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Lenor Cathleen Marquis Segal's avatar

This is a tangent (of course it is) but the fallacy of "we" can be very painful. Thinking "we all" in a particular subset have the same code is a tragically flawed assumption. And I personally fall for it over and over in personal settings (whereas I am very cynical in professional settings).

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Michael McClory's avatar

Excellent essay, Owen. A few quick thoughts.

First, I have been trying unsuccessfully to articulate the ideas in this paragraph. “We've grown fluent in euphemism.” Phrases, like the ones you note and others, are empty chalkboards and we all fill in what we want them to mean (for the insincere), or think they should mean (for the sincere).

Second, since I was a kid I have been arguing that borders … national, state, county, city, town, province, etc. … are merely useful for the organization of economic matters and societal services. The stories, Paul Revere and Custer and others, are just tools to hold things together, almost valueless on their own.

Third, for all the checks and balances talk, our form of government is entirely voluntary. There are no hard and fast rules. Trump is a soulless genius in that he has figured out there are no real mechanisms to exert control and he has convinced just enough people to let him have his way.

I will stop here before I run out of the cyber.

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