[FRIAM] Fallback in barbarism

[thompnickson2 at gmail.com]

Barry, 

 

Add to your list the following:  It is a psychological fact that fortunate people attribute their good fortune to their own talent and the misfortunes of others to their lack thereof.  Unfortunate people tend to attribute their misfortune (and the fortunes of others) to luck.  Thus fortunate people not only have the financial resources to carry on, they have the sense of agency that leads them to carry on, while unfortunate people are led to hunker down and quit.  

Nicholas Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology

Clark University

 <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com

 <https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

 

 

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Barry MacKichan
Sent: Friday, January 8, 2021 10:00 AM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Fallback in barbarism

 

My suggestions:

A party of the plutocracy which would not win any elections without exploiting social differences and dog-whistle racism. The system of primaries and the gerrymandering of congressional districts has allowed a minority of a minority to control who gets to run for public office.

A media subculture that amplifies those grievances — Fox News and its wannabe imitators.

Movement conservatism, an infrastructure of think tanks, journals, etc. which is now over fifty years old, with plenty of money (Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson, etc), which exerts constant pressure on the elites and provides lucrative backup employment for out-of-office conservative politicians.

A outrage machine which favors engagement of any type, but which rewards anger and outrageousness above all. See  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9ofYEfewNE> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9ofYEfewNE

In the final analysis, I can’t answer your question: I really don’t understand how we have gotten to this point, and I don’t understand how many politicians can look in the mirror every day.

—Barry 

On 7 Jan 2021, at 17:00, Jochen Fromm wrote:

I must say the images from CNN which we receive here in Europe are a bit disturbing. The mob that stormed the heart of American democracy felt like anarchy, like a fallback in barbaric ancient times - the time of Barbarians vs Romans or even the stone age. It is like Neanderthals found a way to use a time machine to travel into the 21st century: one guy was dressed in fur pelts and was holding a wooden stick like a wizard from Lord of the Rings, and one half-naked guy was wearing furs and horns (the one known as "Q shaman"). Long-haired bearded guys have been looting stuff like cavemen - in the center of Washington D.C.! <https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-ELECTION/PROTESTS/qmyvmqewmvr/How> https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-ELECTION/PROTESTS/qmyvmqewmvr/How is this possible in the oldest democracy of the world? -J.- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam
un/subscribe  <http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com> http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
archives:  <http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/> http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
FRIAM-COMIC  <http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/> http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20210108/595a465d/attachment.html>