Toolkit? This rusty old box filled with rusty things that once
resembled sharp tools and useful fasteners?
I was thinking that if we *all* burned one gallon of petrol *less* a
month (and everyone "like us") the demand would drop commensurately and
the cost/value proposition for the pipelines we all love to hate would
(eventually) drop below a certain threshold.
Similarly, if we *all* made it a point to have one *more* thoughtful
conversation (not just a rant) with those not already in the choir, we
might reverse the tide of *ugly* populism and replace it with something
more human (maybe still a form of populism, but not
nationalistic/xenophobic/misogynistic?).
If we *all* quit worrying about how the Trump Ascension was going to
hurt *our* personal context and recognized how it was going to hurt (or
in some twisted or strange way help) the larger context and then only
consider how our personal context would be effected in turn by the
larger context (is a happier, healthier, more informed society good or
bad for you and your family? vs can I pay lower taxes, get more
government services and be afforded less expensive access to other
resources nominally part of the commons?)
et cetera, ad nauseum
I know I'm preaching (somewhat) to the choir here, time to take my own
advice and go start a barfight with a Trumpian or something,
- Steve
Ok Steve,
The only reason to accept responsibility is to Take Charge.
I have been able to think of only one concrete thing that I can do
with my limited set of skills: Write Apple and tell them to stop
calling new products “I-this” and “I-that.” When are they going to
release the WE-phone.
You must have something in your tool kit more effective than that!
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 *Steven
A Smith
*Sent:* Saturday, January 28, 2017 9:38 AM
*To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
<friam@redfish.com>
*Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] [[Narcissism Again]again]
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> <mailto:friam@redfish.com>; 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:* 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/>
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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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