On Wed, 13 Mar 2013, James Weinheimer wrote:
> I certainly sympathize with this, BUT there is a genuine trend toward
> what can be called "spying" technologies.
I prefer "and it's true" to "but."
> Much of it seems to be unavoidable
Not if one tries to avoid it rather that feeling "magically" enhanced and
respected by it. Make avoiding discouragement the dominant paradigm.
You'll never hear a discouraged Aggressive Narcissist (e.g. Paul Ryan,
Mark Zuckerberg, Ted Cruz, Silvio Berlusconi, Osama bin Laden, Huey Long,
etc.)-- they just move on to other victims.
> It does that by storing massive amounts of information about you.
It is potentialities that are the problem. Maybe Facebook wasn't invented
to get naive people to reveal their secrets or to get used to not having
privacy (if the inventors were themselves naive), but the directions that
those things can lead to are known in history (and to George Orwell, bless
him for trying).
> they are a for-profit organization ... we are their *products*.
You probably can't think of one issue touted by any "right wing" from
religious extremism to "austerity programs" that isn't intended to make
everyone the "products" of Aggressive Narcissists. For example, what is
the motivation for preventing programs intended to limit obesity? Obesity
increases the profits of the health care industry (not to mention the
junk food industries and the weakening of obese people themselves).
You probably can't describe any aspect of the advertising industry that
isn't glib, compulsively misleading and/or emotionally manipulative either.
The perfect place for Aggressive Narcissists.
> What do these organizations get from Google? ... "Milk from Contented
> Cows." ... I guess it is better than "Milk from cows who understand how
> degenerate their situation is and want to regain their own, personal
> dignity."
It's all about power and control. Money is just one aspect of them, being
able to influence people to act like fools is another. We are being milked
like "contented cows" who do not understand what our situation is and are
deluded by misleading definitions of what is dignity and degeneracy are.
> getting away from this situation, which is so repugnant in many ways, is
> far more difficult and complex than it would seem.
Enough vague philosophy. 20% of any population have brain structures that
make them self-obsessed Aggressive Narcissists bent on controlling other
people and/or at least enjoying manipulative games (look around in your
own libraries).
What to do about it? Increase awareness and massage brains. Force the
public education system to teach critical thinking and about
neuropsychology, provide discussion of all the "logical fallacies" used in
the games, and address history and current events in the contexts of
psychological repetitiveness and social amnesia. Chastize self-obsession
and the milking of blindly obedient "cows."
> I think libraries and library values address these matters very directly
> and *could* become very important in finding solutions
So shouldn't we, of all people, at least object loudly to the
introduction of the "corporate model" into library management and better,
act as educators instead of powerless custodians?
> but it would be extraordinarily difficult to do.
We are letting ourselves be trained to be passive and hopeless *and*
innocently and unconsciously perpetuating the problem. Understanding that
that is just another game is the way to get out of it.
> Therefore, you criticize Google to your own peril, especially if you are
> a librarian because people think you are only trying to preserve your
> own, antidiluvian way of existence. Therefore, talking about these
> matters must be done carefully and even strategically.
Criticizing any *particular* "perps", from Google to Islamic terrorists,
is wasteful because it makes us think that getting those *particular*
"perps" out of the way will solve everything.
The strategy is to *not* to be sucked into talking about specific
"issues" or personalizing discussions (e.g. "Google is evil"), except as
examples of a broader problem, and concentrate on the fact that specific
brain structures cause specific individual behaviors. Talk about the
behaviors we need to eliminate (e.g. glib speech, bullying, compulsive
lying, self-obsession, emotional manipulation, absence of empathy, power
and control, etc.), what causes them (as causes are discovered), and what
to do about them.
See? you didn't have to ask.
Cheers!
jgm
John G. Marr
Cataloger
CDS, UL
Univ. of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
jmarr_at_unm.edu
jmarr_at_flash.net
** Forget the "self"; forget the "other"; just
consider what goes on in between. **
Opinions belong exclusively to the individuals expressing them, but
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Received on Wed Mar 13 2013 - 14:13:10 EDT