Egomorphism

Anthropomorphism shapes everything into a kind of human, with feelings, desires, and powers similar to us. Not only “hard” nouns like trees, the sun, or buffalo, but also “concept” nouns like luck or evil. Many take it so far as to include imaginary ideas like family, government, or conspiracy.

I would coin an equivalent “egomorphism” for those who narrowly believe everything (including all other people) are exactly like them. They evaluate every part of the universe as if they were in control. Their desires, hopes, and fears become those of everyone and everything .

Unfortunately, it seems that such mentalities also see themselves as essentially rotten. They only survive by suppressing their inner worst tendencies. They assume that everyone else maliciously applies full power as they would do if they had no inhibitions .

That includes what is known as “projection” but it goes far beyond. It includes a basic hostility and paranoia as if fighting inner demons. It assigns agency to illusions such as conspiracies and secret societies all trying to destroy them .

A sad mental state for them .

A dangerous mental state to everyone else .

Ozymandias

We read Shelly’s Ozymandias as a distillation of the illusions of power. A cruel despot forcing subjects to erect a massive statue to his glory, all crumbled and forgotten over the millenia. But there are other interpretations.

For one thing, that king of kings probably could care less what we see in the desert today. Assuming it was a vanity project, it was more to impress his present than anyone after he died. And for all we know it could have been a public works project to keep folks employed.

More to the point, Ozymandias was not a god, but a human. That means he had to eat, defecate, sleep. He was bored and worried at times. If he grew old there were toothaches and various pains, wounds, and diseases. He may have been good or evil to his subjects, but he was subject to all the ills that flesh is heir to, like everyone else, then and now .

Besides, he was more constrained to his locality than anyone today. He could not know science, visit other continents, talk to people a world away. His direct sphere of influence was limited to a tiny immediate environment. His powers were in some way less godlike than those of anyone with access to a cell phone or automobile .

Power, yes. Cruelty, perhaps. But not to be pitied because his colossus and kingdoms did not survive the ages. Never to be envied because most of us are more godlike than he could ever dream .

Punishment

There are three ways to deter crime. One is to remove the reason for the crime – a well-fed person need not steal food. The second is to make the consequences of being caught worse than the gain from the crime itself. And the third is to remove a person who has committed a crime from society.

Locking criminals and socially inept (ie insane) people away from everyone else has long been a workable alternative to killing them outright. But once these people are safely out of sight, what should be done with them?

Some would say they should be ” rehabilitated.” Others that they should be made to suffer. Others that they should do productive work to pay back their debt to society. But all of these courses take extensive resources in people and money .

I’ve often toyed with the idea of a “drone paradise” where convicts have access to all the drugs, alcohol, and entertainment they want, happily deteriorating to death. It would be inexpensive and relatively humane and would, after all, serve the main purpose of keeping them away from the rest of us good people .

Just another modest proposal .

Proactive

Broad-minded people understand that others vary considerably, and evaluate each individual on unique perceptions. Narrow-minded people trust only their own tribal kin. Paranoids think everyone is out to harm them. But the most frustrating people are those who fanatically believe everyone else is trying to do to them what they would do to the others if they could, and who believe the only safety is in “doing unto them” first, no matter how stupid, evil, or harmful the act (even to those doing it )

“Proactive” folks fall down rabbit holes easily. Assuming everyone else has weapons, they must buy their own guns. Assuming everyone else would do horrible things if they had the chance, they want to act first to control absolutely the laws and police. They talk themselves into the most illogical and self-destructive illusions.

Worst of all, they always project that “others” have only the evil traits they themselves feel. They think they know what they themselves would do if only they had the power to do so. Lie, steal, kill – whatever – “we have to stop them” and no matter how badly we act, we are only doing what they would do to us if they had the chance .

And yet – in day-to-day “real life” social context, none of this is generally true. Individuals vary a lot, but mostly get along just fine. The projection universe is an elusive virtual fiction gone bad .

Cosmetic Politics

It’s a strange time of extremely divided political views. But not a division along any of the usual lines. Not rich and poor, nor educated and ignorant, nor young and old, not even exactly urban and rural. Yet the demarcation is so bitterly set that rational discussion is almost impossible .

On the one side are all the folks – generally older, rural, or underemployed men – who want the world to be like they remember or think the world was like in 1950. They imagine a world of America as king, lots of money and leisure, only high class European immigrants (and only a few of those), no government taxes or regulation – a sugar-coated vision of life as satirized in Back to the Future.

On the other hand are those who remember or know what that era really was, with racial problems, pollution, and atomic threats among lots of other issues. They don’t quite know what to do next, but trying to revive that 80-year-old corpse will not work .

But both sides are actually too well off to risk much or to take up arms. so it’s fashions and cosmetics for all. Flags of different colors. Social slogans that fit on placards. Hairstyles and specific attire. And – new to the era – only select circles of internet “friends” egging each other on in a fantasy virtual environment .

I tend to side against fake nostalgia, but I admit both sides have gotten a little crazy. So we talk, when we talk, about weather and health .

“It’s Simple”

“It’s Simple”

Nouns really mean something. Water, rocks, people – the descriptive power is infinite. We also use them to describe intangibles – “fact”, “right”. And then we use them in declarative exclamations “that’s the truth”, “we did the right thing.” And, of course, the ongoing political and meme darling “it’s simple .”

But “it” rarely is. “An elephant exists” is simple enough. But calling an elephant “simple” would be insane. Defining an elephant one can listen to the various blind men saying “it’s simply like a tree”, “it’s simply like a wall” based on the relative position of the blind man. Even when we grasp the whole and understand an elephant is simply not a mouse, we have no idea of the complexity of an elephant at all levels.

The world is infinitely complex, fractally intertwined, especially when time and conditional decisions are involved. Something can be contradictory, both true and untrue, irrelevant or useful, dependent on circumstances. Only a few actions are irreversibly simple: “jump off the cliff” might be one.

When any leader tells you something “is simple”, beware. It’s one way to end all arguments, but it can “simply” be wrong, untrue, or irrelevant. And certainly ignoring all complexity and conditional options: “it’s simple – we must cross the flooded river” ignores that there are many ways to cross a river, and at various times a river might be lower, and we might really not need to cross the river at all.

But leaders exist to provoke actions. None as simple as they like to pretend .

Bitter Winners

“Nobody likes a sore loser.” To me, worse by far, is a “bitter winner.” They seem to be in full bloom these days, in politics, corporate life, and even among my acquaintances .

These are the folks who by any normal standards have it all. Charmed lives, power, prestige, and especially great wealth. They think they have gained it by simple hard work and smart moves. They think everyone else is a complete loser. They don’t understand why all those losers don’t worship them (although there are many who do.) And, like Napoleon with Russia, they obsess about doing something so outrageously stupendous that they will “finally” be recognized for how great they are .

Their defining attitude seems to be whining. They have been “cheated of their rightful due.” They are not “appreciated” enough. The peons too often ignore their “invaluable” advice and dispute their “absolutely perfect” opinions. They remain bitter that they have achieved what they wanted, but have never found what they needed .

Bitter winners have existed throughout history, but our affluent world seems to have thrown up a bumper crop. And the weeds surrounding them are filled with lesser folk who also believe that they have been cheated by someone out of their rightful place .

Sad and dangerous specimens of humanity .