Podcast 425 – New Thinking Part 1

New Thinking Part 1. These days, politics is one emotional appeal after another. The media refers to politicians like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders as ‘populists’ but in fact they are demagogues; Using emotional appeals and often stimulating people’s long held prejudices and biases to gain support for their campaigns. In 2016 we’re going to see the ‘new rules’ of politics come into play with a vengeance. Most of the action will take place on the so called ‘small screen’ which means your television and especially your smart phones, social media, news websites where viewers watch a video, or part of a video and move on. A strange and symbiotic relationship between media, polling and politics have turned American politics into a freak show. Outrageous characters and weekly ripples in story lines mean more eyeballs. Media moguls and the candidates are laughing all the way to the bank, to the Capitol and the White House. Meanwhile increasingly angry voters become frustrated, losing faith in the outcome of elections, voting and the government itself. Moreover, the worst invective is often heard at meetings where the same politicians and charlatans troop through and tell people what they want to hear. It’s time for a reboot of American Political Thinking. It doesn’t start with politicians or personalities. It starts with individuals, communities, and values. It means researching and thinking about the concerns of your community, developing ideas about issues, talking about those issues, and creating effective political organization around those ideas, not the rhetoric of some pol who will forget about you and your concerns the minute he is elected. A new America is being created.  A new way of thinking is being created, whether you want it or not. If we don’t change the way we think about politics, taking it back to the blocks and rebuilding it, we’re doomed to being controlled by personalities — demagogues — more interested in power than the people. I’m starting a new series of podcasts, which will bear the ‘New Thinking’ title. I’ll do them when the spirit moves me, or I encounter a person or situation I think will help build a new way to think, talk and DO politics in this country, because what we have right now, isn’t cutting it. Sponsored by Baklund R&D, Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate. 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:41 — ) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Podcast 402

America 2015 Pre Fascism? These days American politics seems to be nothing more than snark, shouts and screams, politicians doing and saying whatever they can to get as much media time as possible, served by a willing media looking for a three ring circus to increase ratings, clicks, favorites and views. Rather than working in politics, people seem to want to be their own movement (of one), or hang out only with those they agree with. Mostly no one does anything. These days a political argument is calling someone a name, or a personal attack. No one wants to hear the details. Frustration, fear and anger rule the day, and rhetoric is king. Need to solve a complex problem? Demand a solution, usually involving more government regulation, all tied up with a red white and blue ribbon with ‘Make America Great’, or ‘Hope and Change’ written on it. All of this is a movement waiting for a leader. A leader that promises to win the argument, fix the problems, make the bad things go away, and make everyone feel better again. The word fascism is so loaded, just saying it in a crowded room in relation to American politics provokes all sorts of angry responses. People almost always think of Germany in the 1930’s and 40’s. We’re taught fascism comes from the right, but the truth is that in Italy, and Germany it was a center right, or center left movement, to the right of socialism, marxism and anarchism but to the left of the established ‘conservative’ governments. When government becomes so powerful it is responsible for everything, it can’t do anything right. Sound familiar? Is America in a Pre Fascist political state? Are the conditions necessary for fascism on the horizon? If so, who or what is responsible and what can be done about it? Do we blame the elite? The government itself? Or people who have grown too dependent on a powerful state, and now they just want it to work. It’s time to talk about politics differently and name the real danger. Sponsored by X Government Cars.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:30 — ) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Podcast 387

Noise and Unconscious Thought. What do you think about when you don’t know you’re thinking? Everyone has an unconscious stream of thought. It’s never ending. Most of the time we don’t even realize our brains are running, our minds are talking to us. Truth is, that unconscious stream of thoughts is often the well spring of good ideas and insight. It can be a gold mine of creativity, or a window into a person’s deepest motivations. Yet, everywhere we go these days is a video monitor, music playing, or a TV hooked up to one of the twenty four hour news channels. With all that ‘content’ being delivered everywhere, we don’t get a chance to experience silence long enough to actually experience our thoughts moment to moment. One could ask, ‘Do you ever listen to your thoughts’? Thing is, its near impossible for people to hear themselves think, because whether you’re putting gas in your car, going into a coffee store or restaurant, sitting at a bar, even doing your laundry at a laundromat, ‘content’ is always there. What they don’t tell you is, all that content is designed to use your emotion to persuade, or to hook into emotions to cause you to listen longer, watch longer and remember. With celebrities, politicians, even terrorists playing into the media for attention and persuasion, our thought streams are manipulated, and we don’t even know it. So for this Independence Day weekend in the United States, hopefully people can get a little slice of silence long enough to hear themselves think. What will you think about? Sponsored by X Government Cars. 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:00 — ) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS