In a culture of know-it-alls who think they’re right about everything under the sun, “I’m not qualified” should speak volumes.
Awhile back I watched Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s Legacy on Amazon. While I’m not qualified to discuss climate change, I can say with certainty that no number of Legacy docs would put a pinprick in the atmosphere of absurdity that’s suffocating our country.
How you handle one issue can do colossal damage to all the rest.
It amazes me that some of the most brilliant minds in the world seem incapable of correlating how “unrelated” issues impact one another. The most harmful pollution on the planet is noise — narrative that drowns out sensible discussion.
You could blame those who amplify that deafening noise with delight — or be smart by not doing dumb things that drive the narrative in the first place.
Pursuing aims in ways that predictably damage your cause is bad enough. But once the outcome becomes clear, it’s beyond belief that you refuse to reflect on your methods.
Even if you’re right and have the best of intentions, if you’re not smart in making your moves, you can exponentially worsen the problem you’re addressing — along with seemingly unrelated ones.
And already have — again and again . . .
Like many alternatives, however, it was psychologically impossible. Character is fate, as the Greeks believed. Germans were schooled in winning objectives by force, unschooled in adjustment. They could not bring themselves to forgo aggrandizement even at the risk of defeat.
— Barbara Tuchman
Unschooled in Adjustment
In a blurb on yet another book on cognitive dissonance, a science-fiction writer wrote:
David Houle has seen the future
If he had, he’d know his book has no chance of achieving its aims. Conventional methods have repeatedly failed and won’t put a pinprick in today’s trench warfare between armies of unreachables:
Who always have an excuse for everything . . .
Right on cue | Never fails
Cognitive dissonance happens when one’s beliefs are no longer in alignment with reality
— The 2020s: A Decade of Cognitive Dissonance (blurb excerpt)
On what basis would you believe that another book, conference, project, study, report, podcast or organization — would make a dent in the self-delusion driving this nation into the ground.
But integrate those same tools into an unconventional framework for honest debate — and now you’ve got something.
A world-renowned psychologist thought I might be onto something:
Elliot Aronson was chosen by his peers as one of the 100 most eminent psychologists of the twentieth century
— Amazon’s About the Author
He wrote the forward in When Prophecy Fails — which was super helpful in framing my message in my documentary that deals with the psychological gymnastics of human nature. And he was helpful again when he put me onto his friend and fellow renowned psychologist, Dr. Phil Zimbardo — “a very smart guy with incredible energy,” he added.
Since Dr. Zimbardo is 90 years old — that’s saying something. For medical reasons, he’s unable to get involved, but in response to an email on the essence of my idea, he wrote:
Very Interesting and original
Even in his condition, he saw what so few can. They’re busy.
You’re all busy
Why take the time to consider what might work when you can stay busy on what won’t?
You’re all operating under umbrellas of interests that don’t account for complexities outside of them.
And this — is where my Clear the Clutter framework comes in:
How do we make people realize they’ve been lied to? You have to knock down one small pillar that’s easier to reach.
The people who Tweeted those lines I combined from a conversation I came across — had no idea that they perfectly captured the principle of my Clear the Clutter plan.
I’ve got the perfect pillar
As exposing this Professional Know-It-All is my bridge to expose it all.
It’s time to start solving problems instead of endlessly talking about them and getting nowhere. And to do that — first we gotta clear the clutter that’s crippled this country.
To the uneducated, abstract ideas are unfamiliar; so is the detachment that is necessary to discover a truth out of one’s own knowledge and mental effort. The uneducated person views life in an intensely personal way — he knows only what he sees, hears or touches and what he is told by friends. As the unknown sage puts it, “Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people.”
But more than ever, even the most educated minds act in an uneducated manner in service of their interests — and do colossal damage by doing so
I’ve always hated Twitter and when I’m done doing what I gotta do — I’m never goin’ back. Until then, I’m sending out a certain set of messages looking for intelligent life (fiercely independent thinkers who want to solve problems — not endlessly talk about them).
Think of my signals as a poor man’s SETI:
I’ve got an idea — and it’s got teeth.
Going by the galaxies filled with rock stars of reasoning across the social media universe — I should have no shortage of people eager to examine my idea and discuss how we could improve on it and proceed.
What I have in mind could turn the tide — while you’re Tweeting your lives away with concerns and claims that are just words without action. It’s one thing if you don’t know what to do, but when presented with something to consider — and you blow right by it to continue Tweeting:
Just how serious could you be about your concerns?
Unlike efforts out to change policies, laws, institutions, or society as a whole — I just need to expose one Professional Know-It-All with a cult-like following who’s not what he claims to be — and I can demonstrably prove it.
“Demonstrably” — that word used to be mean something. But many things that once meant something, now mean nothing.
Speaking of which . . .
Fact:
truth verifiable from experience or observation
If you have a history of hypocrisy and lying — you are a hypocrite and a liar. If you don’t like being called those things, don’t do those things. But so typical of the times — nothing has meaning anymore.
Calling criticism “mudslinging” is just somethin’ to say to escape scrutiny.
And the irony is
I’ve received almost nothing but mudslinging for decades — by people who cry foul with counterfeit claims on what they do for real. And let’s face it: You need it to be mudslinging, because if it’s not — your beliefs are gonna fall apart.
do what you say you do
And all will become clear. But if you’re not interested in hearing me out and having meaningful conversation — we have nothing to talk about and I wish you well. If you don’t want to engage in fruitful discussion — just block me and be done with it.
I don’t want to bombard you with more messages — so let’s just go our separate ways.
Or — try this on for size:
One Voice Became Two 