Multidimensional thinking and Democracy

Well, I have hollidays this week and the next two - and while I don't plan on writing a whole lot of text, there's still the usual blips I feel like I have to eventually write about.

Anyhow ... so, where do I start?

Mental Gymnastics ... I suppose. I mean, gymnastics, from a sports perspective, aren't particularly interesting. There's only so much that can be said about gymnasts doing their thing, versus any kind of competitive sports. And that translates well into |the Discourse(TM)|, where I'm under the impression that there's little to no point in writing about our cognitive processes that underpin the current situation. People might rather want some guidelines - and pursue them at their own leisure.
And having thought about it a little, I'm sure there's still room for me to do better than I have done thus far. Yet it turned out to be right, that it's difficult to say 'when' I have all the important bits and pieces together.

First however, or at first, I wanted to write about Money. So to the tune of: We don't need MORE money, but we need things to be (more) affordable. And I'd have made this some kind of analysis that would eventually bring up Greed as a basic human motivation that drives inflation.

Now, whether or not that's an incredibly complex topic kind of depends on perspective and how much stuff you want to bring into the discussion. There is however a huge 'potential' for complexity; And that in turn lends itself to all sorts of Mental Gymnastics.
Though sure ... Mental Gymnastics are all the more impressive when the topic isn't actually all that complicated.
So it might only be fair to try and boil things down into terms of simplicity, you know ... so ... people with the drive may shine ... but that takes me to the first 'General Commandment' I received for my journey: Do not underestimate the enemy!

I mean ... we've had it the last decade (OMG). People saw a person, laughed at them; And lots of people wouldn't have believed that this person would be responsible for putting the world into the state it is in today. Well, not all that's wrong with today is their fault ... but ... uhm. Just thinking of the cult of personality and the amount of batshit crazy stuff us terminally online folks have been exposed to during that time ... it almost seems like a fever dream.

But, throughout the time that this commandment has been floating around in my mind, I was wondering: "How"? And I guess, if you want to take it that far, you might also ask "why?" - like, isn't God supposed to ... handle things like ... anyway?

Well, maybe we should here think of the Death of the Internet and Russian Misinformation Campaigns. Either we do have to be concerned, as to act responsibly - or we don't because things will just fix themselves. Like, people getting sick from the internet. But alas ... I rather be prepared and face the final boss overpowered, than not having what it takes.


So, that might have been a lot to unpack, but ... that's beside the point. That that's beside the point - is more so the point I'm getting at.

Part 2

While this topic might seem to be too complex for the average conservative Brain Cell, I suppose it also sheds light on the game that the big cons have been playing all along. It's nothing particularly new, but ... anyhow ...

So - I suppose I should start off by saying: The idea that things aren't always as simple as they seem to be ... is a half truth. It's a neat sentence to remind you to think outside the box, but it might also prevent you from seeing something in its simplicity. When you see it wrong however, well, we're back where we started.

So ... the way things 'seem' to be, that is at first mostly a matter of the narrative. That would certainly only be true relative to your exposure to one; And based on my observations from being part of a society a lot of people kind of get that. So, conspiracy theorists and armchair politicians are examples of people that have latched onto a narrative that "normal people" can easily regard as overly simplistic. As of late things have however shifted a little, and that because it seems like more and more people have gotten tired of it - or maybe even got their armor cracked.

So ... the point so far is: issues - complicated or not - can be expressed by different 'narratives'. The best example may be the concept of "the Tyranny of the Majority". In all simplicity, that's just a negative way of looking at the concept of Democracy. And respectively, there isn't all that much that could be said about it. Well, depending on your environment, I suppose. If the majority held a firm and enlightened appreciation for democracy, that expression would be dismissed as easily as a Flat Earther on a science panel. Yet, whenever I saw the topic brought up, there were people in the comments bringing up all those fringe cases of a tyrannical majority. And the more people like that you're surrounded by, the more you're existing in a climate where Democracy is seen as Tyrannical. Whether that's actually being expressed or not is entirely irrelevant. For what I'm concerned about here. The thing simply being that rather than particiating in the democratic process as to help it be healthy, a fear is being normalized that would rather easily fall for a political narrative that implies that the elected leadership is unjust.
Anyhow ...

The details thereof aside; It's an example that is at the end of the day too simple for the growing complexity of the topic. So, I have an upgraded form of the example to share.

Part 3

How to deal with Dissidents?

So we make mind-maps. It helps us see the bigger picture sometimes; But they're not perfect. They too can be skewed towards our biases; As some teachers might know from the letting the pupils arrive at the intended outcome on their own type of deal.
But that's what this is going to be. Not an answer to the question, but ...


so ... this would be the profile of the discussion in a nutshell. So, obviously: the Tyranny of the Majority here leads to the question of whether or not the democracy is in danger; Such as whether or not the just minority would be heard. I'm sure this can be expanded upon more and further - but first up:
What I mean by multidimensional thinking is in first place the awareness that any one sequence of lines one could draw (moving downward) here is at first only a narrative that cannot "comprehend" the whole. With enough insight then, one can attempt to isolate the most relevant narrative(s) - which to me, in this example, is the question: Is it just?

And so we come to mental gynmastics. So, we all have heard of the concept of 'reverse psychology' I assume. When the dominant narrative is "Tyranny of the Majority" - we are emotionally primed to dislike a majority rule; As we're encouraged to think of situations in which a Majority rule would be bad. The culprit here is the term 'Tyranny'. It already biases the expression, shifting the focus into a tiny corner of the issue - re-enforced, I would assume, by people who insist that we should not be negligent of this possibility.
Because then, however, the individual frame of reference has shifted - so perhaps when the general noise follows the tune of "Democracy is a Tyranny of the Majority" - the correct sentiment for me would be: I LIKE me some Tyranny of the Majority ... if it's just.

Of course it would be difficult, in such an environment, to make it matter somehow - but, that's not the point here. So, in this latter case however, the problem is that the kind of rule - or so: The question for whether or not "it" is just - has been discarded by the narrative having shifted to the question of whether or not democracy is OK. And not only that. The narrative implicitly suggests that it is not. Regardless of the bigger picture.


Now ... as for a previous statement: It seems to me, that "conservatives" have been - or still are - playing this game of "hide the bigger picture". They so are trying to construct a purposefully misleading narrative - so that "simple minded" people are primed to have a certain impression of certain things. And the more people that have fallen for the brainrot - the more difficult it is to have a proper discussion.


Well, it's not all that simple - but yet it is that simple.

Eyes Open!