[FRIAM] mathematics and politics

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Well, when confronted by conspiracy thinking (e.g. all people are inauthentic and simply put on masks fit to purpose), you can choose to mimic what you think they're doing *or* you can ratchet out a bit and ask yourself what is the virtuous behavior you might like to engage.

I don't care, at all, whether Navlany's bravery is fake ... or whether AOC's victimhood is adopted for political purpose. But I *do* care about how, say, rape victims respond to their treatment. And how my elderly neighbor responds to news of gang violence downtown. Etc. I care about that for the same reason I care about young black hackers who have no role models in the media. Or Renee's grand daughter going to a scientific conference with me and the VERY FIRST talk being given by a woman.

In espionage and public relations, they talk a lot about "the appearance of impropriety". But if there's one thing we might learn from Nick and EricC's kindasorta radical behaviorism is that if you think all the time about putting on masks to manipulate others, then you probably *are* one who puts on masks to manipulate others. Hence, I choose to treat AOC's presentation of fear and Navlany's presentation of bravery as authentic, not because it is, but because the effect it has on, say, Renee's grand daughter is real. And that's probably why I reacted the way I did.

On 2/4/21 8:59 AM, jon zingale wrote:
> Good to hear. It is not mockery. When I observe politicians I cannot help but
> wonder about the trappings of power. Each expression may fairly be
> interpretable, Navalny's or AOC's, on some level as a bid in a perpetual
> game of political narrative scoping, a rhetorical performance insisting
> "this is who we are today". As far as I can tell, it doesn't require
> authencity or consistency to play. Today we are playing civil, tomorrow
> boxing our little brother's ears.

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