Pattern recognition, conspiracy theory, and the Bush administration
i am so sick and tired of people (like me, for instance) who see larger patterns and look beyond the micro of day-to-day events perenially discounted when the patterns they see emerging are potentially disastrous... the patterns exhibited by the united states during the time i have been an observer (going on 40 years) have been disturbing at best, but the patterns that have emerged since i have been a CLOSE observer (since 1995), and a VERY CLOSE observer (since 2000), are positively frightening...
let me be clear... i see a real difference between conspiracy theorists and those who recognize patterns... conspiracy theorists, i believe, have a profoundly negative and, to be blunt, paranoid worldview... they LOOK for things to be wrong... people with pattern recognition skills, on the other hand, look for things that FIT... they try very hard to make connections, to see how one puzzle piece fits with another...
pattern recognition isn't a very rewarding skill on which to base a career... i know that because i've been attempting to do it all my life without what i would call great success... in organizations, people with pattern recognition skills could be valued for being able to grasp and articulate the reality of the big-picture organizational environment... i say "could" because most organizations, as most societies, live either in a state of ignorance or a state of willful denial about the reality of their dynamics, and those who attempt to describe those dynamics with clarity and accuracy are rarely welcomed by senior management, the very ones who could most benefit from their skills... most often, the organization either marginalizes those people by putting them in positions where they can do "no harm," or by simply grinding them up and spitting them out...
which brings us to the current day, 2007, in the united states... there are a few of us - damn few - who look at the macro pattern of what has been taking place since the coup d'etat was ratified by the 12 december 2000 scotus decision, and see an extremely disturbing picture... a great many of my posts are created precisely to highlight various pieces of that picture... i have learned the hard way that, for those who are not of the pattern recognition persuasion, there is a strong tendency to dismiss our macro descriptions as conspiracy theory... there was a tut-tut, pooh-pooh post in daily kos just the other day that, with barely veiled ridicule, took issue with those waiting for "black helicopters..." well, be that as it may, i still believe the united states is teetering on the edge of a very dark abyss...
rather than attempt to re-visit all of my previous rants and raves on this subject, let me refer you to a current daily kos diary by cskendrick, entitled "Why It's Now or Never, Right Now, For The Republic..." had i the time or the patience, i might have written it myself, albeit in my own inimitable style... it's a bit long, but i strongly recommend you read it in full... it's an excellent summary of precisely where i think we are at today in the united states...
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let me be clear... i see a real difference between conspiracy theorists and those who recognize patterns... conspiracy theorists, i believe, have a profoundly negative and, to be blunt, paranoid worldview... they LOOK for things to be wrong... people with pattern recognition skills, on the other hand, look for things that FIT... they try very hard to make connections, to see how one puzzle piece fits with another...
pattern recognition isn't a very rewarding skill on which to base a career... i know that because i've been attempting to do it all my life without what i would call great success... in organizations, people with pattern recognition skills could be valued for being able to grasp and articulate the reality of the big-picture organizational environment... i say "could" because most organizations, as most societies, live either in a state of ignorance or a state of willful denial about the reality of their dynamics, and those who attempt to describe those dynamics with clarity and accuracy are rarely welcomed by senior management, the very ones who could most benefit from their skills... most often, the organization either marginalizes those people by putting them in positions where they can do "no harm," or by simply grinding them up and spitting them out...
which brings us to the current day, 2007, in the united states... there are a few of us - damn few - who look at the macro pattern of what has been taking place since the coup d'etat was ratified by the 12 december 2000 scotus decision, and see an extremely disturbing picture... a great many of my posts are created precisely to highlight various pieces of that picture... i have learned the hard way that, for those who are not of the pattern recognition persuasion, there is a strong tendency to dismiss our macro descriptions as conspiracy theory... there was a tut-tut, pooh-pooh post in daily kos just the other day that, with barely veiled ridicule, took issue with those waiting for "black helicopters..." well, be that as it may, i still believe the united states is teetering on the edge of a very dark abyss...
rather than attempt to re-visit all of my previous rants and raves on this subject, let me refer you to a current daily kos diary by cskendrick, entitled "Why It's Now or Never, Right Now, For The Republic..." had i the time or the patience, i might have written it myself, albeit in my own inimitable style... it's a bit long, but i strongly recommend you read it in full... it's an excellent summary of precisely where i think we are at today in the united states...
Labels: 2008 Election, Bush Administration, conspiracy theory, constitutional crisis, cskendrick, Daily Kos, George Bush, pattern recognition
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posted by profmarcus at
5/31/2007
