Category → Strategy & Tactics
The real secret of positive thinking
While at a house party a few months back, a girl cornered me with a nice bottle of wine, and started telling me about ‘The Secret’ – a bestselling book and film . I sat and listened, sipping my wine, as the well-educated City financier explained the principles of universal attraction, without any sense of irony .
It was a treat. A true dissertation on the worst kind of magical thinking . Essentially, this chick (and many of her friends) believe that they are telekinetic, and can receive whatever they want just by hoping for it. Needless to say, i re-filled my glass and excused myself. I’d heard about voodoo before.
Is human nature disgusting?
@mparks says 48 Laws of Power = YUCK
Can’t say that i haven’t heard that reaction before. People tend to assume that any interest in human nature, strategy or power, is nefarious in some way. But these same people complain about the way that politicians manipulate and the media ‘controls’ us. They identify the symptoms, but are unwilling to understand the problem.
Some people like watching the magic trick. So do i. But i also like to understand how the trick was done. Not necessarily because i want to perform the trick, but because i’m curious.
Anyhow, so long as the Godfather is still voted the No.1 film of all-time, i don’t believe that people aren’t interested in the concepts of strategy and power. They are. They just don’t want to delve too deeply into the mind of a Don. Or a Pope. Or a President-Elect. It could shatter some of their dearly held illusions.
Are we winning the War on Terror?
Although the War on Terror was born following the destruction of the twin towers, the strategy was conceived by the US neo-cons far earlier. In reaction to the attack, shortly after the twin towers fell the US and its allies declared war on an adjective: terror.
In the midst of the chaos, the declaration of war placated the terrified masses. Our governments and military leaders, trained to tackle conventional enemies, flooded our 24hr news cycle with predictions of unimaginable calamity, soon to be unleashed by Al Qaeda – the greatest threat to western civilisation since the Soviet Union.
The storyline was simple. George Bush suggested: we are the good guys, and they are the bad guys. Osama Bin Laden became the global supervillian, plotting to overthrow the world’s superhero – the US – via suicide bombings and suitcase nukes. Our populations were stripped of civil liberties in preparation for the impending onslaught, and our young men were sent overseas, to fight the terrorists on their own doorstep. Continue reading →