This month I'm taking a break from creating a new article. Instead, I'm re-sharing my most recent six articles that you might have missed. I hope you find them entertaining, informative or thought provoking.
John Oliver dug into the "Project 2025" strategy document put together by Trump's supporters and then put together an engaging (fun!?) and enormously informative look at the real dangers that a second Trump term poses for our democracy.
"... when fear gets a glimpse of itself it often begins blustering and posturing to hide its true nature. In an effort to maintain its dignity, fear morphs into quasi-ferocious anger... like a chihuahua about to be sniffed by a Great Dane..."
To know Zappa's stuff you have to pop in your earbuds, get comfortable, close your eyes and just enjoy the ride. Here's my curated playlist to get you started.
I have uploaded over 90 items to the Internet Archive. Some of them are downloaded and used more than others. This article links the top 10 items accessed there.
When Trump was president, career civil servants (typically experts in many scientific and legal specialties such as weather forecasting, constitutional law, medicine, etc) at the environmental protection agency, Department of Justice and other agencies stopped him and his right wing cabinet members from breaking laws that were meant to protect the environment, civil rights, healthcare and more. TeamTrump was so frustrated by this that they resolved to develop a plan to neutralize these experts as soon as they take office. Project 2025 is their detailed strategy to dismantle the administrative entities and the laws that protect our civil rights, the environment, abortion access, the healthcare system and more. Project 2025 is supported by all sorts of special interests such as the Koch brothers, big oil, white supremacists and others. If it's implemented, it could destroy our democracy.
Forewarned is Forearmed!
Critics are calling it the fascists' playbook!
They say the devil is in the details. So what devilish evils await us in a second Trump presidency?
The detailed plans of those who hope to capitalize on a Trump victory in November are laid out in black and white for all to see in a document called Project 2025. Input from white supremacists, misogynists, and all manner of right-wing nut-jobs are represented in this detailed strategy document to be implemented following Team Trump's takeover. John Oliver has dug into this document and put together an engaging and enormously informative look at the real dangers that a second Trump term poses for our democracy.
John's video is fun, yet it's fact-filled. Check it out and then please share it with everyone you know!
In my book, Worth Sharing: Essays & Tools to Help Project Managers & Their Teams I shared Cohen's quote above. I then went on to observe that "... when fear gets a glimpse of itself it often begins blustering and posturing to hide its true nature. In an effort to maintain its dignity, fear morphs into quasi-ferocious anger. Like a chihuahua about to be sniffed by a Great Dane, fear barks and growls and desperately bares its teeth to ward off an imagined disaster. Never mind that the Great Dane was simply curious. It’s driven away before any kind of mutual understanding can be reached. And sadly, both end the encounter as ignorant of each other as they began it."
Now, nearly a decade later, I find we are facing yet more candidate-stoked (and media amplified!) anger and divisive rhetoric as we head into the 2024 election season. It's all about getting folks whipped into a fearful frenzy in order to drive them to the voting booths and to keep their eyeballs tuned in so the talking heads can narrate the brawl (... between ads, of course).
Is it meaningful political action? Or fear-driven anger?
So here's my challenge. I urge us all to try to banish fear of the "other" and his/her positions. And I urge us all to keep these questions in mind as we enter this election season and try to answer them honestly:
If my political "enemy" were my spouse or parent, how would I participate in the discussion with them? Would I be more respectful? ... more patient? Would I probe with thoughtful questions so I could better understand where they are coming from?
Am I taking the time to present my political views in ways that show that I've thought deeply about my positions? Am I giving personal (not heated, but heartfelt!) examples of how I've come to my political conclusions?
Am I truly open to changing my opinion on something... anything... on which my "opponents" disagree with me? What's it going to take to change my mind?
Remember this: A sharply divided country is not in anyone's best interest, other than the handful of ranters who are stoking the division and profiting from it. This John Stewart video illustrates:
If we don't embrace the irrational fears these ranters espouse, then they can't leverage our fear and take away our power by "saving" us from the "other." If we choose to see the "others" as our potential collaborators in a series of compromises that we all (as collaborators) work to achieve, then we strip the "dividers" of their power. Then we, the people, take charge of our republic.
It's simple. As Yoda said in Star Wars: "Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering."
The bottom line: This election season, pay attention to anyone who wants you to fear. They may be trying to take us all down a dark path, indeed!
