Arthur Schopenhauer , Saul Alinsky , Ginger Rogers , & the Koch Brothers

Charles G. Koch in his April 2, 2014 Wall Street Journal article  "Charles Koch: I'm Fighting to Restore a Free Society: Instead of welcoming free debate, collectivists engage in character assassination"

"Instead of encouraging free and open debate, collectivists strive to discredit and intimidate opponents. They engage in character assassination. (I should know, as the almost daily target of their attacks.) This is the approach that Arthur Schopenhauer described in the 19th century, that Saul Alinsky famously advocated in the 20th, and that so many despots have infamously practiced. Such tactics are the antithesis of what is required for a free society—and a telltale sign that the collectivists do not have good answers."

I was unaware of Schopenhauer's alleged influence on Alinsky. About the only time I've heard of Schopenhauer was in a passing reference in a Ginger Rogers' film "Having a Wonderful Time"




where Rogers' pretentious character was given a copy of Schopenhauer's Essays as a going away present. I don't know for certain, but the screenplay writers could've been making an oblique reference to get past the censors to another Schopenhauer work, titillatingly called "The Metaphysics Of The Love Of The Sexes" since the film was supposed to be a RomCom.

Going off on this tangent, here's a kludgy clip from the Schopenhauer gift book scene:

Continuing on this tangent, imdb reviewers allege that Rogers had to rerecord scenes and drop her faux accent:

"On Broadway John Garfield and Katharine Locke starred, but for the screen RKO used two of its best contract players of the time Fairbanks and Rogers. According to Salad Days the memoir of Fairbanks, both he and Rogers did use proper Brooklyn and Bronx accents in their characters, but after the audiences in Red State America had trouble understanding them, both he and Ginger were called back and dubbed a whole lot of their lines in more generic tones."

This answers my questions as to why the supporting cast had better fake accents than the leads, such as Lucille Ball:

and the cat girl, Eve Arden, from "Stage Door":

The Eve Arden quote "The food here is unbearable! I just had to return my liver!" sounds funnier in character vs just as text the page:

Conversely, some humor is completely lost when the accents are lost, like this scene where Rogers puts on airs in a store:

 



But back to Schopenhauer, from random quotes on the internet, which may or may not be accurate and/or taken completely out of context

Schopenhauer was a misanthrope:

Richard Osborne seems to agree that Schopenhauer was a misanthrope in his cartoon history of philosophy: Osborne, Richard, and Ralph Edney. Philosophy for Beginners. New York: Writers and Readers Pub., 1992  

Last bullet point:

"Only through denial of the will, through chastity, poverty, love and fasting can one achieve wisdom"

However, Osborne points out Schopenhauer was a hypocrite and a philanderer in practice:

Admittedly, from the few alleged quotes of Schopenhauer I've seen, I'm not motivated to track down the primary sources to confirm or deny their authenticity.

I would think that Schopenhauer fans would be offended by the comparison to Saul Alinsky, but apparently, it's vice versa, from the Alinsky Now 04/03/2014 blog post "Koch Ascending the Pharonic Pulpit"

"BTW, Mr. Koch, Saul Alinsky never advocated character assassination and he certainly wasn't a 'collectivist'"

ICYMI, Alinsky dedicated his book to Lucifer, from D. L. Adams January 2010 "New English Review" article "Saul Alinsky and the Rise of Amorality in American Politics"

Of course the über-left apologists, Media Matters, bend of backward and do the yoga wheel position

 to rationalize Alinsky praising Satan, from Oliver Willis September 20, 2010  article "Beck misreads Alinsky to link teachers to Satan":

"What apparently got Beck's worn-out conspiracy senses tingling was a reference to 'Lucifer' on a page of quotations at the beginning of the book...Alinsky references Lucifer as a radical that won his own kingdom (apparently, Hell), but doesn't dedicate his book to the Devil, as Beck claims"

Quibble, quibble, lie, lie, lie. See, Alinsky was praising "Lucifer" and not "Satan", so Media Matters thinks Beck is the weirdo.

Rush Limbaugh added his 2 cents worth on Koch's essay on April 03, 2014 "Charles Koch Pushes Back in Op-Ed"

"'I believe that cronyism is nothing more than welfare for the rich and powerful, and should be abolished,' and you know, if I can make another side observation, it is crony capitalism that Obama is engaging in. And in the process, he's corrupting various industries or individual companies by luring them into relationships with his administration."

And if I may add my impolitic 2 cents, I agree with Brian Phillips 3/21/2012 article "'Crony Capitalism' is Fascism." 

"Unable to convince consumers and competitors to act voluntarily, they resort to government force. The proper name for such a system is fascism. In a fascist system, property is privately “owned,” but its use is dictated and controlled by government officials."