Showing posts with label Village at Wolf Creek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Village at Wolf Creek. Show all posts

Thursday, December 26, 2019

Diary, 12/26/2019 - Rhetorical Jujutsu, case in point.

If we are not changing minds we are losing!
11)  Confront Trash Talk with Rhetorical Jujutsu
Contrarians depend on personal attacks to distract the discussion from their bankrupt “science”.  Learn to recognize the game, turn it to your favor, be prepared to point out the juvenility of the tactic, while forcing the discussion back to the real world facts your contrarian opponent wants to avoid.
This impeachment process, especially the part where +40% of Americans are simply harding up their passionate support for Trump who clearly believes he's above all laws and ethics, by getting ever passion, if disconnected, from the real world facts by the day.  

Has honesty, dignity, respect for evidence and laws and professional standards of ethics and enlighten-self-interest all been trashed by people who've convinced themselves they have God in their back pockets?   

Worst and genuinely painful is witnessing the continued ineptness of Democratic communication efforts with their own grassroots supporters, let alone their inability to directly confront Republican deception and bullying.  

Democrats haven't explained anything in a way that offers regular voters some rhetorical ammunition when confronted with the Republican's onslaught of ruthless deception and scorched earth attitudes towards others. 

It feels like an all-hands-on-deck situation, but Democrats don't seem to get it.  What I write is uncomfortable, so it's ignored.  I'm told to make it feel nicer.  I say, Democrats need to do better than peddling old bromides.

Since one of my bitches is that Democrats keep talking past Republican bullies when we need to be stopping them in their lying tracks, long enough to educate onlookers, by shoving GOP lies right back down their disingenuous throats with clarifications and explanations.  Succinctly enunciate and clarify arguments in a way that resonates with people.

Here I share an example of what I mean when I suggest talking AT them, rather than past them, as our Democratic politicians do all too well. This has to do with a semi-local issue, but that's beside the point.  I'm simply sharing some food for thought.  

Oh and if any of this is resonating with some editor or agent or writing coach or political staffer type out there, someone who appreciates the potential of what I'm trying to do here.  Please, I need some help.  Might you have any to offer?

Dennis points to ANILCA and cries foul on behalf of Mr. McCombs,  
“There is a law that says the USFS has to grant access to inholdings.”   
Is that a fact?  There’s another side to this story that's worth listening to, particularly if you want to understand the unrelenting opposition to the notion of bulldozing a Village at Wolf Creek into Alberta Park. ...

Sunday, July 2, 2017

Diary July 2nd, 2017 personal note and Village at Wolf Creek update


Just dropping by to say hello.  
At first I stopped posting because I needed to STOP.  
Too many train wrecks one on top of the other.  

Important matters with dark irreversible consequences, 
all very tragic and having a deep emotional impact on me.
Trump election; the astounding failure of vision and determination Democrats displayed in never getting Merrick Garland his Supreme Court hearing and vote; Bates’ malicious attack piece; the Fyfe 2016 fiasco paper that amounted to a stamp collection that produced a report that read like a Rorschach test; followed by a bit of related drama I still hope to write about, for the lessons it offers.

Rather than dance with a breakdown, 
it was time to put down the notepad and step away from the keypad, 
refocus on the work I do for pay, 
then after-hours, 
I shutdown my thoughts regarding things I’m absolutely impotent to do anything about.  As much as possible.

It was also time to focus full attention on this young dog who’s decided she owns me (my 1st) and our many (newly undistracted) walks over this forty acres I get to call my home.  Yeah, the universe has a strange sense of humor, but so it goes.

It was a good break for about a month, but with psyche mended or at least new acceptance of the profound failures we children of the intellectual enlightenment are guilty of, my thoughts won’t shut down completely.  I can't be blind to the world and if I can't be anything beyond a lone witness, so be it.  I heard a profound thought recently: "Hope is a survival strategy in hopeless times."  On we go.  (slightly edited 7/3/17 evening)