Making fools of us all

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What does that have to do with me?

I've been asking the same question all of my life. And I'm not alone. Will Durant, writing during the Prohibition, said that it “...shows the amateurish weakness of a government that can't control the fools without making fools of us all.” When I first read this, it instantly became my all-time favorite quote.

See thread, “World of Warcraft”
http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... 75#1963475

Did you know that HALF of the people in this country are below average!!?? It’s an epidemic! Quick, someone, do something! Preferably the stupidest thing you can think of.

Most people who breathe do stupid things, more often than not. While no one has proven a cause-and-effect relationship, we definitely have a correlation here. Therefore, I propose that we ban breathing. Why wait? We have all the proof we need.

In other words, the boss said it, therefore it is smart, by definition. (Crazy look in eyes, Pulling out hair by the handfuls, pounding fists and feet on anything I can reach)
WHY DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?! !??

Ok, you got me started.

====================

What does that have to do with me?

While I can't always summon the “executive function” to keep the house clean, I've seen in others a lack of it in areas that, to me, are no-brainers.

Brain glitch? Denial? Delusion? Brainwashing? Why do people believe the crazy things they believe? Phrases that come to mind are along the lines of “It's not humanly possible to be that stupid” or ”mind boggling.”

From at least as early as the second grade, I clearly remember asking the rhetorical, judgmental question, ”What does that have to do with me?” I could not have put it into words at the time because it was too obvious. The problem and the solution are so obvious and instantaneous that I can't see the problem. Which part don't you get?

Flashback:
I am standing in a line that is going nowhere. I'm ok/don't get antsy when I can see a good reason. My patience for sensible things has no limits. But I know for a fact that we are being forced to stand here for a stupid reason, and it makes me crazy. I understood (even at the age of seven) that a couple of kids need more structure and that the incompetent teacher can't handle them without a leash. Ok, so give them a leash. Or tell them to stay in a certain area. Or sit them on a bench. Or let them follow the teacher like a row of ducklings. Figure something out, and leave me out of it. It is not just unnecessary for me, it is actually harmful to me. One kid's meat is another kid's poison. I am being forced to take someone else's medicine when my problem is the extreme opposite. Where is MY medicine? When will it by MY turn? The fact that I'm not bothering anyone is taken as an excuse to ignore. Don't mind me, I'll just sit here and rot. I hope the stench is not too offensive to anyone. Hurry up and wait? For what? I can think of a million better things to do. You know me and you know that I am not going to get into trouble. You know that that baby needs to be micro-managed. So give him what he needs. Why are you bothering me?

Like Durant said about the Prohibition, it “...shows the amateurish weakness of a government that can't control the fools without making fools of us all.”

There's no reason for the one-size-fits-all straight jacket. It creates problems and solves none. Teachers love to recite the tired old idea that some children want and are comforted by a little structure. Therefore, they extrapolate, all children want and will benefit from wearing a straight jacket, all the time. How convenient.

While this fascist excuse seems convenient for them, it is obviously false and counter-productive. The trouble makers are going to demand attention, with or without the straight jacket, and if anything are made worse by it. The wimps are not a problem, with or without the straight jacket. It does nothing. It is superstitious nonsense.

(Pant, pant. Breathe, Tahitiii.)

Last edited by Tahitiii on 30 Jan 2009, 6:31 am, edited 6 times in total.

(Pant, pant. Round Two:

Ask any kid. Asking the victim whether he enjoys the abuse is NOT counter-intuitive. It’s just unFASCionable. Like that feeling you get when your heart wants to resist homophobia, but you are afraid that doing the right thing will get you into trouble. Yes, the difficult kids exist and demand attention. I also exist, I am severely harmed by the straight jacket, and I am not so arrogant as to believe that I am alone. I believe that most people are harmed by it, but brainwashed by the idea that it's the only way.

Ok, the teacher is in charge. I get it. I got it on day-one. Can I go now? Point taken, you are the boss. If I also kiss your other butt cheek, will that be enough? Is there anything at all that I can do to get away from this? Will it ever end? Nope. It’s all just a carrot-on-a-stick. When dealing with a fascist, the answer is always “No,” it will never end. Nothing you can say or do will ever matter. When that prison door slams shut, nobody gives a damn whether it hurts or not, and you are in for the duration.

As a Board member at my kid's tiny charter school (K thru 8th) I can argue (and sometimes win) the cause of uniformity-is-not-equality. You can say to a child who needs help that “This is what you need.” Not in a smart-ass tone or as a punishment, but because you are talking to an individual. A teacher who can't handle the simple concept of individual needs could not handle anything else that matters to children and should not be allowed within 1,000 feet of a helpless child. Any child. Yes, most public school teachers are incompetent in the most basic way and should be fired. Then they’d have to close the schools. What a pity.

Kids can handle double standards when they are honest and reasonable. Siblings have different rules, “because you are older,” or “because you are a girl.” They can accept and deal with it. If society becomes a little more enlightened, we can reconsider “because you are a girl,” but keep the other stuff. Rather than a mindless, all-or nothing set of rules that can never be questioned, like a religion, we could have an intelligent collection of stuff that makes sense. Logic is not a disease or a sin, and neither is compassion. We could dare to do that alien, unimaginable thing called “thinking” once in a while.

I am now reading Tony Attwood's “The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome,” and I can't get through a page without saying, “Huh? What kind of convoluted, twisted-inside-out nonsense is that?” I got your Gordian Knot right here, pal: The premise is flawed.

Ptolemy was the astronomer who, starting with a geocentric model, developed that convoluted mathematical system that accurately predicted the movement of planets and stars without letting go of the basic premise that the Earth was at the center.

As far as Asperger's is concerned, Tony Attwood is a new Ptolemy. In his own, NT-biased way, he describes an outward appearance fairly well, but does not seem to have talked to a real-live Aspie at all. What we need is a new Copernicus.

When our dog chases a squirrel, it eventually runs to a tree and vanishes into the third dimension. It's magic. These are mysterious forces at work that are beyond his comprehension. All he sees is the ground and all he knows is that the squirrel is not behaving in a way that is convenient for the dog.

By the way, while I am quite fond of the dog, I can still see the situation from the squirrel’s point of view. (It’s that old “Theory of Mind” thing that they don’t want us to have.) How can we persuade the squirrel to come down? Maybe we can’t. Maybe it fully understands what the dog wants. Maybe it consciously chose to run to that magical place. Maybe it doesn’t want to play. And maybe it has a good reason.

The Psychology of Asperger's could be simplified. It could be accepted as a valid, alternative experience. I'm not talking about patting the kid on the head and saying transparent, stupid to things in an attempt to build the kid’s self-esteem on lies. I'm talking really. Look up. The squirrel is still there. Really. Seriously. Take a brake from the ridicule, the excuses, the egos, the lies, the punishments, the power games and look up. It's right there. Which part don't you get?

If you can't accept the premise, then none of the trivial details we discuss will lead to anything useful.

I'm a canary in a coal mine, and the treatment for me is simple: get me out of the coal mine and I'll be fine. Keep the drugs, excuses and convoluted adaptations. And acknowledge that fascism hurts everyone. I don't want to be a field hand or a house slave or a master. I want to abolish the system entirely. To acknowledge that, as a basic value, fascism is bad.

I saw a recent National Geographic special about Baboon culture, the social hierarchy and stress-related illnesses, and about how they torment each other, day in and day out. And about the fact that it is cultural, and is a set of learned behaviors that are superficial and are easily unlearned. Right on the surface, baboon culture mirrors the human world as I see it. I didn't get it for my first few decades because I didn't want to believe -- they really are that awful, all day, every day, and they’ve gotten worse in the past decade. They don't have to be, but they mindlessly follow whoever is in charge at the moment.

As easily as these ignorant human masses have learned their bad behaviors, they could un-learn them. Via political coup or a French-style revolution, whatever it takes to get someone decent in charge instead of the usual predators. Just lop ‘em off at the top and everything else would fall into place. Yes, people really are that stupid. Especially Americans. They’ll follow anyone, to anywhere, as long as they get their bread and circuses.

This culture of fascism is just a crazy compulsion that everyone is caught up in and never questions, even though it serves no purpose. Being a predator is not “natural,” any more than an adult wearing a diaper is “natural.” At some point, one should naturally figure it out and grow up. This is no more natural for us than it was for that troop of baboons. This is cultural, and it is enforced from above.

This culture spends more time and energy trying to trick its slaves into accepting some convoluted premise than on all other activities combined. In other words, it is insane. I really am severely allergic to fascism. And I am wactose-intolerant.

Last edited by Tahitiii on 30 Jan 2009, 5:14 am, edited 3 times in total.

I think people are just a bunch of confused children in grown up bodies.

Why are you quoting my posts from other threads? Your post makes no literal sense. Its just like non-coherent babbling from someone on drugs.

Hmmm.... Squirrels, dogs, school, fascism, Warcraft, french revolution, prohibition... is this what they call a "word salad"?

I loved reading your posts, Tahitiii!

Keep it coming, if you can!

Yeah if you like reading nonsense from someone tripping out on drugs.

Why yes, as a matter or fact, I do enjoy reading "nonsense" from someone tripping out on drugs.

How do you understand me so well?

Last edited by CleverKitten on 30 Jan 2009, 1:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yeah, what's next, employers rejecting home theater addicts?

If you enjoyed that post, try reading this:

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008 ... vo2008.pdf

By the last page, it gets really, really awesome.

Brilliant!

You don't get it. The problem with the WOW addicts is they stay up till 4am playing the game then call in sick for work because they didn't get enough sleep or they stumble in so tired that they are worthless to do work. Or they try to game from work.

You'll see more and more of this electronics generation being caused problems from their toys as they grow up. Similar to how many cannot get jobs because they do not know how to write proper English due to the popularity of texting. Its like electronics have dumbed down the new generation and the games addict people worse than drugs till they are slaves.

Tahitiii, you make several interesting and valid points.

I agree with Tahitiii.

While I do think that this has some pretty odd segues, I agree with what's said here. Especially about the school rules thing. I can work with structures, within guidelines, but I need respect, and I need to know WHY something is important. Many a rule just seemed to exist so teachers and administrators, small people that they were, could enjoy a power trip over the students, and had no better justification than "because I said so." Without tutoring and plenty of carrot-and-stick motivation from those who actually knew how to help me, I probably never would have made it to college, because I was stifled in school and not allowed to do things in a way that was helpful to me, individually, independently of what authorities thought was "for my own good." Now that I go to college, and I'm allowed to occupy myself in class in more than one way, I'm allowed to pick when my classes are, I'm allowed to choose what I do and what I bring to school between classes, I do much better without any help than I did in earlier, more controlling schools under the same conditions.

They told me in school that "this was preparing me for the workforce." HAH. My bosses, all of my bosses so far, haven't cared if my shirt was tucked in, or if I was 45 seconds late, or if I listened to my iPod while I did their busywork. They cared that the data was entered exactly, that the proofreading was done thoroughly, that the files were in the right folder, and that the work was done in a timely manner, function over appearances as it should be. Only one job has ever gotten me in trouble, and that was only because I didn't know how to deal with customers in a stressful situation - not because of absurd little details. Work has been a lot less frustrating in terms of arbitrary standards and rules than pre-college school was.

That being said - I despise the idea that jobs consider what you do outside of work when hiring you (excluding, of course, serial killing, terrorism, or other criminal or harmful acts to others). The proof of one's aptitude should be in one's actual performance on the job. If I come in to work and fall asleep on my desk, or take 10 sick days off a month, or come to work and dick around on the internet, that's grounds enough to fire me, no matter what my hobbies are. The only things one owes their boss in return for payment is to do their work, be professional as needed, and be a marginally pleasant individual to be around on a regular basis. If they can do that, the rest seems petty to penalize someone over. Grown adults should have the right to do what they want, within reasonable and legal bounds, when they're not being paid to do what they're told.

I personally think that the amount of rules and control exerted on people - what they can do at school, what is suited to be seen on TV and in movie theatres, how they can entertain themselves off the clock, what they can put in their bodies, and a whole host of other limitations - as well as some of the measures used to enforce this are responsible for part of the dumbing-down of the culture. People are made to sit down, shut up, zone out and not think too much, lest they come up with questions to ask of their authorities, and they take this lying down, or they get medicated and punished until they do. Being told what's okay to like and what's "naughty," what's good for you and what you shouldn't do even if it doesn't hurt anyone else, doesn't exactly foster independence, in thought or in action. People need to be able to fail fantastically, but also have their own incredible successes however unorthodox, to act on their unruly genius as well as their chaotic stupidity, or what we have is safe mediocrity. Sheltered children rarely turn out as pure and functional as their parents hoped, so why does the world think sheltered adults would be any different?

Excellent post Tahitii! I agree completely with many of the points on power, pride, ego and how it informs, I would say, the majority of our social interactions. Indeed it is learnt. The thing is this - if you have intuitive perception you note it, see it...but for many it is not observable, as they are not sufficiently detached to note it. We have to stop, calm down and listen and turn our heads, but unfortunately in the 'bread and circus' culture, as you called it, we are turned away.