Pride Parade Wien, June 17th, 2023. I happen to cross a line of trucks filled with lightly dressed youth on my way to Chinese school and have to admit that I can't make up my mind about this event. The Vienna pride parade takes place the 27th time this year. With up to 250k participants, it is not only the largest registered demonstration, but also a pillar of Western expression of freedom of speech. The rainbow parade is considered a powerful sign for a society based on appreciation, recognition and equal rights - regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender characteristics.
I stop and watch. I try to suck in the atmosphere. Yes, I can feel freedom and a positive vibe not only coming from the speakers on the trucks. But there is also something else. And it irritates me. There is this focus on sexuality, as if it is what defines the human being. The West seems to have reduced its cultural values to sexual freedom and being able to blast 300 decibel of music into residential area. Isn't there anything more to Western culture? Is this why I have returned? Is being able to express my sexual freedom what matters most?
It seems that over the years, I have become a conservative. Not only in the sense that I want to conserve nature for the generations to come, but also in the sense of conserving life supporting values. Freedom without limitations, freedom that is not balanced with duties and a sense of responsibility, does not attract me, on the contrary, I have a natural weariness. The German philosopher David R. Precht was during the Covid-19 pandemic triggered to write a book about civilian duty and citizenship responsibility. I believe that this subject will in the years to come extend itself to many more areas than how we ought to cooperate during a public health crisis.
Vienna gave birth to three schools of psychology which argued against each other about the causes of human motivation. Sigmund Freud stresses with psychoanalysis the frustration in sexual life; Alfred Adler emphasizes the frustration to dominate others and identified power as the main motivation; Viktor Frankl founded logotherapy and argued that human frustration is caused in the individual will-to-meaning. Pride parades are without doubt defined by a Freudian character, yet they are not only about sexual frustration, but quite a bit about sexual healing. I wonder however, if climate change and social disruptions do not call for other formats and the promotion of different subjects. Would an activist from Letzte Generation participate in a Pride Parade?
Further reading:
I stop and watch. I try to suck in the atmosphere. Yes, I can feel freedom and a positive vibe not only coming from the speakers on the trucks. But there is also something else. And it irritates me. There is this focus on sexuality, as if it is what defines the human being. The West seems to have reduced its cultural values to sexual freedom and being able to blast 300 decibel of music into residential area. Isn't there anything more to Western culture? Is this why I have returned? Is being able to express my sexual freedom what matters most?
It seems that over the years, I have become a conservative. Not only in the sense that I want to conserve nature for the generations to come, but also in the sense of conserving life supporting values. Freedom without limitations, freedom that is not balanced with duties and a sense of responsibility, does not attract me, on the contrary, I have a natural weariness. The German philosopher David R. Precht was during the Covid-19 pandemic triggered to write a book about civilian duty and citizenship responsibility. I believe that this subject will in the years to come extend itself to many more areas than how we ought to cooperate during a public health crisis.
Vienna gave birth to three schools of psychology which argued against each other about the causes of human motivation. Sigmund Freud stresses with psychoanalysis the frustration in sexual life; Alfred Adler emphasizes the frustration to dominate others and identified power as the main motivation; Viktor Frankl founded logotherapy and argued that human frustration is caused in the individual will-to-meaning. Pride parades are without doubt defined by a Freudian character, yet they are not only about sexual frustration, but quite a bit about sexual healing. I wonder however, if climate change and social disruptions do not call for other formats and the promotion of different subjects. Would an activist from Letzte Generation participate in a Pride Parade?
Further reading:
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