We're Being Hounded not by Ads but by Signals

     At a recent OLLI class, we took up the effects of marketing research upon our decision-making.  Marketing as a scientific study is an offshoot of psychology, and as such is just as devoted to Jeremy Bentham's pleasure principle, a fundamental proposition in psychology, that mankind searches the pleasurable and avoids the painful.
     As applied to our buying habits, we want items that give us pleasure, i.e., stimulate in our brains feelings of pleasure. We buy the shirt whose color patterns we take delight in.  But the same line of reasoning applies to the tenets and beliefs we hold.  Thus, a listener calls in to a radio personality whose views make him popular over the airwaves in order to agree with him!  Together, they are sharing a pleasurable moment because they hold to something, some belief, they both cherish  for whatever reason. It is important to stress that the reason that the psychologist may attribute to the moment of pleasure shared by host and listener will differ markedly from that the participants will proffer.  That is because the psychologist qua scientist provides a psychological reason while those involved offer an experiential, reasoning account.
     The point being that the scientific explanation for the sharing is not that the experiencers would give.  What makes Snowden so important is that he offers an explanation for supposed underhanded snooping by such agencies as the NSA, which those who may be victimized have no knowledge of.  It's closer to psychological explanation of human action and belief but far removed from "his reasons" offered by espousers of the belief.
      Bentham's acknowledged aim in urging psychological research is to provide mankind a wealth of pleasurable experiences during his lifetime.  Ultimately, he will enjoy being alive to its greatest extent.  But then that raises the question whether mankind would also experience great joy at some time in the ending of his own life, as did those who drank the Kool-Aid as their final act.

The Singapore Solution to Racism

I brought out to the Sacramento City Council a few weeks ago the solution to racism that the territory of Singapore has used lo these many years.  They had the social problem that the many cultural groups were tearing the city apart through racial divisions.  Their government's solution is to integrate the many diverse cultural groups through housing; and they made members of diverse heritages and economic classes to live side-by-side each other.  In other words, they took away the privilege to families to live anywhere they wanted to!  That's my understanding of their proposal.  Importantly, it worked, as segregation dissolved into integration of the races and a playing down of cultural differences.

Now, some years ago, some large US industrial cities tried something like the Singapore Plan for ending segregation, but with complete and utter negative results.  The real estate developers didn't go for it because they actually make substantial lucre by feeding on the fear that groups have for one another.  Specifically, once blacks moved into a neighborhood that was predominantly white, the whites would want out--to another residential location; and meantime, more and more blacks moved in!  And, the demand for housing elsewhere, continues, to the delight of the real estate and construction industries!  The beat goes on based on human fear to maintain their own ways.

Moreover, this mass migration of cultural groups around a city, even a state, may be preferred by those individuals who wish to protect their own cultural heritage and background.  Thus, Scotsmen move to where their kind are already established.  It's the American way dating back to the time mankind inherited the earth!

So, you see, there's a reason to withstand integration among peoples, and another to become unified as one people and one national heritage.  Hooray for Singapore to make a stab at ending segregation and racism on their shores.  But, you need a strong national government to pull it off, I would imagine.

Incidentally, here's an egregious example where business works against the interests and goals of  the greater society.  Yet, what good might come from integration, as bespeaks housing, for the society as a whole?

OLLI Class posits solution to ISIS Problem!

I am a member of OLLI at the University of California-Davis; and I'm taking a class entitled "The Atlantic at the Pacific."  It's structured around current topics taken up in The Atlantic magazine.  And, OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) is a membership organization for seniors offering courses on a variety of activities at university centers across America.  In this particular course Brenda Turner and Robert Bakke are our discussion leaders.  The city of Davis, where the University is located, has been described by one of our elderly classmates as "an intellectual safe-haven" (or, words to that effect).

The general topic for discussion yesterday (class meets on Tuesday afternoons) was "Islam in the Middle-East." Though the class is only in its third session, I've noticed that the participants are really sharp and knowledgeable, perhaps egregiously so among OLLI participants nationwide.
Posing a solution to the ISIS situation in the Middle-East is not beyond this class's ken.

Briefly, participants likened the ISIS phenomenon akin to the Christian Crusade movement of the Middle Ages.  As "Marvin" pointed out, what ended that fiasco-disaster, lasting for decades, was simply a lack of continued interest and support from the countries in Europe who had initially shown great enthusiasm. That is to say, the Europeans back home became more interested and more involved in their own activities!

You can imagine what these activities might be in the Middle-East: re-building the countries ravaged by war and economic decay; developing a sound import-export network for the region; creating financial wealth for generations to come; re-shaping cities around educational meccas and artisan colonies--places to plan for carrying out the implied values in a new world order.  The vision is fraught with possibilities for growth and intellectual exuberance exploding in tangible reconstruction of an infrastructure to last for millennia.  That vision must be implanted in the minds and hearts of those already living in the area.  It is the dream of a new and long-lasting direction thereby the local inhabitants should go, based on a dedication towards unity of purpose.


They've got the oil and other natural resources to carry out the project, even as Afghanistan has proved so resource abundant to China.


Other Points made during class session (a session lasts two hours!):
1.  A Religion is a pathway to God and His creative world.
Religious persons may make claims for the pathway he endorses, such as it's the only way to God or those who do not use the pathway he uses will go to hell!  That is to say, he believes his way is the only way.  Exclusivism is simply a belief about his religion and ought not to be regarded as part of the pathway itself.
2.  Science is an invaluable means to bring people of different cultures together.  Therefore, there should be scientific evidence in support of any belief about people, e.g.. whether those of one race or gender are equal to those of the other.   For instance, women were not thought equal to men in intelligence.  Women should be subjected to men, e.g., their husbands; their brothers.  Not until the  possible deleterious effects of childbirth as well as the monthly smells of women's periods could be overcome was it likely that society would deem  men and women equals in ability to do equal work.
Similarly, not until the intelligence studies of blacks from the 1950s on, could it be proven that blacks and whites have equal thinking powers and could thus be truly considered equal in ability.
Note that the Second World War could be construed as founded on faulty science--the belief that Jews were inferior human beings, biologically, and thus ought not to be mixed with the Aryan Race of Nordics.

Constitutional Reconstruction needn't be needed!

In  an OLLI class I'm taking at University of California-Davis (see reference to class elsewhere), we recently took up the reasons for revising or chucking an "active" constitution, i.e., already in use in some particular country.

The usual reason proffered is to resolve a Constitutional Crisis.  That is to say, the country is in such dire straights that society as a whole is at risk of falling into political chaos.  I take it (since I was there) that Russia in the late 1980s took to formulating a new constitution for this reason.  

But now, there are good reasons to come up with a brand-new constitution for 'positive and beneficial' effects upon the society. Both Catalonia of Spain and Scotland of the UK envision an independence state within some confederation of independent states, such as exists in the Russian Federation.  As independents, they can have their own methods of doing things.


     

Catalonia flirting with independence!

     Both the Huffington Post and PRI are reporting on the growing movement toward Catalonian independence from Spain.  The informal vote for independence taken on September 25th supports a general impression that about 60% of the Catalonians want independence for the sake of securing their own individuality as a people against the central government's declared avowal to seek assimilation among the disparate Spanish cultures.

     This movement, if successful, would probably anticipate, even encourage, the same result toward Scottish independence from the UK.  I think there what will prove convincing is when the UK central government reneges on many of its promises to the Scots for political and cultural separatism--promises that were made by Whitehall to keep Scotland in the UK framework.

     In any event, the Catalonians seem well on its way toward independence.  They would lose membership in the EU, true, but only the time it takes to re-apply to Brussels for independent recognition.  Their cultural binds are strong among them; and there is no reason why they should not re-assert their cultural heritage and traditions in this technological age, which permits cultural distinctiveness as opposed to uniformity/conformity. 

Hezbollah forces finally waning thin

     As reported in today's Huffington Post, September 6th, Hezbollah forces in Syria have been so spread out, thereby weakened, that the time is right for ridding them from the Syrian War.  And, as conjectured in the article, Israeli forces can be useful in order to strike the final death-knell to Hezbollah's role in Syrian politics.


     I've argued in the past that Israeli is needed to control both Hezbollah and Hamas.  To my mind, Israel has done a great job in Palestine to control the violence, especially in the Gaza strip.  And, before that, in taming Hezbollah so that the latter would not cross the Lebanese border into Israel again. 


     I believe Israel's military prowess could be invaluable in shortening the Syrian War by taking what it deems appropriate action at this time.  Jihadists, too, watch out, I would caution, if Israel rises to this occasion!
     Parenthetically, Iran is supplying info about Assad's forces in Syria.  Little wonder Assad has re-instituted germ warfare in such places as Alleppo, should indeed his military faction be waxing thin, too.  Russia is too late to be involved in coming to the aid of Assad, per some prior agreement.  President Putin waited too long for that rationale to bear credibility. 
   
    

Mixed Income Housing at Sacto City Council

     Tuesday night, September 1, I attended the regularly scheduled meeting of the Sacramento City Council at City Hall.  Topic I was interested in taking a stand on was Mixed Income Housing.  I understood the Council had made changes to its current plan in effect and wanted feedback.  Among these, a developer could opt out of the plan by paying a fine, as it were.


     I am familiar to some extent with the Singapore Mixed Income Model that has been discussed around the world for some years.  Two of its notable features are 1) enforcement of the provision that a developer must adhere to the plan and 2) the benefits accruing over those of other income housing models.  One benefit is housing becomes available to all peoples, including the homeless.  But the other is far more important and long range:  it virtually ends the social issue of segregation populace-wide!   This is because every culturally diverse group of the society is truly mixed in with every other within the same housing project.  It is true that government has a strong say in where people will live, but that is simply regarded as an opportunity cost in solving a social problem that  otherwise could have festered as it presently does in the US.


     I am also apprised of discussions at the federal level of the Singapore Model.  Indeed, Fareed Zakaria in his Sunday, August 31, edition of GPS on CNN made it his featured presentation.  Moreover, as I tried to point out to the Council members, I believe much money could be garnered from Federal sources for instituting this model even here in Sacramento, should the Council take interest in it.  It's that important to rid our society from the evils of segregation!


     Indeed, a program that can solve the segregation issue as well as offer badly needed housing to the community, as does the Singapore Model (their government saw the need to create an integrated society and so came up with their housing plan),.has much to recommend it at the Federal level
     I made my comments, which are housed on videotape beginning at the 7:30 PM mark, Tuesday, Sept. 1 and runs for two minutes to 7:32 P>M. 
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