[FUPQ-18] Be calm when the unthinkable arrives
Day 3,769, 13:33
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Published in USA 
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by
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by Pfenix Quinn
The Free University of Phoenix Quinn is a service of the Socialist Freedom Party, a trans-national collective with a galactic vision and a pragmatic workplan. Our proletarian motto is: "Think galactic, Act elastic, Be fantastic". Or something like that. I dropped my reading glasses into my beer and can't really see what I'm typing anyway.
Today's lecture touches on a serious enough topic that I have not even tried to tie it to any in-game events. I am sure some parallels could be made, but it is probably not really dignified to do so?
Modern tyranny is "terror management". When attacks occur, authoritarians exploit such events in order to consolidate their own power. Disasters, in their worldview, require the end of checks and balances, the dissolution of opposition parties, the suspension of freedom of expression and the right to fair trial.
It's the oldest trick in the fascist handbook. Don't fall for it.
A "state of emergency" has a way of never going away. Hitler's lasted for twelve years. Right-wing jingoists in the USA still work 9/11/2001 into their twisted discourses around why it is necessary to be bombing Afghan peasants 17 years later.
Any act of terror, whether large or small, even if of limited inherent significance, can be used as an excuse to institute a regime of terror. Our modern masters of fear have even manufactured their own terror attacks in order to remove obstacles to total power and to provide an excuse to attack their neighbors.
Sometimes it reaches into realms of the absurd, with spokesmen for the autocrat having even announced news of the terrible explosion before it took place. Such mistakes by the murderous ones turn into further restrictions on liberty. The security forces botch the job, end up massacring civilians. So the the boss seizes control of more television stations to suppress the news and recast the story.
It works into their overseas machinations too. Our modern mafia-style regimes don't hesitate to deploy their regular army or covert armies as a terrorist force, simply removing insignia from uniforms and then denying all responsibility for sufferings inflicted. Or 'autonoumous' hackers produce scary fake propaganda intended to sway foreign electorates in a direction aimed at stirring up support for similar-minded mafiosi thought to be simpatico to the strongman.
For tyrants the terrible moment of shock is seen as an opportunity to enable an eternity of submission.
We must not let our natural fear and grief enable the destruction of our institutions. Courage does not mean never fearing, or not grieving. It means recognizing and resisting such "terror management" techniques right away, from the moment of the event, precisely when it seems most difficult to do so.
Being a bystander is not an option.
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At the end of this lecture series, very nifty diplomas and titles will be awarded by Genuine Academic Authorities (not really) based on responses provided in the comment sections. Participation counts. Indicate attendance by leaving a comment or endorsing the article. Higher honors will be awarded according to the degree of critical thinking, mindfulness and humor exhibited by responders.
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Stay calm and resist tyranny.
I just watched Do Not Resist but maybe we should
"we need the higher taxes to protect ourselves from being wiped"
V!!
This is so topical it is hard to know what to say. There are plenty of people with physical courage, and we rightly admire them when they put their own lives at risk to help others. Moral courage is less common, and more sorely needed in times like this. When all around us are fearful, when we are fearful ourselves, that is when we most need to stay calm, assess the true threat, and act wisely and courageously to resist those who are trying to control us. Resistance doesn't have to come in big things. It might show itself in reaching out to include those who who have been designated as "other" by those who want us to fear them. It can be shown in writing letters and making phone calls and joining peaceful demonstrations.
To keep some tie-in to the game, I suggest that those who speak up for what they believe, even when it is unpopular, are showing a moral courage in this game that can be transferred to RL. Even though it is a game, it is not a bad place to learn to do this.
So true.
I always think, what can I do or is my help needed. Most times it isn't except people asking to vote for them, accept the new rules and to support authority. I am bad in those things. I will vote always but not for the authoritarians. I like to help, but not to obey. I instruct myself to stay calm, enjoy life and care for my neighbourhood and that works. The same I do in eRepublik. 😉
This is an interesting subject. It just so happens that one of my courses for my MBA that I'm taking this term is on Critical Thinking, Reason and Problem Solving. Some of what is taught from one of the textbooks from authors Paul and Elder is the 3 Types of Thinkers which I think applies to this lesson. The first, "Uncritical Persons" is defined as intellectually unskilled persons who for example be motivated by irrationality, personal vanity, intellectual arrogance among other things. The second, "Skilled Manipulators" which they define as weak-sense critical thinkers who pursue self-interests, employ manipulation, domination or try to keep other points of view from being heard. The last, "Fair-Minded Critical Persons" is defined as strong-sense critical thinkers who reject manipulation and the controlling of others, desires all points of view to be considered, exposes manipulative persuasion, and combines the critical thinking skills with desire to serve public good.
Things like validating evidence given in support of a conclusion to determine its soundness can help to separate truth from opinion.
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V & C
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v.