Maximum Advantage in all Things

Committee

2012-01-30T15:10:00.000-08:00

"A committee is a group of the unprepared, appointed by the unwilling to do the unnecessary."

--Fred Allen,
American comedian

The State

2012-01-29T08:55:00.000-08:00

The state, but its very nature, undermines and eliminates community.

Introspection

2012-01-28T10:10:00.000-08:00

Too much introspection is self-defeating: do you really need to know?

Spectacles

2012-01-27T21:10:00.000-08:00

Spectacles are false cohesion.

Manipulation

2012-01-26T18:44:00.000-08:00

Manipulation is the true national pastime.

Outrageous

2012-01-25T08:28:00.000-08:00

Nothing is outrageous if it happens often.

Unscripted Propaganda

2012-01-24T19:19:00.000-08:00

Although most direct propaganda is carefully scripted, there are rare unscripted moments (or rather moments that went off script) that make even better propaganda. (To whose benefit is another matter.) Walk away...

Dissension

2012-01-22T09:28:00.001-08:00

Dissension is a healthy antidote to unity.

Logic

2012-01-21T10:35:00.000-08:00

Logic is a tool, but not a means.

Pointlessness

2012-01-19T18:42:00.001-08:00

Pointlessness can be relaxing.

Stop SOPA!

2012-01-18T11:18:00.000-08:00

Link.

Happy M.L.K. Day

2012-01-16T10:05:00.000-08:00

The dream lives on.

Drugs

2012-01-13T18:07:00.001-08:00

Not all drugs are substances.

Skyscrapers

2012-01-11T18:44:00.000-08:00

From Skyscrapers 'linked with impending financial crashes':

"Often the world's tallest buildings are simply the edifice of a broader skyscraper building boom, reflecting a widespread misallocation of capital and an impending economic correction," Barclays Capital analysts said.

What goes up, must come down?

Class Suicide

2012-01-09T18:23:00.000-08:00

A static elite will never realize, nor allow itself to realize, the level of animus directed toward it by the population as a whole. Doing so would be the first step toward class suicide as its members broke ranks and bailed, and the remainder holed up. Nobody likes being a prisoner, even if it is in a posh home.

Chatter

2012-01-08T17:38:00.001-08:00

Chatter is a deafening mechanism.

Maximum Advantage Discussed

2012-01-08T17:37:00.001-08:00

...is back!

Running Away

2012-01-05T18:07:00.001-08:00

Running away is running forward.

Strength

2012-01-04T22:17:00.000-08:00

Misrepresenting an enemy's weakness is not a sign of strength.

Leadership Is Dead

2012-01-02T11:21:00.000-08:00

From Americans’ Confidence in Its Leaders Hits New Low:

The 2011 National Leadership Index indicates that Americans’ confidence in its leaders has hit new low points: the overall index has fallen from 101.4 in 2005 to 89.4 in this month’s survey, even below the 2008 level in the midst of the financial meltdown. (100 is the normative level of confidence.)

The index is highly reliable as it is based on interviews of 1,065 Americans and conducted by the Center for Public Leadership, headed by Professor David Gergen at Harvard Kennedy School. These results are very worrisome to me, as without trust and confidence in our leaders, America cannot recover the energy and optimism required to restore its domestic economy and global leadership.

The survey indicates that 77% of Americans believe the U.S. has a leadership crisis. Without better leaders, America will decline as a nation, according to 77% of those interviewed. Seventy-six percent disagree with the proposition that our country’s leaders are effective and do a good job.

Among leadership categories, military and medical leaders continue to top the list, scoring at 112 and 105, respectively. At the very bottom are Congressional and Wall Street leaders, with ratings of 73 and 71, both down sharply from the upper 90’s in 2005. Business leaders fare slightly better at 87, with the White House at 84.5 and media at 84.

Although the results are not unexpected (what the hell is wrong with the other 23%?!?), the editorializing about the results is the typical tripe one has grown accustomed to the last few years. (It gets worse than the above quote.) For one thing, the angst about the decline of America fails to take into account that supposed better "leaders" in the past, since World War II, ran the country into the ground by supporting the domination of the military-industrial complex, allowing infrastructure to decay, sent jobs overseas, debased public eduction, nurtured the financial system to become a blood-sucking parasite, etc. The current crop of "leaders" is the end result, not the cause of these policies. It also fails to ask the one question that cannot be answered: where are the supposed better "leaders" to be found? The answer, of course, is that they do not exist. The climate will not allow their development, and only a complete idiot would think otherwise. Hence, anyone who is not a craven coward pining away for someone to come and tell them what to do, and has given it some thought, will conclude that people will need to do things for themselves. This thought scares the weak and feeble minded.

One of the reasons the OWS movement is viewed with trepidation is its rejection of "leaders" and demands of "leaders". This is an example of true cultural evolution, and should not be taken lightly as the inevitable backlash is authoritarianism. Thankfully, there are no "leaders" who are in a position to take advantage of it, but, like any decadent instinct, it can still be destructive as it degenerates into nihilism.

Self Interest

2011-12-31T10:07:00.000-08:00

Self interest is occulted by ideology.

Facts

2011-12-30T02:08:00.000-08:00

If one is not entitled to one's own facts, then are we really free?

Buy Nothing

2011-12-29T00:01:00.000-08:00

Is a campaign to buy nothing a form of advertising?

Propaganda Studies: Addled Minds

2011-12-28T11:28:00.000-08:00

Today, FM has a good post concerning the effects of propaganda, the technical skills behind it (propaganda is not nearly as encompassing without technique), the isolation required to maximize its impact, and some examples, including some very illuminating quotes. One does not need to buy it all, just enough for the propagandists to be successful in their broader goals.

On Progress

2011-12-28T01:55:00.000-08:00

Absent traction, spinning wheels do nothing but burn rubber and consume fuel.