Example 091312

There is an old adage, “Do as I say, not as I do.’  For most of the 20th century the United States has been selling the world on the self-deceptive virtues of the “American” way.

The United States points to its electoral freedom of choice as proof that its five percent has a divine right to dictate to the other 95 percent of the world’s peoples. Late 20th century US elections began to expose the fallacy of its virtuous claims. Campaign 2012 may not be America’s dirtiest, but its dirt is more exposed. 

The people no longer have to wait a 100 years for historians to vacuum up campaign dirt politicians swept under the rug. Communication revolutions facilitate political dirty tricks but also provide the world with an immediate view of assaults on democracy.  A popular TV show coined “everyone lies,” for good TV, but the slogan overstates reality. A more accurate statement is that all political candidates lie, even to themselves, most of the time. 

What Campaign 2012 has demonstrated is that some candidates lie more often than others.  They now hire political consultants to generate ever-greater deceptions.  The same social networks that spread political manure now generate fake facts to deceive.

While the major national campaign only occurs ever four years, Campaign America is really continuous with local elections, by-elections, pre and post campaigns all focused on preventing free choice.  Party partisan legislatures pass discriminatory laws for political advantage and prevent opposition influence.  The courts may eventually overturn these laws but not before they have unfairly impacted the next election.  Legislation for Campaign 2012 demonstrates attempts to carry American politics back to the worst abuses of the 19th century where minorities can’t vote, unions are forbidden and robber barons can still buy the best legislation they can afford.  State legislatures are targeting groups and individuals expected to vote in opposition or even speak with dissenting voices.  They are making the Constitution a tattered rag.

The world is watching Campaign Theater that entertains with dis-information.  Campaign conventions pander to extremist ideologies, which demonize religions, emigrants, the poor and powerless.  The worldview is a country on the brink of bankruptcy spending campaign billions for the privilege of driving the car of state off the cliff.

Electioneering has never been an ethical affair in the United States.  Even that free press philosopher, guru Thomas Jefferson, as a politician, attempted to silence the press.  Political corruption now feeds on a media that has abandoned pretense of being free or objective.  The rich and powerful have built an oligarchy on the bare bones of a democracy.

The world rejects American false idealism but embraces its real example of corrupting elections by importing experienced American political consultants to deceive their own populations.  In politics, the enemy is always a honest, free, informed voter.

Blind tech 090612

The Pentagon has grabbed a new buzzword, make that a couple of words, “Incestuous Amplification. (IA).”  DOD’s embrace of an academic phrase to explain an old and well-documented political and technological condition is not new. 

The military has a long history of plagiarism, believing it is above the law since it has the power behind law.  The problem however is not restricted to military arrogance; IA is pervasive in the American culture.

Public and private project managers are known to enhancing their project results for larger budgets, promotions or just political capital.  It is inevitable that they soon begin to believe their own marketing propaganda and politicians jump on board in hopes of a silver bullet that saves their agendas.  Feeding on itself IA soon becomes a run away train going down hill on the wrong track.  Manipulated data and flawed feedback stokes the locomotive’s fires ever hotter.  With its safety valves of truths tied down, sooner or later the boiler will explode.  Today’s supposed silver bullets are technologically centric.  Wars can be won by remote controlled toys; elections by social media and profits rise on techno sales based on IA of successes.

Consider the claims that remote control drones are winning wars since every round fired destroys the Taliban chief, generating a great victory.  The problem is that the military hasn’t learned that the Taliban is only a small portion of the insurgency, growing with each misfired round.  The IA comes from remote operators claiming hero status from 10,000 miles away for every body left in a crater, colonels claiming stars for every mission flown and politicians desperate for a victorious exit justification.

Decision processes are disconnected from reality. Decision-makers see what they want to see rather than what is, reacting with ever greater reliance on hope over base line truths.  In scientific methodology this is called ‘save the hypothesis’ where all data contradicting the desired outcome are discarded. 

This election year candidates perceive victory as resting on smart phones, I-something or the other and “twits.”  Campaign goals are control of the social media to obscure the absence of coherent social agendas.  Victory is seen as inciting the largest mob but mobs are ungovernable.  Social media gurus point to the Arab Spring as social media’s revolutionary victory but a year later the revolutions continue and instability reigns.  Terror is homegrown for mobs have no agenda but rather thousands of conflicting agendas.  The strong will devour the weak and victors will devour democratic reforms.

Technophiles are writing a prescription for increasing disorientation, which will increase confusion and disorder among the human drones attempting to make decisions, resulting ultimate systemic failures.

Technology is only a tool not a solution. While not the fastest computer, good solutions still rely on critical human minds supplied with honest data.