Belly Button Lint

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Tag: communication

  • Theme:

    the tug-of-war for progress

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    1–2 minutes

    Progress is always already happening: by definition, we are in the midst of progress, making it a bit oxymoronic to label yourself as being for something you can’t stop or start.

    This pedantic insight reveals that Progressives are only for a specific type of movement in a singular direction, which must be spurred on or accelerated. This requires an ideology mapping out the future utopia, which can be used to direct the morally fervent. This type of religiosity is also on the right but progressing backward: they are applying the brakes for a return to known dangers/ills rather than theoretical expansive equality.

    The problem with claiming that “the arc of history” bends progressively or that you need to be on “the right side of history” is that if progress is already progressive, why fight so hard? It is not happening fast enough, so we must accelerate, which creates the conditions for an ideological tug-of-war to slow down the change, burning energy and relationships at both ends.

    (partially from Steven Pinker)

  • Theme:

    Spirit as Breath

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    1–2 minutes

    Today, the term “spirit” is associated with a soul that is inconveniently housed in the flesh: the body dies, and the immortal soul lives on. Yet, the origin of “spirit” in ancient Greece referred to respiration: breath.

    Reconsider spirit as essentially (definitionally) a physiological act, an interchange between the external world and the internal self: to bring the world in, then expel your merged self back.

    Segregating the spirit from the body sanctions the breath, penalizing living.

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    From Prophets to Projecting Subjective Discontent

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    1–2 minutes

    A century ago, street preachers screamed judgment and redemption, channeling their fervor and insanity through faith, framing their cries within an accepted grand narrative.

    Today, in a secular age, that passion is turned inward before being expelled: the individual subject is the grand narrative, the personal grievance replaces the religious outrage.

    We now assert personal grievances without the constraint—or comfort—of a larger belief system, without a community to merge and shape our discontent, both reducing the impact of our fevered exhortation and making our outcry so unique it becomes fragmented, self-serving, and appears crazy.

  • Theme:

    persistence vs. obstinance

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    1–2 minutes

    When you are victorious against all odds and naysayers, you’re persistent.
    When your stubbornness hinders you, leading to failure, you are obstinate,
    Success determines whether it is self-destructive or self-confidence.
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  • Theme:

    lies vs bullshit

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    1–2 minutes

    Lying is knowing the truth while intentionally deceiving. Bullshitting is deceptive as well, yet is not so deliberately against truth. Bullshit casually bypasses truth altogether to achieve an effect.

    Lying, perversely, subverts the truth: you must know the truth to lie. Bullshitters don’t care. Bullshit only concerns itself with achievement, making it more dangerous as it erodes the social foundation of truth-seeking and trust bias.

    from Harry Frankfurt, “On Bullshit”

  • Theme:

    Your Animal Operating System

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    1–2 minutes

    Your unconscious is an operating system for an animal: it speaks in images and metaphors, impulsive drives.

    It directs you before language can get in the way. It works before we can "make sense" of the world’s workings.

  • Theme:

    Politics today: control

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    1–2 minutes

    "There are only two vital forces in American politics today: those who wish to control everything, and those who wish not to be controlled." ~ Martin Gurri

    To extend: There are only two options today: a lying state working hard at the appearance of control, and an obviously lying state proudly out of control.

  • Theme:

    When Blame is Taboo

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    1–2 minutes

    There are real problems, but assigning blame has become taboo; historically, generalizing others (reductive) easily leads to demonization and subsequent bad outcomes.

    Yet, to demonize speaking suppositions (half-formed or ill-formed) undermines the problem-solving process. To utter an observation invites alternate points of view by which arguments can be parsed, while to stay silent on taboo topics is to ensure that societal consensus never matches observable reality.

    For example, in the 1970s, rising crime was real. Acknowledging systemic failures rendered individual action moot: You cannot "blame the victim." Although empathetic to injustice, this rhetoric shifted policy toward moral retaliation against enforcement, making speaking obvious truths (violence and theft) a form of self-exile from accepted discourse—rendering many critical solutions silent.

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  • Theme:

    The story of capitalism

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    1–2 minutes

    Capitalism, as a narrative ideology, can be seen as an evolved version of the master-slave dynamic, where economic power replaces direct subjugation.

    It offers a more complex, dramatic story—one of individualism, opportunity, and self-made heroes. The chaos of markets and competition heightens the stakes, turning economic struggles into personal dramas.

    However, this narrative also generates great tragedies. The heroes—entrepreneurs, and capitalists—are often accompanied by victims: the exploited or marginalized. Thus, capitalism’s appeal lies in its dramatic potential, but its tragedy arises from the inherent inequalities and systemic pressures embedded in this grand narrative.

  • Theme:

    Questioning courage

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    1–2 minutes

    “Those who lack the courage will always find a philosophy to justify it.” ~ Albert Camus

    A positive variation of this could be: “Those who have the courage often find philosophies to question it.”