We may daily feel like we are caught, nationally, in a cul de sac, trying to find our way out. But really, we are not as lost in the way we may think. We simply need to see what is in front of us, and identify it. Specifically, call it by it’s proper name.
If you read nothing else today, please do read these two essays (attached to the two tweets) with overlapping themes.
What is the meaning of the term “bending the map?” It is the physical and psychological reaction to losing our way. It refers to a mind trap based on confirmation bias:
Our minds recoil from uncertainty; we are wired to find order in randomness. We look at clouds and see sheep. This can be a useful trait when it comes to making decisions, since we're helpless without a theory that makes sense of our quandary. Unfortunately, once we form a theory, we tend to see everything through its lens. It's hard to let go of a fixed belief. A consequence is that when people get lost in the back country, they can convince themselves that they know exactly where they are, a problem known in the search-and-rescue community as "bending the map." LINK
An expanded explanation goes like this:
The inability to perceive and believe reality when under stress is called “bending the map.” A hiker in Deep Survival heads for the top of a mountain. Hours later, it’s getting dark. A storm is coming in. He thinks he’s close to his destination and is surprised when the lake on the map that should be just on the left, isn’t there at all. Instead of concluding that he must have strayed from the path, the hiker instead concludes, “The lake must have dried up.” He rejects the map and keeps going, further and further away from where he needs to go. LINK
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One of the more depressing tropes out there these days is the notion that we don’t know for sure if Trump is guilty. I’ve seen many a response on Twitter querying as to what Trump is guilty of. And there’s this sense even in news reports which often pretend that Trump may, or may not be guilty, because all the proof is not in. Josh Marshall accurately characterizes that as a “conceit.” While it is true that we the public have not been presented any conclusive evidence of Trump’s guilt, nevertheless, we know what we see. And we know Trump is guilty. Only we are having a difficult time accepting it:
The relevant concept is consciousness of guilt. We have all the evidence about various contacts between the Russian government and its cut-outs and the Trump campaign. We know about the Trump Tower meeting. We know about the meetings with George Papadopoulos. We know about Michael Flynn’s immediate move to start managing the payoffs to the Russia within hours of President Trump’s surprise win. We know there was ‘collusion’; we don’t know how high it went or just what Trump’s role was. Somehow we’re expected to believe that Trump himself was never informed about any of these actions. And that’s there’s no more to be uncovered in a truly unfettered public investigation. That’s a fascinating cat and mouse game. It will be fascinating to cover as a news story. It doesn’t matter for understanding what happened.
Here is where consciousness of guilt becomes so straightforward. From the very beginning the President has used every power at his disposal to stop investigations into what happened. He tried to end the investigation into Michael Flynn. He demanded loyalty and protection from the head of the FBI. He fired the head of the FBI because of the Russia probe. He told us it was about the Russia probe. He tried to fire Robert Mueller. He tried to bully Jeff Sessions into resigning so it would be easier to neutralize the investigation. He has been at more or less constant war with the FBI and the Intelligence Community. He openly dangles pardons to thwart the investigation. According to a Washington Post article published today, he’s now pushing ahead with revoking the security clearances of various former officials who were tied to the origins of the Russia investigation. He now says it’s about the Russia probe. In ordinary life, such flagrant and on-going efforts to prevent the truth from coming out are a clear sign of guilt. We rightly demand a higher standard before the criminal law because that is about taking away someone’s liberty. That’s not the case here. We’re only talking about taking away or restraining the power we have given him to use on our behalf.
*please read the entire piece at TPM Link
In the second tweet, Nell Scovell interviews Laurence Gonzales, author, and scholar at a Santa Fe Institute, who also directs us to not shirk reality:
Recounting lessons from his book, Gonzales believes the survival of democracy depends on our ability to perceive and believe reality. "One of the reasons we get into hazardous situations is because we see stuff and just ignore it," he says. "Our brains are trained to make mental models. We remember that a dog is a dog so that every time we see a dog, we don't have to ask, 'What is that creature?'"
SNIP
Gonzales thinks the reaction to Trump’s performance in Helsinki was a version of “bending the map.” The perception was the leaders of the United States and Russia held a summit. The reality was Trump had a long, private meeting with Vladimir Putin. Then, in front of the world, Trump dismissed the United States’ intelligence community. “We have to recognize that whatever comes out of Trump’s mouth is not designed to help the United States. It’s designed to further his own agenda and Russia’s agenda,” Gonzales explains. “That’s what he’s there for. And he was put there by an enemy of the United States.”
Perceiving and believing works best when we react to the truth without emotion. Emotion allows us to be shocked and disgusted and outraged. “Can you believe Trump did that?!” we ask. We keep thinking of what should be there, like a dried-up lake, instead of seeing what is there. If you’re pointing out that Trump said he “would hire the best people” and didn’t, you are stumbling in circles.
*Please read the entire piece here Esquire LINK
And now, on to our regular feature: