The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    We're About to Take a Good Thing Too Far

    By Mike Drew on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 3:09pm |

    The attacks on the American embassy in Libya, resulting in four deaths, was a terrible, terrible event. It's not likely to be one-of-a-kind.

    This act was supposedly spurred on by an anti-Islam movie. It happened overseas. But it can backfire here. Religion is a touchy subject. Religious people are notoriously thin-skinned, even intolerant. And religious groups are easily targeted for being different.

    But this isn't about religious tolerance. Or it isn't entirely. It's about attitude.

    We're living in an age when more and more of us will be defined by what we are not, rather than what we are: What we stand against than what unites us.

    And it's easy to take something too far when it comes to beliefs, to religions, to one's idea of god. As the writer David Farland said, "Men who believe themselves to be good, who do not search their own souls, often commit the worst atrocities. A man who sees himself as evil will restrain himself. It is only when we do evil in the belief that we do good that we pursue it wholeheartedly."

    The attacks on the American consulate in Libya were perhaps preplanned, and perhaps an act of terrorism, of anti-Americanism. But they were also a sign that people are being targeted for not being "us," whatever "us" is.

    In our book Pendulum: How Past Generations Shape Our Present and Predict Our Future, which I wrote with Roy H. Williams, we identify cycles of society as they swerve between an individualistic "me" era and a more civic-minded "we" one. Politics, manners, humor, sexuality, wealth — even our definitions of success — are periodically renegotiated based on whatever new values society chooses to use as a lens to judge what's acceptable.

    We're currently in a "We" cycle, which began in 2003. A "we" cycle emphasizes transparency and cooperation over self-centered motivations. It's about working together. We based our conclusions about society's shifts on what we found in examining cultural and political events over the last three millennia of Western history. We were able to identify a surprisingly regular shift in society every 40 years, as people moved from one extreme to another.

    In our research, we also found that through the centuries, and the shifts within each cycle, society always takes a good thing too far: witch hunts and the Inquisition are but two examples of such intolerance and fear-mongering in a society that has embraced extremism. We're about to do that now. What began as a dream of cooperation is becoming one of antagonism if people don't toe the line according to what a powerful majority believes should be the norm. Muslims can be the next target. Even if our country is, despite political badmouthing, relatively open about religious practices, we might see Muslims more and more targeted for espousing a certain type of rigidity, and upholding a certain type of violence when it comes to their religion. If we head toward a more fanatical age, we might target a religious group that is too often defined by its fanaticism, and not make a difference between the devout and the deranged.

    If history is a reliable guide, and we believe it is, we’re about to take a good thing too far in our current cycle, 10 years in and heading toward a more fanatical age. As we approach 2023, the zenith of our current “We,” we’re about to learn what John Steinbeck was talking about during a similar era in the last century when he wrote, in America and Americans: “a teetotaler is not content not to drink – he must stop all the drinking in the world; a vegetarian among us would outlaw the eating of meat.” Think of that in terms of religion, too.

    Yes, “working together for the common good” can quickly become self-righteousness.

    And what happened in Libya might just as likely happen here. It might not be a consulate. It could be another church. It could be a school. It could be a person targeted because of religious dress. It won't get better. Unless we look to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Yet some forces in society will act more intolerant, rather than less.  Count on it.

    Comments

    Well, here's some good news on the subject:

    http://gawker.com/5946310/anti+islam-nyc-subway-ads-immediately-covered-...

    At least some Americans take a measured response to the overseas protests and even the consulate attack.  This is more complicated than just some people getting angry over a bad low budget movie.


    by Michael Maiello on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 5:09pm

    Thanks for sharing with dagblog, Mike. Sounds for Hari Seldon. If this phenomenon represents a consistent historical pattern, then aren't we essentially pre-determined to experience more fanaticism at this point? In which case, how does it help to try to be inclusive?


    by Michael Wolraich on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 5:50pm

    Genghis, do you know the authors of this book?


    by erica20 on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 1:04am

    No, their publicist just contacted me to ask if they could guest-post.


    by Michael Wolraich on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 9:28am

    Well then, I feel ok about saying that this book strikes me as one of those Corporate Church of Feeling Good books that exists only to tell a CEO or mid-level executive how smart he was to buy it, and to suggest he purchase copies for the rest of the employees--or even better, a company-wide PowerPoint Presentation and Conference With Workshops at a nearby Marriot Hotel: so that we will all know how smart our boss is, and how much he cares about us and wants us to be able to synergize the future like he can. (This type of book, in my experience, only speaks to male executives which is why I'm saying "he.")

    And the rest of us will leave our desks to sit in sullen silence on uncomfortable chairs at the Marriot, trying not to roll our eyes at slides with titles like "Alpha Voices and the Six-Year Transitionary Period" and wondering if the fresh fruit at the buffet will be better than it was after Who Moved My Cheese, Seven Habits, or Six Sigma.

    **

    Mother trees terrify their baby trees with stories about disobedient trees reduced to paper for books like these; the baby trees whimper in shame at the thought of being lined up on some CEO's shelf like so many ex-wives, and promise to grow straight and strong in future.

    **

    In other words, I'm pretty sure that your status as the most intellectually serious published author at Dagblog is in no danger.


    by erica20 on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 5:32pm

    In other words, I'm pretty sure that your status as the most intellectually serious published author at Dagblog is in no danger.

    Or IS it? 

    I like the looks of this new kid they've hired, "Reader Blogs." 

    I'll bet he's Dutch. And they're helluva intellectually serious.

    Helluva.


    by quinn esq on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 9:06pm

    I like that Jewish guy, Hitzof Thedai - seems to be most popular as well.


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 09/27/2012 - 3:54am

    Adam Mistration also shows potential.


    by Michael Maiello on Thu, 09/27/2012 - 8:47am

    And the Young Turk, Termzuv Use. 

    I went out with his sister in college, Termzuvab Use.

     

    Somebody's gonna go jihad on me for that joke now, aren't they? 

    Pre-emptive: THE CRUSADES WERE WRONG!


    by quinn esq on Thu, 09/27/2012 - 10:09am

    I've been impressed by the classical stylings of Contactus Aboutus.

    (When the original poster said we were about to take a good thing too far, he didn't know how right he was.)


    by erica20 on Thu, 09/27/2012 - 12:25pm

    Thanks Erica, but that's a low bar. You did read the full title of my book right? The euthanize grandma and raging homosexual bit?

    I was hoping Drew would stop by for a couple of comments, but no dice.


    by Michael Wolraich on Thu, 09/27/2012 - 4:38pm

    I have to wonder at your methodology.  My feeling is that we have been in an extreme "me"  period since the mid-sixties - one that began on the left and then came to strongly dominate the right as well.  The result has been deregulation, growing inequality, a fragmentation of community and growing isolation of individuals, the breakdown of the social contract, endless discord and government dysfunction, a loss of civic literacy, a decline in professional ethics and open thievery.

    I think that's about to tip.  My watchwords for the coming era are democracy, solidarity, equality, social commitment, full employment and commitment to national progress.


    by Dan Kervick on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 5:56pm

    But hey ... good luck with your blog marketing campaign.


    by Dan Kervick on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 6:07pm

    Thanks for the link, dude. Otherwise, I might have judged you clinically insane to have identified 2003 as a turning point toward a "We" society (and which was apparently now going too far. Wha?)  

    Fortunately, your link spells a lot of stuff out, about the new book and all. Speaks pretty much for itself. Especially liked the Wizard of Ads riff and the bit about the Dali Lama. Oh that durned Dali.

    Nicknamed “the Wizard of Ads” by an early client, Roy H. Williams and his staff have often been the unseen, pivotal force in amazing come-frombehind victories in the worlds of business, politics, and finance. A lifelong student of humanity, Roy has spent a quartercentury asking, “What makes people do the things they do?” With over forty branch offices in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and Guatemala, Wizard of Ads, Inc. serves the advertising and marketing needs of business owners around the globe. Roy’s books and Monday Morning Memos are a constant source of fascination and entertainment for his students and friends. His previous books, The Wizard of Ads, Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads, Magical Worlds of the Wizard of Ads all reached bestseller status. Roy teaches creative thinking, strategic planning, and human persuasion in a three-day Wizard Academy that, since its launch in May of 2000, has attracted a roster of students that includes many of the world’s most forward-thinking and successful CEOs, educators, journalists, inventors, and consultants.

     

    Since the age of nineteen, Michael R. Drew has become a leading book marketer in the publishing industry, propelling nearly 75 books onto national bestseller lists, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The New York Times, and garnering over 1,000 #1 rankings for books on Amazon.com through his Promote A Book services. Michael heads a marketing agency that strives to build strong and real relationships with his clients and their audiences, increasing sales in a natural manner, and maximizing the depth and longevity of that relationship through its Persona Architecture and Platform Building programs. Michael has presented the Pendulum theory on stage with and for the Dali Lama, Sir Richard Branson, and Steven R. Covey, and privately for the Executive Committee at Franklin Covey. Michael lives in Austin, Texas.


    by quinn esq on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 6:46pm

    I have a feeling he's not exactly reading these replies.


    by Dan Kervick on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 7:52pm

    Drat.

    Good thing I cut and pasted most of it. ;-)


    by quinn esq on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 9:30pm

    Also, how would you mind being referred to as Dali Kervick from now on? 

    Just as a Dagblog thing?


    by quinn esq on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 9:31pm

    As long as we can call you "Quinntuckett", our 51st state.


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 1:26am

    I respectfully refuse the honour, on account of how many really poor quality jokes I'd be setting up. To whit/wit:

    Come visit Quinntuckett, America's State of Insanity.

    See also: States of Incontinence, Instability, Uncertainty, Insolvency and Generally Poor Behaviour.


    by quinn esq on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 9:40am

    Not to mention the inevitable limericks. To wit:

    There was a girl from Quinntuckett

    Who carried her gold in a bucket,

    When Bernanke found out, he filled it with Doubt,

    So the girl put it down and said "fuck it."


    by moat on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 10:16am

    Wow, you just described Mississippi, and a couple others. Plus Newfoundland.


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 10:47am

    Thanks for posting. And very well written.

    I do have to agree with the direction of Dan's remarks that the "cycle" we're seeing began as far back as the seventies. The current cycle is, in my opinion, indelibly linked to the boomer generation, and the naivety about "things being different this time"---especially with respect to personal financial leverage.

    I also think that while much of the fundamentals and psychology of religious intolerance are essentially the same whether Muslim, Christian or any other faith, the cycles of the West vs. the World of Islam are in completely separate phases---haven't done any research, it's just my opinion.

    As far as the U.S. is concerned, my feeling is that---especially with the dynamics of this election---we are witnessing the crest of religious intolerance as well as social intolerance. We have gone through something akin to the Great Awakening of the 19th century and it will subside as a new generation takes hold.

    That's what I glean from my armchair research, a youth spent preaching in Baptist churches, a mid-life crisis, and the pain and suffering of being an Obama supporter for four years. 


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 6:52pm

    I can't make heads or tails of this post. I have read it several times and I can't make it add up to anything.

    Is it a concern troll attack against Muslims that incidentally proposes a dumbed down version of Hegel's view of History?


    by moat on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 10:05pm

    I think you have to put on your Bush II red state hat to make sense of it.  Presumably the "we" cycle of cooperation and working together that began in 2003 has something to do with the Iraq war and/or the GWOT.  The author seems to think that was a good thing, but is now in danger of being "taken too far" into excessive anti-Muslim Christian jihadism.

    This seems like a weird and parochial way of looking at recent American history, given that a majority of the US public repudiated Bush and his war years ago.  But maybe that's the way the world looks from certain parts of the country where the GWOT is still in full bloom in the public mind - like maybe in certain military communities.


    by Dan Kervick on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 12:01am

    Thank you, wearing the Bush II Red State Hat does the trick.  I can understand the post while wearing it but it makes everything else I have ever known become blurry and unrecognizable. I am losing feeling in my fingers and toes...

    *moat rips off hat*

     


    by moat on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 7:26am

    Maybe The Decider will weigh in with a perspective.


    by Dan Kervick on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 7:46am

     

    * moat then stomps up and down on the hat before setting it on fire and sprinkling the ashes in the gulf of Quinntucket.  The feeling returns to all fingers and all but one toe. (Well, there is always a price to pay for wearing such hats.)


    by MrSmith1 on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 9:46am

    What I'm curious about is why did the latest cycle of "we" start in 2003?  I would have thought Americans became more much "we-minded" right after Sept. 11, 2001.   Did it take two years of  "we" to stop the inertia built up by the previous "me" cycle?  Is it just a coincidence that 2003 was when we went to war in Iraq?  Because I don't remember that as being a particularly "we" time.  Could anyone really define the 2004 Presidential election as being one that emphasized transparency and cooperation over self-centered motivations?   Really?  I guess I have to buy one of moat's hats.. 


    by MrSmith1 on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 10:00am

    It's not one of moat's hats that Mr Drew wants you to buy to get your questions answered, it's a book. A direct link to the Barnes and Noble page is embedded for your convenience. wink


    by artappraiser on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 4:41pm

    But isn't it a lot easier to absorb knowledge through a hat than go through all that work of reading?  I thought that's why the Tea-partiers always wore those tri-corner chapeaus.


    by MrSmith1 on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 5:39pm