We’re In It Now: part two
The overriding situation at this time is obviously working our way through a complex and frightening domestic/civic-justice disaster. It’s also an immersive advanced workshop in government, management, economics and philosophy unfolding in real time with real consequences. We should view this as an exercise in the fog-of-war lifestyle. But you’ve heard all of this before.
The world is seldom fully explained to us. Not only are future ramifications of events and actions unclear, but our grasp of what’s really happening is often vague and superficial. Our job is to wrestle with those imperfect perceptions and partial understanding in order to explore the mystery of not only what’s really happening, but what should we do about it next. Many things stand in our way.
Sounds familiar, right? Not only are we here again; we never left. It’s all one thing unfolding obscurely before us with both imaginary and real consequences. Our behaviors cause a feed-back loop affecting what’s happening, altering or hopefully filling in our incomplete understanding.
Truncated conversations among media, local, state and federal governments, friends, family and that ingrained voice of a long forgotten civics class from grade school all urge us to do the right thing. It’s just there are so many versions of what that is. Expectations of ourselves and others bounce back and forth acquiring differing meaning and import each day. What a disaster. What a success. How embarrassing as a nation. How proud we should be of our citizens. Rioting. Demands for real justice. It’s all flux.
It’s surprising how what we think we understand keeps changing and consequently alters our choice of what is an appropriate response to that ever changing imperfect understanding; all with in a short time span. And then the cycle repeats again. Stir in the history that some of us have already lived through (perspective) as a bitter flavor ingredient and the pot boils once more.
We can usually figure out how to get through today (forget the fact that we may not actually remember what day of the week it is), maybe even tomorrow, but next week and certainly the week after that seem unimaginable. How will we get from here to there safely and with hope?
As we analyze situations we should at intervals ask ourselves who’s in charge now and what are their goals and associated metrics? What do I support and what do I oppose? Are we counting what we value or just what’s easy to count? Are we interested in outcomes or checkboxes?
The unfolding of events is really an interaction between actors and responders. Call and response, action and reaction. Each group has it’s own motivations, methods and toolkit to draw from. Some mesh well while others devolve into oppositions and conflicts.
Sometimes problems arise because the players aren’t actually playing the same game even though we’re all on the same playing field. What reads as legitimate behavior in one game is way out of bounds when played in another game. The troublesome part is that there are multiple teams in each situation so we end up with a web of intricate cross connections, motivations, rules and actions/reactions.
Not so surprisingly there are often hidden actors as well whose unseen moves confuse and deflect or focus and support the actions of others. Hidden actors have an additional advantage of being able to stop and walk away or simply pause their play for an interval either as a tactic or to step back and create think time. Hidden actors: few, economical and unnoticed may sound paranoid, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not there. There’s a thin space between being a player and being played.
Though we all cringe when politicians talk about “battle-space”; the fight for domestic justice has become our “new civics” protest-space that encompasses not only who controls public spaces, but the public mind as well and we should again ask who’s in charge now and what are their goals.
Show me your hands. Show me your metrics!
