Hey, Owen, 

 

When I was 32 or so, I ran for the post of Planning Board Chair for the Town of 
New Braintree.  I was young and very idealistic about participatory democracy, 
and so I set as my goal to visit every house in Town to talk about the future 
of the Town, which was just small enough that that goal was plausible.   Like 
every small New England town, New  Braintree it was riven with factionalism and 
anger.  However, my hosts agreed upon one thing for sure:  “they” were 
responsible for all that was wrong with the Town.  Thing was, I never found out 
who “they” was.  I never even found a “We.”  Political unity existed only in 
the mind of those who saw themselves the victims of it.  

 

It was about that year that the this cartoon appeared.  

 



 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

 <http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/> 
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Owen Densmore
Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2017 10:09 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Hope or Despair

 

All those who were outside the set of those hurt by their decisions.

 

On Sat, Jan 7, 2017 at 9:50 PM, Nick Thompson <[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:

O

 

And who, exactly, is this “elite” of whom we speak with such assurance and 
contempt? 

 

N

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

 <http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/> 
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [mailto:[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]> ] On Behalf Of Owen Densmore
Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2017 9:38 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]> >
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Hope or Despair

 

On Sat, Jan 7, 2017 at 9:11 PM, Roger Critchlow <[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/08/blaming-fake-news-not-the-answer-democracy-crisis

 

-- rec --

 

​Amen!

 

​Democracy may or may not be drowning in fake news, but it’s definitely 
drowning in elite hypocrisy.​

 

I

​ hope we're able to escape that ourselves​. I'm concerned that we too are 
"smug liberals". I hope I can invite my garbage collector to my next party as 
Pope Francis did.

 

   -- Owen


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