Letter to George Soros
Regarding your book, "The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror", I want to take issue with you on a couple of very important points.
But, first, the following caveat:
I would normally buy your book and then try to make some kind of contact with you directly. You see, I am a very strong believer in two-way communication; however, failure of past authors to partake in my idea of a better world causes me to try to make the contact BEFORE spending any money. I am therefore using material from your website to support my thoughts.
Please, let me emphasize that I am not talking about major differences -- I have no argument with your general philosophy -- I am concerned with a few gaps in your logic, gaps that are most critical, as you will see.
In your introduction, you state:
"My biggest frustration is with the fundamental misconceptions that have prevailed in the United States in recent years. Misconceptions play a prominent role in my view of the world. I consider them causal factors in shaping the course of history. And I consider open society a desirable form of social organization exactly because of its ability to correct misconceptions. How is it that the oldest and most successful open society has become the victim of misconceptions?"
"My contention is that America has become a "feel-good" society unwilling to face unpleasant reality. That is why the public could be so grievously misled by the Bush administration. Unless this feel-good attitude can be changed, the United States is doomed to lose its dominant position in the world. There will be serious adverse consequences not only for America but also for the world."
And I agree, except for one thing -- you proceeded in the wrong direction -- exploring the relationship between thinking and reality. And it's not that the question lacks importance. You have not established a causal connection between thinking and your so-called feel-good society. In all fairness, there is a connection; however, there are some links in between that need examining.
America has become a "feel-good" society because that is exactly what the powers want. The last thing the powers want is a thinking society. Thinking people have a tendency to do exactly what I am doing -- writing a letter to one in power to disagree with something he said.
But -- and here is the crux of the problem -- how do I get you to read my thoughts?? You have nothing on your web site for individual contact -- no e-mail or other address -- no location whatever. So, I can post to my web sites in the hope that some reader may know how to get your attention.
Mr. Soros, Doing something about the feel-good society is easy, because there is a lot of activity in process in that area, which means that supporting some of that activity is the easiest way to get preliminary results. I am referring to the activity called blogs and/or forums or chat rooms -- activity designed to build communities, communities designed to facilitate discussion.
I am not trying to denigrate your concern for the connection between thinking and reality -- only to state that it too will need the capabilities that I am talking about. We need to get the people talking to each other, which means that we need to start with the infrastructure -- it's just as easy as that. Another point, from your introduction:
"The root cause of trouble is a false metaphor, the war on terror. It has done terrible damage to our standing in the world and endangered our open society at home; yet it is still generally accepted as the natural response to 9/11. I detail the damage and argue that it is largely self-inflicted by the willful misinterpretation of reality. We cannot start repairing the damage until we repudiate the false metaphor of the war on terror. We must do more than just revert to the policies we pursued prior to 9/11. We must recognize that as the dominant power in the world we have a special responsibility. In addition to protecting our national interests, we must take the leadership in protecting the common interests of humanity. I go to some detail as to what that entails."
While I agree that the false metaphor is a problem, I don't see it as the root cause. There are a number of people making the same points about it's usefulness; however, the key question is:
How do you expect to dispense with a false metaphor when more than half the voting citizens are not involved in the discussion -- and there is no way that they can get involved as long as we fail to provide the infra structure. In short -- how can a society be open without the ability to pursue in-depth discussion other than through sound bites??
You may contact me through my web sites:
http://nationalcomputerassociation.com
http://ifihadmyway.com
http://pdmsb.com
or my e-mail: skoglund@pdmsb.com. Please mark your subject with [SOROS]
To all other readers: I would appreciate your help getting my message to Mr. Soros.
Thanks
Doug Skoglund
But, first, the following caveat:
I would normally buy your book and then try to make some kind of contact with you directly. You see, I am a very strong believer in two-way communication; however, failure of past authors to partake in my idea of a better world causes me to try to make the contact BEFORE spending any money. I am therefore using material from your website to support my thoughts.
Please, let me emphasize that I am not talking about major differences -- I have no argument with your general philosophy -- I am concerned with a few gaps in your logic, gaps that are most critical, as you will see.
In your introduction, you state:
"My biggest frustration is with the fundamental misconceptions that have prevailed in the United States in recent years. Misconceptions play a prominent role in my view of the world. I consider them causal factors in shaping the course of history. And I consider open society a desirable form of social organization exactly because of its ability to correct misconceptions. How is it that the oldest and most successful open society has become the victim of misconceptions?"
"My contention is that America has become a "feel-good" society unwilling to face unpleasant reality. That is why the public could be so grievously misled by the Bush administration. Unless this feel-good attitude can be changed, the United States is doomed to lose its dominant position in the world. There will be serious adverse consequences not only for America but also for the world."
And I agree, except for one thing -- you proceeded in the wrong direction -- exploring the relationship between thinking and reality. And it's not that the question lacks importance. You have not established a causal connection between thinking and your so-called feel-good society. In all fairness, there is a connection; however, there are some links in between that need examining.
America has become a "feel-good" society because that is exactly what the powers want. The last thing the powers want is a thinking society. Thinking people have a tendency to do exactly what I am doing -- writing a letter to one in power to disagree with something he said.
But -- and here is the crux of the problem -- how do I get you to read my thoughts?? You have nothing on your web site for individual contact -- no e-mail or other address -- no location whatever. So, I can post to my web sites in the hope that some reader may know how to get your attention.
Mr. Soros, Doing something about the feel-good society is easy, because there is a lot of activity in process in that area, which means that supporting some of that activity is the easiest way to get preliminary results. I am referring to the activity called blogs and/or forums or chat rooms -- activity designed to build communities, communities designed to facilitate discussion.
I am not trying to denigrate your concern for the connection between thinking and reality -- only to state that it too will need the capabilities that I am talking about. We need to get the people talking to each other, which means that we need to start with the infrastructure -- it's just as easy as that. Another point, from your introduction:
"The root cause of trouble is a false metaphor, the war on terror. It has done terrible damage to our standing in the world and endangered our open society at home; yet it is still generally accepted as the natural response to 9/11. I detail the damage and argue that it is largely self-inflicted by the willful misinterpretation of reality. We cannot start repairing the damage until we repudiate the false metaphor of the war on terror. We must do more than just revert to the policies we pursued prior to 9/11. We must recognize that as the dominant power in the world we have a special responsibility. In addition to protecting our national interests, we must take the leadership in protecting the common interests of humanity. I go to some detail as to what that entails."
While I agree that the false metaphor is a problem, I don't see it as the root cause. There are a number of people making the same points about it's usefulness; however, the key question is:
How do you expect to dispense with a false metaphor when more than half the voting citizens are not involved in the discussion -- and there is no way that they can get involved as long as we fail to provide the infra structure. In short -- how can a society be open without the ability to pursue in-depth discussion other than through sound bites??
You may contact me through my web sites:
http://nationalcomputerassociation.com
http://ifihadmyway.com
http://pdmsb.com
or my e-mail: skoglund@pdmsb.com. Please mark your subject with [SOROS]
To all other readers: I would appreciate your help getting my message to Mr. Soros.
Thanks
Doug Skoglund
posted by Doug Skoglund at
2:39 AM
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