The flattening is a form of authoritarianism, it seems to me. If those doing the firing are able to enhance their power, that (in their mind) resources will ultimately be focused in a more effective way than if many sub-optimal peaks are allowed. That people need to believe the celebrities and leaders are worthy of their influence, and the only way to make that case is to make the contrast strong, by flattening the sub-optimal peaks (cutting down anything that looks like competition). This problem comes from people just as much as it comes from the celebrities and leaders.
-----Original Message----- From: Friam <[email protected]> On Behalf Of u?l? ??? Sent: Friday, March 5, 2021 7:03 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Score one for Wokeism! Yeah. But Trump is merely 1 symptom of the disease. And populism is another symptom of, I think, that same disease. Witness: Government drug adviser David Nutt sacked https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/oct/30/drugs-adviser-david-nutt-sacked So, Nutt, all the way back in '09, was cancelled for telling the truth. But rather than whine on forever about it and glue his identity to a chip on his shoulder, he's plugged along doing actual work. Psychedelic Microdosing - Just a Placebo Effect? https://www.drugscience.org.uk/psychedelic-microdosing-lsd-or-psilocybin-mushrooms-placebo-effect/ Of course, one could argue that Nutt's being canceled (by a far more insidious cancel culture than Wokeism could ever muster) *contributed* to society. When a local peak like Kevin Spacey gets cancelled, it's tempting to succumb to the Great Man Theory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_man_theory) and think in terms of that singular figurehead ... that celebrity ... as if Beyonce was any more talented than your local church choir boy. But it's clearly *false*, a symptom of our diseased minds, infected with the illusion of Individualism. What's actually happening when Brett Weinsteins get kicked out of their universities is a flattening of a suboptimal peak in a rich landscape. It gives the Louis C.K.s new opportunities to be more creative, in more interesting ways. Besides Nutt, another interesting example is Dave Chappelle, who was brilliant enough to CANCEL HIMSELF in order to facilitate that creative splattering. To cast this stuff in terms of "culture war", democracy, or fair play is to limit the scope and risk treating the symptoms instead of the disease. On 3/4/21 3:12 PM, Marcus Daniels wrote: > I do get a little tired of all of the back-and-forth media coverage and > political posturing about democracy and fair play. Of course it was the > full court press to slow down Trump's administration when it started. In > this sense the current climate of polarization is more honest. Of course we > hate you guys, we always have.. -- ↙↙↙ uǝlƃ - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
