So... of late... the professional association of which I was a member has a new president who opted to open this year's annual conference with a "land acknowledgment."
TERRAIN – What surface issue is being used to anchor the conflict? What landscape are they trying to map your attention to?
* Injustice to Native Americans (in this instance, that happened, in complex circumstances in this locale, approximately 150 years ago).
TARGET – Who is being cast as the villain, the problem, the virus in the system? Who is being sanctified as the hero?
* Villain— Conference participants whose ancestors are not BIPOC (BIPOC = black, indigenous, people of color)
* Problem— Injustices to Native Americans in the past on the part of some of these same peoples' ancestors
* Hero—The tribe that held the local real estate at one point in the previous century. (The local history is complex; there was a lot of migration and conflict before Europeans or anyone descended from Europeans ever showed up.)
TONE – What emotion are you being pushed into before you even think?
* Guilt, shame.
TROPES – What recycled storyline is being deployed to make the narrative feel familiar, inevitable, or virtuous?
* Story of the "white" conquest of the indigenous peoples of the American West. Call to be an "aware" and "caring" person.
TACTICS – What actions are being justified once you've accepted the story? What policy, censorship, punishment, or reward is being introduced under moral cover?
* Actions being justified once you've accepted the story? Heaping servings of plenty more of the same!!
* Policy: denigrating "white" people and fetishizing nonwhite people, in this instance, Native Americans
* Censorship: if you object, count on it, you will be labeled a racist and an extremist and you will be canceled with serious consequences for you professionally
* Punishment: Assembled conference participants subjected to masochistic ritual performance without their consent.
* Reward under moral cover: you get to be part of an exclusive group of elite professionals
Thanks for running the 5T lens through a live-fire example. That’s the entire point, that terrain may look ceremonial, but the tactics are real. You’ve mapped the structure clearly.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with the surface message, the protocol reveals the decisions being driven beneath it. That’s where the real war is being waged.
For Tactics, what logical fallacies did you encounter?
Logical fallacies— the two that come most starkly to mind:
First of all, it does not follow that because, years ago, I joined this professional association, that I'm the sort of person who would pay travel & conference registration fees only to be subjected to an introductory performative masochistic ritual.
(Fortunately, I did not attend that conference. Don't think I'll be attending another any time soon.)
Secondly, it does not follow that I will accept someone else's determination of how I identify myself, how I identify my family, or with my family, any and all sides of it, and my ancestors going back centuries, and in specific relation to that same someone else's determination of how other people should identify themselves, etc & etc.
1- Membership in a group may have its benefits, however, groups can have dangerous dynamics— and even those long-established groups that appear sane and stable may suddenly destabilize.
2- Pick your battles.
3- Twitter is nothing but a time suck, except when necessary, for recon. If a person tends to be stupid, arrogant, and cruel, they'll reliably show that on their Twitter within 2 to 3 tweets. Forewarned is forearmed.
I’ve been thinking about 5T in my own actions too. Where are my biases? Are they being demonstrating in my behaviors or even my thoughts? Reflecting on my challenges throughout a day and determining if I responded well with virtue vs some other form of influence.
So... of late... the professional association of which I was a member has a new president who opted to open this year's annual conference with a "land acknowledgment."
TERRAIN – What surface issue is being used to anchor the conflict? What landscape are they trying to map your attention to?
* Injustice to Native Americans (in this instance, that happened, in complex circumstances in this locale, approximately 150 years ago).
TARGET – Who is being cast as the villain, the problem, the virus in the system? Who is being sanctified as the hero?
* Villain— Conference participants whose ancestors are not BIPOC (BIPOC = black, indigenous, people of color)
* Problem— Injustices to Native Americans in the past on the part of some of these same peoples' ancestors
* Hero—The tribe that held the local real estate at one point in the previous century. (The local history is complex; there was a lot of migration and conflict before Europeans or anyone descended from Europeans ever showed up.)
TONE – What emotion are you being pushed into before you even think?
* Guilt, shame.
TROPES – What recycled storyline is being deployed to make the narrative feel familiar, inevitable, or virtuous?
* Story of the "white" conquest of the indigenous peoples of the American West. Call to be an "aware" and "caring" person.
TACTICS – What actions are being justified once you've accepted the story? What policy, censorship, punishment, or reward is being introduced under moral cover?
* Actions being justified once you've accepted the story? Heaping servings of plenty more of the same!!
* Policy: denigrating "white" people and fetishizing nonwhite people, in this instance, Native Americans
* Censorship: if you object, count on it, you will be labeled a racist and an extremist and you will be canceled with serious consequences for you professionally
* Punishment: Assembled conference participants subjected to masochistic ritual performance without their consent.
* Reward under moral cover: you get to be part of an exclusive group of elite professionals
Thanks for running the 5T lens through a live-fire example. That’s the entire point, that terrain may look ceremonial, but the tactics are real. You’ve mapped the structure clearly.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with the surface message, the protocol reveals the decisions being driven beneath it. That’s where the real war is being waged.
For Tactics, what logical fallacies did you encounter?
Logical fallacies— the two that come most starkly to mind:
First of all, it does not follow that because, years ago, I joined this professional association, that I'm the sort of person who would pay travel & conference registration fees only to be subjected to an introductory performative masochistic ritual.
(Fortunately, I did not attend that conference. Don't think I'll be attending another any time soon.)
Secondly, it does not follow that I will accept someone else's determination of how I identify myself, how I identify my family, or with my family, any and all sides of it, and my ancestors going back centuries, and in specific relation to that same someone else's determination of how other people should identify themselves, etc & etc.
You spotted them: false equivalence, forced identity.
If a group starts narrating your identity for you, then is it community, or control?
This was a useful exercise, thanks.
A broader comment. I have a few rules of thumb.
1- Membership in a group may have its benefits, however, groups can have dangerous dynamics— and even those long-established groups that appear sane and stable may suddenly destabilize.
2- Pick your battles.
3- Twitter is nothing but a time suck, except when necessary, for recon. If a person tends to be stupid, arrogant, and cruel, they'll reliably show that on their Twitter within 2 to 3 tweets. Forewarned is forearmed.
I put a “common logical fallacies” list in the subscriber chat.
where is that?
In the Whirl of Reorientation chat thread
found it thanks
I’ve been thinking about 5T in my own actions too. Where are my biases? Are they being demonstrating in my behaviors or even my thoughts? Reflecting on my challenges throughout a day and determining if I responded well with virtue vs some other form of influence.
5T is fantastic
Encouraging self reflection is definitely one of the intents of 5T. I’m glad you are finding it useful!