Dialogues on Hearts and Minds: Letters from the Real Me

Los Paseos from Earth, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Mark M., Dave S., Mark O., Dennis Curley, and Geoff Carter

‘bothood:

Yet another selfless, I read it—you don’t have to distillation from yours truly. Sunday Times had a short but exhaustive analysis of Tucker Carlson’s descent into pure toxicity (white supremacy defense to name but one). Exhaustive/short in that it was a modern news piece involving video and visual shortcuts to quickly get their points across. Thus, it was as much looking and listening as it was reading. Pretty confident there was NOTHING in there that would surprise ya’ll. Nonetheless here’s my distill:

Exhaustive in that they read and counted every word—via shows and transcripts. (I accepted as true—since it seems obvious—however I have NEVER watched an entire Fox-cast—save for Packers vs Bear…maybe I should….my bias disclosed…seems like my only exposure is some business trip…clicking through the channels…hear Hannity, or O’Reilly or Tucker ranting…I stop….listen for a few seconds, put them in the looney category and click onward. I’m thinking to become a better person I’ll zip tie self to a chair in order to watch an entire episode. In balance, a friend once recommended the Rachel Maddow show—this I watched a little bit longer since I lean that way, but alas I could quickly see she was skirting the facts, taking cheap shops, not much different than the Fox bubbas…would rather watch a Bruce Willis movie for the 4^th time….
The Times pointed to several recurrent themes, then bombard you with Tucker’s repetition to prove their point (the audio part).
Themes being: They and You (they being the ruling class—and they have a nice gallery of all of his frequent targets—about 30 of them, an alphabet soup ranging from AOC to Bill Nye the Science guy—which I’ll get to in a minute.
Other themes: White—he says white as often as most people say “the, and and uhmm.” Another: watering down of our whiteness—immigration is the tool to win elections. “They” want white men gone. (and oh btw, men usually follows white in Tuckerspeak.
And there is the usual, they want you to pay for everything, yet they have some serious indulgences of their own. I forget, but there is a Nancy Pelosi (?) indulgence that sounded damning. (IMO: To be fair both sides play this card. John McCain had (7) houses, Bernie Sanders wealth is something that would raise comrades’ eyebrows).
In terms of stats and visual graphics, the Times concluded (and proved if you trust them), that Tucker’s former mo of debate with guests not of his way of thinking—e.g.: Bill Nye the Science guy used to be, a regular. The dots on the visual graphic was one my bigger takeaways—those days are long gone…what used to be a value add (IMO…debate between folks at opposite ends of the spectrum), is long gone. Carlson’s uses his show simply as a bully pulpit. More like a Baptist preacher than a journalist.
Further evidence of this was the graphics showing the increasing length of his monologues—looked like the omicron surge graphs. Again—unlikely this surprises ya’ll. Story link below if you want to read/watch/listen yourselves. I now see there maybe (3) installments to this story—I only waded through the below.

NYTimes: Tucker Carlson Tonight

Depressing this descent we have entered into. Civil debate is waning. Twitter enabled that—since 28 words seldom is enough ‘evidence’ to prove a point…other than “you’re short” (Trump’s way of defeating Marco Rubio). Cruz, DeSantis, Hawley, Carlson have all sunk into this shallow but effective mode of winning hearts and minds. Will Elon play a role in turning this around? Will he make it worse? Will we ever have honest, adult debate again? And there are of course many other vile forces out there—internet trolls of all sorts…QAnon. I think we all have our doubts. But I remain hopeful.

One interesting question ahead: will it be Trump or DeSantis in 2024? The don’t say gay and socially sensitive Math book banning took me by surprise. How swiftly it went into Florida law. Decentralized government has its benefits…but occasionally a state goes rogue…fortunately we have SCOTUS and lawmakers to correct these forays into lunacy. But then again… just last night we hear, SCOTUS is overturning Roe v Wade. So much for the backstop.

….uhmmm….have a good day?

–Dave.

Dave, nice summary of the Tucker article. I had read the text but hadn’t gotten into the graphics and video. I will be doing that. I’m with you in terms of the inability to sit through an entire Fox News show. I have tried Laura Ingraham, but her constant sneering putdowns of the libs just grate on me. My brother refers to her as one of the “Cruel Catholics” — mean spirited pundits of the Catholic persuasion who just grind their conservatism & moral integrity into your face. Newt Gingrich is another. Throw away the zip ties, Dave. You won’t be improved by an hour of these jokers.

Tucker’s emphasis on US and THEM is striking. Really, it’s white panic. One of my recurring themes is that racism is the pillar underlying Trumpism and the current conservative backlash. Tucker gets THIS close to out & out admitting it.

Our current situation of siloed partisan news outlets actually has been more commonplace in American history, compared to the sober & nonpartisan journalism that was more common in our boyhood and young adulthood. At least that’s what I read in history books. I think that a “return” to “actual debate” is not in the cards. Social science has shown that virtually nobody is persuaded by debate, anyway. It tends to harden positions.

–Mark M.

Shrewd takes…just one fact check: see below.

…sounded like a “sweeping” statement…and my goodling didn’t find that. I do find myself nodding in agreement—seems like a truism of human nature….we like what we know, and we know what we like…. Yet, I often come away from an actual debate, saying “I can see why they have that opinion”. And perhaps, even though positions harden, the devils are in the details and both sides might shift a bit on intermediate positions or at a minimum, are less likely to shoot each other. Presidential debates are seldom actual debates. Perhaps the party run up debates are actual debates..

-Dave.

How Political Opinions Change – Scientific American

Scientific American: How Political Opinions Change

If anybody is interested in pursuing the question of “do debates change minds?”, check out the link. This is Science(TM), baby.

I didn’t make my blanket assertion with the Presidential debates in mind. As Dave points out, those are not really debates. I meant more generally that people are fairly hardened in their positions, and don’t change easily. That certainly is my own anecdotal experience. No mater how loud I yell or how red my face gets, people never agree with me!

The article concurs with that opinion and describes a clever experiment that tricked people into changing their opinion. It’s all about making people think the idea is their own.

–Mark M.

Ok….covering human nature today.

First: This is tardy—the topic was (in a nutshell) how hard is it to change hearts and minds. Good Sci American article MM, thanks for sourcing it–its link is still below. The trick is interesting, but I thought the examples were sort of ‘meh’ choices and thus the ones a person is likely to flip on. We all try ideas on for a while to see if they fit….(literally, like the pants of different colors example, ay).

I must admit I LOVED Psych 101 and all the frailties of human nature it exposed. Those, what 6-7 common defense mechanisms. I found it liberating…we all don’t have to feel so guilty about being so flawed—everyone is! Our flaws are complex…some of them a consequence of basic things like survival. The experiment reminded me–in a reverse way–of one of Maslow’s characteristics of self-actualized people—the indifference of adopting or abandoning “conventions”. I’ve noticed small minded people—I work with dozens of them, engineers are the worst, are not typically creative thinkers….always turn to same-old—same-old (i.e. convention). So rare, but inspiring when you meet someone that has reached self-actualization. Like that most interesting man in the world. The rest of us just have to keep at it…someday we might get there.

MM: Did you ever watch Blood Money—the Theranos/’Liz Holmes story? Similar to the Sci American aticle…how to make humans flip, they had a great bit in there on how to make humans lie. Explained by Eastern euro shrink, with a thick accent and some sort of facial glitch. Sometimes eccentric—e.g.: an English accent, connotes credibility…expertise. Often for no good reason.

Take Fresh Air the other night, Terry Gross had what I thought would be an “interesting expert” …wrote a book about Russian Oligarch money in London. Some call it Londongrad. Book snip below. Her first question was how are they funding the war in Ukraine via London? Non answer. Her 2^nd, 3^rd, …the same. Just kept saying it’s complicated, impossible to track…but he knows about mansions, countryside estates, superyachts, and fine art. Went to that refrain (3) many times before I turned it off. No meat whatsoever. I imagine Terry was fuming at her underlings for not properly vetting this smarmy Brit. To be fair to Terry, she’s had (2) tour de force interviews recently, one with CNN International anchor, Zain Asher and another with Michelle Yeoh (Everything, Everywhere, All at Once—we’ll screen it tonight on the big one—watch for my review). I’ll only spoil one bit from the Zain Asher interview—it has several OMG!…moments….her famous—thought dead, actor brother (12 Years A Slave)– being pulled off a morgue wagon in Nigeria—but her mum is the star of the story. If you get chance, are driving cross country….can’t stand the suspense of Buck vs Celtics…etc. … check it out.

Health Online: Top Ten Defense Mechanisms

-D.

Dave, speak for yourself on defense mechanisms. Don’t project them onto me. I get enuf of that. Can’t even THINK of an excuse without getting shredded. What do they call actualization when it is not self-driven, but imposed externally?

–Mark M.

Funny…projection is one of my faves…easy to spot and aka “pot calling the kettle black”. I hear ya. Turns out I have many flaws. Just as I cure one, (I now fold clothes the ‘right’ way), mgt keeps finding more…

Been trying to think of a witty answer to your rhetorical question, What do they call actualization when it is not self-driven, but imposed externally?

A. Parenting.

B. A work HR class.

C. A work DEI class (same as B, but more specific—Diversity Equity and Inclusion). Wow are we getting trained these days! Surprised the ‘pubs haven’t jumped all over this (same vein as critical race theory). I wonder if Nancy will reach across the aisle to Ted, Mitch and Josh and suggest that all members of the senate and congress take the DEI courses?

-Dave S.

Hey Bots,

You know Dave, the discussion on external self-actualization raises the question—to me at least—of the effect of some of these fringe news sources—like that Tucker you were talking about previously—on people’s self-views, as well as their perceptions of the world. Do those who have been “brainwashed” or indoctrinated into a cult or come to rabidly believe a conspiracy theory believe they’re self-actualized, that they’ve reached a new peak of self-awareness? Did Squeaky Fromme believe she was on higher plane after throwing in with Charles Manson?

I don’t know. I think extreme political ideologies, like Nazism or White Supremacy or Helter Skelter, seemed to their followers as if they were ultimately paths to self-realization, much as higher education (and some experimentation with hallucinogens) may have been for our generation; or if followers of these extreme organizations were simply riding the coattails of what they perceived to be the winning team. Or simply reverting back to primal tribalism.

Of course, Lacan’s theory of otherness is all wound up in some of these political ideologies, too—the “us and them”, “you and they”, and “I’m better than you” syndrome. (See that Tucker above), which probably explains why right-wing extremists are so eager to exclude curriculum about racial disparity and inequities from their curriculum in Florida and other red states. It’s not to their advantage for people—registered voters especially—to understand each other.

I guess it begs the question of why ideologues are allowed to manipulate ideals of self-worth by using psychological defense mechanisms, and more pertinently, how to prevent it. I think we need the Fairness Doctrine back. If Fox had to give Rachel Maddow an hour a day and MSNBC had to feature Fox and Friends daily, we’d be sort of balanced. I guess. At least it would draw people out of their bubbles.

–Geoff

I don’t always post blogs, but when I do, I post on “Pen in Hand”. Okay, I admit I’ve been having a hell of a time keeping up with you prolifically bloggin’ bots. But now here comes Dave with the cool pics, laying some humorous cred on me being all self-actualized and what-not — and thus I am spurred toward my laptop keyboard.

Okay, even though it came in a little too late for the Elon Musk post, I just have to share this story. Speaking of the world’s most interesting guys—Twitter founder Jack Dorsey lives here in Santa Teresa, a couple miles from my humble abode. The other day I was surfing with this kid (okay he’s like 35) who worked for Twitter a few years ago. We’re in the surf off of Santa Teresa beach, sitting on our boards in the line-up (that’s an imaginary line in the ocean parallel to the beach where surfers jockey around, poised to catch gnarly waves cresting just right for a sweet ride). Next to us in the line-up is a ripped hipster-looking dude with a shaved head and long beard.

The kid, Sean, says to me. “Hey man, that dude with the beard, that’s Dorsey.” I nod absently; the name “Dorsey” doesn’t really register because my brain is more focused on surviving a rogue wave that threatens to paste us than on some random hipster. We skirt the wave, reposition, and Sean raises his hand and shouts to the hipster. “Hey, Jack—Sean Crawford—used to write code for Twitter.” The hipster smiles and flashes a surfer salute, wagging his fist with thumb and pinky finger extended. “Yeah, dude, me too.”

It dawns on me that the hipster dude is none other than young tech billionaire, Jack Dorsey. I admit, I’m a little star struck as we watch him expertly catch a right-breaking wave and smoothly ride its curve into the face of the golden Costa Rica sunset.

“Damn,” I say to Sean. “Woulda been cool to ask him what he thinks of Elon Musk buying Twitter.”

“Ehh,” Sean says. “Elon Musk is a dweeb…”

–Dennis C.

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