An unexpectedly positive article about Wilhelm Reich from the AP.
The last two paragraphs break my heart:
Kevin Hinchey, who is writing a book about Reich's work in the U.S., said most of the doctors and scientists who've taken an interest in Reich's life are baby boomers.
"If something dramatic isn't done to bring his work before the medical and scientific community, I really wonder what's going to happen when the baby boomers die. There's not a lot of younger people who are reading Reich."
Hear that young people? Get cracking! Criterion Collection recently released its edition of WR:Mysteries of the Organism. It's as good a place to start as any (although, for the record, some strict Reichians dislike the film).
7 comments:
sorry for being such a comment whore, but I'm curious - why don't "strict Reichians" like Mysteries of the Organism?
Well, I really just meant James DeMeo:
http://www.orgonelab.org/makavejev.htm
Oh, and for the record although I think James DeMeo has done a lot of good work promoting Reich*, I don't agree with his thoughts on Mysteries of the Organism.
*DeMeo's Orgone Accumulator Handbook is an essential guide to building an orgone box.
I can understand how that movie could seem like a big mish-mash of pointless sexual anarchy to someone whose aesthetic tastes are more bland than yours or mine. His sweeping dismissal of the film and its fans is sort of ironic though, considering how pissed off he is about Reich's work itself being supressed and distorted by people who misunderstood it.
I should build an orgone accumulator box. I'll do that as soon as I finish learning how to juggle.
Yeah, you're right. That movie and its rerelease by Criterion is going to turn a lot of kids onto Reich, so even if he hates the movie so much he should love it for that.
In general I think the world needs more orgasms, less theory.
You should get to know my friend Cody (anahata adaro on lj) she's a juggler and all kinds of other cool stuff. And I've wanted to build an accumulator for years--sometimes one shows up on ebay but I can't afford a premade one (yet.)
It always bothers me when people characterize pornographic material as worthless based on the argument that it has no "higher" value anyway because that argument implies that having orgasms isn't as important to basic health and vitality as learning about Chaucer or whatever, which is a bunch of shit.
I think maybe that dude is also suffering slightly from the Medical Marijuana Syndrome, where somebody gets so preoccupied with making their unorthodox ideas palatable to the boring and skittish masses that they let themselves get totally wrapped up in perpetuating some bullshit, watered-down argument in favor of those ideas that obscures all the more nuanced implications that made those ideas seem important to begin with. Then pretty soon you're spending all your time shouting down people who basically agree with you because you're worried they'll rub the mainstream the wrong way, and your entire movement gets divided up into tiny, cliquish factions who hate each other, and nothing ever actually gets accomplished.
Devon, you have a rare and beautiful knack for cutting through the bullshit.
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