Being somewhat close to the problem, I'm not sure what the connection is between this criticism and what is happening at Penn State.
Specifically, I'm not sure how it is "scapegoating" if the Director of Athletics, the Vice President of Business and Finance, the legendary football coach, and the 20 year running college President have all gotten the axe. Coach Paterno might well qualify as a scapegoat, as the media got him fired, and it is not clear that his own (in)action warranted the move. (I'm not saying Paterno should not have been fired, I'm just saying that it is unclear given the evidence available to the public.) The other three people, however, seem to be exactly the people to blame, and are the highest heads one could chop. They are hardly people chosen at random to shoulder the blame. This isn't Scooter Libby taking the blame for the Dick Cheney, this is the President, a Vice President, and two "cabinet level" people taking the blunt of the blame directly. Of course, there were group dynamics involved in the original cover up. And there have been crazy reactions, such as one of the people who reported a witnessed crime receiving death threats. But I'm not really sure about how your criticism relates to the main current events. On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 07:44 PM, "Vladimyr Burachynsky" <vbur...@shaw.ca> wrote: > > > > > > > > > >> > > >How to make people feel they are part of a Group… > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >If they collectively decide to cover up a crime through willful blindness then they establish some certainty that they belong. > > > > > > > > >Groups seem to demand that individuals Believe the unBelievable. It seems that some human beings have the capacity to smooth out ethical contradictions by simply choosing to live in another reality. When many people choose to live in the same delusion they are effectively a Group. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >There seems to be a belief that Groups can exonerate the individual through Magic and Amnesia. The recent news of sexual crimes in Penn State reinforce this perspective. > > > > > > > > >The Group seems able to deny it’s crimes while selecting a scapegoat to carry their burdens. Groups seem much stronger when Criminality is involved even though each individual denies it’s existence. The Group might be nothing more than a psychological construct to absorb Guilt and at a high price. > > > > > > > > >Groups seem to choose Noble leaders to establish a pretense of heroicism and much later dispose of the leader along with the memory of their individual crimes > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >This seems characteristic of much current political drama. Reluctant scapegoats fight tooth and nail to avoid the demand to be sacrificed for the good people. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >The Group has a fantastic attribute of Goodness which disguises the Dark side of perversity. People mostly use this contradiction to satisfy their own problems. > > > > > > > > >I would have thought that as our population increases that corruption would prevail, however there do seem to be indications that many are bucking the trend. > > > > > > > > >Groups seem very well devised to exclude individuals that have questionable ethics. These Groups have inadvertantly created their own nemesis. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >The history of confronting corruption is dismal overall. Managers seem particularly prone to Group Think and demonstrate that they are absolutely convinced that they can ignore all legal responsibility for individual acts. Society still is unprepared to prosecute Group Think in all its devilish rationalizations. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >The lack of meaningful leadership globally is perhaps due to so many living I a delusional state of mind where someone else will always end up being scapegoated. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >At least Pontius Pilot tried to wash his own hands. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >Vladimyr Ivan Burachynsky PhD > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ><#> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >120-1053 Beaverhill Blvd. > > > > > > > > >Winnipeg,Manitoba, R2J3R2 > > > > > > > > >Canada > > > > > > > > > (204) 2548321 Land > > > > > > > > >(204) 8016064 Cell > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of ERIC P. CHARLES >Sent: October-27-11 9:32 PM >To: Gillian Densmore >Cc: Anne Rowland; The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group >Subject: Re: [FRIAM] 99%, occupyWallStreet, Santa Fe, etc. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >>> > > >Gillian, >Hmmmm.... trying to put my evolutionary psychology hat on, and feeling like I am not doing it quite as well as I should.... > >Humans ARE "programed" to do things for the good of their groups. The question then is: How do we get people to feel as if they are part of a group? and How do we get people to expand the size of the group they feel they are part of? One subsection of those questions, a small, but not insignificant part, is wondering: How do we get advantaged people to include the disadvantaged as part of 'their' group? > >Ultimately, if we had the right knowledge, this would be a perfect problem to tackle with agent based modeling. If we knew what types of experiences people needed to feel as if they were part of a group, and we knew what types of experiences were needed to expand felt-group size, then we start designing various worlds along various principles to see which produce the best outcome. The complexity will be too high to solve the problem any other way. > >Alas... what are the factors? > >Eric > >On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 05:17 PM, Gillian Densmore <<#>> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Interesting discution going on here. Feeling like one of the 99% on some levels. > > > > Rich Muray's proposed list on some levels makes sense. > > > > Higher min wage for example how are you suposed to actually live on > > > > $9.00 an hour? > > > > even full time that's only 360 a week (before tax). Ouch. > > > > Another one that stuck out was free health care- could work. Depending > > > > on how it's implimented. > > > > The general idea of more stuff taken for baseline for more (or all ) > > > > citizens and increasing the quality of life would seem to provide some > > > > net benifits. > > > > I think Nick asked how it gets funded wich might realy be asking: as > > > > humans are we willing to pool together a pot of money to increase the > > > > quality of life for all? > > > > Just as a here in the comunity example: > > > > I'm going to school to (theoreticly) increase my odds of being a > > > > productive citizen by X%. Should one of the applications and varius > > > > forms of asistance pan out I have a net X% extra chance of employment > > > > at the end of the week I'd rather my hard earned money going to a pot > > > > of money that helps raise quality of life for my self and others by > > > > X%. Theoreticly humans are programed to work together twards a better > > > > good. At some point of year N things get jaded or complicated and as > > > > Agents we loose sight that a healthy comunity of N people(or agents) > > > > makes for a stronger whole. > > > > Wouldn't it therefore be better to invest y sources of rescources > > > > twards things that achieve that goal? > > > > just my as a 0.2c as a agent among many. > > > > . > > > > > > > > > > > > On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 9:54 AM, Rich Murray <<#>> wrote: > > > > > Since my remarks were perhaps tersely shocking, here is a clear > > > > > overview by James Traverse: > > > > > > > > > > <http://www.beingyoga.com/> > > > > > > > > > > [ For more, search Google "nonduality"... ] > > > > > > > > > > Know Thyself > > > > > > > > > > Be a Light unto Yourself > > > > > > > > > > "Form is Seeing and Seeing is Being." ~ Atmananda Krishna Menon > > > > > > > > > > "Being is Seeing and Seeing is Doing" ~ James Traverse > > > > > > > > > > "Liberation is from the person, not for the person" ~ Jean Klein > > > > > > > > > > Mistaken identity, the wrong turning of the mind, is the cause of all > > > > > conflict and discord. The solution is the living understanding of your > > > > > true nature which is not thought based knowledge as it is prior to > > > > > thinking. Awareness is the means and the end. > > > > > > > > > > There is nothing to become since Being Awareness is already happening > > > > > yet there is a returning to innocence knowingly as the false mentally > > > > > generated knowledge of mistaken identity is seen and allowed to fall > > > > > away. This Living Awareness as your true nature is the light of > > > > > understanding that dispels the darkness of ignorance that is the root > > > > > of mistaken identity and separation. > > > > > > > > > > “You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. > > > > > You must learn to see the world anew.” ~ Albert Einstein > > > > > > > > > > The problem of mistaken identity is a problem of self-knowledge as > > > > > false knowledge of your true nature. It is a mentally generated > > > > > problem that is resolved by Awareness as the primal intelligence that > > > > > sees the false as false and no longer supports it. In this way the > > > > > impostor of mistaken identity dies through starvation - what remains > > > > > is pure Awareness wherein all of your faculties are free to function > > > > > without distortion. > > > > > > > > > > Enlightenment is a matter of discernment, not evolution. Thus there is > > > > > no becoming enlightened; instead the veil of ignorance falls away > > > > > through discrimination and there is seeing in-the-light of your true > > > > > nature. > > > > > > > > > > Enlightened Being - Being is happening - Breathing is happening > > > > > the Agent is the Actor - Love is what it does! > > > > > > > > > > "What nature makes you do instinctively you can optimise when you > > > > > understand the law governing the process." ~ James Traverse > > > > > > > > > > ============================================================ > > > > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > > > > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > > > > > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at <http://www.friam.org> > > > > > > > > > > > > > ============================================================ > > > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > > > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > > > > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at <http://www.friam.org> > > > > > > > > > > > > >Eric Charles > >Professional Student and >Assistant Professor of Psychology >Penn State University >Altoona, PA 16601 > > > > > > > > > > > ============================================================ >FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > Eric Charles Professional Student and Assistant Professor of Psychology Penn State University Altoona, PA 16601
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org