HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Dec 11, 2022

#AppliedPsychology #Psychology
#FearManagement

Can the #Mapuche teach us to transform #fear into #respect?*

by #DejahOertwig & #AmyHalberstadt

"Respect your fears: what the Mapuche approach to fear can teach us about transforming our biases and fighting prejudice
– https://psyche.co/ideas/can-the-mapuche-teach-us-to-transform-fear-into-respect?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=004c1d7a7b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_05_18_12_38&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-004c1d7a7b-68706689

via @[email protected]

"1 of us remembers the true story of a great-aunt who, after surprising a burglar in her kitchen, sat down with him over a cup of coffee,..

Original source:

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/pdeppisch/status/1263208546990252032

Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Dec 11, 2022

#AppliedPsychology #Psychology
#FearManagement

1/n

Wow fascinating psychology/philosophy.

"...the clarity and consistency with which parents and 👉elders described fear as having no value, saying that children should outgrow their early fears.👈 The common sentiment was:

👉‘I do not feel fear; I feel respect.’👈

When we further.."

Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Dec 11, 2022

#AppliedPsychology #Psychology
#FearManagement

2/n

"...probed parents and elders about these beliefs, they told us that fear isn’t useful and shouldn’t be felt. They argued that fear is debilitating and paralysing, and should be replaced with unconditional respect (ie, respect given to all life, human or nonhuman).

In the.."

Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴

#AppliedPsychology #Psychology
#FearManagement

3/n

"...#Mapuche culture, respect seems to alleviate, and even replace, fear.

👉The Mapuche believe that all elements of the universe are interconnected and deserve respect.👈 They teach children to give reverence to the air, water and land, along with all the living creatures..."

Dec 11, 2022 at 10:19amMastodon Twitter Crossposter
Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Dec 11, 2022

#AppliedPsychology #Psychology
#FearManagement

4/n

"...that inhabit these spaces.

It’s important to note that the #Mapuche don’t try to suppress their children’s fear, but to transform it into respect...

...👉the #Mapuche have a long warrior history; one of the very few cultures able to stop the advancement of the #Inka empire..."👈

Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Dec 11, 2022

5/n
"...in the late 1400s, they also held off #Spanish rule for more than 300 years. It took the dual efforts of the #Chilean and #Argentinian militaries to finally defeat them in the late-19th century."

#Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, said

Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Dec 11, 2022

6/7
...“A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once. It seems to me most strange that men should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.”

Late bestselling author and researcher #FrankHerbert...

Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Dec 11, 2022

7/7
...converted this insight into one of the fundamental concepts of his epic #Dune saga.

Even though he probably never heard of the #Mapuche, he seems to have been onto something else.

/END

Show threadOrion (he/him)1d ago

@HistoPol So. A thought.

The context of the Litany of Fear is that it's a Bene Gesserit mantra, and the Bene Gesserit are *bad guys*. They've manipulated galactic events, including implanting fake religions, in order to pave the way for their eugenics project to make the "perfect man," who himself turns out to be a terrifying warlord. By the second book, it turns out Paul is a fan of Hitler.

Yes, that Hitler.

Show threadOrion (he/him)1d ago

@HistoPol Where we draw the line, here, between stuff Herbert put into DUNE in earnest and what was part of his critique of the "sci-fi superman" is not clear, but what is very important to remember is that *any* quotation from a fiction text happens in the context of that narrative.

Paul and the Bene Gesserit are the protagonists of DUNE, but they are not *heroes*, and we need remember that when we interact with that text.

Just saying.

Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴1d ago

@orionkidder

#HPsCommentary #SciFI

*A Critique of #FrankHerbert's #Dune Saga*

You've raised important points about context, and you're right that the #BeneGesserit are morally compromised manipulators whose #Eugenic project deserves scrutiny. Your reminder that #Paul and the Bene Gesserit aren't simple heroes is genuinely valuable— #Herbert absolutely subverts the "chosen one" trope.

However, I'd gently push back on a few specifics. Paul isn't presented as a #Hitler admirer; rather, 👉his...

Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴1d ago

prescient visions *horrify* him by showing catastrophic futures he wants to prevent.👈 #Herbert seems to be critiquing how messianic figures *enable* atrocities, not celebrating them. Similarly, the #BeneGesserit aren't painted as straightforward villains—they're morally complex, and #LadyJessica embodies genuine care alongside institutional manipulation.

Here's what's crucial:
👉Paul's rise is fundamentally a story of resistance against a fascistic occupying force.👈The #Harkonnen..
@orionkidder

Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴1d ago

and their Imperial backers exhibit clear #Nazi-like brutality and genocide against the #Fremen. Paul's leadership emerges as self-determination against alien oppression—which actually *strengthens* your larger point. 👉Herbert was warning us about how authoritarianism corrupts even justified resistance movements.👈
The tragedy isn't that Paul is evil; it's that fighting monsters can turn you into one.

Context matters enormously, as you say. But Herbert's genius was showing how *good @orionkidder

Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴1d ago

intentions* produce terrible outcomes—a more sophisticated critique than simple villainy.

Ultimately, the Litany of Fear itself exemplifies Herbert's central insight: **a tool is only as ethical as its wielder.** The Bene Gesserit developed this mantra as a discipline for mastering fear and maintaining mental clarity—ostensibly a worthy goal. But in their hands, it becomes a mechanism for control and manipulation. This mirrors what researchers studying the Mapuche have @orionkidder

Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴1d ago
discovered: fear and respect are not opposites, but *choices*. The Mapuche transform fear into respect—a deliberate, thoughtful response that recognizes the intrinsic value of others rather than treating them as threats to be managed. Fear is reactive and paralyzing; respect is intentional and connective. The Bene Gesserit teach fear-management to create obedience; the Mapuche teach respect-cultivation to foster interconnection. The *same psychological tool*, deployed with @orionkidder
Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴1d ago
opposite intentions, produces opposite outcomes. Herbert's Dune saga asks us to examine not just what tools we use, but *why* we use them and *whom* we serve. Whether a practice transforms fear into wisdom or weaponizes it depends entirely on whether the user seeks domination or genuine understanding. That distinction—between technique and purpose—is where morality actually lives. @orionkidder
Show threadOrion (he/him)20h ago
@HistoPol I'm not convinced I agree with your reading of Dune, but damn, friend, you have thought this through!
Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴5h ago

@orionkidder

Thank you.

#Dune and the other original sequels are one of the limited number of books 📚 I have been coming across time and again.

The story is just so way above anything #StarWars (which I also like, but rather for entertainment reasons only has to offer with regard to outer and inner insights, it is really a pitty #FrankHerbert is no longer among us.

But maybe for the better? --Humanity is really--knowingly--pushing Earth 🌍 's climate towards Dune's.

Show threadManuel1d ago
@orionkidder @HistoPol I read the Dune series a while ago and I don’t recall that reference to Hitler.
Show threadOrion (he/him)20h ago
@cimek @HistoPol It is quite brief, but it occurs at the opening of the second book, once Paul has already taken over the galaxy. He recommends a series of books about statecraft, and one of them is about Hitler. Herbert, IMO, was trying not to tip his hand, but so many people didn't see his intention with the first book that (I'm inferring, here) he stuck that in to say, "DO YOU GET IT!?"
Show threadManuel20h ago

@orionkidder @HistoPol Leto II, the God-Emperor, might be likened to a tyrant who believes in a personal vision of society, but Paul Atreides, even in the first Dune book, was afraid of turning his cause into a tyranny against the other peoples.

By the way: My username is a reference to the Dune prequels written by Brian Herbert. 😎

Show threadOrion (he/him)19h ago

@cimek @HistoPol Oh I see! You really know these books. I gave up after CHILDREN, for lots of reasons I won't bore you with.

I tend to push back because so many people see Paul as a straightforward hero, so "No really, he's terrifying!!" is important to emphasize.

Show threadOrion (he/him)19h ago

@cimek @HistoPol The only way I'd push against what you're saying--gently, cordially--is to question why Paul is constructed as a reluctant fascist to begin with and how manipulative that is on Herbert's part. That is to say, most truly terrible people aren't torn up about it at all. They go to their graves thinking they were right the whole time.

That trope of the sympathetic warlord is, to my mind, very problematic.