Obsidian Wings

stuff i read

by russell

A couple of things I stumbled on in my daily random walk through the internet seemed relevant to topics under discussion here.

So, for your reading pleasure:

Michael Goldfarb tries to unpack the Trump phenomenon to readers of the BBC magazine.  Bonus points if you are a Springsteen fan, which I'm not in any significant way.  He hits predictable points, but all in all it seemed like a good piece.

Washington Monthly tries to square the "what's wrong with liberalism" circle by harking back to the Populist movement of the late 19th / early 20th C's.  An interesting take on the intersection of democracy and economic markets, and one which I find congenial.

We're at some kind of inflection point in public life.  I'm not sure where it will all land, but I don't think the categories we've been working with for a generation or two or three are really working well right now.  Understanding and unpacking all of the reasons why is somewhat above my pay grade, but as a nation, and a community of nations, and a nation of communities, we need to get some clues.

There could be a lot at stake.

Happy 4th, everyone.  Don't blow yourselves up, and enjoy the weather!

What Were They Thinking? -- Independence Day Weekend Open Thread

by wj

I read something recently which noted that one of the great (and mostly unanswerable) questions for historians is: "What were they thinking?" We can make a reasonable stab at "What happened?" But "Why?" is harder.

There have been a number of exchanges here lately, where one or another of us has suggested (not to say accused) the other party to a discussion of engaging in "mindreading". With the implication that any attempt to impute motives to someone's behavior was automatically suspect. And possibly grounds to dismiss their entire position. But is that really true?

Any attempt to understand what people want is part of understanding what might persuade them to want something else. In short, it is an integral part of marketing. Including marketing in the political arena. And the only way to understand what people want is to figure out what they want or are thinking.

The counter arguement might be: Well you could just ask them what they want. Good luck with that -- because getting a straight and honest answer is going to be challenging on a wide range of topics. And that's assuming that they can even articulate what they are thinking.

It doesn't matter whether the question is "Why did people vote for Brexit?" Or "Why do people support Trump?" Or even, "What possessed people to shell out real money for a Pet Rock?" (Link here for those too young to remember that particular insanity.)

In short, if you want to understand what is going on in the world around you, trying to figure out what people are thinking is pretty much a necessity. We can certainly argue about our different takes as to what they were likely thinking. But to refuse to consider the question is to refuse to understand.