tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39515232012-02-08T22:02:02.459-08:00Various political and psychological ramblings... <br><br> My site: <A href="http://www.soulaquarium.net">Soulaquarium</a>Michaelnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5891100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1165351439099452022006-12-05T12:43:00.000-08:002006-12-05T12:43:59.123-08:00

It's human nature to become defensive when one's competence or dominance is undermined. It's also human nature for groups to promote those who are most persistent in seeking power, who are often those who fear being powerless and are willing to do short-sighted or unethical things to prevent losing their position in the pecking order. Every social group has something like a pecking order, and

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1165209192710055652006-12-03T21:08:00.000-08:002006-12-03T21:23:48.773-08:00

Apparently, some conservatives are upset with the first Muslim elected to Congress because he plans to carry a Quran to his swearing-in ceremony. I've just gotten used to the notion that it's OK for a gay man to have a sham marriage with a gay woman but not a sincere one with another gay man (conservatives use this argument to prove that gays aren't really discriminated against, and we all know

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1159384891513598962006-09-27T12:17:00.001-07:002006-12-03T21:27:58.740-08:00

Politicians and large masses have trouble apologizing for anything... everyone's afraid of giving ammunition to their enemies. That's a vicious cycle. We can't admit fault, so our faults are all the more glaring to others. No amount of money or military force can stop cellular, decentralized terrorism, not without a vocal Islamic and Arab majority willing to denounce attacks on civilians. Perhaps

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1159293125619373102006-09-26T10:51:00.000-07:002006-09-26T10:52:05.676-07:00

"When you meet somebody who is caught in the world of WE and THEM, and you are HIM to that person, and you get caught in his mind net, you are both just intensifying one another's paranoia." -- Ram Dass, Be Here Now

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1159293089938212632006-09-26T10:50:00.000-07:002006-09-26T10:51:29.963-07:00

In today's Herald, a letter writer asks, "Can we find our spine before it's too late?" A better question might be, "Can we find our soul before it's too late?" For a nation that prides itself on its Christianity, the teachings of Jesus on conflict and peace seem to have been largely left behind. Whatever happened to "love your enemy", or even, "love your neighbor" for that matter? I saw an

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1157910641288125192006-09-10T10:34:00.000-07:002006-09-10T10:57:18.946-07:00

It always helps to denounce terrorism as much as one denounces the injustices which made terrorism appealing to the victimized, or vice-versa wherever one tends to emphasize one over the other. If one excuses terrorism as a "mere product of oppression", it tends to muddy the waters and make progress impossible. Even the Palestinian Christians I talk to (and you know how much Christians respect

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1153680042593319572006-07-23T11:37:00.000-07:002006-07-23T11:40:42.603-07:00

I don't think people are often attacked for having an opinion, but because someone feels bullied or disrespected in some way. The offense may be real or imagined, but it's not opinions that upset people. It's how they're delivered and how they're taken. The most common mistake people then make is to keep pressing their positions on the issue, without addressing hurt feelings, misunderstandings,

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1149101551724827932006-05-31T11:52:00.000-07:002006-05-31T11:53:55.830-07:00

Media reflects what the masses respond to. And the masses respond to media as entertainment, which means the way we deal with human problems on a large scale isn't all that far from the way we deal with fiction. That doesn't mean the audience is evil or that the media is evil for responding to them. It's just a feedback loop, kept in place by an artificial separation between human beings. It

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1149101489177661152006-05-31T11:49:00.000-07:002006-05-31T11:54:15.210-07:00

Values live on a deeper level than beliefs, and depend more on early role models than later teachers. Someone raised with good values will keep them regardless of what beliefs they are interested in as adults, and the only reliable way to erode good values is to put someone in an environment where being good is punished at every turn. As long as good values produce good results, people will hold

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1149098495014552872006-05-31T11:01:00.000-07:002006-05-31T11:54:23.826-07:00

It helps if people refrain from labeling others "racist" or "communist" or anything else. People have fears, needs and values, and when name-calling dominates the discussion, none of those real feelings are understood and everyone reacts to the surface conflict rather than to the underlying issues. A lot of people are afraid right now, and many of those fears have to do with the "leaky boat"

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1148667753957861352006-05-26T11:20:00.000-07:002006-05-26T11:22:33.966-07:00

We all wrestle between our higher and lower natures, between what gives life and what leads to death and cultural entropy. Ironically, putting a lot of emphasis on morality and conformity may undermine social cohesion and ethics by polarizing people against themselves and against each other, leading to secrecy rather than healing. If we were all able to openly confess our "sins" to the world,

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1148579284941851752006-05-25T10:46:00.000-07:002006-05-25T10:48:04.960-07:00

Religion offers a standard, and it can be comforting and reduce confusion to have a standard that everyone can follow in common, but that doesn't mean any particular religion has the only possible standard. All cultures have rules about sex. They don't all have the SAME rules about sex. What seems to be important is not the particulars but that people can expect consistency from others. That's a

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1146611693426241012006-05-02T16:10:00.000-07:002006-05-02T16:14:53.440-07:00

My response to someone who was called a bigot for their views on illegal immigrant rights:It doesn't make you a bigot to believe immigration should be limited to legal immigration, and border security is not a racist issue (I'm amazed that the serious issue of port security is getting lost here, with so few shipping containers inspected). But how people view illegal immigrants and their rights

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1146238672279083982006-04-28T08:35:00.000-07:002006-04-28T08:37:52.290-07:00

Underneath the destruction caused by control-based addictive cycles (including war), there is some kind of ritual reaction against suffering. To avoid feeling humiliated, a person may have to be right all the time. They may make bad decisions in order to feel right. They may even cause huge destruction to the world in the process. The destruction is a byproduct. The avoidance of suffering by

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1141587537376784382006-03-05T11:38:00.000-08:002006-03-05T11:38:57.386-08:00

It's easy to believe that because Moses and Mohammad were violent in serving their goals, that the goal itself was wrong. The real goal underlying all religion is to make a human family, a species that is aware of itself as one blood. Uniting subsets of that genetic library is a misunderstanding of the goal, when another bloodline is persectued out of paranoia or envy. One thing we should look

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1141170248390127412006-02-28T15:40:00.000-08:002006-02-28T15:44:08.393-08:00

Someone on a forum mentioned the issue of mild-mannered people exploding under pressure, "going postal". My thoughts:Another, archaic term for it is demonic possession. It's a real thing, and it happens when the energy of a group falls on one person who is rejected by the group, views the group as a whole as a kind of evil machine, and lashes back when a window of opportunity opens. The more

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1141170015974295102006-02-28T15:37:00.000-08:002006-02-28T15:40:15.986-08:00

The concept of karma may be derived from a genetic program that synchronizes cultures when they are in danger of collapse. The idea being to repair broken social ties, and dampen the effect of malicious gossip, backstabbing and other punitive behavior that can shred the social web. The point of any prophesy or religious path is to create a stable, deeply connected social network, so as not to

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1139941275418676062006-02-14T10:20:00.000-08:002006-02-14T10:21:15.433-08:00

It's possible that one way or the other, some non-governmental system will have to be set up to help the poor, especially if the public rejects tax increases. The conservative axiom is, "Government has no right to force me to pay to support people who can't or won't support themselves. That's the job of churches and charities." The liberal axiom is, "Charities have their hands full and it's not

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1139348256742393352006-02-07T13:34:00.000-08:002006-02-08T13:08:00.446-08:00

Perhaps poking fun at religious figures is an irreverent way to counteract the idolatry of religious dogmatism and literalism. Or, perhaps it's just tasteless. Either way, we cannot make exceptions for free speech every time a vengeful mob gathers around an embassy. Let the Danish government condemn the cartoons and distance itself from the controversy, as long as freedom of the press is not

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1138559261797961432006-01-29T10:16:00.000-08:002006-02-08T13:12:10.143-08:00

Nobody would be fooled by a name change, unless Hamas politicians severed ties with groups that engage in or endorse suicide bombings or the destruction of Israel. No nation will negotiate in good faith with a group that has sworn its annihilation. Similarly, it may have been Bush's "Axis of Evil" speech that drove Iran to elect an extremist. Bush should instead have talked about Iran's future as

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1137784836640560712006-01-20T11:17:00.000-08:002006-01-20T11:20:36.653-08:00

This makes me wonder about the consequences of systems being male-heavy, and also makes me wonder if there's a hidden reason for the suspicion and demonization of women in patriarchical societies... are women "traitors" by nature, or perhaps peacemakers?When Bad People Are Punished, Men Smile (but Women Don't) In the study, when male subjects witnessed people they perceived as bad guys being

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1136404617834202912006-01-04T11:45:00.000-08:002006-01-04T11:57:08.620-08:00

Scenario planning is the art of anticipating the worst in order to prevent it or reduce its consequences. What's disturbing about "prophesy" (in religion or in secular doomsday scenarios) is that it often seems to lack the prevention aspect. Sure, you're warned to save your soul by attaching yourself to a religious dogma, or you get the temporary right to look down at others who aren't looking

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1135970782057912982005-12-30T11:11:00.000-08:002005-12-30T11:26:22.073-08:00

Fundamentalism hijacks the needs of people whose lives are swirling down the drain, or who fear losing what they have because it's all that stands between them and their "demons". It takes the basic human need for redemption, compassion, communion and meaning and handcuffs it to the belief in a judging deity, hell and the dire need to believe in Jesus or Allah before he stops giving you second

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1134934380951515602005-12-18T11:25:00.000-08:002005-12-18T11:33:00.963-08:00

A letter writer in the local paper feigns surprise, shock and dismay (or is being very dramatic) at the paper's mention of the retirement of the Colby "holiday tree". More than the loss of the tree itself, it is the paper's lack of "backbone", that celebrated bone in conservative lore, that upsets him. He asks "what in the world is a holiday tree anyway?" I imagine it's a tree one keeps for a

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1133987504962169002005-12-07T12:30:00.000-08:002005-12-07T12:31:44.973-08:00

On our cultural aversion to diplomacy:Perhaps diplomacy requires that one accept feedback two ways, between oneself and one's enemy. It's fairly common for people to avoid feeling insecure or guilty by cutting off feedback with the person or group that triggers those feelings. Someone who has a knee-jerk reaction against anything French isn't likely to be getting a lot of actual feedback from

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1133567676430627542005-12-02T15:53:00.000-08:002005-12-02T15:54:36.443-08:00

To someone who said, "Neoconservatives believe they own America, that they own us all":Neoconservatives believe things like, "The government should not promote a welfare state". That position may be deeply flawed, but it's not quite the same as believing that the poor should be treated badly. If neocon beliefs and policies have negative effects, it would be more useful to point that out rather

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1133490593726867412005-12-01T18:28:00.000-08:002005-12-01T18:29:53.740-08:00

In order to be decent to another person, one must either expect to be treated decently in return, or have an overriding belief in the importance of decency, even toward those who may not reciprocate. Religion may provide that overriding belief, but only if "infidels" are included in the class of people to be treated decently.It may be closest to human nature to treat others as they have treated

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1133406534543297312005-11-30T19:08:00.000-08:002005-11-30T19:08:54.553-08:00

"Unless we are ready to die developing new nonviolent attempts to reduce conflict, we should confess that we never really meant that the cross was an alternative to the sword..." Ron Sider, whose speech at a Mennonite World Conference inspired the formation of Christian Peacemaker Teams. Four CPT members have been kidnapped in Iraq.

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1133380498259572122005-11-30T11:49:00.000-08:002005-11-30T11:54:58.273-08:00

Someone told me, "It's time we drop the wonderfully idealistic idea that we have the capability on this earth for lasting peace". My response:It seems to me we already HAVE given up that idea, and are reaping the consequences. What are the consequences of millions of people giving up on peace? Peace takes work. It requires that people form connections across boundary lines, and undermine the

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1133222384035913582005-11-28T15:58:00.000-08:002005-11-28T17:18:09.473-08:00

One drawback to the current focus on the Iraq war is that regardless of which side people take in the debate, they're both likely to ignore the long term issue of war and conflict in general. The Iraq war may not be as big a disaster as a conflict over Taiwan, or a nuclear showdown between Israel and Iran. We can't let current disagreement over one war lead to tunnel vision.I keep running into

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1132865950509190642005-11-24T12:58:00.000-08:002005-11-24T12:59:10.520-08:00

I believe the mental images people hold of one another are perhaps *the* key to solving many seemingly unsolvable conflicts. If we deal with them openly, we'll overcome obstacles that formerly seemed absolute. In most conflicts, those mental images and stereotypes are assumed to be reality, and placed outside the range of discussion. Is it any wonder conflicts go unresolved for generations when

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1132626635760910042005-11-21T18:14:00.000-08:002005-11-21T18:30:35.776-08:00

One of the most fundamental human needs is to make a difference. Those who can't make a positive difference discover at some point that it's a lot easier to mess things up for everyone else. Unfortunately, much of what society does to punish disruptive behavior only inflames the underlying need that drives it (prison makes people feel small, and then pushes them to learn the most negative ways to

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1131996095643956752005-11-14T11:20:00.000-08:002005-11-14T11:21:35.653-08:00

I think many addictions (religious, chemical, and television) are attempts at transcending the ego and mundane individual reality. But transcendence is a gradient, it doesn't end. It always wants to include more of the universe in its envelope of spirit. So belonging to *any* group will never satisfy the craving. Transcendence is a lifelong process that can never stop at a boundary line. That's

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1131740854246706532005-11-11T12:17:00.000-08:002005-11-11T12:27:34.263-08:00

A friend who took an online business writing course felt the writing they encouraged was manipulative and that ethics got only a passing nod. That the guiding wisdom was, "never say 'sorry'" That most of his classmates knew they could get an easy grade as long as they "played the game", and that he got the cold shoulder when he commented that the class wasn't learning anything. I've heard similar

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1131737790403659982005-11-11T11:35:00.000-08:002005-11-11T11:36:30.416-08:00

My answer to my state's anti-smoking initiative:Undoubtedly many smokers will respond to the new anti-smoking initiative with anger and frustration. I do not smoke tobacco, but I'll make an offer: I'll vote against unfair anti-smoking laws, if tobacco smokers vote for marijuana legalization. People who prefer marijuana to tobacco are not permitted to smoke in public or in private, facing legal

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1131586553336915852005-11-09T17:33:00.000-08:002005-11-09T17:35:53.350-08:00

People are like onions, they have layers. They do cover up their dark side (don't we all), but perhaps there's more beneath that dark side. It's just that when it's hidden and then uncovered, it seems more "true" than what's beneath it because of earlier attempts to disguise it. Like discovering a spider in a bag of candy, the possibility that there's more candy beneath the spider doesn't seem so

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1131145951082486802005-11-04T15:12:00.000-08:002005-11-04T15:12:31.093-08:00

We all have an internal narrative in which we convince ourselves we are wise, likeable, funny, powerful, whatever. Seeing ourselves through the eyesof less friendly observers can be a jarring experience. Gregory Bateson noted that schizophrenics tend to act as if they expect their communication to be misread. That would make it pretty difficult to form a stable social self. Perhaps religious

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1130697034715456932005-10-30T10:27:00.000-08:002005-10-30T10:30:34.730-08:00

If you look beneath beliefs, you can see what's really going on when different groups argue about politics or religion: people feel more comfortable around people they see as similar to themselves. When they meet strangers who don't appear to share significant traits, they fear being judged, deconstructed or belittled, and they turn that judgment around to judge, deconstruct or belittle the other

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1130354014645550532005-10-26T12:11:00.000-07:002005-10-26T12:13:34.653-07:00

TEHRAN, Iran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Wednesday that Israel is a "disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map" — fiery words that Washington said underscores its concern over Iran's nuclear program.I wonder how Bush will respond to that... wasn't the Iraq war designed to "send a message" to nations that would threaten others? Looks like it may have backfired. The problem

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1130182085767797622005-10-24T12:26:00.000-07:002005-10-24T12:28:05.773-07:00

As part of President Bush's "faith-based initiative," US taxpayers gave the Salvation Army's children services division $47 million this year -- 95% of its total budget. Several Salvation Army employees refused to take the Salvation Army's pledge "proclaiming Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord," reveal which church they belong to or identify gay co-workers -- and were summarily fired.

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1127174047534998342005-09-19T16:52:00.000-07:002005-09-19T16:54:07.540-07:00

Portraying Republicans as "caring more about power than about the American people" doesn't really explain how they see their own behavior. In *their* minds, the consequences of liberals being in power (not that Democrats are actually liberals, but Republicans seem to see them as crypto-socialists) would be so horrible that Republicans feel they must hold power at all costs. They justify it to

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1127101454293384902005-09-18T20:43:00.000-07:002005-09-18T20:44:14.300-07:00

It's a lot easier to focus anger on a human face than to analyze systemic problems in depth. Perhaps on some level there's a basic fear: what if *we* are part of the problem? Each group avoids changing itself by putting the face of evil on another group, and on an individual who represents that group. A great way for any group to avoid problems in its own behavior, but a terrible way to improve

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1126720886322756612005-09-14T10:53:00.000-07:002005-09-14T11:10:53.003-07:00

It's a little disturbing to see the "you asked for it, now deal with it" argument popping up so often. So a girl has a baby outside marriage (or marries a guy and is abandoned), because she's lonely and dependent on men to save her when Jesus fails her. Does she mourn her dead baby less because it was "her fault" she remained poor and lost everything in the flood? And, do we extend that idea to

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1126638418144324222005-09-13T12:04:00.000-07:002005-09-13T12:06:58.150-07:00

There's an obvious reason for the reluctance to understand "evildoers" or to love one's enemy: understanding evil might tempt a person to empathize with the evildoer, making it harder for the group to expel or kill the threat (and making it harder for the group to deny its own projections, the seeds of evil within itself). But that need for solidarity against evildoers can also disable

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1126636556997590112005-09-13T11:33:00.000-07:002005-09-13T11:35:57.000-07:00

I really wish sex and marriage could just be *individual* decisions rather than political statements. Those who flourish in in monogamy, who need the security in order to become who they are, will always prefer marriage, and everyone should respect their decision. Those who flourish in free love, who know how to handle jealousy and feel more like themselves when they aren't committed to one

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1126635928585185032005-09-13T11:22:00.000-07:002005-09-13T11:25:28.593-07:00

I think on some level, there is empathy for everyone that one is aware of, even distantly. But I think people can also develop an "allergy" to that awareness, and compassion fatigue is a familiar problem. The human brain may have evolved to form an awareness of one's social environment, including distant strangers who may become allies or enemies. In times of relative security, there may be an

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1126580069771124612005-09-12T19:54:00.000-07:002005-09-12T19:54:29.776-07:00

Compassionate ListeningAn Exploratory Sourcebook About Conflict Transformation

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1126574001562445722005-09-12T18:03:00.000-07:002005-09-12T18:13:21.566-07:00

What happens when elite social and business networks govern a nation as a whole, yet don't interact on a daily basis with the people they're ruling? In order to understand the impact of decisions made on high levels, you have to be tapped into a wide range of people, not just preaching or talking down to them, but getting feedback consistently. If your friends are all corporate CEOs or political

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1126554375742072352005-09-12T12:42:00.000-07:002005-09-12T12:46:15.750-07:00

It's easy to confuse real survival needs with the need for group conformity and agreement. Disagreement in many groups is equated with a dangerous fragmenting force that might give an enemy advantage. Groups which keep an eye on the very long term may feel every act and every word is political, giving the group an advantage or disadvantage in relation to other groups. Group members who deviate

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1126552509576062672005-09-12T12:12:00.000-07:002005-09-12T12:15:09.583-07:00

Political rhetoric, especially when fused with hard-line theology, can become a rigid shell that obscures genuine feeling and the actual needs people have for security, certainty and so on. Both parties in debate become demons rather than human beings to one another, and nobody sees his own part in escalating conflict and distorting communication. Each side reacts to what it perceives in the

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1126294470890502142005-09-09T12:33:00.000-07:002005-09-09T14:34:21.473-07:00

If we generalize from a few bad experiences that "no good deed goes unpunished" and avoid doing good altogether, we will die as a culture. If we find ways to show kindness where it's safe, and to create safe spaces for it, we might have some chance of survival. Images, sounds and feelings associated with traumatic events can get stuck in the brain, override reality and superimpose hallucinations

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1124908087178519072005-08-24T11:18:00.000-07:002005-08-24T11:55:48.000-07:00

A Left-wing Christian (hereafter "LWC") says: "At the time, Scott Ritter and other experts in his position, the intelligence agencies of a number of nations, the UN weapons inspectors, and the multiple millions of us around the world who marched, wrote, prayed, and rallied against this unprovoked unjust war did not believe Saddam had WMD's."Me: It's a big leap from "Scott Ritter didn't believe

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1124821936660003812005-08-23T11:30:00.000-07:002005-08-24T11:54:18.703-07:00

Bush most likely didn't lie about WMD (he was just *wrong* about WMD like everyone else in his administration) but he HAS failed to discipline people who show loyalty but make serious mistakes. Accusing him of irresponsible leadership might stick, if it doesn't come with outright false accusations.Sheehan is hurt by her personal accusations (which really aren't "questions" as she frames them)

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1123960841477254902005-08-13T12:09:00.000-07:002005-08-13T12:47:54.110-07:00

Someone remarked that teachers are forced to deal with behavior problems and can't focus on teaching. She remarked that many kids are "spoiled". I said:I don't think you can take so many kids with different needs and force them all to adapt to one teaching style. You'd have trouble getting that many ADULTS to sit in one place without "discipline problems". People naturally form tribes based on

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1123652000473509542005-08-09T22:21:00.000-07:002005-08-09T22:41:21.480-07:00

Watching people insult each other back and forth in chatrooms (Yahoo Islam chat being a particularly insane example), I've noticed a repeating pattern of people hiding behind a religion or tribal group, throwing stones at other tribes to soothe their own insecurity. The people who work the hardest to fuel conflicts seem to rely heavily on language that distances them from accountability. It's

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1123261033899282012005-08-05T09:55:00.000-07:002005-08-05T09:57:13.903-07:00

Someone on a progressive Christian forum mentioned the need to forgive Bush. I agreed, and added:One of the "sins" of the American Left was that it advocated nonviolence, but showed a lack of compassion toward the loyal opposition. Conservatives really believe they are defending the country, and that if liberals were in charge, Hitler would run over everyone unchecked. If we are able to show a

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1123180464331569372005-08-04T11:33:00.000-07:002005-08-04T11:34:24.336-07:00

Swami Beyondananda, spiritual leader to millions of FUNdamentalists (accent on “fun”) worldwide, has called on our government to end what he calls “a systematic policy of ethic cleansing.” “Congress must act,” declared the Swami, “And without DeLay, I might add.” Speaking at a Right-to-Laugh Party Fun-Raiser in his overwhelmingly pro-laugh district in Northern California, Swami warned that the

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1123110341527958412005-08-03T16:05:00.000-07:002005-08-03T16:05:41.533-07:00

"Three quarters of Americans believe the Bible teaches that 'God helps those who help themselves.' That is, three out of four Americans believe that this uber-American idea, a notion at the core of our current individualist politics and culture, which was in fact uttered by Ben Franklin, actually appears in Holy Scripture. The thing is, not only is Franklin's wisdom not biblical; it's

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1123091502037541172005-08-03T10:50:00.000-07:002005-08-03T10:51:42.043-07:00

By following money, people are really following applause. Applause is the raindance of tribalism. We are still addicted to the us/them paradigm, and money is a symbol deeply related to class and belonging. Insiders vs. outsiders. Nobody wants to be caught outside. A cult of social insecurity.To feel secure and strong, speakers (politicians, religious leaders, entertainers) say what the audience

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1123089711201448852005-08-03T10:20:00.000-07:002005-08-03T10:21:51.203-07:00

A former Muslim on an email forum was ranting against Islam, and a woman asked him why he was so angry. I posted this on the general pattern of "quitter's syndrome":Someone loses his original identity (as a Muslim, as a secularist, as a Christian) and reacts against everything he used to be by denouncing the whole category of belief. Suicide bombers seem to be middle class kids who tried out a

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1123089247377690492005-08-03T10:06:00.000-07:002005-08-03T10:14:07.386-07:00

William Raspberry had a good article about education. He mentions the impossibility of improving education by focusing on "problem kids" without addressing the culture of learning and the fear of humiliation or judgment on the part of kids and parents alike.To that I would add, we've GOT to overcome the narrow, compartmentalized approach to academics. Nature does not separate fields neatly into

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122931275566755812005-08-01T14:17:00.000-07:002005-08-01T14:21:15.573-07:00

The best metaphor for terrorism is not "war" but "cancer". Like a cancer, it spreads from cell to cell, causing runaway growth at the expense of balance. Ironically, big-business capitalism can also be compared to cancer, when it loses its human aspects. So the real war is against any system or ideology which blinds people to the effects of their actions on human beings. Perhaps the response

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122929447124047242005-08-01T13:48:00.000-07:002005-08-01T13:50:47.130-07:00

Scriptural literalism is always a trap. The Bible says, "The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves". Yet so many Christians and Muslims use the axiomatic approach:1. The Bible/Quran comes from God and cannot be corrupted.2. The Bible/Quran says X3. If X, then Y.This logic leads to some pretty insane thinking. One can miss the spirit entirely in

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122923513869091202005-08-01T12:11:00.000-07:002005-08-01T12:11:53.876-07:00

Fear exists within an ecology of emotions. It is possible to be afraid and also to know that you and what you fear are part of one process. Very painful, but more accurate, and perhaps that knowledge of unity containing fear is suppressed by a culture which insists what one fears must be denounced not only externally but internally.

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122922506415670882005-08-01T11:53:00.000-07:002005-08-01T11:55:06.420-07:00

False authority always believes its ego is the supreme commanding source. But behind that ego is an evolutionary process much bigger than ego can comprehend. Those who understand that process can do things the typical "my way or the highway" alpha males or disembodied philosophers cannot.

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122918225488317502005-08-01T10:38:00.000-07:002005-08-01T10:43:45.493-07:00

Conservatives are right that there is no Constitutional right to abortion or gay marriage. There is no stated right to marriage, period. But if a state banned marriage, it's pretty certain the Supreme Court would judge that the state were violating a religious right. Same could be argued of gay marriage, since some religious sects believe gay marriage is as much a religious right as straight

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122832557740473762005-07-31T10:55:00.000-07:002005-07-31T10:55:57.746-07:00

I think the cybernetic paradigm makes it possible to "love the sinner and hate the sin". Qualities that in one context would be good, such as passion, vision and the drive for achievement, can become toxic in another setting. It's the exclusion of any group from the means to express the power drive in healthy ways that turns inverts the energy into a darker force. I believe at the core of a

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122831468638015892005-07-31T10:37:00.000-07:002005-07-31T10:37:48.643-07:00

I think taking a close look at how Fundamentalist Christian males navigated the free-love counterculture of the 60's would provide some clues about suicide bomber psychology. Repression can be very toxic when one goes from one extreme to the other, there has to be a decontamination process for males to learn that they can be sexual without being predatory or fearing humiliation. Ask Muslim girls

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122828282976098782005-07-31T09:44:00.000-07:002005-07-31T09:53:30.193-07:00

The suicide bombing cults recruit young middle class Muslim men who tried out Western party culture, alcohol, pornography or capitalist competition and were rejected or humiliated when they couldn't adapt. So they go back to what they see as "traditional" Islam, swear off alcohol and women, and channel all their guilt and resentment into attacking the society that tempted them. Like smokers who

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122779522485480112005-07-30T20:05:00.000-07:002005-07-30T20:12:02.490-07:00

The reptilian brain is conditioned by fear to reject any person who seems unreliable or dangerous, and to err on the side of caution even if it means putting an innocent person to death or losing a potential ally. But the reality of the person, however "evil", is not what the reptilian brain sees in security mode. I wonder if seeing others as evil transmits a subtle unconscious message that yes,

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122741686392804262005-07-30T09:39:00.000-07:002005-07-30T09:41:26.393-07:00

Not everyone responds when Hitler howls. Those who had similar childhood experiences with parental punishment and authority probably found his message much more resonant. I agree with George Lakoff that family dynamics is behind much of the politics of love and hate, nurturing and punishment, etc. Only those raised in Evangelical subcultures respond to Pat Robertson, both because of the verbal "

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122741003854489762005-07-30T09:28:00.000-07:002005-07-30T10:15:35.140-07:00

The Bible and Quran both represent the growth of monotheism from tribal cultures with rigid Middle Eastern gender codes to a more urban and open culture which required a different view of good and evil in order to function. Modern groups tend to take what works and leave the outdated codes, just as Jesus left behind the dietary laws and the rigid enforcement of the Sabbath. But regressive groups,

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122740854068085092005-07-30T09:27:00.000-07:002005-07-30T09:27:34.070-07:00

United States politics has been dominated since the Reagan administration by Southern Evangelical Christians, who believe God's "end times" plan calls for Israel to stand against the world's armies. They believe God will save Israel at the last minute, and shower anyone who stood with Israel with blessings. The "Left Behind" books represent that ideology, which I find rather twisted. My wife is a

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122740481348406442005-07-30T09:20:00.000-07:002005-07-30T09:21:21.356-07:00

In any two groups, there will be a few people who are capable of relating on a human level to members of the other group who show tolerance and a willingness to learn. Find those people, put them in a room together, encourage them to express their feelings and perceptions without blame. Showing anger is OK, as long as it's in the form, "I am angry about losing something important to me", rather

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122658899325030822005-07-29T10:41:00.000-07:002005-07-29T10:41:39.330-07:00

Race fears linger like dread of snakesThe basic experiment paired mild electric shocks with pictures of male faces, as well as various animals. When the shocks were removed, the subjects continued to react fearfully to the faces of a different race.

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122658214110538962005-07-29T10:27:00.000-07:002005-07-29T10:30:14.116-07:00

Terrorism, Islam, reform: thinking the unthinkable The outlook for reform in the Muslim heartlands is bleak, but a ray of hope comes from European Islam. A new generation of Muslim thinkers is emerging, free of the fetters of the thought-police that bind its predecessors. The moderate tone of their Islamic polemics suggests that an updating of outdated theory and practice might be possible.

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122650894710418882005-07-29T08:12:00.000-07:002005-07-29T08:28:14.716-07:00

It's as if the world is dividing into smaller and smaller cells, and the end result may be the formation of two worlds which are toxic to each other. Potentially, that could destroy everyone's sense of security and set civilization back centuries. Those who stand in the middle are few, because they cannot rely on easy applause by demonizing the other side while ignoring their own side's sins.

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122649058541187132005-07-29T07:52:00.000-07:002005-07-29T07:57:38.546-07:00

There are two requirements for bridging any gap of hostility:1. Regular contact with the "enemy". It is when groups split and cut off contact that stereotypes blossom into demonic masks and provoke those on the boundary to attack and vilify the other side. Often, a member of one group who attempts to gain access to another group and gets rejected (with or without good reason) will go back to the

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122576570890433152005-07-28T11:47:00.000-07:002005-07-28T11:49:30.890-07:00

One way to end terrorism might be to produce a flood of media images of the victims, especially Muslim victims, their stories, their outrage. They have nothing to lose by speaking out, and if the media gives them a voice, they will. Why not show that we care as much about Muslim victims as we do about Americans killed in the war? And why not show the terrorists (who do watch television) the human

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122575474908366012005-07-28T11:28:00.000-07:002005-07-28T11:42:14.980-07:00

Duplicity cuts off passion, since it requires compartmentalization which keeps contexts from mingling and disables both intuition and genuine feeling. Groups engaged in "reptilian" politics are only able to co-opt intuition, they can't actually use it in a fluid and flexible way. Cognitive dissonance and guilt eventually catches up with them and turns them against each other in paranoia or gets

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122574323338175442005-07-28T11:11:00.000-07:002005-07-28T11:12:03.343-07:00

Male Fantasies or Fascism and the Body"The crucial element of fascism is its explicit sexual language, what Theweleit calls "the conscious coding" or the "over-explicitness of the fascist language of symbol." This fascist symbolization creates a particular kind of psychic economy which places sexuality in the service of destruction.

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122511520312859242005-07-27T17:43:00.000-07:002005-07-27T17:45:20.313-07:00

Groups which play the game of "Our group rules, everyone else can go to hell" inevitably push toxic energy onto other groups, which pass it on, pulling everyone into a downward spiral. At some point, there may be a biological program for pulling them back together again, when faced with a larger threat. With the world faced with global consequences for mass actions, will we find ways to

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122511271814506252005-07-27T17:40:00.000-07:002005-07-27T17:41:11.820-07:00

Ideology in a cult may just be the genetic tribal programs extended through entrainment, voice, eye contact and gestures of the teacher and other cult members. Tribal programs (altruism within the group, hostility toward outsiders etc) can be extended so that family relationships are mapped onto the nation or religion, "motherlands" and so on. Listen to political rhetoric and hate speech, it's

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122486937809143622005-07-27T10:47:00.000-07:002005-07-27T10:59:30.413-07:00

Someone asked me, "What goes through a suicide bomber's mind when he plans out his mission?" My reply:The image and voice of their teacher. Same as when a young fundamentalist "crusades" against some new ager or evolutionist, seeing demons rather than human beings who happen to have different beliefs... The image they are following is the image of their teacher's face, the voices they are hearing

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122432863476003222005-07-26T19:53:00.000-07:002005-07-26T19:54:23.483-07:00

An elite curriculum meets an amalgam of studentsIs the rigorous International Baccalaureate program for everyone? A N.Y.C. public school aims to find out.

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122315194943409092005-07-25T11:12:00.000-07:002005-07-25T11:13:14.950-07:00

This is the first song I've written in a long time. Need to tweak the chord progression and get it recorded:RepriseEncapsulated in our carsimmunized from the starswe were so united at the starthow did we drift so far aparta dubious distinctionto have it all undoneby our insecure insistence on being number oneturn around and face the morning sunlisten to the messengers of dawnput away your armor

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122138478823790712005-07-23T10:00:00.000-07:002005-07-23T10:07:58.830-07:00

I never watched The Prisoner on TV, but two people have mentioned it to me recently, so I looked up the episode guide. There's something almost archetypal about it... I wonder how many TV shows and sci-fi books tap into realities that are more than fiction, marginalized by the dominant culture, the way nursery rhymes once contained coded taunts against royalty. People are getting a sense of

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122135028877388152005-07-23T08:51:00.000-07:002005-07-23T09:10:28.883-07:00

I think the underlying issue is tribalism, and separation is what feeds tribalism. Wherever religious and nonreligious people interact on a regular basis, there is little of the hostile dogmatism found in groups that separate themselves from plural culture. It's really a rural/urban issue, with urbanites far more likely to learn to interact without hostility and less likely to form hardened

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122065757289114612005-07-22T13:54:00.000-07:002005-07-22T13:55:57.296-07:00

I believe the "big picture" is so alien to us that we can only perceive it as a great conspiracy or a spiritual war. In a way it is, but not a conspiracy by any one group. It's a pattern of power that infects cultures and pushes everyone to distort his normal identity in order to earn approval from authority. That pattern needs no conspiracy to stay engaged, we carry it forward in our actions,

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122064971866054192005-07-22T13:41:00.000-07:002005-07-22T13:42:51.873-07:00

Moral duty is often clouded by the belief that one must win every battle, or be branded a traitor to the cause. Life is a series of battles, mostly very subtle ones, and often all that is required is that we stop and breathe when we feel one of those tribalistic polarities engaging the people around us, and then do our best to resolve the polarity. It can be done *without* direct reference to the

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122061224694894582005-07-22T12:21:00.000-07:002005-07-22T12:46:06.766-07:00

A lot of people seem to be asking, "How can we stop the spread of Islam" rather than "How do we more effectively gain cooperation from mainstream Muslims in the war against terrorists." Demonizing Islam is easy if one focuses on the darker passages of the Quran. If one knew nothing about Judaism except Deuteronomy 20:10, one would conclude the Judaism is a violent and terrifying ideology. It

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122059324612783872005-07-22T12:07:00.000-07:002005-07-22T12:08:44.613-07:00

Read an interesting post on the Jungpage forum, about "dragon lines". Didn't catch where the idea came from... male and female energy lines weave around the planet, and tapping into those lines with good balance can give a person great power. The opposite would be true as well... tap into them with unbalanced power, and you make a mess. Reminds me a little of the dynamic sphere concept in Aikido.

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1122059227688788722005-07-22T12:01:00.000-07:002005-07-22T12:07:07.693-07:00

Regarding fundamentalist ideological groups: You can liken it to cells in a body, those that share information and adapt to the whole survive, those that lock up energy and make no exchanges beyond their own boundaries implode and die. I believe this model is applied to economics to illustrate the advantages of capitalism. The model has not yet, to my knowledge, been applied to the corporate or

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1121970133137810612005-07-21T11:19:00.000-07:002005-07-21T11:22:13.146-07:00

All blame of the form "YOU caused this" is irrational. The only rational position is a *systems* view. All human actions are interlinked in circular chains of cause and effect. That's how nature works. Blaming the US for 911 is to comparmentalize cause and effect. In reality, the US and the Islamic world have a history in which both sides have engaged in dysfunctional short-term thinking.

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1121915973928672372005-07-20T20:17:00.000-07:002005-07-20T20:19:33.936-07:00

A good short article on schizmogenesis

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1121884628536712492005-07-20T11:36:00.000-07:002005-07-20T11:37:08.543-07:00

Steve Hovland says:Groups eventually recognize that someone in a leadership position is acting contrary to the interests of the group, but not always before a lot of damage is done, for example Enron.My response:True. The offending group often manages to throw a few scapegoats out to delay their own exposure as well. Then they have to start throwing out the "insiders" who get caught, which

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1121883643231456982005-07-20T11:17:00.000-07:002005-07-20T11:20:43.233-07:00

On "Why Kerry failed":The PLATFORM wasn't the problem. Kerry's platform was pretty good. It was his DELIVERY that failed. His lack of charisma, his "wooden" quality, and his inability to reassure people he wouldn't raise taxes, ban the Bible or refuse to persue terrorists alongside diplomacy. When he spoke, people felt he wasn't being genuine. He also made a crucial mistake: he did not respond

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1121882932567318522005-07-20T11:08:00.000-07:002005-07-20T11:08:52.573-07:00

Had an interesting email discussion about the role of imagination in society. My input:I think of it as a sort of cultural immune system, or scenario planning matrix. Individual stories, dreams and inventions are like trial balloons, and when the time is right, the balloons that are appropriate for the era become switched on like genes, amplified, duplicated and sent through the cultural

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1121880013824167092005-07-20T10:19:00.000-07:002005-07-20T10:20:13.833-07:00

“The most dangerous things in the world are immense accumulations of human beings who are manipulated by only a few heads.” (from a page of great Carl Jung quotes)

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3951523.post-1121837108430690612005-07-19T22:11:00.000-07:002005-07-19T22:25:08.436-07:00

I think the verbal brain tends to want to isolate itself from the emotional brain. That produces a polarity which can be amplified by cultural contexts favoring words over feeling. Whichever side you stand on, you're stuck in one part of your brain, unable to fluidly connect. Rather than making it a male/female issue, it might work better to say that men are more likely to live in words, where

Michaelnoreply@blogger.com0