Always Go To the Funeral
August 23, 2017·4 comments
American politics has shifted from a game where both sides could cooperate toward shared goals to one where every issue becomes zero-sum conflict. But this transformation wasn't driven by genuine public passion emerging organically. It was engineered through narrative construction, converting issues nobody cared about into political imperatives overnight. Once this shift happens, politicians and citizens lose the ability to step outside the game they've been forced to play.
• A non-issue became politically mandatory overnight. Confederate statues had near-zero public salience until framed as something being taken away. Once narratives shifted, politicians couldn't stay neutral without appearing to capitulate to perceived enemies.
• Neither party wants the role assigned to them. The game shifted from cooperation to pure competition, and in competition, staying neutral gets you destroyed. Politicians are strutting and fretting in a script written by political entrepreneurs, not their constituents.
• This strategy predates modern politics by centuries. Richard Nixon did it with the Silent Majority in 1968. But today's version scales differently because the technology is more effective and the entrepreneurs don't want to preserve the system but to reboot it entirely.
• Once a cooperation game becomes a competition game, it never reverts. You can't uninvent mustard gas in trench warfare. The Stag Hunt equilibrium—the stable cooperative state—is permanently dead. Both parties are now locked in a dynamic they didn't choose and can't escape.
• Both parties are showing the posture of dying animals. The real question isn't survival. It's whether we can design a competing operating system before the reboot happens, and who you want standing with you in the meantime.
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Comments
Ben, I was thinking about this note today as I listened to the funeral services for President Bush. Later I opened Zero Hedge (don’t judge me) and noted no single mention of the funeral or his death, which I find exceptionally surprising. I’m a Houstonian, so maybe I’m giving his funeral too much importance. I don’t think so, though.
The common refrain around 41 is that he was a good man. An honest man. Humble and selfless, funny and nice. He became great friends with Bill Clinton of all people. Perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps he’s part of the oligarchy and his sins have been whitewashed with the passage of time.
I think Zero Hedge just doesn’t have anything to say about him. He doesn’t fit the political narrative that drives add revenues today. You ask, “why am I reading this NOW?” We aren’t reading about 41 NOW because the story doesn’t fit with the today’s narrative: socialists, fascists, Trump’s tweets or Putin’s secrets. 41 is the antithesis of your widening gyre. I suppose I’m just a bit melancholy, but I sure wish everyone could have attended that funeral today.
I’ve been to three funerals this month. It is appropriate to ‘bump this up’ for funerals, in general, and the Deeping Great Ravine.
First published in 2017.
My best friend from childhood recently died, and I found out about his services two days ago. Had it not been for this note, I might not have have flown out last minute to attend them. Glad I did. It meant something to me, and it meant something to his wife. Thanks for writing this.
I recently attended a funeral for a contractor who completed some projects for us over the last 3 years. We purchased a home he built last year. Fantastic skills but what i loved about him was his integrity. We became fast friends.
I would tell him when he would confront a project challenge or wanted to propose a change to the plans, that I trusted him and would follow what he thought was best.
No contention - ever. things would creep a bit over the proposed timelines, he’d get hung up on his truck breaking down, an ill friend, etc - life stuff - but it was never an issue.
He died last week, suddenly. His son called. We dropped everything and scooted to south NJ for his funeral.
A loss for humanity, but also joy. Joy that we felt so compelled to want to honor him in front of his family and dear friends and the so many he people he positively influenced.
It was really nice for my wife and I to have the opportunity to celebrate how GREAT a person could be. A nice contrast to the vitriol which can swirl around us.
Sour yet sweet.
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