The "Good Old College Try" Ain't Good Enough--
(photo credit- Pinterest, humane hunting trap)
The "Good Old College Try" Ain't Good Enough--
May 29, 2022
There are two ways to track and capture a wild animal which is a predator.
One is to follow it's footprints, the broken branches, it's scent of urine and poop, and stay on it's trail, hoping you can catch up to it when it stops to rest, and then capture it. It is contingent on not losing the trail and keeping up with the animal.
The other way is to know beforehand where the animal goes to drink, mate, and feed, and go directly there to lay in wait for it to walk into the trap you have set.
One might ask, when you are on the animal's home terrain, is it not better to use it's survival instincts against it to capture it, knowing how it will behave, instead of literally "gathering turds" and following it around until you reach the carcasses of it's victims, trying to catch up with it?
Methodology is as important as intention in many areas of work, be it science, engineering, teaching, or investigating. Anything related to the behavior of people requires hypothesis, because people are the only known animals which hypothesize. Others have intelligence, communication and cognition to various degrees, but are still reliant mainly on their survival instincts.
Because our adversary today has lost much of it's basic humanity, they are like a wild animal, predatory, feral, and "survivalist" in their outlook. They are predictable. You know where they are going in order to hunt (create "victims") to feed (get money) to seek shelter/protection (elections and courtrooms) and to mate. (Churches) You know what they are going to do beforehand by their disposition, because they are predators.
At what point do we stop chasing after them, smelling their poop, burying the dead, and trying to play catch up? Instead, set a trap, and wait for them to arrive. They will walk right into it and defeat themselves, but you have to put yourselves into their minds, difficult as that might be because they are stupid, evil, and conscienceless.
That is called strategy, and it begins with putting yourself into the mind of the enemy. This is why you can't fight effectively without studying history, culture, and philosophy. It is why "how we think" (methodology) is primary over "what we think" (mere opinion) in matters of government, the law, politics and issues bearing upon "the common good".
To win, we a need strategy which informs our tactics day to day, rather than us simply continuing to react to events as they happen. We need real ideas, not superficial or managed "opinions", because people will only risk themselves to stand for profound ideas.
Which are the ideas that people will fight for? The ones which are important for their children's future, or that of other's children. Without a future orientation there is no real depth of ideas or motivation for which people will change their lives around. Engaging people in effective action is always going to come back to one's sense of individual identity, instead of "groupthink" based on a set of acceptable "positions" held by a likeminded social subset of the population.
Sometimes our response to events in real time (ex. George Floyd) can have a catalytic effect which has the potential for the good. But it is only unrealized potential unless a leadership arises out of it, which has a strategy rooted in ideas.
Being able to think ahead, ie: conceptualize the future, coupled with beneficent intent, is the difference between a movement and a mob.
These are some not so random thoughts to consider as we move into the next phase.
