Month: May 2020

How easy we are coerced into camps

If we sit and think about the endless divides that we are push and prodded into every day, it is mind-boggling.  It is difficult to have a conversation without slipping into one or more of these issues of deep division.  So divided are we that giving examples here would end any hope of maintaining focus on the primary topic.

There is an established power structure that enjoys the fruits of our propensity to be divided.  They do not conspire to exploit that propensity, but rather, it comes naturally to all whose imagination is limited to self-promotion and power-seeking.  So natural in fact that its application becomes ubiquitous and we find ourselves in a swirling stew of division.  The purveyors of division also understand the necessity to elevate their issues of division to the level of violating clear moral code.  People on the other side of an issue are not just wrong, they are wicked, sub-humans that lack the enlightenment of our side’s superior humanity.

It is evil when we allow those divisions to deny our fellows of dignity.  We must cultivate within us the ability to disagree with others while maintaining the proper respect which human beings deserve.  It is apparent, to even a casual observer, that this ability does not come easy.

We have a superpower.

We don’t use it very often.

It is called respect.

Respect defangs the purveyors of fear and hate.  They can only ply their trade in an environment of disrespect.  We do not allow name-calling or ridicule against those whom we respect.

We may say we respect another person or group of people, but as soon as we laugh at ridicule or remain silent in the company of slandered, our true character is revealed.  We should repent of such weak moral fiber and look inside to see what is broken within us that allows such manipulation to be effective.

Then we find our superpower.  When we do, we become impervious to the vile and wicked trickery that so pervades our society today.

The Spring of 1994 witnessed the brutal murder of almost a million people and the rape of almost a half million women inside the boarders of a country the size of the state of Maryland.

The cause – fear and hate.

Fear and hate are the primary manipulation tools employed when trying to coerce others, especially large groups of others. They are especially effective because those under their influence rarely know, and vehemently deny when confronted. In our, educated and sophisticated culture, It is always considered the “other people” who are influenced by such simple-minded tricks.

And there lies the challenge.

As we journey toward our mysterious future it would behoove us greatly to acknowledge that we are all manipulated by the purveyors of fear and hate. We must confront the fact that some of those who have influenced us the most have used fear and hate, expressed through ad hominem abusive and derogatory references, as well as comic ridicule and meme, to undermine rational and intellectually honest thought.

The challenge is to rise above the belief that only the “other people” succumb to such crude manipulation. We must become aware of the manipulative practices that bombard us every day. We should cultivate within us an alarm that responds to messages that strive to instill within us a belittlement of our neighbors. The “other people” are, in fact, our neighbors.

We are a society divided. For every topic of the day, we align behind manipulators that would have us believe those on the other side, the “other people”, are less than we. Less intelligent, less aware, less capable of detecting lies, less, less, less. What we must do is work to overcome those manipulators and accept that our neighbors, even those we disagree with, are our neighbors.

Today Rwanda thrives. Now home to over 12 million people, living as neighbors should.

The birds outside don’t seem to know what a pickle we are in.
They just keep chirping and trilling, unemployment and covid be hanged, they will sing.

The sun is painting the sky pink just like it did before and cows are grazing in the lush green grass.

Sitting on the patio you’d think the world was right, just another day dawning.
Maybe it is.

We make fewer plans
because tomorrow is uncertain
It always was, we just didn’t know

We puzzle how to live this way
our future behind a curtain
It always was, we just didn’t know

Love the Lord with all you are
the first and great command
It always was, we just didn’t know

Love your neighbor as yourself
is the key to understand
It always was, we just didn’t know

Now the gates have fallen
and evil is at the door
It always was, we just didn’t know

We find our only strength
is in quiet trust of our Lord
It always was, we just didn’t know

“Lord willing”

Grandmother would add that phrase to the end of our declarations of the future.

“We’re going to Disneyland next weekend”
“Lord Willing”

We’re going to spend Christmas at Uncle Roberts!”
“Lord Willing”

Others of her generation had the same inclination. Life was considered uncertain, a fickleness to fate.

That notion was lost for a while, it’s back.

We’re going to Disney World in September.
Lord willing.

It seems the phrase “I love you” is backward to what is meant. “You are loved by me” might be more appropriate.

Grandmother was a great source of wisdom, and out of her great treasure trove came the idea that one rarely, if ever, used the word ‘I’ when writing. Along with that came the instruction that one always placed themselves at the end of a list when writing or speaking.
“Me and David are going to Joey’s house”
“No, you say ‘David and I are going to Joey’s house”

“That was me and David making that racket in the garage”
“No, you say ‘That was David and me making the racket in the garage’”

Grandmother grew up in a different culture, one that understood the enormous influence of ego and arrogance. One that labored through language to tame that ego and douse that arrogance. Put yourself last in a list, don’t use the word ‘I’ when writing.

We have letters written among family members which date back to the civil war. Not only is the penmanship elegant but their ability to express themselves without using the word ‘I’ is impressive. There is something engaging when reading prose written with the ego of the writer suppressed and the importance of the reader and the topic elevated.

There is operational precedence in the way we state things. “I love you” places the precedence on the speaker. The subconscious parser in our brain knows that and might hear “I, the superior being, love you, one who is privileged to receive such adoration”.

Obviously, this is overstated to emphasize the point but what if we accepted that there is value in some of the practices of the past?

Yesterday’s post offered viewers a chance to post comments about their own views of how things might form as the “lock-down” scales away. It was interesting that half the comments were about where we are now rather than where we are going. That is consistent with much what we hear in conversations and read in the press. Further, the interest in where we are now was focused on the vague and often contradictory information being disseminated.

A review of the information being disseminated quickly reveals that there is strong partisan bias guiding the various information threads. For example, according to actual doctor experience, Hydroxychloroquine has a 90% chance of helping patients with Covid-19. However, a Google search of the drug will turn up dozens of links to warnings that it is either ineffective or dangerous. Further examination of the ‘ineffective’ links reveals that most group Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine together and the later has not demonstrated the same effectiveness as the former. Further examination of the ‘dangerous’ claims reveals the same kinds of warnings that apply to all prescription drugs.

So what is going on here? Is it that the availability of a cheap, readily available therapeutic drug does not have the power focusing impact or profitability of a newfound silver bullet? Or, is it that one side of the political divide expressed support for the drug so the other side automatically takes the opposing view.

Both elements appear to be at work here and, as a result, people suffer, people die. We always must guard against those who suffer from power and material greed, however, our current situation is showing just how Machiavellian we have become when driven by ideological bigotry. That ideological bigotry is allowing those sick with lust for power and material to gain the upper hand.

On September 15th, 2008 your humble blogger had a great job, working for and with people he greatly admired and respected. In our own way, we were making a difference and improving the world. We had great plans for expanding our reach and our impact.

On the morning of September 16th, 2008 that had all changed and the world, for us, would never be the same. Millions of my colleagues around the world would lose their livelihood and most would never work in the industry again. Our own efforts and aspirations were stilted and scaled back so much that within a decade all we had built was no more. Most people think the crash of 2008 was a smack on the markets and then everything returned to normal. They look at the ‘index’ and say, “wow that was tough, glad it’s over”. The savvy ones ask, “why is my retirement recovering so much slower than the index?”. Indexes do not show the casualties because the casualties are dragged off of the field and replaced by new fodder. For many in the industry the crash, and the crushing regulatory destruction that followed, changed the world forever.

Don’t let market-speak drive you away. All of that was written to inform you that your humble blogger does know what it’s like when the world changes on a whim, never to be the same again. Those of us in the financial industry emerged from the fiasco that started in 2008 into a world that was radically and forever changed, a New Normal.

A much larger percentage of the population is about to emerge from the current fiasco in a similar state. Few things will be exactly as they were, somethings will be very different, and somethings will cease to be. Some aspects of what is to come will be better and some will be worse. It is impossible to know much about what will be, and so, of little use to fret.  For those reasons it would be unhealthy to spend our isolation time just ticking off days until we can go back to ‘normal’.  Our time is better spent considering how to improve our skills, talents, training, and passions so that we are ready for the mysterious new world that will emerge. The Hebrew bible tells us of a practice God prescribed to his chosen people called Sabbath. The general idea was that of taking time to rest on the 7th day. God even designed a rest for the land every 7 years and a time of jubilee every 49 years.  These rest times were not times of napping and watching Netflix, but that they were times of rejuvenation.  Land does not sleep when it is rested, the grass still grows, the worms still ply their way, enriching the soil – the land rejuvenates, it improves.  Could we accept our current state as a kind of Sabbath?

Let us use our isolation as a time to contemplate our purpose, examine our lives, seek to be better people.  Let us strive to form ourselves to better love our families, better love neighbors, better serve our community through our labor, art, and volunteerism.  And through that striving, shape the New Normal.