What are the incentives to those who engage in hate? (Smoke and Mirrors))

I often talk about why hate and those who support hate are a serious risk to our democracy. While on the top of our nation we talk about democracy and freedom in very high end abstract terms (I do this as well so its normal and in many ways beneficial) most of these people have no idea what its like in our communities where hate has often become fashionable among certain clans. The lifestyles of those with resources are very different then the lifestyles of the average (I have lived in top zip codes and bottom zip codes and there are worlds of differences. One can't really describe the other unless you have lived for some time in both.)

(Its hard to blame many politicians and officials who don't understand hate because many/most were raised with resources, in the right crowds, and with lots of support. They don't really have the same connection to what happens on a ground level with real people trying to make ends meet. You can sort of see that with our politics where people are treating politics like a personal game when lots of people live on the outcome of that tit for tat Monopoly spin.) 

(Sorry I digress. I'm not a hate supporter and I'm completely confused on why hate has become acceptable and in many ways supported by large groups of people. I'm even more confused about how to find a solution because it relies on the often self oriented, subconscious, self awareness of people to see the bigger picture and the risks to our local/national institutions beyond their own needs.)

Here are a few benefits of why people support hate and why systems often default in handling it (I'm looking at this from an incentives perspective. As a general rule, people believe and do things on a social level and make decisions based on what helps them. The vast majority of people will never truly be aware of their own behaviors and the long term consequences of that behavior. If you want to understand why hate persists you have to understand its incentives and how people at different developmental levels react to internal angst. Hate as an outlet for inner dissonance.)

(One possible explanation of hate is related to lower needs fulfillment/development as postulated by Kazimierz Dabrowski’s and his theory of positive disintegration (TPD). Developmental levels are based on a person's capacity to grow from some very core rources rooted into their essence called Developmental Potential (DP). What we potentially have seen during hate crimes, ethnic cleansings, and mass shootings is a higher concentration of mental health disorders within the Level 1 stage. Such individuals are often surrounded and supported by similar Level 1 individuals. As one moves up the development ladder they are less likely to engage in such behaviors and/or rigidly adherence to group norms. At Level 4 and 5 kindness and empathy are seen as strengths but are often misconstrued as weakness by Level 1 individuals/groups. See Dabrowski's TBD. )

Here are a few benefits to the distortion of hate (Ok...its just role reversing to understand the incentives of why people do these things):

-Social approval: Its hard to hate without a community that also engages in hate (Community just meaning group and not an actual community. It could be an actual whole community but that isn't the intent of the meaning.) You will notice in most of these cases where crimes of aggression were committed there was some connection to others who thought in similar ways.

-Suppressing of inner pain: Internal pain of the aggressors often leads to attempts to make the targets associated with and eventually responsible for that pain even though they are unassociated. Almost as saying, "If I make them feel it, I don't need to feel it about myself.". By dehumanizing others they feel a temporary sense of relief from their own despair, shame, and "less than human" feelings. It can become a habit.

-Scapegoating collective faults: Sometimes societies have issues they have not fully discussed, vetted, and resolved. For example, this ex-sports group has developed a sense of blind loyalty, constant comparison, rumor spreading, and caddyness toward others. Yet none as far as I know can say the targets did anything to them and it appears to be intentionally spread "hear say".  The ability to coordinate on a family is reflective of some of their inner values of this group (as well as some officials) and is a false socially constructed reality based on the distorted perceptions of key influencers.

-Avenues to power: There is power in having a mob of blind supporters willing to act and work on the behalf of such divisionary. Mental slaves, as related to mob behaviors, reflects the emotional states of their leaders/influencers. The lower the developmental level of the supporter, the more likely they will closely mirror their leaders behavior. They easily relinquish their own personal power to group power. Good leaders use power to influence followers to be better and poor leaders influence followers to be worse through the use of mirror neurons. Strong nations grow through good leadership with shared values and are destroyed off of poor diversionary values (I prior talked briefly about social construction and the activation of neural synapses based on which mental pathways people have been socialized to prefer leading to closely related socialized values and decision making. i.e. heuristic thinking and mob mentality. All the bravado, rudeness, and group aggression and not one knows what they are talking about or has any of the "facts". They acted through social mimicking in a way that invalidated such misaligned perception of manhood they were trying to cloak their true selves in. In other words, within groups and against kids anyone can be bravado but when your out there alone standing against a large irrational aggressive mob then walk the talk and taking the higher road isnt always easy; even when it helps the perpetrators be better people. i.e. flying monkeys See mirror neurons and leadership. 👆) 

-Mask other issues, crimes, and behaviors: Sometimes there are bad histories that when the truth starts being revealed and the carefully woven lies unbonded the best thing to do is to make the targets "blameworthy" so the focus shifts to maintain the smokescreen. Isolation, accusations, rumors, etc. are all designed to created "blame worthiness" so as to deflect criticism and keep the truth suppressed (Trace back most hate networks and you often find mental health and other poor behaviors at the root of the group's leadership.).

-Economic reasons: Some groups want more access to jobs and opportunities than others. They have no issues suppressing others to maintain positions and/or gain new opportunities (i.e. local college that said I was more than qualified and then ghosted based on their distorted beliefs and social connections.). Good Old Boy networks exist to maintain this power and opportunities. Yet when they also incorporate racial and religious distortions that begin to cross between multiple local institutions therein lays the danger to democracy. 

Keeping the seeds of democracy
feeding future generations.
A painting of early pilgrims and Native 
Americans.

What we find in much of this dark behavior is the ability to maintain position/influence over some people in a way that in civilized societies is seen as unfair and unjust. This position is maintained through social aggression, belittling and restricting of opportunity that if left unchecked within our hometowns limits a huge percentage of our human capital at a time we need it the most! The next era belongs to universal principles that rely on shared perspectives that apply equally across society (i.e. taking our current system that attempts to be fair and making it consistently fair. Bad people go to jail, mental health is treated, and good people live unrestricted. Trust in the system is restored because there is a meaningful attempt to resolved the crisis of confidence based on evidence/science and not politics.)

(Today is Thanksgiving and lets reflect on how we came here for freedom and have the responsibility to maintain that freedom. The survival of the pilgrims was based on their ability to make a human-to-human connection with Native Americans. Without that they would have perished in the wilderness and without that same spirit today we risk cracking the foundations that hold the pillars of democracy skyward. Just imagine if the indigenous people thought the newcomers were savages and not worth saving. 🧐 Just saying.)

DOD Implements Zero Trust-Good Idea Updating to an Increasingly Digital Era

The world is a tricky place and lots of different cyber threats emerge, hacking groups form, money is spent, and people try and get information for gain. We are into a time when we are interconnected and have to protect sensitive data. As a department the DOD, like any other organism, must continuously update to its environment or risk being compromised. The DOD will update, our adversaries will update, and natural pressures encourage us to be adaptive or lose out on competitive advantages. 

The name of the game for the future is innovation and how that allows us to be central to the Digital Era. Our data will need to be further insulated so as to ensure that our adversaries are not using espionage and other malicious methods to obtain information they didn't put the resources in to discovery for themselves. 

I didn't read through everything but here are some resources if this topic is of interest to you. Its important to sort of understand changes from an IT perspective. Government policy often impacts suppliers who then impact their industries. Some of these policies will impact how business conduct its cybersecurity so staying on top of change is helpful.

Keep in mind that businesses are often targets of hacking to obtain secondary data and have responsibility to protect that consumer data. New ideas, inventions, and methods will come forward and the DOD will likely adapt what seems to make fiscal, practical, strategic and tactical sense. Industry and government sort of watch and impact each others development (i.e. Arpa)

DOD zero trust road map

DOD Zero Trust Document Library

Nov 17th 2022 Escanaba City Council Meeting: Supersize My Grant Please!

Another exciting meeting of a small American town on the move, adjusting, and improving its opportunities with each step forward. Escanaba is becoming increasingly open to investment and development in a way that could impact its trajectory going forward (Post Covid changes things.). That is good news for those who want to reinvest in America's small towns that improves not only those towns but perhaps many others just like it (Building a model of economic cluster development through innovation and investment that better aligns towns to global markets.)

(Am I making a stretch here? 🤔👺I'm making a small stretch. You can see people starting to work together to encourage more local development through zoning changes and moving projects forward. For those of you who don't know "cutting the red tape" refers not only to regulations but also getting through the many delays of bureaucracy. Better strategies forward often create better cutting of tape to achieve those milestones.

In small towns there are is less bureaucracy but more caution with community concerns. That can actually be a good thing for business because small towns can be very flexible if people see the need for change. Yet the community is the ultimate stakeholders of change and local individuals can communicate one-on-one with council members. The seeds to democracy are here in small towns just like this! See SWOTCH.). 

Escanaba received some beefy grants that will make a difference in the local water infrastructure (Good infrastructure can improve business prospects and reduced downtime costs. See an article on America's water infrastructure history and economic growth. HERE). Attracting additional resources such as more grants, tourists, businesses, etc. is a good thing. Towns have inputs and outputs just like businesses and either must become sustaining (hopefully perpetually sustaining governments) or must rely on outside support.

Infrastructure is important and helps create the platform businesses and communities need to grow. Many times we spend resources on immediate needs and defer other needs. Strong infrastructure can encourage businesses to consider starting operations and could be a beneficial marketing piece to include in any business investment outreaches (I don't think the city does this yet but as a proactive approach one could find a way to reach out to businesses and the investment community when opportunities present themselves. See Esky Downtown Dev. Start Up Delta and Delta County SME)

You can read the November 17th, 2022 City Council Agenda A few of the main concepts are below....

-Water treatment project moving forward.

-Stipend for interim City Manager 

-New dog sniff 

-$20 Mil EGLE Grant: 1 phase water project and 2nd phase lead replacement.

-DDA application process

-Mutual aid alarm box system for emergency support.

-Stump grinding

-Closed bridge

-Prior city manager Patrick J. resigns.

-Appointments

-Committee reports

US Attorney General Garland Provides Announces Special Council Into January 6th and Classified Documents

Informed citizens keep up with the news and some of the important things that are occurring every day. When big announcements like this occur they signal a direction and potentially a change in the environment. Special Counsel Jack Smith has been appointed to provide an objective analysis of whether charges should be brought forward, dropped or some other direction taken.

 (Good or bad there will be an adjustment/reaction by some members of society. Former President Trump is as expected not happy so from a theoretical perspective we should consider what his options are and his level of support among Republicans. You can read some of Former President Trump's response HERE. 

Much of this is going to depend on where Republicans want to expend political capital and what they hope to accomplish with their time in office. Because of the different investigations going on it will come down to being a more personal choice by politicians so it will likely be encouraged for Republicans to stay neutral. In other words, we do not encourage support or discourage support. 

The primary purpose of the Republican party is to advance its long stemming values and governance principles/philosophies. Beyond the criminal investigation and January 6th review the biggest influencers in Republican decision making will be the actions of reelected Senate minority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) He will decide if he will give a thumbs up, thumbs down or just support your conscious comment about Trump's investigation. Nail biting.😬)

What does the Special council do? "....the Special Counsel shall exercise, within the scope of his or her jurisdiction, the full power and independent authority to exercise all investigative and prosecutorial functions of any United States Attorney (U.S. Gov. n.d.)  (This is a Federal Document so I think its correct)

Two investigations:

Investigation 1: January 6th. 

Investigation 2: Classified Documents

U.S. Govt. (n.d.). Section 600-General Powers of Special Counsel. Retrieved 11/18/2022 from https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2016-title28-vol2/pdf/CFR-2016-title28-vol2-part600.pdf

G20: Digital Economy and Data Security Part of Concerns

What is the G20? Lots of news on the topic and conversation on what the organization does and what it hopes to accomplish. The G20 tries to create shared perspectives of economic, political and health challenges. (NY Times as a solid description HERE. ) It is a way for countries to coordinate policies on things that are important to all the major participating nations. It can impact anything from economics to public health policies. Sometimes they might raise money and other times just awareness.

What I find sort of interesting on a personal level is the commitment to the Digital Era/Economy and some of the changes that will likely not only impact how business is conducted but also the forms/structure of business across the globe. More international cooperation is likely and there will be new rules as it relates to global data security and theft of data.

 (Legislation will play catch up with technology. Because most cultures would accept that data theft is a root moral violation like other forms of theft so chances are most will agree with some changes. How much, where, how, etc...is part of a longer term negotiation.)

"The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the transformation of the digital ecosystem and digital economy. We recognize the importance of digital transformation in reaching the SDGs" (White House G20, Nov. 16th, 2022) 

 

Read the White House briefing HERE.

(FYI... SDG is a Sustainable Development Goal. They should consider spelling it out the first time like, "Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)" so the definition is of the acronym is within the document. Small things I know! Read about SDG HERE.)

White House G20 (Nov. 16th, 2022). G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration.

 Retrieved November 16th, 2022 from https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/11/16/g20-bali-leaders-declaration/

Car Ramming into LA Sheriffs and Officer Recruits Horrendous, Dangerous and Hopefully Not a Trend!

Car ramming into and injuring up to 25 LA Sheriff recruits is sad, horrendous, dangerous, and hopefully not a trend! If this was an intentional act I would say it is getting close to being considered an impromptu convenience target of terrorism (..of course unless it was planned...which would be even more concerning.). If it was not an intentional act then the situation will need to be reviewed carefully so we protect against other such incidents in the future (i.e. by ensuring greater escort protection, switching to jogging on football fields, etc. policy changes. Personally I think we should be in a safe country and jog anywhere we want without fear of violence. This could be another sign we need people to start working together to solve our problems. Working across the isle solves issues today but solidifies a path forward for everyone to anchor on tomorrow.)

The big questions are why were they hit (intentional or unintentional) and how might that fit (or not fit) with other trends? Its hard to answer that today. We will need to wait and see. ( I guess some of it comes down to if the gas or break pedals were pressed as soon as it was apparent the driver was aware there were recruits. It will depend very much on the witnesses of everyone present and the background of the alleged i.e. what did they post on media, what were their views, what their friends say about them, etc.).  

On the surface the video looks intentional, directed, and direct. We will have to see what the case holds. 

Meeting Between President Biden and President XI: In the doorway to discussion

US President Biden's meeting with China's leader President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) underscored some fairly important topics that lead the day. While these topics are paramount interest it is a process of discussion and recognition that helps define future relationships. The topics are important but the walking away with fundamental understandings of the ability to discuss important issues in the future is perhaps more important (A fundamental question is "Has a sense of trust been created between the two parties?" i.e. summing up each others character. It goes down to the root of who we are as a species and it is still a big part of how we understand each other.).

So far this meeting appears to have been a success. People and nations may disagree about some topics but often these are based in culturally rooted assumptions. Sometimes, as in this case, there are a few very important issues that will require more frank conversation. The goal is usually to find things to agree and disagree with in the same discussion.

One puts forward a type of proposition/belief that leads into a discussion that further defines the problem and concern at hand through reciprocation of propositions/beliefs (Both sides walk away with additional clarity of knowledge and stance.). If you continue conversing and breaking out the possibilities you will eventually come to a shared understand of the truer needs of each of the participants.

(There are lots of issues here but mostly I'm concerned with the economic side of things. If you want to know more about how communication and logic work try reading Propositions and Arguments.) 

To me, if countries in general all adhere to the same international standards of conducting business with high ethical values then there will be more room for agreement than for conflict (I'm not talking about any other issues at the moment and why those could be issues.). The same standards apply to all companies engaged in international trade, investment, and general commerce. 

Yet there are other issues and you can read that in the Whitehouse briefing Readout of President Joe Biden’s Meeting with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China. The video is part of the post discussion briefing.