Thanks, Mark.
I agree that we are in the midst of a massive technological transformation and that is crucial to understand and that McLuhan offers a very important perspective.
I like the quote from McLuhan you shared, although I would qualify it.
There is a deep seated repugnance in the human breast against deep dissonance. That is, once humans develop core beliefs about the way things are and should be (i.e., the core justification systems which form as a function of investment, social influence, and the ideas one is exposed to in development, usually solidifying in young adulthood), then those core, organizing beliefs become frozen and anything that threatens their veracity or validity becomes profoundly aversive.
The point here is that the repugnance toward understanding is not an inevitable feature of how humans are built. Rather, it is a feature of what they understand and have come to hold as true and good relative to what others are trying to convince them to be the truth, and the implications this has both for the veracity of their current justification systems and for their values, interests, and social influence going forward.
Best,
G
-----Original Message-----
From: tree of knowledge system discussion <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Mark Stahlman
Sent: Monday, September 24, 2018 7:56 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The conspiracy against Trump
Gregg:
Thanks - as always, the problem is whether what is actually going on is what people "think" is going on (and then justify themselves on that account) . . . <g>
As we all seem to agree hereabouts (at least none seem to dissent), we have already entered a period of transition from one technologically driven *paradigm* to another. That is the "ground" of all these developments, regardless of how people might, more superficially, justify their behaviors and attitudes under these circumstances.
In fact, if the psychology of the 20th-century has taught us anything, it would appear to be that the "unconscious" drives our lives -- typically without our "conscious" awareness of what is happening to us. But that's not enough; it's far more consequential than that . .
. !!
We actively *refuse* to understand what is going on out of our need for "self-preservation." Reality -- particularly the reality of the psychological *ground* of our lives being upended and even radically
contradicted -- is far too threatening for most people to deal with.
Indeed, lacking responsibility for that reality, why should they want to directly deal with it at all?
Many have proposed ideas about how this operates and, for my Center, McLuhan's explanations ring the most true. In particular, in a letter to Jacques Maritain in 1969, he said --
"There is a deep-seated repugnance in the human breast against understanding the processes in which we are involved. Such understanding implies far too great responsibility for our actions."
Trump is an epiphenomenon of the current *paradigm* shift -- from TELEVISION to DIGITAL (which is why I could "predict" this would happen in 2013 at the Pentagon.) So are the parallel developments in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden &c. His status as "a combination of rock star and folk hero" is a superficial description of how people feel "unconsciously" about this shift. The whole idea of an "American Dream" is, as the phrase implies, not something that happens in "waking" realty. Like all "dreams" it is a product of our "unconscious," which, in turn, is a product of the technologies we habitually use and that "shape our sensibilities."
When turned into something that can be discussed "consciously," it inevitably becomes something like "the government conspiracy of the century" -- another statement of the famous 1967 Buffalo Springfield lyric, "There's something happening here; what it is ain't exactly clear . . . "
This AM Kai-Fu Lee started his book-tour for "Ai Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley and the New World Order." There is no "American Dream"
anymore. The robots *are* going to take our jobs. And, Trump cannot stop (or perhaps even understand) any of this.
The author of this opinion piece apparently has no clue that any of this is going on, other than appearances and "figures." Arguably neither does Trump. The question, however, for this group is do we .
. . ??
Mark
Quoting "Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx" <[log in to unmask]>:
> Hi List,
>
> Saw this Op Ed this morning and thought I would share.
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.reviewjournal
> .com_opinion_opinion-2Dcolumns_wayne-2Dallyn-2Droot_the-2Dconspiracy-2
> Dagainst-2Dpresident-2Dtrump_&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RS
> jOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=zwFvmQr
> wETl_tvYpcbJIk-8ZYdLKjGnRxhwSIIy7KXQ&s=4a7vuMhPtRTMYA19RimTRnjZsNly376
> PtfAJTBQEexU&e=
>
> There clearly are lots of "justification narratives" operating in our
> country at this juncture.
>
> Best,
> Gregg
>
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