[FRIAM] [[Narcissism Again]again]

[Steven A Smith]

> 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-bounces at redfish.com] *On Behalf Of *Jochen 
> Fromm
> *Sent:* Saturday, January 28, 2017 1:39 AM
> *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group 
> <friam at redfish.com>; Friam <Friam at redfish.com>
> *Cc:* penny thompson <penny.thompson at earthlink.net>; 'Bruce Simon' 
> <bjs108 at yahoo.com>; 'Dix McComas' <dixmccomas2 at gmail.com>; 'Grant 
> Franks' <grantfranks at 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 <nickthompson at earthlink.net 
> <mailto:nickthompson at earthlink.net>>
>
> Date: 1/28/17 01:57 (GMT+01:00)
>
> To: Friam <Friam at redfish.com <mailto:Friam at redfish.com>>
>
> Cc: penny thompson <penny.thompson at earthlink.net 
> <mailto:penny.thompson at earthlink.net>>, 'Bruce Simon' 
> <bjs108 at yahoo.com <mailto:bjs108 at yahoo.com>>, 'Dix McComas' 
> <dixmccomas2 at gmail.com <mailto:dixmccomas2 at gmail.com>>, 'Grant Franks' 
> <grantfranks at earthlink.net <mailto:grantfranks at 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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