The adoration of the Obamessiah

“nope”

“At least MarkO’s consistent:

He’s disrespectful and tries to dehumanize others
He provides no useful information or service to others
My dog has a more sophisticated sense of humor.


When MarkO posts, it’s all about MarkO.

“Spiritual traditions typically teach the sacredness of community based on values of soul respect: the Sangha in Buddhism, the Umma in Islam, or the Church in Christianity, for example. Deep in spiritual traditions is the idea that living beings come together for more than mere efficiency. Communities have a spiritual meaning, because they have the potential to facilitate our inward evolution.

Every relationship, therefore is sacred and deserves respect, whether it involves exchanging knowledge (education), goods and services (business and professions), responsibilities (government), or spiritual support (religious institutions). Exchanging energies to enrich our lives is the guiding purpose of social systems.”

The Paradigm Conspiracy (Why our social systems violate our human potential – And how we can change them) -pg. 31. By Denise Breton & Christopher Largent.


We’re not conducting business here. We’re not having a revival meeting. We’re not engaged in government work. What we are engaged in is an exchange of information.

Besides showing how dysfunctional he is, MarkO provides no value to the community.

Nope, MarkO’s all about MarkO.


What an altruist. What a humanitarian.
last edited: 5/11/09 12:51:24 PM”

“The kicker was when Tweety told Pence, "I bet you believe in Evolution, but you just can't say so."

Pence replied with his very best Porky Pig stutter.”

“Bwaaaaaaaaahahahahaha!”

“Whatever they can "sell."

Like crap Summer movies to braindead teenagers.”

“"Ow, My Balls" is drunkO and t*ltypoo's favorite show.”

“Thanks, Killer.
That is high praise coming from you.

From killer to kundalini.

I'm shocked and awed.”

“Watch out for those chickenhawks. They might try to gum you to death.”

“Stoviet gonna show us his balls??

Tiltypoo, make him stop!”

“And there ya go forgetting my name again. Good lord. Alzheimers is just going to be another day for you, isn't it, MarkO?


“Consider also, in this regard, the way in which the two swindlers in “The Emperor’s New Clothes” manage to preemptively silence anyone who might give away their secret by proclaiming their imaginary fabric to have “the strange quality of being invisible to anyone who [is] unfit for his office or unforgivably stupid.”

The Elephant in the Room (Silence and Denial in Everyday Life) - pg 45. Eviatar Zerubavel – Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University.


MarkO, YOU’RE NAKED!

And everyone can see through the denial but you. That must make you fit for public office and really smart. … well ….sorta smart … well … half-wit smart … well … no, actually you’re not smart enough to engage in wetworks without wetting your pants.

Please don’t run away home now and hide under your blanky, like you have so often in the past. You character dysfunctions provide so much amusement.


What an altruist. What a humanitarian.
last edited: 5/11/09 1:44:44 PM”

“"And there ya go forgetting my name again."

I never knew your name, and it sure as hell ain't "arclite".

Perhaps you held your breath too many times and for too long.”

“I used to have great lung capacity. But holding my breath was cutting off my oxygen supply so I stopped after a few years.


Thanks for sharing MarkO. You're informative as always.

Let’s see... now what information could I be sharing?

I forget, I’m dealing with MarkO … Pay careful attention now, MarkO

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM AND THE PARADIGM CONSPIRACY ARE WORTH READING!!!

Maybe you can fit them into your reading schedule after you finish The Grouchy Ladybug and before you get to One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.
last edited: 5/11/09 1:54:15 PM”

“Wishing death on people is funny, according to drunkO and t*ltypoo.”

“"When I die, I want to die like my grandmother who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."”

“Happened to my aunt. She was riding shotgun with her kids in the back. Her aunt (80's) was driving and keeled over dead going 35 down a residential street.”

“So your aunt and her kids died screaming? I hope you didn't find it funny, Mutt. And I hope you liked your aunt and your cousins. There's way too much, "I hope people I dislike die," in public discourse these days.




In trying to understanding what the authors of The Paradigm Conspiracy mean by a control-paradigm and a soul-center paradigm, I have been provided some great examples through conversation. The most recent example came from Tilt. After I mentioned spirituality in a post, Tilt responded with an illogical connection only to Christianity.

Like so many people, he had a knee-jerk reaction to the term spirituality. Why is that? Why would people respond like vampires to Christian symbols at any mention of spirituality? Is it because totalitarian system believers try to suppress religion and spirituality in any form other than the spiritual superiority of the state? Is it a belief that there is no spirituality beyond the supremacy of the human mind? If so, many people would be horrified at how much they have in common with the philosophies of Ayn Rand.


The bold sections below are taken from The Paradigm Conspiracy (Why our social systems violate our human potential – And how we can change them) -pg. 34. By Denise Breton & Christopher Largent.


“What makes up a paradigm? Shifting paradigms, as Senge observes, initiates change at the most powerful, generative level, since our mental models set the pattern for everything else. If paradigms are the key to transformation, what makes up a paradigm? To smoke out a paradigm, what are we looking for?

For the sake of simplicity, we’ve boiled down a paradigm’s constituents to four elements:

a. Assumptions are what we take for granted and assume to be true, the premises from which everything else follows. Do we assume, for example, that control is our top priority or that our souls are? Both are assumptions we are free to choose.

As the definition of spirituality shows, spirituality is not religion. A simple search of the internet shows us this fact very easily. In dismissing any form of spirituality is it because we make assumptions that, since religions seek a spiritual approach to life; and all religions are bad; therefore spirituality is bad? We can also make assumptions that all religious interpretations of spirituality are good. But a balanced approach says that religion, while showing some obvious abuses, provides guidelines for many good spiritual principles to many people. Knee-jerk reactions like, religion is all bad, or religion is all good, show a clear example of control-paradigm assumptions.


b. Strategies include the theories, concepts, rules, roles, and methods that put our assumptions into practice. An assumption that says control is everything spawns strategies that tell us how to get control and keep it. An assumption that puts soul at the center gives rise to strategies that respect the inner creative powers of all human beings and help us develop those powers.

The strategy that Tilt conceived of was to end all discussion of spirituality by equating it to the imperfections of some followers of Christianity. I suppose I could dismiss all medical beliefs because doctors are imperfect but I don’t consider that a successful strategy. Tilt’s strategy tries to gain control over the discussion with an illogical dismissal.


c. Responses show the everyday face of a paradigm through our habits, reactions, social structures, and patterns of behavior. Whatever happens, we respond from one paradigm or another, even if we don’t sit down and analyze it first. To some people, for instance, every interaction is a chance to prove who’s better, smarter, more successful, more important, wealthier, even more “spiritually advanced.” That’s a control paradigm response. To others, every interaction is a chance to learn and evolve in mutually supportive ways.

Tilt’s response to a discussion of spirituality was to point to a discussion between two people, where a Christian’s belief in evolution was called into question. That response shows a well grooved habit. My post was not about Christianity, it was about spirituality. Why did Tilt respond in an illogical way? Is it one of those emotional knee-jerk reaction patterns that some people have so well grooved that they don’t even question why they keep responding that way? Is it a way to put down all religious believers as being inferior? Is it a way to dismiss all spirituality as worthless?


d. Goals are how paradigms guide our actions. A control-paradigm goal might be to establish a military model of social order, for example, or to establish ourselves in a superior position. Soul-based paradigms, by contrast, give us goals that have to do with inward evolution.”

Does Tilt believe that a discussion of ideas he deems imperfect isn’t worth having? We can then wonder why some imperfect ideas he believes without question. Does Tilt believe in the goals of the totalitarian state? This looks suspiciously like control-paradigm thinking. It says that I will dismiss all ideas that conflict with my ideas for control.


And people like Janeane Garofalo wonder why many folks disagree with their thinking?


Now that I’m done posting some food for discussion, some folks will probably just go back to those well-grooved habits of denying the elephant in the living room. It will be interesting to see the irrelevant one-liner dismissals some control-paradigm people use to try to control discussions and how they believe only inferior people discuss spirituality.
last edited: 5/12/09 8:39:10 AM”

“The hicks are breaking out their torches and pitchforks again.

It's cyclical ----

They want to bring back the Cheney types b/c they didn't Quite manage to destroy the country last time. � But now you guys are screwed ---- at least for the time being. � You'll have to wait until an entirely new generation comes of age that doesn't know your record. � Then you'll come back into power again, steal everything that isn't nailed down (again), try to destroy the nation (again) and be thrown out (again).”

“All I can do is try to spell phuck without the little red zig zag spelling error line signal underneath.”

“Tilty, I think you have it all wrong. Cheney's purpose now is to keep folks like you (liberal lemmings) with your panties in a wad. Nobody really cares what you say as long as you're pissed-off when you say it. So far, so good.”

“An assumption that puts soul at the center gives rise to strategies that respect the inner creative powers of all human beings and help us develop those powers.

New Age drivel.

BTW: So your aunt and her kids died screaming? I hope you didn't find it funny, Mutt. And I hope you liked your aunt and your cousins.

That's obviously a control paradigm based on faulty assumptions designed to gain social power. It eschews everything your authors babble about hippy harmonizing and flower power.
last edited: 5/12/09 9:21:25 AM”

“I think what they really need is a generation of home-schooled people so they're spoonfed the 'approved' history.

(and that 4000 year old Universe)”

“Many americans tried to tell Cheney he was doing wrong and he didn't listen. Why should americans listen to him even if he is as correct now as they were then?”

““Wishing death on people is funny, according to drunkO and t*ltypoo.”
Stovie
3:40:47 PM
5/11/09

Don't forget that it's also funny when Arclite professes a desire to kill liberals.

He was debating strangulation or shotgun murder.

That is what got this particular cycle of pissin' goin' a while back.

Tilt believes the universe is 4,000 years old and he is a monkey's uncle.”

“Apparently Mutt slept on his sack funny last night and work up with a whole lot of ballache this a.m. That, or he needs to take a Midol for his cramps...”

“Bad New Age drivel instead of good Mutt-Centered drivel. Yes, I see your point. I'll start tithing ten percent of my wealth to you right away. Has this been your retirement plan all along?

Mutt, your thoughts on ANY spirituality are well documented. Unfortunately, despite your efforts to "pidgeon hole" and simplistically categorize, their research is not based on "New Age Spirituality." Pass the bong and incense please.




A man such as Paul Krugman provides an interesting example. He is an M.I.T. trained mathematician who teaches economics at Princeton. He won the Nobel Prize for economics. He is obviously an intelligent man who has worked hard to be good at his profession.

He is also an emotional basket case. Through reading his public thoughts, it is obvious he is angry, resentful, narrow-minded, and bigoted. This is an elephant in the living room.

Although the blogosphere is full of interesting (and non-interesting) thoughts about Krugman’s emotional condition, the mainstream press won’t touch this topic. Most editorial writers won’t discuss why a great economic mind chooses to angrily rant while dehumanizing people on subjects that are beyond his purview. They don’t question his assumptions because he speaks to their preconceived anger, narrow-mindedness, and bigotries. This is an elephant in the living room.

There also seems to be deference based on Krugman’s authority as an economist. But authority as an economist doesn’t confer perfection on any individual. This is an elephant in the living room.

“Even the most lauded activities – religion, scientific study, academic inquiry, and government service – may take on classic addictive patterns. Religion turns into obsession. Scientific study turns into dogma, as if collecting enough facts will make up for a narrow world view. Academic inquiry becomes an in-your-head addiction – quibbling esoterica with rabid acrimony, fiddling while Rome burns. As for government service, it’s power addiction from the bureaucrats who throw around their paper-pushing weight to the big-timers who become brokers for corporate conglomerates.”

The Paradigm Conspiracy (Why our social systems violate our human potential – And how we can change them) -pg. 2. By Denise Breton & Christopher Largent.




Many people reflexively repeat habits of thought (like Mutt's reaction to any thoughts that conflict with a self-centered world). According to the authors, this is control-paradigm thinking. And they make some interesting points:

“Social systems have built-in mechanisms for maintaining the established order from experts to executive orders to threats of violence. Systems neutralize change by convincing their adherents that we’re in the “normal-science” stage: “After millennia of building civilization by using power-over policies, who are you to question it? If it was good enough for your parents, it’s good enough for you and your children.

On this analysis, the problem isn’t with our systems but with a few bad people. To make our systems work, we’re told, we simply have to fix or get rid of the bad people. Political elections are an orgy of “normal-science” thinking: if we just elect the right people, everything will be okay. All we have to do is figure out how to make the jerks and deadbeats stop drinking, smoking, taking drugs, robbing, murdering, or stealing.

Yet one group controlling others, even with good intentions, isn’t the solution; it’s the problem. It’s a control-paradigm response, based on a power-over premise, namely, that whatever the problem, getting power over it is the solution.”

The Paradigm Conspiracy (Why our social systems violate our human potential – And how we can change them) -pg. 24. By Denise Breton & Christopher Largent.”

“The Paradigm Conspiracy (Why our social systems violate our human potential – And how we can change them) -pg. 24. By Denise Breton & Christopher Largent.”

#6832”

“#6832? Is that a catalog number from your Book of the Month Club membership, uncliff, or don't you count good?”

“Have you heard about the standoff between California and the Obama administration? California's governor's office says that a politically powerful union has an inappropriate influence over the Obama administration. Why is that? Because the Obama administration decided to withhold billion of dollars in federal stimulus money until California reverses a wage cut for labor group workers. Now this wage cut between the California government and the home health care worker's union was negotiated. Both sides agreed. But the Service Employees International Union didn't like the idea of any union negotiating for a lower wage ... so they went to DC and complained to the government. Obama steps in and tells California that he is going to withhold $7 billion in federal funds unless the negotiated agreement is cancelled and the home health care workers get their money.

Governments run by unions. Change you can believe in.”

“Try not to embarrass yourself any more than you already have.”

“What nice pics Stovie, you're a wonderful HickDead.”

“Hi t*ltypoo.”

“These idiots.... � Obama already sold out to Verizon and their thousands of wiretaps without probable cause. � Now he says he's going to reform healthcare, but let the corporations and the AMA continue to use people's desire to survive as a profit center. � And what are the odds of the investment banks being regulated in any meaningful way after their little #&%!$up?

But these dumbasses can accuse others of thinking he's infallible.

No ---- that's the kind of ass-kissing they did with Bush for eight solid years. � They really shouldn't project their stupidity onto others.”

“It's like some sort of brain damage.”

“LOL”

“Strat, Krugman slams Republicans for rewarding their "cronies" throughout his book The Conscience of a Liberal. He says not one word about Democrats doing the same.

It's all about GOTCHYA! in today's public discourse.

I don't like the tone on some of the Fox opinion shows. It seems like an awful lot of them want the Democrats, not just their socialist positions, to fail.



This is a very true statement:

"Political elections are an orgy of “normal-science” thinking: if we just elect the right people, everything will be okay. All we have to do is figure out how to make the jerks and deadbeats stop drinking, smoking, taking drugs, robbing, murdering, or stealing.

Yet one group controlling others, even with good intentions, isn’t the solution; it’s the problem. It’s a control-paradigm response, based on a power-over premise, namely, that whatever the problem, getting power over it is the solution.”

The Paradigm Conspiracy (Why our social systems violate our human potential – And how we can change them) -pg. 24. By Denise Breton & Christopher Largent.”




I am so glad there is a thoughtful discussion of ideas here.

The amount of informational knowledge I have gained from this discussion is just astounding.

So what … most of you guys spend your days discussing the weather, the latest sit-com, your opinions on the latest public scandal, or how to keep the milk from dribbling down your chin? By God, that’s fascinating! Most of yall are giants of intellectual thought and so helpful to those of us who wish to learn more. I am so grateful you vote.


And I have no doubt as to why we continue to get the politicians we deserve.
last edited: 5/12/09 7:39:43 PM”

“

http://www.daybydaycartoon.com”

“LOL..thanks Stovie. Sorry been working late nights and long days on new operations plans.”

““LOL..thanks Stovie. Sorry been working late nights and long days on new operations plans.”
theXL400
5:32:31 AM
5/13/09

In other words.....
They just let him have internet privileges back in the rubber room.
That was his "time out" for smearing #&%!$ on the walls.”

“most of you guys spend your days discussing the weather, the latest sit-com, your opinions on the latest public scandal, or how to keep the milk from dribbling down your chin? By God, that’s fascinating! Most of yall are giants of intellectual thought and so helpful to those of us who wish to learn more. I am so grateful you vote.
- Arclite

Oh yes, we should all be reading neo-liberal attacks on Western culture, science, and empiricism, so long as it's dressed up as pompous, pseudo-intellectual pop-spirituality that makes us sound enlightened quoting it in an online forum.

Not only that, but we should be quoting it over and over again with an air of pretense and false reverence in hypocritical attempts to establish social control over das Gesindel, even stooping to name-calling and petty arrogance when backed into a corner.

You're an inspiration to us all, Arclite! If only we all embraced "hey maaaan....the establishment is like killing our souls maaaan" as our worldview. Wow what a world it would be.”

“....been working..... -XL

(something drunkO doesn't do) LOL”

“Perhaps if you had some human contact you wouldn't be such a prickly bastard, Stoviet.”

“�Perhaps if you were human you wouldn't be such a prickly bastard, drunkO.”

“Still caught in the same loop ----”

“Yes, you are pretty loopy, t*lty.”