Organizations typically have one man as decision-maker. Whether governor CEO general king or Pope, the principle is the same. It is the basic tenet of human organization - top down leadership. This derives from familial and tribal groupings - the head of the family and head of the tribe decides for the rest, with input from whatever council provides counsel.
Keep in mind, explaining begins with "how things work" not what works best. One man deciding things rightly or wrongly, is how human organization works. Discussion of "rightly or wrongly" must account twenty-five thousand years of derivative system-making - as this is what has derived to be. We can look at the founding of America, the death of Julius Caesar, and French and Russian revolutions, as among historical landmarks that considered this derivative. A discussion of gender roles is here.
So what is the point of top down leadership. Well obviously it derives from organization. There is a need to group, thus "group" needs to be organized and needs leadership. It's the same as explaining how fingers of a hand work to grasp an object - they do what the brain tells them to.
But in the simpler discussion of "how things work" and not the more complex "why" we've scant empirical evidence of "the best way." For example, we could point to the reign of Queen Victoria as great success in duration and prosperity for Brits. But colonized victims of Imperial England might see it otherwise; and thus for every long and prosperous empire.
So let's confine this to "how" which is more evidentiary based, not the theoretical "why" which is continually evolving. Dictatorship works well or poorly per the man in charge. But it's duration depends on two factors - might makes right, and the continuing need to convince the subjugated.
Abe Lincoln exemplifies this. The founding fathers of America wrestled with how to restrain a dictator. Their efforts led to Civil War because the diverse state governors had more say than the central federal president. But Lincoln had both more might and more wide-spread personal appeal in rallying people to his cause, and so dictated the unification of America.
The obvious counter-argument is - why are these organizations in constant crisis. But again, that's a "why" argument, not a "how" explanation. The great American example is Franklin Roosevelt who dictated our current national empire. But counter examples of fools in leadership roles include Nero who destroyed Rome, Hitler who destroyed Europe, and Trump who is destroying everything that Lincoln and Roosevelt built, i.e., the world as we know it.
I reckon Plato may've said it better, but I aint never read his book.
a tin can rattled 'cross the street
then down the sidewalk in the wind
noisily like a drunken bum
or worn out hobo
who's lost his charm
having served its purpose
whatever that was
some while ago
and rattling loudly
endlessly now
to nowhere
no shelter no home
like all of us
no functionality
to spare
in the viral silence
of an age gone by
Surprises me that no one's mentioned the biologic of corinavus. I heard there's this river in Africa called Nile - it floods every year turning the flood plain into amazing fertile growing soil. They call it - nature.
And when I'se in the college, this course in psycologgy say that when you put a reasonable number of rats in a big enough cage, they fare well. Triple the number of rat, an' all hell break loose - murder, mayhem, perversion, madness - their environment caint tolerate massive overcrowding. So naturally, they self-destruct.
The point was to analogize that the same was likely true fer human bein. When we so desperately overcrowd, by nature, we gonna start self-destructin with murder mayhem and et cetera. And if that aint 'nuff, Mother Nature gonna give us a quicker out - massive death by disease - to cull the herd. So, by our standards, Nile flooding is fantastic way to make rich growing soil. And auto-destruct by virus is.........what? The same ferkin thing, I reckon. The strong survive, the weak die off, overcrowding decreases. And lessons in biologic are.......never ever learned by dumb humans.
If t'were deers or some other critter enjoying life in the wild, we'd say - kill 'em 'til we gots a sustainable population. They's jus' dumb animals. (Not like us.) Like Pete Seeger say "why do we never learn?"
Some oerpowering need of "in charge" I guess. Like we's in charge of whatever small stuff we can be, and alla rest - some almighty all knowing ruler like DonJay Trump or Jaime Diamond in charge of. Yeah.....well nobody dumb 'nuff t'believe that. (Okay, so half the people in the country are that dumb) and they also think the Spirit in the Sky is watchin' oer all of it. I reckon this sorta resignation of personal responsibility help folk sleep at night (or sleep alla they lives away, in a manner a speaking.)
And I reckon is natural enough - we devolved from cave dwellers where the concept was - dad's guarding the cave entrance, so the rest a us can catch our eight hours a night eyes shut, worry free. An' all this progressed t'where's we can keep our eyes closed alla time now. DonJay and Jaime got it covered.
But the "or not" is what y'might wanna consider. Cuz y'either puts a sharp guy like Obama in charge a stuff, or yah's kinda gotta it hangin' out there fer the wolfs and bears t'take bites off'n yer ass. Dontcha know.
Whist wonderin' wot to listen to while scrubbing kitchen floor by hand - is wunnerful exercise, I highly recommend it - beats exerbike all t'hell. But I think I knowed the answer all along - influenced by Marc Eliot Stein's opry podcasts (he aint the only high-toney feller around, y'know).
So I selected Andre Previn's orchestration of Tchaikovsky per Ken Russell's film The Music Lovers starring The London Symphony. Is amazing, no?
Bought that record back in '72 or so after cajoling friends t'go see the movie with me. Probably Bushie and Deano, cuz I know we all saw Jeremiah Johnson and Bushie tried to convince Deano they oughta move to Colorado and become mountain men, which is a pretty good idea really, if you think about it.
Which reminds me, back in them days when I'se in and outta college (I was a non-traditional human, aren't we all) but anyways, I use'ta go to NYC fer Christmas break and see plays and stuff. So one New Years I'se at Lincoln Center - Avery Fisher Hall or sumers, watching symphony perform stuff by that American John Phillip Sousa, I think, or some such wonderful music. And was incredible. Me sittin' there in balcony cheap seats (actually on a knee peering thu railing trying to get as close to that sound as possible). Wow, just overwhelming.
And a few years later, I got that again. So we was doin' public good works stuff down in Panama. I'se with 24th Tactical Fighter Wing flyin' a desk in Admin and Sarge say "hey Lieutenant (you aint doin' nuthin') why'n't you go down t'the Catholic School an' paint they ceiling for 'em?" So I did that, cuz like Marty McFly say "don' never call me chicken" an' dontcha know the damn ceiling on the second floor gymnasium is actually falling in, but so why not paint the sucker anyway. I'se good at it cuz we moved around when I'se a poor kid and y'learn t'do stuff like that, hang wallpaper and what not. We was resourceful folk.
An' so there I am, paintin' this huge old dyin' a fast death ceiling, and kindly old nun bring me cookie and what not, fer break. So...is never gonna get finished anyway, not even with me working hard fast and honest like I do. So, catch m'breath an' light up a smoke, and sittin' there in the second floor window lookin' out at bright sunshine, here come US Army marching band, a marchin' rehearsin' an' playin' Stars and Stripes Forever right there in the little street below me. And of all the folk in whole wide werl, I'se the only person wot gots a ringside seat t'watch and listen to them fabulous music makers play that fantastic music. Thanks Sarge.
Saw that lyin' piece a shit Mitch McConnell on the news this morgen, an' thought to myself "Mitch, you lyin' piece a shit." He calls small business "job producers" and in an augenblink I recollect fifty years of interaction with them there job makers.
Like walkin' into any place of business an' sayin' "I'd like a job." An' kindly old gentleman (or whoever) say "y'know son, we here to make money fer me an' mine, not you an' yours. This is business, not some kinda socialist hippie commune where we all share the profits."
He goes on (politely) "y'gots t'understand yer existence (such as it is). You exist...to work yer ass off so's to make me rich. You're what we call working class - a worker bee - a production line producer of goods and services. And taken together as a whole - you're consumers too - buyers of the stuff you make - which in turn, I can sell back to you."
Well, that doesn't make much sense, but I guess I can kinda understand it. Small business aint in business to make jobs, they're in business to make money...for themselves. So I ask the old guy "you pay my salary, right?"
"Shit boy" he says "you gotta make me enough money to pay for your own salary. Otherwise I'd be losing money by having you around, dontcha see. And look 'round you...you gotta produce enough to pay for this here building, and all the equipment in it. If'n y'caint do that, we's losin' money. And that aint the point, now is it?"
"So" I ask (also politely) "I gotta produce enough to pay for...like twice my salary, right?"
"Shit son" he say "you gotta make enough t'pay fer my big ole house, my fancy car, my vacation to the Bahama's, my kids' college - all that shit - come from the sweat a yer brow down t'the crack in yer ass."
"Doesn't seem fair" I mention "the harder I work...the more you make."
"Now you gettin' it boy" he says "welcome to the American dream."
And he adds "I appreciate guys like Mitch McConnell lyin' out they ass - cuz that's what we pays 'em to do. Put a nice spin on things, dontcha know. Present us in the best possible light - like makin' money for ourselves is somehow patriotic...our duty to the flag and country. An' some poor slobs even believe that shit. Hope so, anyway."
Then he shoes me out the door "move along now boy, I got work for people to do." And I notice a sign above the door "your time is my money." An' I thunk to myself "yo Mitch, this here world-wide crisis is like the perfect storm to change how all this Capitalist shit works." N'est pas?
I prepared for this moment all my life. Always wanted to speak to a world-wide audience, to bring them - all, everyone - to a state of awareness; a knowing of the truth of things, a knowing of reality. Now, finally the world is ready to listen. So this is my message - I can help you.
But my knowledge of all things isn't the word of God, for He doesn't speak to me more so than anyone else. That is - if God were to speak to any, no doubt He'd speak to all - thus eliminating the ever-present potential for false prophets.
And my knowing isn't unique or intuitive, any more than it is for each and everyone. Cuz that's the same as the God-principle: wouldn't be fair for one person to have such special brain-power that no one else has. No - we all got's our fair share of thought making, intuition, education, genetic genius.
What I have is a unique educational background, like everyone else. That is, for each of us, how and what we've learned is a bit different from how and what everyone else knows. Thus (in the Hegelian world view) we can combine these eight billion bits of info into a coherent whole.
Start here - I admit that most all I know derives from twenty-five thousand years of human trial and error; from Adam's hearing voices (God...you there?) to Eve's apple-testing "Hmm, I kinda like snakey over there; he make me feel good."
From Aristotle's dialogue (and Hegel's dialectic) to Stokely Carmichael's brilliant scatalogic "Africans built the pyramids...okay, so they were Jews and slaves from all over...they were in Africa, n'est pas?" And another thing - BJ Palmer's assertion that innate intelligence supercedes: "follow yer hunches" he'd say "that's Innate tellin' yah what t'do."
Priority One (subject to change) figure it out. Re: Edgar Poe's "Cask of Amontillado" ignorance is fatal - read the story, you'll know what it means. In fact read all you can, listen, learn, grow. We can all do that ever day. But don't just rely on some smart (or stupid) President tellin' yah what t'do. Figure it out, bud. If yer life depends on knowing what to do, by God, use yer own smarts and make yer own plans. (We can compare notes affer the test.) The correct answer is - those of us who lived thu it, got it right.
Priority Two - tell me ('n ever one) whatcha think. Maybe you gots ideas I don't. Let's share our brilliance. Thomas Chatterton Williams (et al) says "we're all in this together." I think Jesus mighta said the same thing, but folk only heard wot they wanted to hear. In fact, Able was tellin' that to Cain, who had diff'rnt views. Anyway, I wanna hear from y'ahs, from everyone 'bout their ideas of how to get thu this, and how to build a better world, using the hashtag "nothing to fear."
In '65 John Lennon wrote us a song "Think for Yourself" and presciently added "cuz I won't be there with you." #nothingtofear
Why the flock every idjut on TV gotta flail away wid they hands whilst talking? Some foghead body language "guru" say it enhances audience attention - so now ever pubic speaker's taught (mind you) t'flail away like dodo bird try'n'ta fly. Flockin' stupid fokkin' #monkeyseemonkeydo
I wouldn't want a job you could do from home. Unless was farming - and I don't believe in raising animals for slaughter. As for producing fruit and vegetables for sale - that requires large numbers of migrant workers, plus marketing and shipping contracts - so that's basically managing your own industrial operation.
I suppose writing is an at-home job. But how could you write anything worth reading if you weren't out and about. You couldn't very well comment on life unless you've some knowledge of living it. Like Joe Ridgwell - get out there and see the world and its people, and know what's going on afore you tell the rest of us how to live and what to do. Cuz I aint gonna read yer crap just cuz yer a famous writer.
But isn't that true for everything. Who would want any product from Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates lessen them boys had researchers who figure out what we all need and what works best for us. And them market researchers better be out talkin' with folk and gettin' the knowin' of things. That is - the knowing of people.
Cuz tha's what's all about. Us eight billion interactin' daily with one nuther. Stayin' home is fine for the duration of The Plague but if y'ahs ever read Camus' book - it sucks, big time. An if you ever watched World War Z - ditto. Plagues aint cool & aint no fun. Fear, panic, and world at war - is no way to live. (Not even a good way to die, I reckon.)
An' y'know what Papa was desperately searchin' for in Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalypse The Road. He was a walkin' a wanderin' an lookin' all over hell - fer other people. Cuz survival depends on being a member of the biggest strongest and bestest group. Re: Robinson Crusoe who greatly needed his pal Friday, or Tom Hanks in Castaway who had to invent his own liddle buddy, Wilson.
Now I got my own survival strategies & I won't share 'em cuz this virus will likely go viral & I don't wanna be caught short (as Johnny Wad usta say). So I recommend everbuddy just figure out what's best for them, and we'll compare notes after the test. Meanwhile, read good books - I got a bunch, even wrote a couple you might like. And as the song says "ask me about death and disease, I say eat yer vegetables & do whatcha please."
Finished watching Ride the Pink Horse this morn and heard Eddie Muller say maybe Robert Montgomery wasn't the best choice to portray Lucky Gagin. No no and again no. Montgomery is so very excellent in this role: quirky, off-center, out of place. Completely lost in Kafka's no-man's land.
And he's actually the prototype for the second best character in crime parody - Johnny Dangerously, as perfected by Michael Keaton. (Of course the greatest crime parody isn't Naked Gun, which is really good, it's Hot Fuzz, which is bar none the best movie ever.)
So, you think Keaton based his character on Robert Taylor from Johnny Eager - and so he did. Taylor was great in that role, by the way. But if'n y'look close, you'll see Keaton imitated Montgomery's Lucky Gagin so closely, he even physically resembles him as Johnny Dangerously. Is remarkable, no?
Now back to the movie - Pink Horse is great, amazing, worth the 30-day wait while that Oscar junk was on. And you think it's like taking the cure, like you don't really need yer Noir Alley. Wrong - is by far the best thing tv done. Not just the great shows but the way Muller talks about them, that's what's irreplaceable, unique, so very worth our valuable time.
And not to quibble with the maestro, but he overlooked the star of the show - Art Smith. His performance as Bill Retz, the very cool, aloof, and deeply concerned rep of our Uncle Sam is not only the key to the movie - Retz alone is worth the price of admission. The little old guy nobody'd ever notice is actually the man with all the power, and the moral clarity to use it wisely; a God-like figure indeed.
Now Wanda Hendrix is good...a bit odd (well, extremely odd) but that's what makes her character like none other. The cute kid who for no particular reason is the savior of the strange American who has no appeal to anyone except Pila and Pancho. This is a weird movie, a classic - noir at its gnarliest. Muller at the top of his game. Hats off meinen freunden!
