living in the West and have a decent command of English (or in Western Europe, another appropriate language), you are entitled to appear on any mainstream news channel to speak on behalf of the entire nation of Iran, a country you do not live in and have not visited in many years.

When presenting yourself as a spokesperson for the 70 million people of Iran, please remember to abide by the following rules. Otherwise, your television appearance may be canceled.

The irony is that while Hirsi Ali is (rightly) applauded for her courage in fighting for and finding personal freedom, she now denies others such rights. In unleashing her wrath on Islamic fundamentalism, she has (perhaps unwittingly) become a fundamentalist herself.