[lit-ideas] Re: Alternatives to one-upmanship
- From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 12 Aug 2006 09:05:45 -0700 (PDT)
--- John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> My wording was a tad harsh. Please allow me to say
> that I have no
> opinion concerning the innate intelligence of anyone
> here, except as
> it is presented in the words that cross my screen.
> For all I know the
> minds may be those of Shakespeares or Einsteins or
> Ibn Khalduns. My
> remarks concerned to the personae displayed in the
> Punch and Judy
> shows into which our political debates tend to
> deteriorate.
*I can only repeat the suggestion I made some time
ago, viz. that those who feel that their supposably
more moderate, sophisticated, sane etc. positions are
not represented try and take a more active part in the
discussion. I realize that the idea of getting down
from that high gallery and unto the podium might be
scary, but then it could also be an interesting and
instructive experience. Also, if I may add, it seems a
matter of particular urgency for the US Democrats to
make their voice heard.
> Similarly, in reply to Eric, I do not fancy myself a
> marriage
> counselor (though I have spent some time as a
> volunteer on a telephone
> crisis line). Divorcing couples are simply a good
> illustration of the
> dance of anger pattern. As any decent therapist
> knows, people met
> individually may seem pleasant and intelligent souls
> but, then, when
> seen together discussing their divorce may both seem
> different people
> and utterly insane.
*The analogy with a marriage counselor seems by
definition to imply superior knowledge and authority,
as well as emotional dettachment. I proposed instead
an analogy with a kibitzer in chess. A kibitzer is
indeed sometimes able to see the things better than
the players because of his emotional dettachment, but
at other times he might be deceiving himself because
what the players are sensing as it were intuitively
has remained hidden from him. And, the people who
kibitz a lot are seldom good players themselves. To be
a chess player, one should accept first of all the
probability that one will be making mistakes.
O.K.
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