Jochen,
After my original bout of hysteria, I have been pretty sure that Biden was going to win this narrowly. But this outcome hasn’t improved my mood. Hysteria still lurks, because 70 million Americans, more than any that have voted for any other presidential candidate except Biden, have endorsed the Presidency of Donald Trump. That this fact should be beyond my comprehension shows me – as Dave West has been pointing out – the weakness of my model of the people I am living among. Imagine how you would feel if 49 percent of the German electorate have voted for a neo-Nazi or 49 percent of the French had voted for Le Pen.
According to my benighted Deweyan, Liberal, Bleeding-Heart ethos, this fact implies a duty to reach out to these folks and try to find some common ground on which to stand and from which to work. But I have no idea where to start.
But thanks for your good wishes. Lord knows we will need them.
Nick
Nicholas Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
Clark University
https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
From: Friam <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of
Jochen Fromm
Sent: Sunday, November 8, 2020 4:19 AM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[hidden email]>
Subject: [FRIAM] Biden beats Trump
America has been able to accomplish what Europe has not been able to do before WW II: stop fascism (in form of an authoritarian dictatorship) before it was able to take root in the system. Congratulations! It feels good that the old America is back. People are celebrating in the streets in NY and DC while team Trump is holding one of the last press conferences at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping (!) center in Philadelphia. It is hard to say what is bigger: the malice or the incompetence of team Trump. It is such a relief that we no longer have to hear each day about Trump.
-J.
| Free forum by Nabble | Edit this page |