To arrive at those rules, I simply turned the straussians upside-down!
- Tell the Truth: Transparency and Sunshine Rule!
- Perpetual Peace: Compassion. Namaste.
- Rule of Law: No one is above it.
- Equality and Justice for all: No exceptions. No elite.
- Let's rejoice in the Community of Nations. (see #4)
- Deal with your fears. Don't blame them on others.
- Let your conscience be your guide. (see # 1,3,4)
- All of Humanity survives and thrives as One. (see # 2, 4,5)
- Respect Dissent: Dissent respectfully.
- Election to Public Office is a call to serve We the People.
- Separation of Church and State = religion out of politics.
- Rule of Law - greatest ally of a free people.
- Beware of propaganda - Free yourself from manipulation.
But I can distill them even better:
The virtues above flow from Erikson's Stages: The opposite of strauss.Let us foster and prize:At home as well as abroad.
- compassion
- peace
- wisdom
- hope
- trust
- cooperation
- service
There! Got that off my chest! ;-)
PERMALINK
TheraP, this is so great! After reading your Train Wreck of Torture blog, last night I stayed up and wrote another Blundertale based on those other mean S-rules but ending up here! Then I just read DD’s great tribute blog to you. I agree about your excellent analysis. Can I drop D-Blunderbrane Wrecks Havoc as a comment here?
Please do, stratfrog! I'd be honored! :-)
Actually, tongue in cheek or not, this is a good set of rules for sane people, sane citizens and sane politicians to follow.
The Rules are not tongue in cheek. The mano a mano part is.... ;)
Yes, they're sane rules! I endorse them with no humor in mind.
Yes, they're sane rules! I endorse them with no humor in mind.
Tangled in right angles, Blunderdick was found recklessly hiding inside Widdledub’s self-righteous remote control where it was either dark or light, on or off. “Turn me on Widdle, or turn on me, or get me off” he snarked, not realizing he was already broadcasting lies from New York. “Torture is whatever I say it isn’t,” he insisted.
“Prebuttal, befuddle, redouble my bubble,” laughed Widdledub, “heh heh.”
“We’re better than people who don’t torture, quoth Blunderdick. He picked up a Trouthammer and whacked Widdle right in the gawdseye. “Our national survival depends on fear of aliens” he impounded.
Zigzaging for clarification, commentators tugging at his sleeves, Blunderdick deviantated his line, flipping his unveiling tactics and tainting his uniform with a recently declassified code ring from his transparent attack dog, Limpaw.
The complexity of nuance was inconvienently lost in Blunder’s verbal blunders. His arguments, cloaked in Widdle’s levi-Straussian cape pointed to open discourse but instead he fell head over heals into the lap of the luxury of lies.
The shadow “NO’s...” rose above the target audience so he was forced to take his best shot: “Fear is our greatest ally in the War of Error” he drolled.
The most valuable information came in a mirror interview when a prominent democrat commanded the stage. O-balm-ah offered nine loaves of un-eleven bread and a warm mug of daylight, formerly known as principals.
“Prebuttal, befuddle, redouble my bubble,” laughed Widdledub, “heh heh.”
“We’re better than people who don’t torture, quoth Blunderdick. He picked up a Trouthammer and whacked Widdle right in the gawdseye. “Our national survival depends on fear of aliens” he impounded.
Zigzaging for clarification, commentators tugging at his sleeves, Blunderdick deviantated his line, flipping his unveiling tactics and tainting his uniform with a recently declassified code ring from his transparent attack dog, Limpaw.
The complexity of nuance was inconvienently lost in Blunder’s verbal blunders. His arguments, cloaked in Widdle’s levi-Straussian cape pointed to open discourse but instead he fell head over heals into the lap of the luxury of lies.
The shadow “NO’s...” rose above the target audience so he was forced to take his best shot: “Fear is our greatest ally in the War of Error” he drolled.
The most valuable information came in a mirror interview when a prominent democrat commanded the stage. O-balm-ah offered nine loaves of un-eleven bread and a warm mug of daylight, formerly known as principals.
OUTSTANDING! ;)
I love your real rules.
Head to head.
The parameters are only
as big as our hearts.
Head to head.
The parameters are only
as big as our hearts.
Now you've distilled it down even further. :-)
Wow...that was outstanding!
Why isn't this a blog of your own, Stratofrog? It'd brilliant.
I agree. I added a link at tpmgary's Blunderdick episode.
Thanks TheraP! Your ken is keen, and kind.
Staebler, I’m floored by your praise. Thank you. I could easily wax poetic here regarding that dark and stormy night at your blog when you changed my world and rocked my life.
I just wanted to give the story with the context and I don’t write research articles well like the others. But I do appreciate them so.
I just wanted to give the story with the context and I don’t write research articles well like the others. But I do appreciate them so.
Write on brother!
(Shakes spear and does the frog thang)
hahahaha
(Shakes spear and does the frog thang)
hahahaha
Holy SMOKE strat. "This is a work of genius!" the manatee sings.
When you sing, you really
RAWK the boat yon manatee.
RAWK the boat yon manatee.
Do something with this! Maybe send it to the Pres. He reads 40 letters a day (week?). They would so pick this one to give to him.
Do it Strato.
For the money: O-balm-ah offered nine loaves of un-eleven bread and a warm mug of daylight, formerly known as principals.
Do it Strato.
For the money: O-balm-ah offered nine loaves of un-eleven bread and a warm mug of daylight, formerly known as principals.
Dogs always know things beyond the horizon
so I’m gonna trust you seashell :~)
so I’m gonna trust you seashell :~)
Maybe he'll like it so much that he'll invite us to meet Bo!
Wags tail. {{{{Knocks water over}}}}
Wags tail. {{{{Knocks water over}}}}
Water from the puppy! Makes it "Holy Water"! :)
Righteous!!!
In-dig Nation!!!
This is fabulicious Stratofrog! Thank you for sharing your wonderfulous thoughts.
Thanks Splashy.
Anti-hegemonic nutrition is fun to share with others!
Anti-hegemonic nutrition is fun to share with others!
", Blunderdick was found recklessly hiding inside Widdledub’s self-righteous remote control where it was either dark or light, on or off. “Turn me on Widdle, or turn on me, or get me off” he snarked, not realizing he was already broadcasting lies from New York. “Torture is whatever I say it isn’t,” he insisted."
Stratofrog, this entire comment is so precious, so poetic and so pointed...I hereby render unto you the Dayly Comment of the Day Award for this here TPMCafe site given to all of you from all of me. Widdledub...I mean where in the hell did you come up with that? hahahahaha
Stratofrog, this entire comment is so precious, so poetic and so pointed...I hereby render unto you the Dayly Comment of the Day Award for this here TPMCafe site given to all of you from all of me. Widdledub...I mean where in the hell did you come up with that? hahahahaha
The Dayly Award! Oh my gosh, thank you DD but I must share this honor with you and TheraP because of your incredible analysis and inspiration. And Widdledub is a character that Flowerchild thought up in the original Blunderdick series started by TPMGary and continued onward by Obey.
Actually I think Blunderdick had its origins in our past history but now I’m wondering if it originated in 1932 on the island of lost souls. Are we not Mano?
So many ideas floating freely around TPM it’s hard to credit everyone
but everyone deserves credit! Thank you to all of us from all of us,
in TheraP and DD we trust!
Actually I think Blunderdick had its origins in our past history but now I’m wondering if it originated in 1932 on the island of lost souls. Are we not Mano?
So many ideas floating freely around TPM it’s hard to credit everyone
but everyone deserves credit! Thank you to all of us from all of us,
in TheraP and DD we trust!
{{{{ Group HUG! }}}}
YAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!
{{{{ Group HUG! }}}}
{{{{ Group HUG! }}}}
Okay I think you are all a bunch of intelligent, creative, and silly goofballs :)
Sweet post TheraP.
Love to all!
Sweet post TheraP.
Love to all!
Love back atcha! :)
I think these are a fine set of rules. I would add a few and change a couple, but the distillation you provide takes us to the same place.
The main change/add for me is that I believe that most of the rules belong to all life, and the planet, and not just to humans.
On the other hand, I fully support that people can disagree without going to "war." One of the major problems I see all around me is that we have become a society rooted in rhetoric rather than thought. This is amplified by the consistent presentation of dichotomous formats as representations of the whole. (There are two sides to every story; us vs them; fer us or again us. women's rights or fetal rights; gay or straight, "man" or nature; torture or security; devil's advocate) It is made worse by the constant presentation that so-called "debate" is a reasoned discussion. You have two sides that argue their points. There is no "discussion." There is no need to dialog. We are modeled and encouraged to state your piece and shut your ears. Both of these cultural tendencies are exacerbated by a win-lose mentality. Then even further exacerbated with a belief that if someone "wins" they (and their "position") are also "right." Exacerbated even further with a belief that the ends justify the means. So it is ok to figuratively or literally batter your "opponent" and if you win your "cause" has won.
In other words (or perhaps fewer), the presentation of everything as polar opposites reduces the issues to disconnected generalizations and rhetoric. These positions become "unrooted" from what is real. Dialog and sharing "unpacks" the ideology and re-roots it in experience and the reality we live in. (Somewhat related, this is part of the attraction of "Blunderdick." Cheney is an excellent example of someone cocooned within a narrow ideology which is disconnected from both reality and experience. The Blunderdick stories deconstruct that ideology and re-root it in the world.)
It is all quite insane in my opinion, and takes us as a society on paths that are both destructive and dangerous.
Well, you hit a bit of a nerve for me with your rules. Not against the rules, but how far away from the rules we are as a society.
TheraP, what you (and many others here at TPM) are doing is engaging in dialog. "Trolls" pop up to try to start positional arguments, or inject rhetoric, or failing that, engage in personal attacks. All of these trollish efforts represent what I have tried to express above. Your "rules" also point us in the direction of dialog and understanding of the issues and their implications.
Thanks for the post. It helped me verbalize a concern that I have difficulty explaining.
The main change/add for me is that I believe that most of the rules belong to all life, and the planet, and not just to humans.
On the other hand, I fully support that people can disagree without going to "war." One of the major problems I see all around me is that we have become a society rooted in rhetoric rather than thought. This is amplified by the consistent presentation of dichotomous formats as representations of the whole. (There are two sides to every story; us vs them; fer us or again us. women's rights or fetal rights; gay or straight, "man" or nature; torture or security; devil's advocate) It is made worse by the constant presentation that so-called "debate" is a reasoned discussion. You have two sides that argue their points. There is no "discussion." There is no need to dialog. We are modeled and encouraged to state your piece and shut your ears. Both of these cultural tendencies are exacerbated by a win-lose mentality. Then even further exacerbated with a belief that if someone "wins" they (and their "position") are also "right." Exacerbated even further with a belief that the ends justify the means. So it is ok to figuratively or literally batter your "opponent" and if you win your "cause" has won.
In other words (or perhaps fewer), the presentation of everything as polar opposites reduces the issues to disconnected generalizations and rhetoric. These positions become "unrooted" from what is real. Dialog and sharing "unpacks" the ideology and re-roots it in experience and the reality we live in. (Somewhat related, this is part of the attraction of "Blunderdick." Cheney is an excellent example of someone cocooned within a narrow ideology which is disconnected from both reality and experience. The Blunderdick stories deconstruct that ideology and re-root it in the world.)
It is all quite insane in my opinion, and takes us as a society on paths that are both destructive and dangerous.
Well, you hit a bit of a nerve for me with your rules. Not against the rules, but how far away from the rules we are as a society.
TheraP, what you (and many others here at TPM) are doing is engaging in dialog. "Trolls" pop up to try to start positional arguments, or inject rhetoric, or failing that, engage in personal attacks. All of these trollish efforts represent what I have tried to express above. Your "rules" also point us in the direction of dialog and understanding of the issues and their implications.
Thanks for the post. It helped me verbalize a concern that I have difficulty explaining.
Thanks for your thoughts on this, Rowan. I'm not really a "rule" person, but since dd put up his post, I felt I had to do something to disavow the straussian "rules" - dd's word for it. (I honestly think I like the idea of "principles" better, because to me that suggests building blocks.)
Nevertheless you are right in so many ways. When things are framed in terms of "my way or the highway" - people start buying into that. And when radio and tv hosts ratchet up the rhetoric, people grab hold of that. And use it as a substitute for thinking. Slogans instead of reflection. You see it on tv also. Experts from differing sides.
You're right that I love dialogue. I love it when we work our way through a thread, gathering wisdom along the way. When the thread is not disrupted by distracting rhetoric, as you say, or personal attacks. I've weathered plenty of that myself. But for some reason it seems to have fallen off on my threads and moved elsewhere. Or maybe my dogged pursuit of issues has left them flummoxed? To be honest, Rowen, I ended up with the posts on Erikson as a way to understand the attacks - both here and in the society at large. It's been a great comfort to be able to categorize the attacks (in terms of Erikson's early stages: mistrust; shaming; guilt-trips; inferiority inducing; mocking of intimacy) as well as in terms of the straussian "principles. It actually did amaze me how easy it was turn them inside-out and name the positives. (but who knows what I might have come up with if I'd had to generate them de novo? - I did think they turned out pretty close to what I'd endorse or how I try to live, or what I do in my work with people or what I tried to instill in young children)
I agree with widening the purview to all of life. Why not all of existence? Heaven knows what's in that dark matter and dark energy, right? I love that idea!
Yes, when I write, I usually write to engage the mind and heart to ponder. I love it when people accept that invitation - as you have. As so many do.
Thanks so much for giving me so much to riff off of.
Namaste.
Nevertheless you are right in so many ways. When things are framed in terms of "my way or the highway" - people start buying into that. And when radio and tv hosts ratchet up the rhetoric, people grab hold of that. And use it as a substitute for thinking. Slogans instead of reflection. You see it on tv also. Experts from differing sides.
You're right that I love dialogue. I love it when we work our way through a thread, gathering wisdom along the way. When the thread is not disrupted by distracting rhetoric, as you say, or personal attacks. I've weathered plenty of that myself. But for some reason it seems to have fallen off on my threads and moved elsewhere. Or maybe my dogged pursuit of issues has left them flummoxed? To be honest, Rowen, I ended up with the posts on Erikson as a way to understand the attacks - both here and in the society at large. It's been a great comfort to be able to categorize the attacks (in terms of Erikson's early stages: mistrust; shaming; guilt-trips; inferiority inducing; mocking of intimacy) as well as in terms of the straussian "principles. It actually did amaze me how easy it was turn them inside-out and name the positives. (but who knows what I might have come up with if I'd had to generate them de novo? - I did think they turned out pretty close to what I'd endorse or how I try to live, or what I do in my work with people or what I tried to instill in young children)
I agree with widening the purview to all of life. Why not all of existence? Heaven knows what's in that dark matter and dark energy, right? I love that idea!
Yes, when I write, I usually write to engage the mind and heart to ponder. I love it when people accept that invitation - as you have. As so many do.
Thanks so much for giving me so much to riff off of.
Namaste.
All's fair in riffing! I certainly riffed off your post.
That is one of the funnest things here at the Cafe, when folks engage in building, reinforcing, playing. It turns into the verbal equivalent of a jam session.
The light in me honors the light in you as well.
That is one of the funnest things here at the Cafe, when folks engage in building, reinforcing, playing. It turns into the verbal equivalent of a jam session.
The light in me honors the light in you as well.
Amen, sister!
verbal equivalent of a jam session
OHMIGOD!!! You've reversed engineered Strauss!!!
It was inteneded to be used like that.
Alert the Congress!!!
It was inteneded to be used like that.
Alert the Congress!!!
It was never intended to be used like that!!!
(Embarassing. You spend all this time on a great post, and I can't even read my own comment before I Submit. Sorry.)
(Embarassing. You spend all this time on a great post, and I can't even read my own comment before I Submit. Sorry.)
No problem, dear Gregor! I've done it myself!
Yes, I've "misused" strauss. I confess it.
You are correct. I reverse-engineered Treason.
I've decreed Democracy!
Yes, I've "misused" strauss. I confess it.
You are correct. I reverse-engineered Treason.
I've decreed Democracy!
YIKES!!!
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