Deceptions II

From Classical Mythology: The Greeks, deceptively abandoning their siege of Troy, left a gigantic hollow wooden horse on the field of battle, along with Sinon, who persuaded the Trojans that the horse was an offering to Athena (goddess of war) that would make Troy impregnable. Despite the warnings of Laocoön and Cassandra, the horse was taken inside the city gates. That night Greek warriors emerged from it and opened the gates to let in the returned Greek army, which proceeded to conquer the city. The story is told at length in Book II of the Aeneid and is touched upon in the Odyssey. http://www.britannica.com/topic/Trojan-horse

The “Trojan Horse” is now an iconic and almost universal representation of GRAND Deception. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In “Deceptions I”, we considered a broad array of applications of the art of deception – both capricious and malicious.  With so many different ways in which deception can and does emerge in the everyday world, I wondered if we shouldn’t consider ways to harness more of the powers of deception for POSITIVE purposes. 

“Deceptions I” noted the masterful, legitimate and “winning” applications of the art in both magic and sports.  But, it turns out, there are many opportunities, often untapped, to creatively personalize the power of deception to yield more positive outcomes. 

One of these is the art of Deceptive Disinterest.  How many times has a salesman offered you a better deal when you summarily turned down his best offer?  The next time you go shopping for an automobile, wait ‘til the end of the month when salesmen and dealerships have to move cars off the lot to meet their quotas – and then turn down their best offer at least twice.  Even walk away and wait for a phone call! 

If you’re a hapless guy, you’ve probably encountered at least one occasion of Deceptive Disinterest from a “Special Interest” playing “hard-to-get”.  Now YOU’RE the salesman!  Patience, persistence, “Upping Your Game” and sweetening the offer are your best ordnance. 

A deception often misused but extremely valuable in proper context is the setting of artificially low expectations … especially where one has the capacity and veiled inclination to exceed those expectations. 

While the person we first most don’t want to fool – or BE fooled – is ourselves, sometimes self-deception can serve us extremely well – such as fabricating “New Realities” we can grow into or “Stark Realities” to avoid at all cost. 

One of the more popularized methods of self-deception is a little “hokie”:  Numerous would-be motivational gurus claim that success is merely a matter of “Visioning” one’s self being successful.  Thus, an aspiring quarterback, would picture himself throwing winning touchdowns, and, WALLA!, he soon will be throwing winning touchdowns!  However, this “Visioning” exercise isn’t worth a lost breath if the aspiring quarterback hasn’t done the conditioning and repetitions in both practice and real-time competition required to accrue instantaneous field-of-play pattern recognition involving both his receivers and the opposing defense.  There’s a lot more brute force, behind-the-scenes work involved to create on-the-field magic to match the visioning.   It does, nonetheless, help keep one going while mired in the trenches of “becoming”. 

Then there’s the whole self-esteem thing.  Unfortunately, wearing the mask of a “better self” to make ourselves feel worthy … a “winner” … and, of course, entitled … leaves us holding an empty bucket.  And “Participation Trophies” turn out to be hollow currency in the grand scheme of things. 

But the opposite tack has merit and can work wonders.  Setting oneself up as an underdog – i.e., as not being quite so “good” as our Aunt Bea might say we are – and then endeavoring to live UP to as “Great” as we would like to be can pay major dividends.  You might be more inclined to work harder, live more simply – i.e., sustainably, and be more inclined to stay humble.  NOTE: President Lincoln didn’t simply become “Presidential” after he was elected President.   And he didn’t merely seek personal “Greatness”.  He sought and fought for Great Causes – indeed, even for “lost causes” … as an absolutely committed and determined underdog – which made his Greatness inevitable. 

What about presenting yourself as a “Professional”, and then acting like it? 

Other applications include deceiving one’s self that time is moving much faster than the clock is moving, which would have the effect of actually getting projects completed ON TIME.  And making the priority of important projects artificially high – even planting bogus barriers to be overcome – would have a similar effect.  

Picturing ourselves as having insurmountable debt with no discretionary funds could have the effect of eliminating impulse spending and increasing savings and retirement accounts with the sacrifice of only trivial pursuits and instant gratifications.  [I’m reminded of some fairly well-off physicians I’ve know who carried only lunch money in their pockets, couldn’t ever come up with funds to buy Girl Scout cookies, and were always sleuthing the corridors to filch a free cup of coffee!] 

How many times have we deceived ourselves into thinking the next best thing we desire – or can’t really live without – is going to make such a HUGE difference in our lives ... and it really doesn’t???

And let’s be very circumspect about letting Trojan Horses into our wheelhouse.  Cinnabons, double-bacon cheeseburgers, crispy chicken fingers, French Fries, deep-fried Twinkies …and a whole lot more … come with time-bombs attached.  Select your greatest temptation(s) and use whatever deception(s) necessary to distance yourself from inevitable harsh and debilitating consequences.

Deceptionize – Demonize, if necessary – and stop Rationalizing!

Finally, using the deception of making things that matter to someone else matter just as much to me will result in greater empathy, more effective cooperation/collaboration, better alliances, and a more global shot at much bigger successes. 

So, in sum, be agilely and astutely deceptive in making good things – GREAT THINGS -- happen!  Conspire to work some magic … even through self-deception, if necessary.  Surprise somebody with exceptional effort and outcomes – including yourself – and enjoy the fruits!  Quartermaster  

Deceptions I

Deceptions I

[Is this a photo of a young debutante or an old woman?] 

Fifth graders were playing a game of “Flag”.  During the course of the game, one of the ring leaders on one of the teams called a “Time Out” to get a drink of water and tie a shoe.  However, in the process, she just happened to pass by the “Jail” of the other team, tapped out her jailed compatriots, and they all returned jubilant to “Home Base”.   Fortunately, the chief overseer of the playground saw the deception, cried “FOUL!”, and sent half the offending team to the sidelines.  

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In almost all competitive team sports – both professional and otherwise – deception is the name of the game – and “Foul” is only operative if you get caught!  But many deceptions are completely legal.  Doing the unexpected by tipping one’s hand toward a particular course of action and then doing something completely different provides a defining advantage.  The masterful “Fake” is the province of winners.  [In fact, few games are won without it.] 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Deception is the bread and butter of magicians … performing the fine art of illusion. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Gamblers – and gambling establishments, alike – liberally use deception to improve their “odds” of winning … or decrease the odds of losing.    

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Within minutes of this writing, candidates for the 2016 presidential election were Trumpeting (sic.) objections that the Iowa Caucus was rigged by a deception created when one candidate claimed that another was leaving the race, so that that candidate’s supporters could vote for him. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[For auto repair deceptions, see Consumer Reports, March 2016, pp. 53-55]

Once we see the advantages of deception, it becomes an extremely coveted tool.  Advertising / Marketing agencies are masters of the craft.  “Bait and Switch” tactics in advertising are legendary. 

Sometimes, we need a sobering reality check.  The hope and expectation of getting something for nothing – or for comparatively little – is an addictive inclination which sets us up for major disappointments, not to mention grave consequences.  Unreasonable hope drives the lottery.  It fuels procrastination.  It gives wings to excuses and explanations.  It entices school dropouts.  It is the fodder of “Get Rich Quick” schemes. 

And the unshakable conviction that we’re all superheroes and beauty queens – or can become so with little effort and/or a lot of money – is the foundational driving force for astronomically thriving businesses in cosmetics, reconstructive surgery, weight loss programs, video games, anti-aging potions, and all sorts of aura-enhancement offerings. 

Note the following advertisement from Nutrisystems, highlighting delicacies available on their weight management plan … which emphasizes maximum choices but limited servings/serving sizes: “Lose weight eating the foods you love!” … [RIGHT!] … 

Consider this: The LESS weight customers lose, 

the MORE they need to rely on NS “counselors” 

and the more they need to stay in the NS food chain!

Con Artists push the edges of deception to extremes.  Maria Konnikova exposes the latest trends in her new book, “The Confidence Game” [summarized by Sarah Begley in Time, February 1, 2016, p. 22]:

“ … a religious leader who passes a donation basket to fund his extravagant lifestyle; an art dealer selling fake Rothkos and Pollocks … these tricks work because humans are psychologically programmed to be gullible.  ‘What a confidence artist sells is hope.  Hope that you’ll be happier, healthier, richer,’ that you ‘will emerge on the other side’ and somehow be superior.” 

Not that we’re insensitive to benevolent causes.  In fact, tugging at prospects’ hearts on behalf of children, pets, Veterans, the catastrophically imperiled, the disenfranchised and the misfortunate has given rise to some of the most powerful 501(c3) organizations with some of the highest salaried CEOs.  

I would have to add that the urge to “Beat the System” or “Game the System” is a huge – make that HUGE – driving force – especially in politics.  Promise the populace anything they desire in order to get elected and then do as you please! 

And who hasn’t been accosted/tempted by any number of phishing expeditions launched via email, phone calls or social media? 

But nothing compares to the impact of beating ourselves at our own game.  We deceive ourselves into believing tomorrow will be so much better than today, despite our lack of personal commitment, inclination or effort to make it so – or even despite our actions to the contrary.  And we’re especially good at deceptively turning WANTS into NEEDS, as well as into “Just Deservings”.  And what about deceptive “Licensing”:  Strategically ordering the Diet Coke to go with our bacon double cheeseburgers and large fries?  Or telling ourselves that one Cinnabon won’t hurt … [and, besides, we SO deserve it] … so we might as well pick up half-a-dozen.

Considering all of the above, one has to wonder if we couldn’t harness more of the powers of deception for positive purposes.  Stay tuned for Deceptions II to follow … 

In the meantime, be a little circumspect about things that sound “too good to be true” or too “easy”, or are represented as “entitlements” or “deservings”.  The person we first most don’t want to fool – or BE fooled – is ourselves.  Quartermaster

Bowl of Dirt Parable

Over more than half a lifetime of fits and starts, I’ve found that life is rather more like a bowl of dirt than it is a bowl of cherries. 

Fortunately ^___ but, for some purposes, unfortunately ^___ the bowl of dirt we are given to get us started in life is usually provided to us already cultivated and fertilized and containing a good assortment of seeds of possibility.  All it needs from us – eventually, as we are able – is proper tending:  Like watering, applications of fertilizer, weeding, sunshine, cultivation, pest control, more weeding, and, in due season, harvesting.  Then we repeat the process – in addition to growing our bowl, adding more dirt, gathering and planting more seeds, etc., so that, eventually, we might even be able to share some of the harvest. 

Since our bowl of dirt comes to us with most of the ingredients already in place, and since it has already received ample tending by others helping us on our way, we don’t always appreciate, internalize and visualize the full extent of tending needed for a sustainable future.  Of course, we love the sunshine part, and the harvesting part is pretty neat.  It’s the fertilizer thing, the weeding, the cultivation, the pest control and building a bigger bowl and adding more dirt that bum us out and often seem, for all practical purposes, unnecessary. 

Not surprisingly, the more fertilizer we get heaped upon us, the more abhorrent the whole affair becomes, though, in fact, the faster we can work it into the soil, the more palatable it becomes and the faster and more robustly the crops grow.  Experience shows that the longer we let it sit untended, the more stench it creates. 

On many byways, one can encounter colorful and seemingly “divinely inspiring” virtual fruits available for the taking.  Unfortunately, these are without substantive nutrition; i.e., they are only virtually fulfilling, they last only for the moment, and they take us a good distance away from a more tangibly rewarding harvest.

Each person’s bowl of dirt is different.  We’d like them all to be the same.  (We live in a land of “equal opportunity”, don’t we?)  More specifically, we’d like ours to be like the ones we notice so richly blooming in our neighbor’s plot, or as advertised in the media.  Here, again, we rarely look for or have the opportunity to see the extra care, attention and tending these bowls of dirt are getting and we can’t, therefore, totally appreciate what it takes to produce such results.  

Some of the weeds that encroach opportunistically in our Bowl of Dirt are even more attractive and a lot more scentuous than the real fruit & fiber stuff, and we really can’t bring ourselves to pull out such bounty.  Unfortunately, the most attractive weeds draw the most nutrients, light and air from the really nutritious produce and can seriously stunt their growth or choke them out altogether, ultimately draining and poisoning the soil beyond repair. The result in the extreme is barren soil, often requiring one to start over completely from scratch with extraordinary effort to reclaim some remnant of initial possibilities.  

It is tempting in such circumstances to seek to extract nutrients from a richly blossoming bowl of dirt tended by someone else, preferably someone in shining armor on a white horse!

Finally, some of the seeds are like bamboo, which requires up to five years of tending before it begins to sprout, and then it may grow as much as 90 feet in one year!  Taking a long view and having tremendously patient persistence are necessary if one is to bring these spectacular “overnight accomplishments” to fruition. 

BOWL OF DIRT PARABLE

PART II

ATTITUDE, INCLINATION, ORIENTATION and ECOMONICS

THE PESSIMIST:  Expecting life to be a “Bowl of Cherries”, the pessimist grumpily points out the fact that it is NOT.  True to prediction, the pessimist’s bowl of dirt merely turns to mud in the rain, and bakes to a mud-cake in the sun … and the only thing he/she is psychically equipped to do is eat the weeds and residual seeds that may have come with the bowl of dirt. 

THE OPTIMIST:  The optimist expects nothing beyond the opportunity to make something beautiful out of her bowl of dirt and sees opportunities around every corner and under every clump of soil.  She gladly takes her bowl of dirt and throws seeds and fertilizer (manure, would you believe!) in it, weeds, waters and feeds it, and collects a glorious bounty for her efforts. 

THE OPPORTUNIST:  The opportunist buys extra production from the optimist to sell to the pessimist, charges a nominal fee to dispose of the pessimist’s bowl of dirt, and then sells the pessimist’s dirt back to the optimist to expand and enhance his enterprise.  (The opportunist may also deal in seeds and fertilizer.) 

SUMMATION

Get bullish on DIRT and seeds of possibility!  Choose your attitude, inclination and orientation carefully … and don’t shy from the ardor of cultivation, which will include digging a whole lot of dirt and shoveling a whole lot of manure.  The reward will be well worth all the effort!  Quartermaster

Making America Great

… again!

You may have noticed: It’s the perpetual siren call of politicians … or would-be politicians … especially during election years!  

But I caught myself wondering:  Back to WHEN, exactly? 

… to when all the roads were dirt roads?

… to when there was no FDA and one had to rely on snake oil salesmen for pharmaceuticals and on the integrity of the run-amok Chicago meat markets for sustenance?

… to when all the states had their own currencies – and they were all different?

… to when slavery, child labor and “unnaturalized citizens” were what powered major industry?

… to when monopoly wasn’t just a board game?

… to when everyone had at least one gun and arguments were settled by duels?

… to when Al Capone and his “corporate elite” ruled the streets?

… to before the EPA, when chemical plants, mining industries and oil refining operations simply dumped their toxic waste directly into air and water supplies?

… to before the safety nets of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security existed?

… to when aspirin, alcohol, opioids and crude surgical devices were the only medical interventions – besides leeches and blood-letting – available? 

And I thought it worth wondering exactly what it was that made America great – whenever that might have been? 

But, first, there’s a lot more history in the universe to consider than just the past 250 years of American identity.  Can we get any clues from what made OTHER great civilization great – like China, Mongolia, Japan, Greece, Egypt, Great Britain, Babylon, the Roman Empire, or the Aztecs, Mayans or Incas?    

[At some point, we’re going to have to ask how we define “Greatness” ... stay tuned.]

From the sheer volume of historical record and archeological data, we have some clues about “What it was … ” that may help us acquire some perspective.  Actually, that part of our quest turns out to be fairly simple: Whoever had the biggest armies, best technology in weaponry and most efficient and effective supply, communication and transportation systems ruled the world.  From the spoils of war, these civilizations gained both wealth and worker-bee slaves, permitting the ruling classes to display opulence of extravagant proportions.  Thus, we see huge and intricate architectural wonders, exquisitely woven and dyed fabrics, and ingenious works of art and science – all cultivated and commissioned by the ruling class.    

“Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart [1756-1791] showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty.  At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court …”  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart

In a somewhat sobering sense, one could say that what made each of these civilizations “GREAT” was the degree of distance the wealthiest classes became removed from the poorest classes … as well as from external threats.  The more insulation they had from discombobulation, the more aspirational – both inspirational and hedonic – they became.  As the wealthiest classes gained confidence/security, associated financial resources and leisure, they went about figuring how much more lavishly they could live.  And by commissioning the lower classes/slaves and artisans/craftspersons to do the work, they created “trickle-down” economics.    

Early American “Greatness” was not much different.  Although child labor was not as prevalent, slavery and the “indenturing” of immigrants and the poor were prevalent.  Natural resources were abundant.  Opportunity for both the wealthy and ambitious were essentially unlimited ... attracting both intellectual and venture capital, as well as ardent flesh and blood aspirants.  America was a virtual tabula rasa with only itinerant and loosely enfranchised inhabitants.  Barriers to advancement, and interference with even incommodious opportunism, were minimal.  And a constitutional framework protecting individual rights to life, liberty and property, and encouraging “the pursuit of happiness”, provided an irresistible enticement for both individual and societal actualization. 

Here we take a moment to reflect on measures of GREATNESS.  Someone said that the true measure of greatness in a civilization is the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens.  It’s worth some consideration.  More commonly, we think of greatness as including the size of armies, the amount of land they control, the number of citizens enrolled, the status of arts and education, benchmark advances in science and technology, the sophistication of their infrastructure (water, energy, communications, transportation and supply lines), health and wellbeing of the population, and the impact of goods and services, as measured by world-wide trade.  Importantly, and increasingly so, greatness may also be measured by alliances – by how much positive influence a country has and can maintain in the affairs of the world.  NOTE: The degree of positive world influence OTHER than a military presence might be dubbed a defining attribute of GREATNESS.   

So how are we doing?   Unquestionably, America has had brilliant moments of greatness – as measured by all but a few of the above – during its relatively brief history.  But 1) we do have to own up to the fact that many of those moments have been tainted by disenfranchisement of its most vulnerable citizens, and 2) the formula for greatness has been silently but inexorably changing.  Opportunity is no longer as unlimited as it was.  Yes, there is still unlimited opportunity for some, but for far fewer individuals over time.  Only one person in the US can become President every 4 years – 8 chances out of 320 million in a lifetime (2015) versus 8 chances out of 76 million (1900).  Meanwhile, technology is displacing mainstream employment opportunities and corporate organizational structures are collapsing, cutting out "middle" positions, which, historically, provided stepping stones for advancement.  And while America remains a mecca for higher education, we’re educating the world’s elite and letting site-based primary and secondary school systems for our own citizens degenerate into meccas for self-esteem development and athletics. 

Bottom line: There is only one direction we can go if we aspire to “take America to GREATNESS … again”.  And it’s not BACK.  America has to become intensely engaged in the business of reinventing itself for a new day and for collective challenges, not only for free-reign “Rugged Individualism” … including finding better ways to take care of its most vulnerable citizens.  Quartermaster