472 - “This perspective helps us to understand how the American model of modern, secular society with its failure to provide forms of social caring and holding, its lack of recognition for the value of all persons as members of the Gemeinschaft (community), contribute to the continuing prominence of support for patriarchal relations and authoritarian psychology, as found in evangelical fundamentalist communities (Benjamin, 1988). “
- “What concerns us, then, is not only the ascendance of a right-wing demagogue but also the failure of the institutionalized liberal forces in the media and politics to properly acknowledge and resist attacks on our democracy, to name and call out the ‘wolf.’ The dominance of groups representing the oligarchic tendencies within the capitalist class was achieved not only through mobilization of the petty bourgeoisie but also through a fascist-style synthesis—combining contradictory appeals to the working-class resentment toward the elite and its shame-induced submission to austerity and deprivation of social security. “
473 - “To anticipate, one must believe in something beyond the self—its own protection and aggrandizement—to oppose such splitting. Thus, I will argue that real conviction about the Third does not take the form of shunning conflict and refusing to face dangerous opponents of liberty and equality.” 477 - “In sum, we might say that the problem is how to get beyond doer and done to, how to open up a space and create a dialogue between (and among) Us and Them that does not simply reverse the opposition between them and us and that does not aim at grinding Them into the dust (or allowing Them to grind Us into dust)—much as we might wish to do so in the moment.” 487 - “I believe we must oppose inequality and injustice even as we simultaneously—radically and insistently—maintain the Third, the principle that everyone has a right to live, but not by exploiting, oppressing, or harming others. No doubt, we might well argue about how much and what constitutes adequate repair, yet we can also try to overcome the dissociation and denial that enables harm.”
- “If we are going to get out of an inalterable conflict where some are bad, some good, some harm, some suffer, we need to develop a moral Third, a position in which it becomes possible to acknowledge our history of harming without attaching this to blame and retribution. Rather, we need to reflect on the possibility of genuine atonement, repair, and coming together of former antagonists in a desire to build together something more just, more connected.”
Questions: What does developing “a moral third” look like in practice? Is Benjamin’s suggestion feasible/possible? What would atonement and “the third” look like on psychoanalytic level and on a sociopolitical level? Are these things possible in an incredibly stratified, capitalist world?