When it comes to superhero powers, being able to bore people into submission probably isn't on the top of anyone's wish list. It's just not sexy. If you're going to be like most superheroes and walk about in public wearing brightly colored underwear, it follows that you would want to be as sexy as possible.
So superhuman dullness understandably gets overlooked, but that's the source of its power. If you can't be invisible, be so boring that people will look away from you. If you can't have a deflection shield, be so dull that no one wants to get close. You can mock a skunk's self-protection system as un-sexy, too, but it works.
In short, boredom can be an incredibly effective defense tactic.
That was the point that resonated with me the most as I listened to the audiobook of , an in-depth history of Griftopia by Matt Taibbi how Wall Street caused the 2008 world financial crash. Taibbi starts by noting the lines of defense the "Grifter class" (Wall Street criminals) has against any investigators.
He first laments the fact that some Americans value attitude over intelligence, a phenomenon seen most often among Teabaggers and Sarah Palin Cultists and their obvious contempt for "book learning." Anti-intellectualism offers two benefits to the Grifter class: it allows Wall Street operatives to portray the poor as the ones stealing from the working class, and it allows Wall Street to hide beyond complex rules of financial transactions.
For those who realize book learning has value and that it is in fact the Grifter class ripping them off (and not a poor single mother of three cheating on welfare) the next line of defense is boredom. Try to decipher Wall Street's scams, read through their manuals, law books, financial literature, etc. and you are soon bored out of your ever-lovin' mind. So bored in fact, that only the most determined souls (like author Taibbi) carry on.
To summarize, willful ignorance makes the complexity of Wall Street incomprehensible, but even if you try to learn the way the scam works, a second line of defense awaits: a lethal tedium that endangers even your drive for justice.
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As for me, the boredom challenge explains why real journalists are among my heroes. Thank heavens for Matt Taibbi, Rachel Maddow and the many other reporters and organizations (like Media Matters for America) who challenge the powerful by digging into the facts and/or tracking every word of hateful media. Lazy thinkers like me can simply check the logic, form an opinion, and have a nap before lunch.
This isn't to say Teabagger Nation is fully off base. Once again, I find myself aligned with them in the abstract. I too, have a distrust of complexity. However, because I am intellectually curious, if something doesn't make sense even after thorough examination, I suspect someone is laying the groundwork for deception, or if not, I'm aware I will be easy prey. I've always found it a wise move that if I don't understand something (especially financial endeavors) it's best not to proceed.
Complexity is the overriding way scams are hidden today. I believe that applies not only to Wall Street, but also the Healthcare bill, Law practice, and many of other systems and customs. It's the tool of annoying IT guys worldwide: Instead of teaching you how to do something, or allowing it to be within your grasp, everyone is setting up a fort of job security by obscuring their methods. Yet another reason teachers, who by nature establish an open-source world, are so vilified by authoritarian movements.
Unfortunately, many calls for a "simpler time" aren't requests for clarity but instead a wish for blissful ignorance. The solution to the complexity (and boredom) that the Grifter class hides behind isn't to dumb down the world, but to make it clear. You can add transparency, apply checks and balances, and provide information access. Make things as simple as as possible, but not simpler (as Einstein said).
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What made listening to the Griftopia audio book a poignant experience for me was the fact that I was doing so a week after having been downsized from my previous job. It was a strange form of torment and/or synchronicity to be hearing endless tales of Wall Street sociopaths robbing the world blind. All while I, through no fault of my own, was suffering a financial setback as criminals are getting rich beyond imagining, ruining millions financially, and sticking the working class with the blame.
I suppose this could have filled me with rage, or bitter resentment, but those are emotions I don't do well. I can never sustain them as much as the sociopaths around us do, and perhaps that is part of the working class downfall: our rage for justice must equal or surpass their innate greed, and the innate greed of the Grifter class is vast.
Regarding Griftopia, I never finished it. In the end, Taibbi's book committed suicide. By going into so much detail about the fact that Wall Street scams are complex and boring, the book itself bored me. Even Taibbi's trademark foul-mouthed insult artistry (referring to Alan Greenspan as 'The Biggest Asshole in the Universe' still entertains) couldn't keep me interested enough to finish.
As the reader droned on, I found myself thinking, "Yes, I know. They're ripping me off. I got it, Matt. Wall Street is not to be trusted. I hear ya. Got it. Thank you. I can't say as precisely as you how much they're screwing me, but it's obvious they are from the statistics."
What really turned me off was that I wanted to know the next step. What do we do about it? How do we cobble together this precious resource known as "political will" and reign these criminals in? Perhaps the book addressed it, but I'll never know, because I drowned in the moat of boredom around the ivory tower. The lesson of my tragic story is, we need to have the discipline to get through the boredom, or failing that, we need to support those brave souls who can, which is why despite failing to finish, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is tired of wealth inequality.
Books mentioned in this post: Griftopia by Matt Taibbi - available at Amazon.
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Larry Nocella writes The Semi-True Adventures of Lar blog at LarryNocella.com. He's the author of the novel Where Did This Come From? The world's first CarbonFree(R) novel according to Carbonfund.org. The book is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook. It is also available for reading online. P.S. You don't need a Kindle to read Kindle eBooks! Download the FREE Kindle app for PC, Apple and smartphones. You can then purchase Kindle books or download free ones! Enjoy!