Is the Other Evil?

29 Nov 2023 10 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , ,

2034877-Carl-Sagan-Quote-Who-are-we-if-not-measured-by-our-impact-onThe other is anyone who you do not identify with.  It is anyone who is on the other side of the fence.  It is anyone who does not belong to your tribe, religion, political party, sports team, demographics, ethnicity, country club, neighborhood, gated community, state, country, or hemisphere.  It is someone who looks different than you do.  It is someone who thinks differently than you do.  It is someone who behaves differently than you do.  It is a stranger from a strange land.  It is a poor person who needs a handout.  It is a rich person who does not have to work hard.  It is a very educated person or perhaps a very uneducated person.

Other people do not belong.  Other people do not understand.  Other people do not get it.  Other people are often stupid.  Other people are often immoral and unethical.  Other people are probably evil.

I know these things about other people are true because everybody I know says so.  I know they are true because Fox News or CNN said that they were true.  I know they are true because my leader said that they were true.  I think I read it somewhere so it must be true or else I saw it on TV.

I don’t want to live near other people.  I don’t want other people to live near me.  I don’t want my kids playing with the children of other people.  I don’t want my children growing up thinking like other people.

Why can’t more people be like us?  What is wrong with these other people?  Do these other people read too much or spend too much time in school or maybe they don’t read enough or don’t spend enough time in school.  Where do these other people get these crazy ideas from?

I just wish we could all get along.  I try to treat everyone the same, just as long as they are not any of these other people.  I have told my kids to be polite and respectful to everyone just as long as they are not any of these other people.  My spouse and I always go to Sunday service and we pray for these other people when we are there.  One of my favorite prayers is as follows:

Lord, please hear my prayer,

I want to pray for these Other people.

Please help them to see the evil of their ways.

Please help them to find a way to believe in the same God that I do.

Please help them to be more like me.

Lord, if they refuse to repent the evil of their ways,

Could you please strike them dead?

download 1111One of my best friends and I were recently discussing the current mania with “Identity.”  There has been much talk these past few years over the issue of Identity politics.  Identify politics has been defined as:

“A tendency for people of a particular religion, ethnic group, social background, etc., to form exclusive political alliances, moving away from traditional broad-based party politics.”

age of identityThis mania with identity presents a problem in the political arena where compromise has long been a foundation of good government.  The concept of Identity has so polarized people that they now view the “other” side as having no validity and even in many cases being EVIL.  The problem of Identity has metastasized from the political arena to the wider social arena which includes almost every aspect of life on the planet.  I think it is safe to say that Identity has always been at the heart of conflicts since the Tower of Babel and perhaps Adam and Eve.  Did Eve feel inferior to Adam and want to one up him?  Some recent headlines about the concept of Identity include:

  • LGBTQ groups sue over Iowa law banning library books and gender identity discussions
  • Stop Identity Attacks: Discover the Key to Early Threat Detection
  • Is Buffy Saint-Marie Indigenous? Ancestry Questioned
  • How Media, Politics, and Identity Drive Our Appetite for Misinformation
  • Israel’s political identity crisis: Right divided, left reevaluating
  • Why Democrats Lose When They Play Identity Politics
  • Brexit as an Identity: Political Identities and Policy Norms
  • How Does Geography Play a Part in Rural Identity and Politics?
  • Gender identity and political evil

My friend Bruce is not a naïve person, and he is very well read.  He wondered if we could ever get along with others without the need to resort to Identity.  Could the Crusaders and Muslims have avoided fighting over which God would be worshipped?  Could England and France have settled their differences without the 100 Years War?  Could Lee Harvey Oswald have simply written a letter to JFK expressing his disagreements or whatever animosity he had towards Kennedy? 

The famous guru and Indian philosopher Osho believed that war could never be eliminated from the planet because of how it was valued by humans.  Osho wrote:

“It has never happened.  Man has never found peace exciting.  It seems that is the way man is, war certainly will remain exciting, because the peace that you know is not the real peace; it is the peace of a cemetery, not the peace of this mandir!”  (Note: A mandir is a Hindu temple or place of worship)

We might argue whether Osho is right but consider the many long and frequent wars that have punctuated any peace on this earth.  My guess is that most of these wars had to do with Identity.  A very important question might be to better understand the role that Identity plays in life and how the negative aspects of this role can be eliminated or at least mitigated.  For instance, when we sing school fight songs that extol our virtues over the virtues of our rival schools.  Here is the University of Michigan fight song:

Hail! to the victors valiant

Hail! to the conquering heroes

Hail! Hail! to Michigan

The champions of the west

One of the high schools that I substitute at has their mascot as, “The Spartan Warriors.”  Their fight song goes:

Bravely, we fight to win the test

Nothing to fear for we are the best

Fight on Spartans to the end

And bring home the victory

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Perhaps you find these fight song references trivial but when our young people get a constant never-ending chorus of exhortations to fight on and to fight to the end, it makes me wonder what impact this has on their psyches.  Combine this with the fights on cinema and the violent video games and I would argue that the Spartans had nothing on our society when it comes to training their youth for violence and warfare.

71S4w-+PgrS._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_Mark Twain wrote a famous story which he asked not to be published until after his death.  The story was called “The War Prayer.”  A church service is being held at which several soldiers are getting ready to go off to war.  The chaplain has just given a prayer for the soldiers welfare and victory.  A stranger enters the church and asks the chaplain to say a few words.  Reluctantly the chaplain agrees.  The stranger starts off by referring to the war prayer that the chaplain gave to instill morale in the soldiers.  The stranger notes that there are really two prayers that have been said.  One has been spoken and the second one unspoken.  The stranger then says that he will speak what was really asked for in this prayer:

“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe.  O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it — for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts.  Amen.”

images (1)We have a world where humans have begun to take war for granted.  It is either too easy to do nothing about war as we watch our favorite sports teams fight it out or Osho is right, and we crave the excitement that death and destruction bring to the planet.  If we truly want to end war and violence, we must start to see everyone on the planet as a people that we are part of.  There must be no “others.”  We are all part of one large tribe.  Just as the water, soil and air are part of a seamless whole, so is humanity.  Benjamin Franklin said, “Either we all hang together, or we all hang separately.”  I think we might say something similar for humanity.  Either we all live together peacefully, or we shall all die separately apart.”

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My Four Best of Everything – Part 1

19 Jan 2020 8 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Have you ever gone to a concert where the performers asked you to join in?  Well, I am asking you to join in today and contribute to my blog.  This week I am doing what I call my four best of everything.  Everything that matters to me anyway.  Perhaps I should say it is my four favorites of everything because best is such a qualitative term.  There may be little difference between the word favorite and the word best, however, using the term best is more provocative and usually ends up in arguments or debates.  Since I do not want to be judgmental, I will use the term favorites in the text of this blog.

I am going to share with you my four favorite fiction writers, my four favorite non-fiction writers, my four favorites writings/stories (both fiction and non-fiction) and my four favorite ideas.  After I list each of my favorites, I will provide a short explanation of why I like this writer or selection so much.  Each of my favorites are listed in no order or preference.  Asking me to pick the “best” of any of these would be impossible.

I am sure that each of you reading this will have some ideas concerning your favorites in these areas.  Like the concert performer inviting you to join in on song, I invite you to put your ideas or thoughts concerning your favorites in my comment sections.  The more the better.  Don’t be shy.  Use any language you want to share your ideas with the rest of the world.  Let us know what you like and why you like it.  Plenty of room in the blogosphere.

My Four Favorite Fiction Writers:

Mark Twain: I started reading Mark Twain when I was in grade school and fell in love with his short stories.  Later I graduated to his novels and then some of his commentaries.  I love his ability to combine satires with humor.  He had the ability to send a message about life while still making his reader laugh.

the war prayer

“O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst…”  — Mark Twain, “The War Prayer”

Kurt Vonnegut: My first book of Kurt’s was the novel “Cats Cradle”.  I am not sure if you would call it simply satire or more nihilism, but I was 18 when I found his pick and was just doing into the military.  I could not wait to read the other novels that he wrote, and I binged on Kurt for the next year or so.  I think I may have co opted many of his ideas as they became my ideas for much of my life.

“Perhaps, when we remember wars, we should take off our clothes and paint ourselves blue and go on all fours all day long and grunt like pigs. That would surely be more appropriate than noble oratory and shows of flags and well-oiled guns.”  — Kurt Vonnegut, “Cat’s Cradle”

Anatole France: I discovered France about five years after Vonnegut.  A very different writer but also with a keen sense of social justice and injustice.  I loved “Penguin Island”, “The Revolt of the Angels” and “Thais.”  How these stories shaped my thinking about life, I will never know but I am sure that they fueled my already growing skepticism about life, good, evil and truth.

“No, let us not conquer the heavens. It is enough to have the power to do so. War engenders war, and victory defeat. God, conquered, will become Satan; Satan, conquering, will become God. May the fates spare me this terrible lot!‎” — Anatole France, “The Revolt of the Angels”

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Edgar Allen Poe: Yes, it is true, sometimes I do read material that is simply escapism.  My favorite genres for many years were science fiction, science fantasy, horror and murder mysteries.   I am pretty sure that I read everything that Poe wrote.  I found many other fiction writers that entertain me but only Poe could blend horror, mystery and the foibles of humanity to create the strange stories that he wrote.

“He did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.”  — Edgar Allan Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado”

My Four Favorite Non-Fiction Writers:

Thomas Jefferson: Call him a Founding Father.  Call him a hypocrite.  Call him a racist.  Call him whatever you want, but no one has ever in my mind approached his depth of intellectual vigor in terms of delineating the necessities for a truly just society.  You need to separate the man from the message.  The message that Jefferson left us was sublime.  The man himself was not up to the message but that does not diminish the message one iota. 

“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” — Thomas Jefferson, “A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge”W. E. Deming:

Dr. W. E. Deming:  Dr. Deming is the only one of my favorites that I have had the pleasure to not only meet but to also work along side of.  He was cantankerous, irascible and cynical.  He was also brilliant, compassionate and a true humanist.  His vision for humanity was a workplace that embraced both the scientific method with a love for all employees.  Dr. Deming spent most of his teaching and consulting life dedicated to making his vision a reality.  I had the privilege of working alongside Dr. Deming several times.  He taught me most of what I now know about organizations and how to continuously improve them.

“To manage, one must lead. To lead, one must understand the work that he and his people are responsible for. Who is the customer (the next stage), and how can we serve better the customer? An incoming manager, to lead, and to manage at the source of improvement, must learn. He must learn from his people what they are doing and must learn a lot of new subject matter.” — Dr. W. E. Deming, Out of the Crisis

00oshoOSHO: His given name was Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.  OSHO was a religious teacher from India.  He wrote numerous books on life, religion and spirituality.  He also gave talks and started several communities for his followers.  His books and talks were full of insights and stories to make you think and question your own life.  OSHO became infamous when he tried to start a community of acolytes in a rural area of Oregon.  The town OSHO started was called Rajneeshpuram.  It became a target for locals who thought that their community was being taken over by a bunch of cultists.  Things went south when some of OHSO’s devotees exceeded authority and tried to retaliate against the local community.  This is perhaps another case, where the man did not live up to his message.  Nevertheless, I have never found any spiritual writings that are as profound and thought provoking as OSHOs.

“Never belong to a crowd; Never belong to a nation; Never belong to a religion; Never belong to a race. Belong to the whole existence. Why limit yourself to small things? When the whole is available.” — OSHO

Daniel Kahneman: I first read Kahneman and Amos Tversky’s book “Judgement Under Uncertainty” in 1982.  Twenty years later Kahneman won the Nobel Prize for Economics.  Tversky had died in 1996.  Their research and work challenged the very bedrock of economic decision making since they attacked the assumption of human rationality that prevailed in modern economic theory.  I completed my Ph.D. degree and went into management consulting.

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One of the key foundations of my consulting was based on the work into heuristics and biases that were described in “Judgement Under Uncertainty.”  Corporations could make some brilliant decisions but too often they were guided by fallacies and misconceptions that relied more on emotions and prejudice than good data and facts.  Today, economics has taken a giant leap forward in understanding human decision making based on the work of Kahneman and his many followers.

“Searching for wisdom in historic events requires an act of faith—a belief in the existence of recurrent patterns waiting to be discovered.” — Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, “Judgment Under Uncertainty”

I hope you have enjoyed or at least found my list of favorites interesting.  I will follow up with Part 2 which will deal with my four favorite “Writings” and my four favorite “Ideas.” 

Now it is your turn to list some of your favorite authors or speakers or books in the comments section.  I am looking forward to hearing what some of you have found interesting and why you found them interesting.