Politics

The Question Of Authority

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When I look at American politics, of the many crises we face, I think one of the major ones is the crisis of authority.  Namely – who should be listened to?  Who has the authority.

Despite the political dynasties we do have in our country (which doesn’t please me frankly), family lines are not well-established, authoritative ways to find leaders.  We fall back on that all too often, of course, but as royalty has taught us you don’t want to invest in genetics.

“Making Money” seems to be a popular measure of leadership, or at least “having money.”  There is at least the assumption of business sense if one has/made money.    Then again making money doesn’t mean you can actually do any other jobs, and you may just be a greedy person.

There’s the “anointed by God” idea, but we don’t seem to buy that despite the fact it gets dragged into politics.  Also since everyone is claiming God, it has a kind of dilution effect.  Also down deep, I think most people know they’re BSing about this.

“Expertise” in something should be a recognized reason for leadership, but that’s often a problem as well.  I could probably go into excessive details on that, but roughly I chalk it up to anti-intellectualism and the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Of course, we could actually look to leaders that make things work and measure it.

“When the aged wear silk and eat meat and the masses are neither cold nor hungry, it is impossible for their prince not to be a true King.” – Mencius, Confucian Philosopher

That was 2300 years ago.  Might be something to consider.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Cults, Conspiracy Theorists, and Connection

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Well now we have Sandy Hook Truthers, who believe some or all of the shooting was staged, many people involved were actors, and it’s all part of some elaborate scheme to create mild gun safety laws.  Some people have decided to go and harass one of the people who helped the kids out, a 69-year old man.

When I look at the Conspiracy Theorists, the hardcore sealed-in-their-heads types, and certainly in this case we’ve got an already noteable group, something comes to mind: they resemble a cult.

There’s the System that explains everything.  There’s the feeling special as you ‘get it.’  There’s convenient enemies to hate (like a 69-year old pet sitter).  You even get to feel persecuted as everyone is calling you out, often for being kind of a jerk.

Also, if you’re ethically challenged, you can play Cult Leader and make a mint off this stuff.  Just trapse through a book store and look at some of the “political” books.

A conspiracy theory is a cult that’s often decentralized, with a few Cult Leader types taking advantage of a larger miasma of fevered thought.

It’s also like a cult in that it attracts the disconnected – and disconnects people.  It’s easy for people looking for meaning to find it in conspiracy theories.  It’s also easy for those enmeshed in the world of paranoia and fear to become disconnected from others (those political arguments you had over the holidays? Take those, and turn them to 11).  Conspiracy theories build on and build distance.

This is why building and keeping the foundation of civilization and culture is important – and requires a place for people.  The connections, the reliable systems, the meaning, the support structures are important to both our survival as a civilization, but also as they keep people from getting disconnected, and thus being prey to cults and cultic thought.  Much as a cult disconnects people from their connections, cultic though like conspiracy theories (sort of do-it-yourself cuts) can be used to unmoor oneself.

Next time you observe conspiracy theories gone gonzo, think of it as a decentralized cult.  It’ll make things clearer.

Also, remember the value of civilization, culture, and social connection.  It’s easier to appreciate when you see what happens when that falls apart.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Tribalism Trumps Cash In Politics?

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The campaign is done, over, Nate Silver can go get drunk, and the formerly confident members of the Republican Party are asking “what happened?”  Also they’re asking “What the hell did all that money go for?”

Now I could go deep into some of my own theories about political groups, which are roughly that a lot of lobbying and political organizations are just lucrative fronts to part donors from cash.  But still there was a LOT of money sloshing around this election, and many is the time I hears someone predict it would break in the Republican’s favor.  Doesn’t look that way.

I think there is an issue that money can only buy so much, and it’s worse in a time of highly “tribal” political divisions, as explored by Salon.

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