[Xmca-l] Re: As of 2020, the American Century is Over

Wed Apr 22 16:28:02 PDT 2020

Thank you for your concern, Julian.

The sky has been falling here since 2015 -- or so they say.  Maybe this
time, at long last, they are right.  I don't think so, but maybe.

I have observed that most people, regardless of "team," 1) see what they
want to see and have little difficulty finding confirmation (especially on
the Internet); and 2) rarely maintain running records of their predictions
(even on the Internet).  Maybe you have noticed this as well.

Would like to see something really cool? It's this lecture, you might know
it: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WInttyZYt3A__;!!Mih3wA!XviqlLPcMOLS6BB2wIq9s4aG2w_Hxrgy2L3AorSg23NED2YTFwrSDhzKWtjvzRnUveIQcQ$ 

I collected some quotes from it once, as it reminded me of an interesting
concept known around here as "two movies on one screen."
Some quotes from the speaker, Jim Wertsch:

   - "Memory and history are not scientific in the sense that they rely on
   narrativization -- narrative."
   - "A chronicle wants to tell a story . . . what does...narrativization,
   or narrative organization, add to a chronicle?"
   - "When we talk about 'Is a story true or not?' we're talking about a
   different kind of truth than a propositional truth; when we say 'true
   story' what we largely mean is 'right story' or 'the correct story' - but
   that's a self-centered view...different from propositional truth"
   - "In mnemonic debates - debates over what really happened - we get very
   upset because we say 'this is not opinion; this is not values; this is
   truth, and you're telling me that you don't understand the truth.'  And
   when we get to that point, we're in a bad position because we can not get
   out of those rhetorical corners. So usually this is not about propositional
   truth; it's about narrative truth."
   - "When we say, 'X is in a different world,' it means 'I don't have a
   way of understand the gulf that separates us' or 'X is not in touch with
   reality,' it means 'I don't understand what this other perspective is.'
   We're in what I would call a 'mnemonic standoff.'"
   - "We use narratives as if they're clear windows and you look right
   through them (but) it's more like a prism. You think you're looking that
   way but you're really seeing something over here. You don't know that the
   prism is shaping what you see. That's the way narratives work"

I like it!

On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 5:55 PM Julian Williams <
julian.williams@manchester.ac.uk> wrote:

> Anthony, again!
>
>
>
> Let me help you here, pace NYTimes:
>
>
>
> *If this turns out to be true:*
>
>
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/opinion/coronavirus-us-cases.html__;!!Mih3wA!XviqlLPcMOLS6BB2wIq9s4aG2w_Hxrgy2L3AorSg23NED2YTFwrSDhzKWtjvzRnZXLVGtg$ 
> [nytimes.com]
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/opinion/coronavirus-us-cases.html__;!!Mih3wA!Thq9B70VblZGnM99BEs5fxyBiyx97KDn0R9wlp73fmmP0mjgmwrrrWhj7ft2MsVP3DzE-Q$>
>
> The number of new cases appears to have peaked about a week and a half
> ago. But the decline since then has been very modest. There are still about
> 30,000 Americans being diagnosed each day. The seven-day moving average of
> new cases — a measure that smooths out daily fluctuations — has declined
> only 2 percent since it peaked 11 days ago.
>
> As you can see that’s not typical. In other countries, the number of new
> cases has usually declined much more sharply after peaking.
>
> Why? It’s impossible to know for certain with a virus as complex and
> unknown as this one. But there is an obvious potential cause: Many
> political leaders in the United States, including President Trump, are not
> following the advice of public health experts regarding distancing..
>
>
>
> *and this turns out to be true:*
>
>
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/us/politics/coronavirus-china-disinformation.html?referringSource=articleShare__;!!Mih3wA!XviqlLPcMOLS6BB2wIq9s4aG2w_Hxrgy2L3AorSg23NED2YTFwrSDhzKWtjvzRmdxLfsWQ$ 
> [nytimes.com]
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/us/politics/coronavirus-china-disinformation.html?referringSource=articleShare__;!!Mih3wA!Thq9B70VblZGnM99BEs5fxyBiyx97KDn0R9wlp73fmmP0mjgmwrrrWhj7ft2MsWUak6XMw$>
>
> American officials were alarmed by fake text messages and social media
> posts that said President Trump was locking down the country.
>
>
>
> *Then there is a possibility that dissent in the US that could lead to the
> nightmare scenario of ongoing very high levels of transmission for some
> time to come.*
>
>
>
> I can’t make up my mind from what you write - which is always incredibly
> arch -  whether you are suggesting the Trump administration is playing a
> clever game in encouraging these deathly trends, in view of the much more
> important outcome of victory in your upcoming elections.
>
>
>
> Julian, again!
>
>
>
> BTW this is not an anti *American* rant, as we have the same crass
> ‘leadership’ over here: check out John Ashton on DDN (Double Down News) –
> this is indeed a global politics now, perhaps just in time too.
>
>
>
>
>
> *From: *<xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> on behalf of Anthony Barra <
> anthonymbarra@gmail.com>
> *Reply-To: *"eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> *Date: *Wednesday, 22 April 2020 at 19:05
> *To: *"eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> *Subject: *[Xmca-l] Re: As of 2020, the American Century is Over
>
>
>
> Andy,
>
>
>
> Unless someone beats me to it, I will annotate this article when time
> allows -- not as a fact-check or correction, but from an occluded view.
>
>
>
> Thank you for writing it; it is an excellent answer to the question, "what
> might the view from abroad look like, if reliant primarily on the *New
> York Times* and *CNN?*" (i.e., similar to the view domestically, under
> same conditions)
>
>
>
> This is not an insult nor critique -- as you know from our offline
> exchanges. It just is what it is; I have my blind spots too (we are all
> human).
>
>
>
> Cheers ~
>
> Anthony
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 7:33 AM Andy Blunden <andyb@marxists.org> wrote:
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/pdfs/American-Century.pdf__;!!Mih3wA!XviqlLPcMOLS6BB2wIq9s4aG2w_Hxrgy2L3AorSg23NED2YTFwrSDhzKWtjvzRkUxeDurw$ 
> [ethicalpolitics.org]
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/pdfs/American-Century.pdf__;!!Mih3wA!RX_kT308fV5J979vU0HnZwn3N_ILxa76WV811I3K7Q1lByCHw_H-2IpA6g71m_ZdQvTjgA$>
>
> Andy
>
> --
> ------------------------------
>
> *Andy Blunden*
> Hegel for Social Movements [brill.com]
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/brill.com/view/title/54574__;!!Mih3wA!RX_kT308fV5J979vU0HnZwn3N_ILxa76WV811I3K7Q1lByCHw_H-2IpA6g71m_bmjhN_kw$>
> Home Page [ethicalpolitics.org]
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm__;!!Mih3wA!RX_kT308fV5J979vU0HnZwn3N_ILxa76WV811I3K7Q1lByCHw_H-2IpA6g71m_aKuyy5Zw$>
>
>
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