GETTING AT TRUTH

1  Political Correctness in 2015 

Every man I knew in my father's generation used the term "Spade" as a pronoun identifying a Black man.

Today that makes a person gasp with horror, though in truth "spade" was one of those slightly intangible words that might have been meant as derogatory coming from the mouths of some, while carrying a kind of descriptive respect coming from the mouths of others. Those in the latter category had real submerged admiration for those Black men whom they "honored" with the term, which was reflected in the design found on 13 cards of every 52-card playing deck. The spade is of a strong color black, and it's shape is confident, sensuous, and clever. It is hard to find the negative in that association, though of course the social crime was in the dehumanizing of persons into pronouns in the first place.

Humans have all sorts of names that we have devised to identify others, typically in ways intended to demean. Honky, Cracker, Chink, Gook, Nip, Spic, Wop, Greaseball, Coon, Nigger, Flip, Slant, Hebe, Kraut, Frog, Red, Rag Head, and tons of others - we said all that stuff in previous generations, and some has survived into the present age. It was how we told the world that we held certain points of view, which as a societal safeguard was useful. Give a person enough room to speak their minds and they will usually reveal themselves through the words they choose, even as they slip on greasy explanations for the feelings and rationales behind their attitudes. For most of human history, the people of the world have mouthed off like we were on our own personal drips of sodium pentothal. We get killed for such audacities, and yet we vent like spitting cobras, as if the world needs our special venoms to remain balanced, especially given the way it has been so improperly populated with competing thoughts. That argument works no matter what side of any racial divide you may personally be on. We would all be a lot better off if those "others" weren't around.  READ MORE

2  Bernie Sanders, Meet Donald Trump 

David Brooks article, NY Times -

Last month I wrote that Joe Biden should not run for president this year. The electorate is in an anti-establishment mood, and as a longtime insider, Biden, I argued, would suffer from the same disadvantages Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush are now enduring, without any of their advantages. It would end badly.

But then came Biden’s moment with Stephen Colbert. His discussion of his own grief over his son Beau’s death was beautiful and genuine and revealed the golden heart that everybody knows is at the core of the man.

Biden talked about Beau. “My son was better than me. And he was better than me in almost every way.” He gestured toward how fluid grief is, how it goes round and round, hides for a few hours and then suddenly overwhelms. But there was something else embedded in that Colbert moment: a formation story.

Every presidential candidate needs a narrative to explain how his or her character was formed. They need a story line that begins outside of politics with some experience or life-defining crucible moment that then defines the nature of their public service.

Candidates like John F. Kennedy and John McCain were formed by war. Candidates like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were formed by their rise from broken homes and their dedication to lift others and heal divisions. Without a clear formation story, a candidate is just a hodgepodge of positions and logos.

Democrats this year are looking for a formation story that proves commitment. This is a party that is moving boldly leftward. Its voters want to know their candidate has the inner drive to push through structural changes, not just half measures.

Bernie Sanders has such a story. From his days at the University of Chicago onward, he has been a pile driver for progressive causes, regardless of the prevailing winds. Hillary Clinton hasn’t yet presented a clear formation story. She talks about being a grandmother, which humanizes her, but doesn’t explain how she got to be the person she is.

With Colbert, one saw the kernel of a Biden formation story that could connect not only with Democratic voters but with other voters as well. It is a story of dual loss: his wife and daughter decades ago and his son this year. Out of that loss comes a great empathy, a connection to those who are suffering in this economy and this world. Out of that loss comes a hypercharged sense of mission. Out of that loss comes a liberation from the fear of failure that dogs most politicians, and causes them to dodge, prevaricate and spin.

People who have suffered a loss often want to connect their tragedy to some larger redemptive mission. Biden could plausibly and genuinely emerge sadder but more empathetic and more driven. That would be not only a natural reaction, but also the basis for a compelling campaign. Biden would then benefit from the greater verbal self-discipline he has developed while vice president and from the fact that this year, as Donald Trump proves, voters seem tolerant of free-talkers.

Republican presidential candidates have found that the strongest way to win favor on the stump is to attack the leaders of their party in Congress for being timid and inept. Many Republican voters are alienated from their party’s leadership. They’re looking for a candidate who can lead a mutiny.

Donald Trump’s mutiny story is pretty clear. In doing business deal after business deal, he mastered the skills needed to take on the morons who are now running the party and the world. Ben Carson’s story is clear, too. Through his faith and through his medical career he developed the purity of heart and the discipline of will required to walk into Washington without being corrupted by the rottenness found there.

The Republican desire for a mutiny has kept Trump and Carson aloft longer than most people supposed. I still think they will implode. Their followers need them to be the superheroes they are portraying themselves to be. But politics is hard, especially for beginners, and sooner or later they will flounder and look like they’re in over their heads. At that point it’s all over. At that point, a Bush, Rubio, Kasich or Walker will have an opening to tell a different and more positive story.

On the Democratic side, a Biden run would be more formidable than I thought last month. You need emotion to beat emotion. With Stephen Colbert he revealed a story and suggested a campaign that is moving, compelling and in tune with the moment.

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3  Going Agile                       

It seems to me that when we experience big changes in our broad, shared experience with the world, it is usually the result of tribal tinkering. Somebody will come up with an idea and develop it until others see the value in it, and they adopt whatever behaviors are associated with the big idea, and because people have the following characteristics of sheep, you get adherence to the popular behavior until it becomes a group norm. Outside of behaviors that are reactions to natural disasters, there is very little else that shapes our experience with life other than the reverberations we feel from the machinations of our fellow man.

In the tribal world of software development, the biggest reverberator in the lives of most of its groups is “agile development”. It is the most logically conceived idea that you will ever encounter, and the most difficult for anybody to explain. That grey foggy area of understanding is like a John Carpenter phenomenon, populated by autonomous knifing pirates who are having devastating impacts on certain segments of the workplace jungle. READ MORE

4  Leaving Planet Earth            

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5  World Saving Energy       

We already have all the renewable energy resources we need to get rid of the fossil fuels oil industry right now. The solutions are not all solar and wind power, either, and they are most certainly not nuclear. They are clean and inexpensive, and they could save our world. So what are we waiting for? READ MORE

6  Western Drought       

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7  Character G.P.A.      

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8  Birdman and Social Media      

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9  Wake Up America        

The media is flooded these days with documentaries imploring Americans to wake up to the truth of what the United States of America actually is, versus the way the general public has been Mesmerized into believing it to be. The RCJ takes a look at some of these messages.  READ MORE

10  Alien Invasion        

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11  Why Do College Text Books Cost So Much        

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12  The Myth of Traveled Enlightenment        

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13  Entertaining Reading        

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