• for: Nora Bateson, Book - Combining, space of possibilities, disorientation, Douglas Rushkoff, Team Human

• for:Douglas Rushkoff, Steve Bannon quoting Douglas Rushkoff, recontextualize, misquote, disquote
• new portmanteau meaning: disquote
  • quoting another person but with a context opposite to the original author's
    • from disinformation
• comment
  • thinking of what Douglas Rushkoff felt about Steven Bannon's use of his writing in a way that is opposite to what Rushkoff aspires to and advocates for,
    • we could not use the word "misquote" because it was verbatim
    • the portmanteau "disquote" can imply disinformation but it has a meaning that means a fake attribution of a quote, which is not quite right here
    • however, Bannon used Rushkoff's book chapter in a polar opposite context, to resonate with the pain of the masses, but lead to an end result that is diametrically opposite to the ultimate wellbeing of the hurt masses
    • this suggests a new meaning for the word "disquote", a quote used for quite divergent context
  • From a "Team Human" perspective, far right propaganda can be seen as using the content generated by the left in order to justify authoritarianism position that further consolidate power of the elites
  • The left critiques the many failings of neoliberalism and destructive capitalism by pointing out the social and ecological harm it causes and the same critiques can be coopted by the far right to rally the masses harmed by neoliberal policies.
  • The failing of the elite neoliberal class breaks up team human into perceived polarized team left and team far right (populist), where team populist is now mis-perceived to be the standard bearer of social justice.
  • The far right is stepping in to fill the gap of reacting to the enormous harm caused by neoliberal policies, but their solutions come with their own serious problems.
  • Team human, in the wide sense of the term must reclaim the territory for humanity

• for: doppleganger, conflict resolution, deep humanity, common denominators, CHD, Douglas Rushkoff, Naomi Klein, Into the Mirror World, conspiracy theory, conspiracy theories, conspiracy culture, nonduality, self-other, human interbeing, polycrisis, othering, storytelling, myth-making, social media amplifier -summary
  • This conversation was insightful on so many dimensions salient to the polycrisis humanity is moving through.
  • It makes me think of the old cliches:
    • "The more things change, the more they remain the same"
    • "What's old is new" ' "History repeats"
  • the conversation explores Naomi's latest book (as of this podcast), Into the Mirror World, in which Naomi adopts a different style of writing to explicate, articulate and give voice to
    • implicit and tacit discomforting ideas and feelings she experienced during covid and earlier, and
    • became a focal point through a personal comparative analysis with another female author and thought leader, Naomi Wolf,
      • a feminist writer who ended up being rejected by mainstream media and turned to right wing media.
  • The conversation explores the process of:
    • othering,
    • coopting and
    • abandoning
  • of ideas important for personal and social wellbeing.
  • and speaks to the need to identify what is going on and to reclaim those ideas for the sake of humanity
  • In this context, the doppleganger is the people who are mirror-like imiages of ourselves, but on the other side of polarized issues.
  • Charismatic leaders who are bad actors often are good at identifying the suffering of the masses, and coopt the ideas of good actors to serve their own ends of self-enrichment.
  • There are real world conspiracies that have caused significant societal harm, and still do,
  • however, when there ithere are phenomena which we have no direct sense experience of, the mixture of
    • a sense of helplessness,
    • anger emerging from injustice
  • a charismatic leader proposing a concrete, possible but explanatory theory
  • is a powerful story whose mythology can be reified by many people believing it
  • Another cliche springs to mind
    • A lie told a hundred times becomes a truth
    • hence the amplifying role of social media
  • When we think about where this phenomena manifests, we find it everywhere:

• for: quote, quote - Douglas Rushkoff, quote - bottom-up, bottom-up action
• quote
  • The primary means of social and civic innovation will occur as people go offline and reconnect with their local communities.
  • So, I don’t see so much positive change occurring from the top down,
    • through policies and
    • regulation
  • even though it would be nice to try.
  • I do think government and corporations can be pressured to respond to widespread,
    • bottom-up social activism and
    • changes in citizen and consumer behavior.
• author: Douglas Rushkoff
  • media theorist
  • author
  • professor of media, City University of New York

Rushkoff, Merchants of Cool