It’s pure fantasy to think that you can ignore key dimensions of a problem and magically solve it. The problems that plague America are interrelated, and anything short of addressing that is going nowhere. But everyone’s wrapped up in their wheelhouse — operating under umbrellas of interests that don’t account for complexities outside of them.
Just picking the “root cause” that works for you doesn’t cut it. You’ve gotta look at interconnected causes across-the-board.
You cannot forever beat something into the ground and think it’ll magically make a dent someday. Repeatedly rehashing issues is not the mark of problem solving: It’s the mark of a market.
All these channels are blunt instruments (including those I agree with).
Like Black Lives Matter — you’re just pounding away at problems without any examination of the efficacy of your efforts.
The smorgasbord of sub-cultures has created another dimension of delusion in America — hardening minds not broadening them. The commentary in these communities speaks volumes about social media and the state of society: Habitually hailing high praise for purveyors of virtue:
Virtues that vanish the second they’re called to put them to the test.
Across these echo chambers — channel hosts are worshipped as “National Treasures” (treating them like they’re some of the greatest minds to ever live). At the helm of these cesspools of certitude — are people who peddle repeatedly rehashed insight their followers praise like they split the atom. To be sure, some of it is insightful. But these “geniuses” are so wise in their ways: They’re oblivious to how they’re feeding the very problems they’re ostensibly trying to solve.
Not to mention how they inspire you to flood the internet with ceaseless claims about your critical thinking skills — but don’t inspire you enough to do any of this:
How can you expect anyone to admit when they’re wrong if you won’t? And every time you allow emotion to run roughshod over reason, you further calcify habits at the other end of the spectrum from these:
Rather than assert that all opinions are equal, students in seminar learn to judge opinions on the basis of the reasons given for those opinions.
Nobody ever had to explain that to me. I’m sure you all feel the same:
And yet here we are:
I put it all on a silver platter for you 10 years ago:
When I Saw the Writing on the Wall
I took on the automatons of the time (Left & Right). No one listened, and lo and behold — automatons exponentially multiplied. Those times were tame compared to today. The toxicity of venom has been taken to a whole other level with pride.
Fact:
truth verifiable from experience or observation
If you have a history of hypocrisy and lying — you are a hypocrite and a liar. If you don’t like being called those things, don’t do those things. But so typical of the times — nothing has meaning anymore. Calling criticism “mudslinging” is just somethin’ to say to escape scrutiny.
And the irony is:
I’ve received almost nothing but mudslinging for decades — by people who cry foul with counterfeit claims on what they do for real. And let’s face it: You need it to be mudslinging, because if it’s not — your binary beliefs are gonna fall apart.
That’s everywhere . . .
But this crowd takes the cake:
For people who flaunt their love for facts — you sure have a helluva lot of hate for irrefutable facts that fly in the face of your calcified convictions.
Just where should I begin?
Start with the evidence you gleefully ignore? Offer up my solution before you even understand the problem? Explain the problem by first showing you the belligerence I invariably face in offering that irrefutable evidence (at which point circular certitude comes calling): Where you cry foul with your “where’s your facts?” refrain:
Slinging “I’ll wait” with a smug smile (when I’d waiting till hell freezes over for you to consider anything).
The only thing you’re “waiting” for is fodder to fuel your next fix. If you operated anywhere in the same galaxy of these claims below — the mountain of material I’ve written over decades wouldn’t exist.
It’s all marketing!
If he were the genuine article — those books would not be so one-sided.
The notion that feelings over facts is limited to the Left is ludicrous. If you were trying to solve a problem instead of sell books and boost your popularity — you’d be fair-minded by addressing how this behavior applies across-the-board. If it were truly about following the facts, you wouldn’t need slogans and wouldn’t want ’em. Your record would speak for itself. Then again . . .
Do these people really wanna solve problems anyway? Do you?
Man is at least as much a problem-creating as a problem-solving animal. Better a crisis than the permanent boredom of meaninglessness.
— Theodore Dalrymple, Life at the Bottom
Speaking of slick slogans and such:
Just what do you call this?
Sowell’s worshipped for “following the facts” and yet he didn’t go anywhere near ’em the biggest and most costly lie in modern history (opting to peddle partisan hackery that poisons political discourse to this day). And lo and behold, his followers follow in his footsteps in flagrantly ignoring irrefutable facts as concrete as they come.
It’s a sign of the times that even on matters of quantifiable fact — there are competing camps for rigging your own reality. Ya wanna debate the definition of “concrete” now? Or perhaps you’re a proud member of the The Math Club (with the latest in fashion being the Philosophical Fluff Faction): Who find meaning in “mathematical certainty” having no meaning?
Anyone wanting to know the truth would not behave in ways that make damn sure you never will.
On evidence involving artillery rockets and material properties of centrifuge rotors — the apostles of Sowell smugly cite his books on economics, race, and whatnot: Anything to glorify him as they abandon any notion of accountability:
Butchering his bedrock beliefs as they dance in delight behind their force field of fallacy.
These people do nothing but question my motives, mock my site, and assault my character — then proudly post quotes of Sowell looking stately as he condemns the very thing they’re doing.
- Repeat slogans: “Everybody believed Iraq had WMD”
- Question people’s motives: Bush hater, Bush basher, Bush Derangement Syndrome, Plamegate & plenty more. Adding to the arsenal of childish crap to continue the tradition: Snowflake, Libtard, Libturd, Cupcake, TDS, Demon-crat, Democrat Party
- Bold assertions: Russians said so, British said so, Bill Clinton said so, Leaders of both parties said so . . .
No coherent argument, Repeat slogans, Vent their emotions, Question people’s motives, Bold assertions . . .
How do we make people realize they’ve been lied to? You have to knock down one small pillar that’s easier to reach.
The people who Tweeted those lines I combined from a conversation I came across — had no idea that they perfectly captured the principle of my Clear the Clutter plan. I’ve got the perfect pillar: As exposing Sowell is my bridge to expose it all.
But in showing you how objective scrutiny works (in applying the same rules to both sides):
You look at that . . .
Coupled with this:
And incredibly . . .
Act like it’s this:
That you have not developed the capacity understand matters of complexity beyond your current comprehension — doesn’t mean they don’t make sense. And there is no measure for how preposterous it is that people who can’t even get the self-evident straight:
Have the bottomless gall to belittle me on making correlations in 3 dimensions while you wallow in one.
None of those boxes of beliefs are entirely wrong, but bonding within them makes you think you’re entirely right (on everything). What I do takes work — time and effort to think it through. A bit about work.
I’m not just taking Thomas Sowell to task because he’s got it comin’ — I need this guy for what I have in mind to right this ship. The ultimate irony is that blind loyalty limits him — while my criticism could elevate him to heights that hero-worship ensures he’ll never go.
So, you’re saying that your plan will elevate Sowell to worldwide recognition — by holding him accountable? That if he comes clean — he could be the catalyst to turn the tide?
That’s exactly what I’m saying!
It won’t matter that he blew it on WMD or why — all that matters is having the guts to say: “I was wrong and I’m trying to make it right.” In a culture consumed with feeling right, wouldn’t it be refreshing to talk about the immeasurable value in the willingness to be wrong?
Don’t just tell people how to behave: Lead by example — especially when it comes at a cost!
There are far worse culprits on all-things Iraq, but I’ve been down that road for decades. Discovering Sowell and the underworld of absurdity that shields him — makes him ideal to put these lies in their place once and for all: And change the dynamic of debate to boot. Elevating him is not my aim, but I can live with it to stem the systematic self-delusion that’s taken this nation totally off the rails:
Left & Right!
I’ve always hated Twitter and every long-form version of it (Reddit, Substack, and anything and everything claiming to something it’s not). When I’m done doing what I gotta do — I’m never goin’ back. Until then, I’m sending out a certain set of messages looking for intelligent life (fiercely independent thinkers who want to solve problems — not endlessly talk about them).
Think of my signals as a poor man’s SETI:
I’ve got an idea — and it’s got teeth. There’s a way we can harness folly from the past for the benefit of the future.
A.K.A. Learning!
All ya gotta do — is do what you say you do. And my idea is a framework for debate that boxes you in to do exactly that. You won’t like it — but here’s the deal: Your opposition won’t either. And who knows, you might learn to love embracing challenge, changing your mind, and the fruits from demanding across-the-board accountability.
This — is not that
This is Broadcasting Beliefs About That
Going by the galaxies filled with rock stars of reasoning across the social media universe — I should have no shortage of people eager to examine my idea and discuss how we could improve on it and proceed.
You tell me where those people are and I’ll gladly send out my signals to them.
To the uneducated, abstract ideas are unfamiliar; so is the detachment that is necessary to discover a truth out of one’s own knowledge and mental effort. The uneducated person views life in an intensely personal way — he knows only what he sees, hears or touches and what he is told by friends.
As the unknown sage puts it, “Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people.”
But more than ever, even the most educated minds act in an uneducated manner in service of their interests — and do catastrophic damage by doing so. Even the best of the bunch are part of the problem they’re trying to solve.
Don’t shake your head. I’m not done yet. Wait till you hear the whole thing so you can . . . understand this now . . .
My Cousin Vinny is maybe the most hilariously educational movie ever — and this scene is at the core of our culture’s communication divide:
My idea is simple:
Cutting through our Crap is King culture to you to see it — is not.
Where infantile insults are celebrated:
The doubt-free who don’t do their homework are the experts.
Those who belittle and outright reject correction — are the righteous and wise. The ones with courage to admit when they’re wrong — are the weak. Tireless dedication is mercilessly mocked — while intellectual laziness is esteemed. Original thinking and uniqueness are bashed — while conforming to the trite is trumpeted. Depth is discarded with disdain — while shallowness is embraced with love.
The honest & sincere are shunned — while manipulators & liars are welcomed with open arms.
This is my story — and if you read it in full, you’ll find it’s part of your story too. You’ve all dealt with the same behavior I have — the difference is that I get it from every direction.
People really don’t listen.
People are just either not that interested in what you’re saying, or they are too focused on their own agenda. It’s ridiculous to see two people acting like they can’t really hear each other — by choice.
In “The Significance Principle,” authors Les Carter and Jim Underwood posit that we should listen past where the other person has finished. We should even pause before answering. Let them get their point, their story, their compliment, and even their criticism out. Completely. . . .
The ability to hear is a gift. The willingness to listen is a choice.”
— Mike Greene, Why you should first seek to understand — before trying to be understood
Barebones email that summarizes what this is ultimately all about:
(text version below image)
Conventional means have no chance of breaching the envelope of intransigence around armies of unreachables in the trench warfare of our times. But integrate those same tools into an unconventional framework for honest debate — and now you’ve got something. It’s pure fantasy to think that you can ignore key dimensions of a problem and magically solve it. But everyone’s wrapped up in their wheelhouse:
Operating under umbrellas of interests that don’t account for complexities outside of them.
10 years ago, I set out to tell a larger story about the decline of America from decades of dishonesty and systematic self-delusion. No one listened, and lo and behold — those times were tame compared to today. In the last few years — I’ve seen savagery beyond anything that inspired the doc (and that’s what gave me the idea). Back then, it was about going up against institutions and putting up a mirror to all of America.
Now, I just need to get to one man.
Festinger would have a field day with the cult-like following of this professional know-it-all. On the biggest and most costly lie in modern history, he flagrantly ignored irrefutable evidence of mathematical certainty (opting to peddle partisan hackery that poisons political discourse to this day). Not to mention his patently obvious history of toeing the party line.
All of which flies in the face of the principles upon which he’s put on a pedestal.
The underworld of absurdity around this man is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I’m practically spit on by people promoting principles I followed to find he didn’t. His disciples see him as some kind of saint-like Sherlock Holmes — with followers seemingly competing for fawning over this fraud.
And that is an opportunity!
How do we make people realize they’ve been lied to? You have to knock down one small pillar that’s easier to reach. I’ve got the perfect pillar — on a matter of world-altering consequence that shaped everything you see today. A student wrote of her psychology professor:
Tim Wilson taught me the importance of breaking problems down into more manageable pieces.
Lo and behold, at the bedrock of my idea is exactly that. If you want to start solving problems, first you need to clear the clutter that’s crippled this country. To do that, you don’t go after everything, you go after one thing that ties to everything. And you do it by holding one man to his own “standards.”
The 11th edition of Social Psychology has the domino effect on the cover. They’ve got an image of an idea — I’ve got the idea.
Your field is forever fighting the forces of human nature whereas my solution banks on it. I have a very specific target audience to get this in gear, so it wouldn’t take much. One email could set off a chain of events that could open the door to the kind of conversation this nation’s never had. Dr. Elliot Aronson put me onto his friend, Dr. Phil Zimbardo. For medical reasons, he’s unable to get involved, but in response to an email on the essence of my idea, he wrote: “Very Interesting and original.” Seems like that should count for something.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Richard W. Memmer
And that’s just the beginning
Note: More to follow on the bit below — this is just a placeholder to plant the seed so that I have a separate post to point to on the idea within the email above. Right now, please bear with me with the knowledge that there is a plan in place for how this would work when fully realized.
And none of that matters without nailing down the problem first.
What I have in mind is something of a JSOC — to join forces for a greater good that’s the gold standard of unimpeachable integrity. Institute for Honesty? Institute for Integrity?
Something along those lines.
Let’s just stick with JSOC for now — since it sounds cool and it’s got a nifty badge and all. Whatever the name . . .
JSOC’s scrutiny spares no one!
Note:
There are strategic steps as to how JSOC would be established. Right now, I’m just floating the concept — and other ideas this nation so desperately needs:
You cannot be, I know, nor do I wish to see you an inactive Spectator . . . I greatly fear that the arm of treachery and violence is lifted over us as a Scourge and heavy punishment from heaven for our numerous offences, and for the misimprovement of our great advantages. If we expect to inherit the blessings of our Fathers, we should return a little more to their primitive Simplicity of Manners, and not sink into inglorious ease.
We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.
— Abigail Adams, 16 October 1774
