Groupthink squashing Individualism...
from A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks
Aksel Sandemose
Sandemose in his 1933 novel formalized a set of laws that had been a sociological form of behavior in the Scandinavian world for centuries. They are important in the United States, especially in the upper midwest states, because they still heavily operate in that region where many Scandinavian immigrants settled. As these immigrants migrated across the country in the 20th century, they brought these traits with them, permeating local culture, integrating the concepts of collectivism and socialism and enforcing these social behaviors and political beliefs into American society.
They are antithetical to Individualism, Freedom of the Individual, Entrepreneurial Enterprise, Creative Expression and defeat positive thinking ego in the worst possible way. To me they are essentially anti-American because they are based on conformity and discourage originality, open discussion, creative thinking or anything "outside the box." Regardless, they are widely accepted as the norm in many communities, influencing our social, economic and political culture, destroying the potential of creative minds and new ideas.
The chief principle to all of them is:
Don't think you are anyone special or that you are better than anyone else.
The rules are:
1. Don't think that you are special.
2. Don't think you are of the same standing as others.
3. Don't think you are smarter than others.
4. Don't fancy yourself as being any better than others.
5. Don't think that you know more than others.
6. Don't think that you are more important than others.
7. Don't think that you are good at anything.
8. Don't laugh at others.
9. Don't think that any one of us cares about you.
10. Don't think that you can teach others anything.
11. Don't think there isn't anything that we don't know about you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybWrY0venT4
8/3/10
8/2/10
Zen and the Art of Writing
Quality cannot be defined but you know what it is...
"Another thing that depressed him was prescriptive rhetoric, which supposedly had been done away with but was still around. This was the old slap-on-the-fingers-if your-modifiers-were-caught-dangling stuff. Correct spelling, correct punctuation, correct grammar. Hundreds of itsy-bitsy rules for itsy-bitsy people. No one could remember all that stuff and concentrate on what he was trying to write about. It was all table manners, not derived from any sense of kindness or decency or humanity, but originally from an egotistic desire to look like gentlemen and ladies. Gentlemen and ladies had good table manners and spoke and wrote grammatically. It was what identified on with the upper classes.
In Montana, however, it didn't have this effect at all. It identified one, instead, as a stuck-up Eastern ass."
"Another thing that depressed him was prescriptive rhetoric, which supposedly had been done away with but was still around. This was the old slap-on-the-fingers-if your-modifiers-were-caught-dangling stuff. Correct spelling, correct punctuation, correct grammar. Hundreds of itsy-bitsy rules for itsy-bitsy people. No one could remember all that stuff and concentrate on what he was trying to write about. It was all table manners, not derived from any sense of kindness or decency or humanity, but originally from an egotistic desire to look like gentlemen and ladies. Gentlemen and ladies had good table manners and spoke and wrote grammatically. It was what identified on with the upper classes.
In Montana, however, it didn't have this effect at all. It identified one, instead, as a stuck-up Eastern ass."
from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
Part II, Chapter 15
copyright 1974, 1999
8/1/10
In The Dead Heat of Summer
A refreshing reminder of January in Prescott...
"The Record Snowfall Storm"
"The Record Snowfall Storm"
7/31/10
Frederic Bastiat
The Broken Window Fallacy visualized....
From the 1850 essay That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Unseen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG3AKoL0vEs
From the 1850 essay That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Unseen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG3AKoL0vEs
7/30/10
Vernon Parker discussing the SB 1070 ruling
Paradise Valley Councilman and Arizona Congressional District 3 Candidate...
State of Arizona is trying to do what federal government has failed to do
"This judge's decision was judicial activism at it's best."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbd05TvGRxA
State of Arizona is trying to do what federal government has failed to do
"This judge's decision was judicial activism at it's best."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbd05TvGRxA
7/29/10
Urban Landscape Photography VI
Driving west in mid-summer sunset...
The glaring sun is mocking: "can you see me now?"
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