timshel.

"Everything counts a little more than we think..."

1. Mark
   
   I can completely sympathize, but I have a few thoughts along these lines. I used to have Norton’s Rule, “People are stupid”. And then there was the corollary, “Sometimes people are REALLY stupid”. I’ve more or less discarded them both as being overly cynical.
   
   The issue isn’t usually stupidity. I’ve come to believe (with a wider perspective on intelligence) that there are a lot of very intelligent people out there. For example, I have a friend who is a house painter. He will tell me in conversations that he’s really not that smart. However this fellow plays some of the most excellent amateur Go I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching.
   
   I tell him there are all kinds of smart.
   
   Basically, it’s blindness. Blind to what we do to other people. Blind to what other people deal with and go through and survive. Blindness on a larger level to what our leaders do to us, at their own blindness, and what they do to others.
   
   Most people are everyday joes. They get up. Go to work. Come home. Do whatever amuses themselves. Go to sleep.
   
   They’re not stupid, just blind.
   
   (And btw, that live preview thing is REALLY bizarre. ;-). I started typing and my eyes kept flicking sensing movement, and it took me a minute to figure out what was going on! I like it though.)
   commented Wed 03 Nov 2004, 11:09:14 PM :: link
2. alicson
   
   Way to be a voice of reason when so many of us are outright outraged.
   
   Mark, you’re thoroughly right of course. And I very much appreciate your comment…
   
   This will totally undermine the “I hate the world” attitude I’m nurturing right now, but the truth is that the Democratic party really failed to get the important message(s) clearly across to the people.. and that the media is not very responsible on the whole.. and that people individually have their own priorities and get narrow amounts of information that are very dependent on who their friends are, what television shows they watch, what neighborhood they live in, etc. etc.
   
   Your house painter person sounds like the type of person I genuinely appreciate coming across; the type of thing that makes everything beautiful.
   
   Most people aren’t *really* stupid, and are actually fundamentally good and sincere…
   And that’s fundamental truth. (Ironically, I offhandedly despise fundamentalism. It’s not realistic nor sensible and it’s fundamentally selfish.)
   
   But the other fundamental truth is that I am terribly, terribly disappointed in the outcome of this election. Terribly disappointed. And I really am very motivated to leave the country and pretend that will solve my problem.
   
   :-/ I guess I’m not being a very useful person either. “At least I voted” isn’t nearly enough as it seems…
   
   I’m going for a walk with my Dad. He’s felt strongly about all this stuff too, but of course he’s always more the voice of reason than anything else. I need some talking down right now. I’ll mellow—though don’t think I’ll be any happier with this situation…
   commented Wed 03 Nov 2004, 11:32:03 PM :: link
3. Mark
   
   That’s me. Underminer extraordinaire ;-). By the way, it’s perfectly alright to be disappointed. I am too.
   
   As far as message goes, well the problem there goes back to the Average Joe issue. Most average joe’s, as noted aren’t stupid. But they don’t have a lot of time. Making a buck takes time. Making kids takes time (um, well okay perhaps ‘raising’ is a better word here.) Getting the oil changed. Groceries. Cooking. Cleaning the garage. And so on.
   
   I thought the message got out fine. The problem was that it was a complex message. There is no way to boil “I voted to permit conflict based on the understanding that due diligence would be shown to diplomatic means and validation of intelligence findings” down to anything simpler. It comes out “I voted for conflict…” and then “Hon, did you remember to get milk?...” and whiff… Average Joe moves on to the bits that are vitally important like hopefully maintaining a happy relationship. Then message number two says “He switched.” Joe scratches his head, yeah he seems to remember something like that.
   
   And so on. It’s maybe Joe’s responsibility to some degree to pay more attention, but given happy family who wanted milk for cereal, and happy society who wanted the bloody PATRIOT act to sunset away, he’s probably going with the family. There’s nothing wrong with that. He has those responsibilities that are more important than politics.
   
   If someone had time to sit down and talk with Joe and say “Well you know, it’s not that simple. Haven’t you ever agreed to something based on some expectations that weren’t met?” He might then allow that there’s something to that. But that requires a Joe 2 to talk to him, and a Joe 3 to talk to Joe 2, and so on. Meanwhile, everyday stuff sort of gets in the way.
   
   Actually rereading, that’s pretty much what you said there, except much longer. Guess I’m contemplative today :-). Fortunately this is a fun spot to read and ramble on. I’ll try to condense a bit before I fill up your SQL database.
   
   Lessee… yes, Shygost (a.k.a. Lance) is a very neat individual indeed.
   
   I’m not sure leaving will help matters much. People are pretty much the same everywhere. There are Average Jacques, Average Juans, Average Seans, Average Johans, Average Hiros, and probably even Average *click*Xabbus in the south African bush. My view is that things tend to run in cycles, and the GOOD thing about Average Joe is that he DOES notice when things get too far off the mark. Then the pendulum swings back the other way.
   
   Also given busy Average Joe, 55 MILLION people managed to catch on to the complex message. That’s pretty damn good for a fellow whom everyone said was really not the most electable guy out there. There are people who are paying attention. We just needed about 800,000 more. That’s like only 20% of Los Angeles ;-).
   
   Well that’s enough out of me. I hope you enjoy your walk.
   commented Thu 04 Nov 2004, 12:40:24 AM :: link