What can WE hobbits do?
Scratch our hairy knuckles and indulge in second dinnerses?
Fun aside, I DO appreciate your sentiment here and agree that the
Narcissist in Chief is at least partly a (focused) reflection of our own
worst qualities, and *perhaps* if we tend our own garden even a little,
it will help with the greater picture.
- Candide
Nick
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
Clark University
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
<http://home.earthlink.net/%7Enickthompson/naturaldesigns/>
*From:*Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] *On Behalf Of *Jochen
Fromm
*Sent:* Saturday, January 28, 2017 1:39 AM
*To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
<friam@redfish.com>; Friam <Friam@redfish.com>
*Cc:* penny thompson <penny.thomp...@earthlink.net>; 'Bruce Simon'
<bjs...@yahoo.com>; 'Dix McComas' <dixmccom...@gmail.com>; 'Grant
Franks' <grantfra...@earthlink.net>
*Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] [[Narcissism Again]again]
Yes, agree. Trump’s point of view is “Whatever I can win with is
true.” And if he wins with what we call “a lie”, it is true for him.
Exactly.
If you ask how we can counter and resist him, then I would say
peaceful protests are the right way. The women's march was impressive,
and the rebellion of the social media managers from the national parks
is really refreshing. Who would have thought that the national parks
would strike back? Like Treebeard who becomes alive.
In JK Rowling's novels it is the little creatures like the house elves
that beat the evil in the end. In Tolkien's Lord of the Rings it is
the Hobbits that beat the evil enemy. I think in this case people like
Ken Bone are the Hobbits of the 21st century. The modern Hobbits are
adverage midwestern guys who support Mr. T-Rump and his "party" on
Twitter and hope to get a bit rich and famous along the way.
People like Ken Bone are like Frodo the Hobbit, Mr. T-Rump is Sauron
and Jack Dorsey is the ringwraith. Will Ken Bone throw the ring into
Mt. Doom, i.e. will he stop following Trump on Twitter and/or quit
Twitter completely? If we all stop following and listening him he
loses his power. This includes the senior Republican politicians who
do not speak up against him because they hope for a job in his
administration.
Cheers,
Jochen
Sent from my Tricorder
-------- Original message --------
From: Nick Thompson <nickthomp...@earthlink.net
<mailto:nickthomp...@earthlink.net>>
Date: 1/28/17 01:57 (GMT+01:00)
To: Friam <Friam@redfish.com <mailto:Friam@redfish.com>>
Cc: penny thompson <penny.thomp...@earthlink.net
<mailto:penny.thomp...@earthlink.net>>, 'Bruce Simon'
<bjs...@yahoo.com <mailto:bjs...@yahoo.com>>, 'Dix McComas'
<dixmccom...@gmail.com <mailto:dixmccom...@gmail.com>>, 'Grant Franks'
<grantfra...@earthlink.net <mailto:grantfra...@earthlink.net>>
Subject: [FRIAM] [[Narcissism Again]again]
Hi everybody,
I kind of got buried by the list last week, but we seem to keep coming
back to this topic, even when we are talking about globalism.
So. Let me just share one thought. I have said a hundred times that I
think the great achievement of the Right in my life time has been to
problematize (Ugh!) the Deweyan consensus of the 1950’s One of the
elements of that consensus was that there is a truth of most matters
and if we gather inclusively, talk calmly, reason closely, study
carefully, investigate rigorously, we will, together , come to it.
What was, at the time of my coming of age, the shared foundation of
argument, became over last 50 years, /a position in the argument. /The
alternative to this Deweyan position seems to be something like,
“/There is no truth of the matter; there is only the exercise of
power. He who wins the argument, by whatever means, wins the truth.
Truth is not something that is arrived at; it is won.”/
So. My sense of trump is that in fact, he is not lying. On the
contrary, he does not share the view of discourse that makes lying a
possibility. From Trump’s point of view, “Whatever I can win with is
true.” Hence, if he wins with what we call “a lie”, it is true.
I feel we are straying along the edge of some *Nietzschean *chasm
here. Unfortunately I haven’t read any Nietzsche . A brief rummage
in Wikipedia, led me to The Parable of the Madman
<http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/nietzsche-madman.asp>. And THAT
led me to wonder if the TV Series, Madmen
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Men>, about marketing execs in the
60’s, was written with Nietzsche in mind. In any case, if there is
ever a domain in which the truth is that which wins, it would be
marketing.
So, if we are going to counter Trump, it cannot be by demonstrating
that he lies. It has to be by demonstrating that liars don’t win.
Heavy lift.
Nick
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
Clark University
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
<http://home.earthlink.net/%7Enickthompson/naturaldesigns/>
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove