What Can One Person Do During this Governing Crisis? Part 2.

On By southwerkIn business ethics

You’ve made the decision to fight, to not take what is happening in Washington in silence.

And so we come to the second part of the equation, Politics.

The Politics.

Politics as a word is immediately unsettling and disturbing. And it should be. We have a system of election infested with dark money, secret organizations and every kind of conspiracy theory nutjob and idealogue imaginable.

And you say, “James, you want me to wade into that cesspool?”

“Yes, I do.”

I understand. I, myself, would rather curl up with a good book or get busy writing an essay about the golden age of television. But when faced with a national crisis, you can choose to act or decide that you are powerless and helpless. I want you to act in defense of democracy. I want you to embrace your role as citizens and activists. It won’t be easy and it won’t be nice.

What we must have is action against the current regime. What we have from the Republicans is public praise and private concern. They are not going to be very useful in the fight. What we have from the Democrats is some action on the part of some Democrats. Some Democrats in the Senate, in the House, some Governors and a few others. It is easy to look at the news and see who these people are. Those willing to fight have identified themselves. Most elected Democrats are sitting on the fence waiting to see how events break. I have no kind words for them just pure contempt. Now is the time to fight and those who are waiting to see what happens are cowards and fools.

It is vital that action take place now. We can’t wait for the mid-terms. In two years, the power grab may be impossible to reverse.

So, we have to act now and in the awful terrain of politics.

RULE 1. The greater your numbers, the better. I was watching some clips from CPAC today and I realized that these fools and losers are only powerful because of billionaire money and the fact that they organize. If groups of the stupid can be important, how much more we, patriots and citizens, be effective. We stand high over these people just as the righteous throughout history have stood above the greedy and the foolish.

Find allies. Find friends. Find leaders you can trust, not just individuals wearing a label that says Democrat but people whose hearts and souls are devoted to the causes of alleviating human suffering, defending the weak and the poor and above all fighting for our American democracy.

These next two years will be the acid test of leadership in America. Whether Republican or Democrat, the test is simple. Is this individual willing to stand up daily, hourly – truly committed to defending democracy against this savage takeover? Fence sitters are as much traitors to the cause as any member of this regime’s cabinet. “We shall know them by their works” must be our rule. It doesn’t matter what they say in the fund-raising letters or their happy e-mails. What have they done? Have they spoken out? Where are the press releases, the speeches of defiance, the public announcement that are committed to the cause?

Once committed you must act. Send e-mails, text messages, letters, to your representatives. Let them know how you feel. Cultivate a friendly supportive base of friends on social media.

If possible, attend public meetings, political party precinct meetings and any other public meeting where the continuing crisis is going to be discussed or you want to bring it up.

Set up a network of publications you can trust. Write up a list of positive contacts. When you go to a meeting, get names and addresses, suggest exchanging e-mails – You are building a coalition of fellow patriots. Don’t be shy! The nation is at stake.

(I’ll be writing a third essay about what to do in the next few days. Thank you.

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What Can One Person Do During this Governing Crisis?

On By southwerkIn business ethics

This is a terrible time to live in America. What is happening now in Washington infuriates any decent citizen.

The horrible people doing these things are counting on you to not take action, to not stand up, and to not be counted. They want you to go quietly away while they perform their neo-fascist fantasies.

Each one of us is powerful in our own right. Yes, that is a fact. We are not atoms flowing about helplessly in society as one famous right-wing loon claimed. We are human beings with the rights and privileges associated with self-government.

Each of us is powerful but in association our power multiplies. And you are not alone. All over the United States, there are million of citizens equally appalled, equally angry and desperate to take action.

Now, here’s the rub. This isn’t a problem that can be solved in a week, a month or a year. Are you willing to commit to laboring for justice and right for years on end? Is it important enough to you? If you have doubts, maybe your desire to fight for your country and its future is not enough to sustain you for the long haul?

I know it is awful to have to fight for what is obviously right against outright nut jobs and fools. And I know that we as a people and as a nation go over the same ground and the same issues, year after year after year. And it gets exhausting.

If you are going to commit to repair the damage done and live in a working democracy, understand that it is a major decision and it will affect a great deal of many other things in your life. There will be pain. There will be obstacles. There will be friends and family who don’t get why you care and worse, there will be friends and family that actively oppose you. Many, many families are cursed with members whose devotion to the neo-fascist cause is more important than other family members, their friends or their duty as patriots or citizens or as Christians. Consider them lost, casualties in a war for the soul of our democracy.

The first step in struggling against what is happening, against the threat of a burgeoning fascist state is to decide to act.

If you have the heart of a warrior, fight! If you believe in the visions of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, fight! If you have seen the sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of Americans in the struggles against dictatorships and evil, and you don’t want them to have suffered and died in vain, then fight.

Welcome aboard. You’re going to make a lot of new friends and you are joining a just cause for representative democracy. God bless you!

(That is essay one. This is the first of a set. I will write the next one very soon.)

A Very Fine Book: On Disinformation by Lee McIntyre

On By southwerkIn business ethics

What I’m reading today! “On Disinformation” by Lee McIntyre. A very relevant book with the new President and convicted felon about to take office.

My favorite quote from the book so far (I’m about half way): “According to a 2021 study put out by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, 65 percent of the anti-vax propaganda on Twitter was due to just twelve people.” Page 45.

Business ethics requires continuous study. Currently, we in the United States are subjected to a continuous “firehose” of lies and misinformation. It is truly a business ethics crisis. And thus my current reading includes this book and many related articles.

If anything is worth fighting for, surely the simple truth must be one of those values. Many corporations individuals and the more crass of our politicians benefit from this barrage of lies. But the central values in the United States and the bedrock beliefs among Ladies and Gentlemen of honor rest on a respect for and reliance on facts and evidence.

Dark days are ahead of us but the central values of the Great Americans will always remain the same.

James Alan Pilant

Wilhoit’s Law

On By southwerkIn business ethics
Wilhoit’s Law!

Wilhoit’s Law!

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

I read a lot and from time something I read stands out. The idea that caught my attention was Wilhoit’s law. It has enormous explanatory power when it comes to modern conservatism. It is also counter to my firm conviction that the law should bind everyone, that if we are not equal under the law, democracy is impaired or impossible.

But a very fine explanation of the idea is quoted below and I am indebted to the author, Jason Linkins. I did a little research and it appears I am very late on learning about this concept. And that is too bad, I don’t get to fly in intellectual circles very often here in Northeastern Oklahoma.

The quote below is from this link: https://www.yahoo.com/news/maga-plan-destroy-fourteenth-amendment-110000254.html It was written by Jason Linkins.

Those who are familiar with Wilhoit’s law—which holds that conservatism, in the words of Ohio classical music composer Frank Wilhoit—“consists of exactly one proposition.… There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect”—will recognize that Trump’s plans aren’t novel but rather stem from the primordial ideas that have long guided his party along its postmodern evolution into a haven for authoritarianism and oligarchy.

Political Rage

On By southwerkIn business ethics
The Cultivation of Rage

The Cultivation of Rage

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

The Cultivation of Rage (1/11/2015)

Currently, there is a tragedy unfolding in California. Fires are burning and people are dying. In past times in the United States, the nation would have pulled together united in efforts to send aid and comfort to the afflicted.

We don’t live in that kind of nation anymore.

The President Elect, a convicted Felon, with an incredible record of spreading lies and misinformation has explained that the disaster is all due to Gavin Newsom, the Governor or California not signing the “water restoration declaration.” And since he didn’t sign that it is all his fault that people are dying and homes are burning. There is a problem with this claim. There is no such thing as a “water restoration declaration.”

So, where does this nonsense come from? How does a public figure make a totally made-up claim and expect not only to get away with it but politically benefit from it?

First, the right-wing playbook very directly indicates that Attack, Attack and Attack is always the basic strategy for political success. And while there is some reliance on Mein Kampf’s assertation that a lie repeated often enough becomes a believed truth, the more modern technique is the firehose method where you simply blanket the media with lies making a rational or intelligent response all but impossible.  

Second, there is a huge alternative media which will without any fact checking whatever repeat this nonsense, these lies, this misinformation. That anyone would willingly spread lies is morally and ethically vile but popular in some political circles. It is also effective. Right now there a millions of people in the United States, shaking with rage, consumed with hatred for this Democratic Governor who is responsible for so many deaths and so much destruction because he failed to sign a document that doesn’t and has never existed.

And that is the point, hatred, discord, and high emotional content. This pent-up rage produces votes, contributions, campaign workers and the fervor of that that hate frightens and discourages the opposition. People filled with hatred express their vitriol on the internet, in public and in their lives.

This cultivation of the angry never stops. Every single day, every hour, every minute, there is a new or revived charge, claim or fabrication implying evil and wickedness on the part of those they hate. The barrage never stops. It rains and rains without pause.

And that is why Trump made up an easily disproved lie. Lie or not, it will still be effective. In fact, we can expect that his lies and nonsense will be continually rewarded. Marketed through the alternative media as truth and supported by his unquestioning, utterly gullible followers they will function as valuable weapons in their continued to question and diminish the values of honor, decency and truth.

This is the nation where we live now. A place where every sort of aid and comfort should be sent to California, and instead the opportunity for attack is being fully cultivated for political advantage.

Honesty, decency and character are important factors in a public servant or indeed in any human being but those factors don’t figure in a media landscape of disgusting, immoral and reckless lies.

Being Wrong

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Many years ago, I was working on a degree in Criminal Justice. This woman wrote an article and suggested that most of those currently sitting on death row were not motivated by evil or given the opportunity for free will but were individuals who had suffered brain damage. I was outraged. I knew for a fact that people killed because they wanted to, because they were bad, awful human beings. I was completely, totally sure. Then I read her research. The prison authorities had given her access to skull x-rays of their heads. Almost without exception, there was dramatic evidence of skull fractures and other damage. The only way I could be right if by some intellectual trick I could conclude that the evidence didn’t matter. I didn’t have and don’t have any such tricks. The evidence was clear. There was a connection between serious wrong doing and damage to the brain as evidenced by skull fractures. I was wrong. It bothered and still bothers me that I could be so wrong. And the comfort, such as it is, that I saw my error and embraced truth is the correct attitude to take. But I would have enjoyed being right so much more and there lies the problems for all of us. The truth demands a lot of us. It demands time, attention, humility and a willingness to change. Just one of those is tough, all of them is a maze of difficulty for a personality. Many times since that lesson, I have had to change my beliefs and adopt new paths. And from time to time in I run into previous versions of me and what I said about a subject that later turned out to be wrong. Still hate it. But the path of righteousness is only accessible to those willing to admit their mistakes. James Alan Pilant (The picture above is from wikipedia who I think very kindly and add the attribution they wanted: Patrick J. Lynch, medical illustrator – Modified version of Image:Skull and brain normal human.svg)

Being Wrong
Being Wrong

Being Wrong

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

Many years ago, I was working on a degree in Criminal Justice. This woman wrote an article and suggested that most of those currently sitting on death row were not motivated by evil or given the opportunity for free will but were individuals who had suffered brain damage.

I was outraged. I knew for a fact that people killed because they wanted to, because they were bad, awful human beings. I was completely, totally sure.

Then I read her research. The prison authorities had given her access to skull x-rays of their heads. Almost without exception, there was dramatic evidence of skull fractures and other damage. The only way I could be right if by some intellectual trick I could conclude that the evidence didn’t matter. I didn’t have and don’t have any such tricks.

The evidence was clear. There was a connection between serious wrong doing and damage to the brain as evidenced by skull fractures.

I was wrong. It bothered and still bothers me that I could be so wrong.

And the comfort, such as it is, that I saw my error and embraced truth is the correct attitude to take. But I would have enjoyed being right so much more and there lies the problems for all of us.

The truth demands a lot of us. It demands time, attention, humility and a willingness to change. Just one of those is tough, all of them is a maze of difficulty for a personality.

Many times since that lesson, I have had to change my beliefs and adopt new paths. And from time to time in I run into previous versions of me and what I said about a subject that later turned out to be wrong. Still hate it. But the path of righteousness is only accessible to those willing to admit their mistakes.

James Alan Pilant

(The picture above is from wikipedia who I think very kindly and add the attribution they wanted: Patrick J. Lynch, medical illustrator – Modified version of Image:Skull and brain normal human.svg)

OceanGate

On By southwerkIn business ethics
The OceanGate Disaster