A Crooked Tweet Sampler
If you’re not following me on twitter, here are some crooked tweets you may have missed:
- It is easy to make something sound true. The hard part is making it true. Most of us stop half way.
- We can get others to do almost anything if we treat them like mindless robots. But, in the end, mindless robots make for poor company.
- I suspect most people are too damn sure of themselves. In fact, I’d bet my life on it.
- How to tell if a policy works: if it exists, it works. Maybe not like we think it does, but it is getting someone rich, re-elected, or both.
- What if we all really did get along? Who or what would we hate then? There’s got to be a devil out there somewhere. Don’t kid yourself.
- Public concern for any issue has a half-life of about a week. This used to bother me. But today? Not so much.
Want more? Just follow me on twitter.
P.S. I’m even doing a little political commentary on twitter. Here’s one:
- In 20 years Obama never figured out his own pastor but in just 3 years as a US Senator he’s figured out how to run a country? I’m convinced.
Aren’t you?
Posted on Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 12:13 PM
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The Way and the What
I don’t care much about what people are.
Gay/straight. White/black. Conservative/liberal. Religious/agnostic. Christian/Muslim. Young/Old. Rich/Poor. Smart/dumb. Etc.
I have friends in each of these categories and then some. Heck, I’m in a few of these categories myself.
Again, I don’t care much about what people are.
But I care a great deal about the way people are what they are.
Let’s take a hypothetical person: Mr. X.
Mr. X happens to have one of the personal characteristics listed above. Which characteristic isn’t important. Take your pick.
Now, do I like him?
How am I supposed to know? I don’t know anything meaningful about him.
Do I hate him?
Again, how am I supposed to know? I don’t know anything meaningful about him.
As I said, I don’t care much about what people are. I care about the way people are what they are.
Now, let’s say Mr. X uses this personal characteristic to define himself as a person. No problem there. But it doesn’t stop there.
He then uses this characteristic to divide the world into us and them, good and evil. If you happen to share his characteristic, you’re good. If you don’t, you’re evil.
Now, ask me again.
Do I like him? No. I think he’s a dick. Do I hate him? No. I just don’t want anything to do with people who use things like this to fill the world with more hatred and divisiveness.
It has nothing to do with race, religion, age, sexual orientation, or any other meaningless personal characteristic. It has to do with repulsive behavior that is driven by a meaningless personal characteristic.
I don’t care what people are, what they believe, or what issues they think are important. I don’t care about these things. I care about the way people go about these things.
Why is this so damn hard for some people to understand?
If we want to encourage better behavior, we should start judging people based on their behavior.
But if we want to tear people apart, we need only stress meaningless differences and the unrest will take care of itself.
In fact, it already is.
Posted on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 08:51 PM
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Why we rarely finish what we start
Ever notice how many of us start things but don’t follow through on them?
We join the gym but never go.
...then, something terrible happens. The high begins to wear off and we realize we must do something to stop the slide. But what?
We buy a book but don’t read it.
We outline a book but never write it.
We sign up for a class but don’t attend it.
We start to renovate our home but don’t finish it.
You get the idea.
Why do we do this? Here’s my guess…
The “first step” in almost every process provides a psychological high that is literally addictive.
Most of us can’t get ourselves to take action until we’re utterly miserable. We can think about taking action. We can know we should take action. We can even want to take action. But until we’re miserable, we won’t.
But the moment our misery becomes too much for us, we’ll do anything to relive it.
We join a gym. We buy a book. We buy some sandpaper and paint. Whatever. And, as a result, we suddenly feel fantastic!
Why?
Because that first step lifts us out of total misery and gives us hope. It literally takes us from darkness to light. And that trip - between the two extremes of misery and hope - is a rush.
We want to continue working toward our goal, but we also want to retain the high the first step gave us. What are we to do?
We find ourselves wondering why it took us so long to act in the first place. And then we pat ourselves on the back. We tell our friends what we’ve done. And we suggest they make the same change in their lives. Come on in. The water feels great!
But then, something terrible happens. The high begins to wear off and we realize we must do something to stop the slide. But what?
We ponder the prospect of taking the second step toward our goal but are met with the sobering realization that it will never provide the psychological payoff that the first step did.
At best, the second step will inch us a little further toward our goal. At worst, it will inch us a little closer back toward misery since it reminds us how much work we still have to do. You mean there’s more to it than just the first step?
Now we have a problem.
We want to continue working toward our goal, but we also want to retain the high the first step gave us. What are we to do?
It depends.
If we really want to meet our goals, we suck it up and work toward them. But if we’re just junkies looking for our next psychological high, we turn our attention toward something else we’ve been miserable about and take the first step toward solving that problem.
We’re all junkies in this regard. It’s hard for us to admit this because we know that doing so would make us miserable.
Instead of going for our first workout at the gym, we go to the home improvement store and buy some paint. Instead of breaking out the paintbrush, we go to the store to buy a book. Instead of reading the book we just bought, we go to another gym and sign up for a membership.
And after a few decades of this we find ourselves on our deathbeds wondering why we never accomplished anything worthwhile.
Of course, we can always turn away from our lack of accomplishment and think about all the “great times” (i.e. highs) we experienced along the way. But that’s just another way of turning away from the real problem and doing another line off the mirror.
We’re all junkies in this regard. It’s hard for us to admit this because we know that doing so would make us miserable. But the good news is, the first step toward ending that misery is just as easy as taking the first step. Any first step. Go ahead. Try it and see for yourself.
Don’t ask me what the second step is, though. I haven’t gotten that far. You see, I’m as addicted to this high as everyone else.
I routinely start things and fail to finish them.
I buy books but I don’t read them.
I sign up for the gym but don’t go.
I start writing blog posts but don’t
Posted on Monday, March 17, 2008 at 10:19 AM
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Spin - it isn’t just for liars anymore.
A crooked wisdom reader named Ellen recently commented on one of my posts and said, in part:
“...the stuff that you put out and encourage people to think about and comment on is really important in a world where hype and spin is so prevalent.”
While I’m pretty sure I’ve stepped in some truth here and there, more often than not I discovered that what I thought was “the truth”, wasn’t.
Not long ago this type of statement would have left me dancing on my desk. But this time, after I finished dancing, I got down from my desk and felt compelled to take a shower and explain myself. This post is my attempt at the latter.
It isn’t that I don’t appreciate compliments like this - I do - but they always leave me feeling like I’ve pulled one over on my readers.
I have long admired Andre’ Gide’s admonition, “Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it.” And while I’ve had my periods of arrogance - and am likely to have a few thousand more - I’m very clear which group I’m in. Hint: it’s not the one that comes with screaming fans and fancy cars.
While I’m pretty sure I’ve stepped in some truth here and there, more often than not I discovered that what I thought was “the truth”, wasn’t. Of course, I didn’t learn this until after I tried to bestow my “genius” upon the world. Take this dammit. It’s good for you!
This doesn’t mean I don’t believe in the existence of, and/or the importance of, facts. I do. In fact, (pun intended), I’m a big fan of them.
But like most of my other heroes - Ayn Rand, Robert Anton Wilson, Groucho Marx, Mighty Mouse, etc. - they are all too human. Or, to be more accurate, they’re only as good as the humans that employ them. Case in point…
We can often “lie” using facts - and only using facts - just as easily as we can lie without them. Stress these facts, ignore those, and voila! We just created a brand new truth.
In the classic film Table for Five
At one point, the stepfather, a high-priced, cutthroat attorney, threatens to sue for custody and says he will win because he could, “make Mother Theresa look unfit to run a children’s home without telling a single lie.”
And for once, I believe every word a “lawyer” is saying.
My point is, we can often “lie” using facts - and only using facts - just as easily as we can lie without them. Stress these facts, ignore those, and voila! We just created a brand new truth. But it gets worse.
I believe that we - and by “we” I mean all of us, not just “the bad people” - do “lie” using facts every time we open our mouths. I believe it is, by definition, impossible to do otherwise.
Consider this description of “propaganda” from Wikipedia:
Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behavior of large numbers of people. Instead of impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience. The most effective propaganda is often completely truthful, but some propaganda presents facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the cognitive narrative of the subject in the target audience.
Pay attention to the two sections I underlined.
First, according to this description one component of propaganda is the intent to influence. Doesn’t that sum up all communication? When we communicate aren’t we doing so for a reason? Even when we’re just shootin’ the shit, giving directions, or making small talk, we’re doing so for a reason. And I say that that reason is to influence something. To have some sort of an effect on a given situation. To change things.
If you don’t believe me, I invite you to prove me wrong by identifying one piece of information a person can communicate without having an intention to influence. Could you do it? I doubt it. But even if you could, would you tell me? If so, why? What would be your intention? Think about that for a moment.
Ultimately, all communication has a purpose and complete communication is impossible. Thus, all communication is spin.
And second, notice that the description says, “...some propaganda presents facts selectively.” I don’t think this is quite accurate. I’d change the wording a bit and say, ”All communication is the presentation of selective facts.” Yes, all. And yes, communication, not just propaganda. Not that there’s much difference, mind you.
As many philosophers, psychologists and other troublemakers have pointed out for years, it is impossible to say everything about anything. Despite our best intentions, when we take an oath to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” we’re lying.
But that isn’t the problem. The problem is that almost none of us realize this. Instead, we think we’re walking around telling “the truth” when we’re really - at best - just telling a portion of it.
With the exception of my daughter’s best friend, at some point we are all going to shut up and let our words stand for themselves. And the point at which we’ll shut up is the point at which we think we’ve included enough detail to suit our purpose of the communication itself.
Don’t kid yourself; if you make the effort to communicate something, there is a reason for it - even if you don’t know what that reason is.
So why am I telling you all this? No reason.
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Actually there are four things I hope I’ve accomplished by writing this post. Probably more. But here are those I’m aware of:
First, I hope it stretched your mind a bit. But not too much, of course. Believe me, I know what that feels like.
Second, I hope it made you laugh a bit. After all, I take these ideas seriously enough for the both of us so there’s no sense in you losing your mind as well.
I say, if we’re going to spin - and if we’re going to open our mouths we’re going to spin - we might as well be honest about it.
Third, I hope I’ve given you a little more insight into what I’m trying to do around here. While I am very clear that there is a line between truth and bullshit, I’m also clear that the line is always moving and we can never be too sure which side we’re on at any given moment.
And finally, I wanted to make sure Ellen, my reader who inspired this post, didn’t faint when she learned I’m writing a book about the positive aspects of spin. Yes. Spin.
I’m writing this book because I think it is critically important for us to be honest - with ourselves and with each other - about the possibility that our words may not always be as pure and benign as we might like to believe.
Ultimately, all communication has a purpose and complete communication is impossible. Thus, all communication is spin.
And despite the spin we’ve been fed about spin, spin is useful for far more than covering our butts; it can be used - and is already being used - to transform the quality of our lives, past, present, and future.
Those who will not admit this are far more dangerous than those who do. And, those who do not embrace this are far less effective than those who do.
The trouble is, the only ones currently embracing this idea are the scoundrels. While they’re using it to shape the world more to their liking, the rest of us are beating each other over the heads with our truths. But hey, at least we can pat ourselves on the back for being honest, right? Wrong. We can pat ourselves on the back for being ignorant, but somehow that’s not quite as gratifying.
I say, if we’re going to spin - and if we’re going to open our mouths we’re going to spin - we might as well be honest about it.
Of course, I could be wrong about this. In fact, something tells me that one day I’ll be sitting on my back porch scraping this off my shoe with all my other truths. But that’s not such a bad thing; you should see my collection.
Posted on Sunday, March 16, 2008 at 06:46 PM
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A couple of things before you go
I’d like to say a couple of things before you go.
What’s that? You’re not going anywhere? Don’t be so sure.
About a year ago I decided to start worrying less about what others might think about my writing and more about what I wanted to get out of my writing.
As a result, two things happened.
First, I rediscovered my passion for writing. And second, my readership plummeted. Okay, plummeted is an overstatement as it implies I had a large readership to begin with - which I did not - but I it sure feels like it plummeted.
Anyway, here’s a screenshot from Alexa showing my overall traffic for the last 3 years:
And I’m not only losing visitors, but mailing list subscribers as well. Here’s a screenshot from FeedBlitz for the last 7 days:
Notice I’ve lost 7 subscribers and only gained 1 (maybe 2 if that yellow guy ever confirms his opt in request). Again, these numbers are only from the last 7 days but they’re typical of how things have been going lately.
So don’t be so sure about your sticking around here. Maybe they know something you don’t. Or maybe, something else is going on.
My judgment is probably impaired from all the Diet Pepsi Max I’ve been drinking lately, but I’m excited about this. Really.
Though the trend numbers don’t look good at this point, judging from some of the feedback I’ve been getting both on and off this blog something very interesting is happening.
Whereas my readers used to stop by and give me nice little pats on the head - no cash, mind you, just pats - now they’re actually doing something as a result of what I’ve written.
Granted, many of them are leaving and some are even kicking me on their way out. But many of you that are sticking around are also taking action by sending me some of the most encouraging - and sometimes even embarrassing - feedback I’ve ever received.
Mark Twain said he could live a week off of a good compliment. If that’s true, I’m good for a couple of more years at least. And for that, I cannot thank you enough.
Still, if the love affair fades and the trend continues as is, that’s fine, too. As I said, I’ve rediscovered my passion for writing and that’s something I was afraid I might never get back.
Either way, I plan to keep blogging here until every reader has been served. Or until the Diet Pepsi Max wears off. Whichever comes first.
Oh, I was going to tell you one more thing. See that little button below that says “Behind the Blog”? Click it.
Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 at 05:56 PM
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