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I love it how just about everybody here wants to discuss solutions, as if they had the power to implement them... but nobody wants to really dig in to how it got to be this way. Was it all just honest mistakes and unintended consequences? Is this a self-entrenching "wicked problem" that just spiraled out of control? Or do you suppose it …
I love it how just about everybody here wants to discuss solutions, as if they had the power to implement them... but nobody wants to really dig in to how it got to be this way. Was it all just honest mistakes and unintended consequences? Is this a self-entrenching "wicked problem" that just spiraled out of control? Or do you suppose it might have been engineered? Means, motive, opportunity?
I ask not so much because I can't take off my tinfoil, but more because it seems to me that any real steps toward real solutions to problems of this nature and scale would require a grounded analysis of their cause. Different causes will necessitate different approaches. Otherwise, I feel it's pretty tasteless subject matter for speculative "if I was Emperor" style wankery.
I think identifying a problem and developing a solution are good and necessary things for the Mistake Theorists to be doing. I agree with you though, that the Mistake Theorists have to concede that they aren't in charge, and never will be, because our system puts Conflict Theorists in charge.
https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/01/24/conflict-vs-mistake/
That's a nice distinction, succinct and productive.
But, if Conflict Theorists are in charge of policy, and if policy actually produces outcomes... well, there you have it. Blame can (and must!) be assigned, and change must be fought for, strategically and tactically, not just planned out. An enemy must be identified and understood.
The old Black men I've known all have some pretty pointed theories about what happened to their communities, but I won't presume to speak for them. The CIA / crack thing is pretty well documented, at least. Gary Webb gave us those receipts.
Can't beat a conflict theorist with mistake theory. :)
The disappointing thing about that post is that Scott never brings up Hanlon's Razor. What a missed opportunity!
The funny thing about that page is that I recognize myself in both descriptions. So I must be some sort of Mistake Conflict. Or possibly just a conflicted mistake.
Like any good archetype taxonomy.