El off the record y la verdad

"El off the record, como detallaría cualquier escolar de Columbia, no es lo contrario de la mentira sino lo contrario de lo que se puede decir. De ahí que los periodistas columbianos traten al animalito con pinzas, y lo primero que hagan con él es ponerlo en contacto con la realidad. Entre otras cosas porque la evidencia de estar ante una seria verdad, oculta e incontestable, es lo único que puede vencer con ciertas garantías la repugnancia moral de incumplir lo pactado."

"con mucha frecuencia los políticos, y no solo ellos, utilizan el off the record para decir las estupideces que no se atreven a decir en público."

De Arcadi Espada.

De Norbert Elias a Donald Trump: El romanticismo, otra vez

"Así, el propio Norbert Elias cuenta cómo el proceso civilizatorio occidental se ha visto salpicado de sucesivas oleadas románticas. Estos episodios tienen lugar en momentos de cambio e incertidumbre, en los que las tribulaciones del presente conducen a la frustración de las expectativas. Entonces, surge la tentación de querer retornar a un pasado que ha sido idealizado, un pasado en el que el individuo podrá reencontrarse con las esencias perdidas, podrá despojarse del corsé normativo que le imponen el rey y la sociedad y volver a ser libre.

La vida cortesana comienza a ser percibida como una jaula y el romanticismo, con su pesimismo melancólico y su añoranza de un mundo que ya no existe, se impone. Es así como Elias explica el triunfo del “ethos guerrero de la aristocracia” y la exaltación romántica de la violencia que darán forma al nacionalismo alemán en el siglo XIX, para desembocar en el nazismo en el XX."

De Aurora Nacarino-Brabo.

Persuasion and hallucination

"If you are wondering how easily a group of humans can be thrown into the same hallucination, consider that half of Americans believes their country just elected a racist, homophobic, sexist and the other half thinks we elected an open-minded guy who is no more sexist than most people. No matter which half of the country is right, the other half of the country is in a deep hallucination. We just don’t know which half. (Yes, I know that you know the other half is hallucinating. But keep in mind that the other half thinks you are the one hallucinating.)"

By Scott Adams.

Visual 504

Trump ("monster") vs Clinton ("crooked")

"Trump has lots of other ways to crack the monster framing in the coming months. He can say more about his “New Deal” ideas for helping African-Americans. He could flip a foreign leader from a critic to a friend. He could come up with some ideas on lowering college costs. He could say more about his plan NOT to deport undocumented citizens who have obeyed the law since coming to this country.

He has lots of levers. Expect him to push one lever after another until the monster framing cracks. By summer the story will be that he’s the most flexible and centrist president in our history.

It is worth noting that Trump and Clinton had very different unframing challenges. If Clinton had won, her job would have been to convince the public she isn’t crooked. But you can’t do that simply by doing some honest things in public. We expect that even crooked people do honest things when watched. Clinton literally had no path to remove her “crooked” label.

But Trump has a more solvable framing problem. Clinton’s team labelled him a racist, homophobic, sexist. Trump can violate that frame enough times to break it over time. But it will take a lot of cracks. You’ve already seen several. Expect more to come.

If I were in Trump’s place I would look for a bigly frame violation and soon. The public is already primed for him to “moderate” away from his campaign promises. This is the time to do it."

By Scott Adams.