On 1/7/22 7:01 AM, glen wrote:
...<Harm Reduction>... And perhaps it's a manifestation of whatever
core physiology it is that binds the [ma|pa]ternal-individual
perspectives into a triangle. HR seems to cut a comfortable, practical
slice through the mess, much like what I imagine a steely-yet-kind
affect would look like.
I do have an affinity for the Harm Reduction conception to a degree,
and see how it can break the "downward spiral" that I think is implied
here (I feel bad; I take risks/drugs to feel better; I get
caught/judged; I feel bad;....etc). Someone once told me "you are
always either spiraling up or spiraling down in this world, it is the
choices you make at any given instant which you are doing". Even
homeostasis ideation leaves room for a mix of up/down spiraling within
some limits. I don't have a lot of experience with drug (or other
harsh) recovery up close, but I have known a lot of mild addicts...
people whose drug/alcohol/sex/spending/exercise addictions *seem* to
interfere with their quality of life and have tried (only mildly) to
bump them onto new trajectories. I would say all of them were in some
kind of dynamic homeostasis that had worked for them for years if not
decades, and who was I to interfere with their patterns which were by
some measure, actually working.
I haven't. But I'd *like* to buy some street drugs and take it to,
say, a rave and have the HR team test it just to get a feel for that
process from the user's perspective. I think I can project how it
might feel to be on the HR team. But I really don't have any idea how
the users feel about it. One of my neighbors back in Oregon, I'm
speculating, would have thought the HR team was part of the "deep
state" ... or spies for the DEA. But I've known many drug users who
are more rational than she was.
The major proponents of HR that I know of tend to be do-gooders who
believe they are "saving people". That is not to say that they don't
have some successes, and that the spirit is a good one, but to the
extent I have had people (try to) interfere in my life, it is generally
unwelcome (until I am ready, whatever that means). I think the fact
(not the aspiration) of HR can mean that many individuals who might have
spiraled right out the bottom have the opportunity to reverse their
spirals and spin back upwards... ideally through a different mechanism
(finding something besides the addiction that is hurting them to climb
back up with?). I think HR is more important to the non-subject of the
HR in that it removes us (somewhat) from the judgement that whomever is
being *harmed* *deserves* to suffer, and I think for the most part, that
makes us better citizens... to relieve our own judgements at least in
one or two contexts.
I had heard the phrase "there, but by the grace of God, go I" many
times, and dismissed it as religious gobbledeygook until a very
non-religious friend said that about a homeless person on the street in
a time and circumstance when I was able to recognize the "grace" in what
he was saying.
- Steve
On 1/6/22 09:41, Steve Smith wrote:
Your use of Gaze worked for me, but I also understand Marcus'
reaction to it. I'm sure others would as well... Gaze as you
intended it and the rest of us received it is naturally a
multi-spectral phenomenon... some of us have notches in our Gaze, as
you suggested Q-shaman and Rittenhouse in their own Reflective Gaze
perhaps. I had not heard the reference to the
nanny/daddy/libertarian triangle before but it fits how I do think
about the tensions, up to and including my own internal apprehensions
and intentions which sometimes have my mind/soul running a little bit
like a Wankel engine... each combustion chamber taking it's turn
(positive or negative pressure) on each of the three extrema you
describe. It seems like there is a meta-pattern in there, a first
derivative of those quantities that can get a resonance set up,
driving us forward (or backward). In reflection on my ambitious
youth, I think I was driven by that triad... 1) Wanting the freedom
to explore/experience with abandon; 2) Wishing someone would clear my
path, pick up my broken toys and cut the crusts from my avocado
toast; 3) Wishing someone would bitch-slap the people who were
getting in my way or not cooperating and maybe give me a hearty slap
on the back anytime I did something bold.
I also like your invocation of the Steely Affect Judge in these
cases. I have my own distrust/judgement of the "<Adversarial>
Criminal Justice System", mostly from having worked as a PI for a few
years (in my ambitious youth) but the few members of those
professions (judges, lawyers, LEOs) that I developed a lot of respect
for were those that seemed to have a truly humanist center AND the
Steely Affect you suggest. Unfortunately those were as Unicorn as the
apocryphal Benevolent Dictator and the GoodGuyWithGun... I left the
biz because (partly) I didn't see a righteous niche for me (or
anyone?) in that game.
<aside> As an antidote to those judgements/kneejerks of mine, I *was*
very pleased to see how hard the judge, prosecutor, and ultimately
Governor of Colorado worked with the recent Manslaughter Case where
the sentences for the trucker were required by law to be consecutive,
leading to a 100+ year sentence for something that I think ended up
being reduced to order 10 years. I wanted to see more of that kind
of unity (vs adversarality) in cases like Floyd, Rittenhouse, Aubery,
etc...
I have only begun to follow politics closely in the past 6 years or
so but was not surprised to find how few *statesmen* we had among our
elected officials. Among those who seem to have truly dedicated
their life to trying to make this nation (or any given state or
locale) a better place for all who live in the jurisdiction, many
have a very different idea from me of what "better place" would look
like, but at least they seem to engagable on the topic.
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