Philly Street Ball
OK, here is a disclaimer. NeighborDave learned ball in Detroit in the 70s. He had the jones bad and ended up playing wherever he found himself. That included NY City (Manhattan), Chicago, out in the sticks, down in Florida, Kentucky, Venice Beach, etc. Here is one thing that I learned in the process. If you play D all the time, and every point on the court, and your teammates are with you in the process, you will surprise those that have not faced that before.
That is what Villanova does. Philly is like Detroit when it comes to street ball. They play hard D in the street. NY was surprised when NeighborDave played hard D in the cage down in the Village or up in the park. However, and here is an important point, if you play straight up D, without fouling but beating people to the space they need to make their move, there is little that can be said by way of legitimate complaint. If I am not fouling you, then what complaint do you have? Once, early in my venture into the street game in Detroit, I got the ball very cleanly, and the guy went down because our bodies met, he popped up and squared off. I asked him what his problem was, that is the way “we” play here. Others chimed in that it was kind of the way we played and that was the end of that. Philly street ball is apparently the same.
When you take your game to a new court, if it is that game, you will quickly be challenged, then accepted, once you show that it is all legit – clean and hard. What can they say? Finding the spot that is needed by the other guy, and beating him to that spot ends it all. Now, in the street game, a good player will give up the ball to another player. Here’s the thing, in the street game, many guys will not give it up, so you can stop them time and time again and frustrate the hell out of them.
For Villanova, when the entire team is playing that game (and they probably don’t even know that they are doing it). By the way, not a single commentator has identified this aspect of their game as clearly as I am doing it right now. Why? Because defense is not well appreciated except by the players that do it. Ask D Rodman. You know he averaged over 20 points in college? But when he got to the pros he saw that D and rebounding would keep him in the game. Ask Rasheed Wallace, the best weak side defender ever. Each of the Villanova guys gets it. Maybe they learned it when they played in the street or on campus in the gym that constant D was expected and was successful.
One of the products of playing constant D is learning what footwork is necessary to do that. Many players learn footwork for offense. Coaches work on that all the time. Look at Labron before and after he worked with Olajuwon, his footwork changed and he improved. He should have worked with Rasheed on defensive foot work. In the Dallas final he was killed twice, at the end of the game, but not playing good off side defenses, yes twice he should have slid over on Dirk, but wasn’t even in the picture. In the V game against Kansas, K tried to step up their D, and they got close, but if you watch close in the second half, they had bad footwork 3 distinct times, which resulted in a missed opportunity to steal or stop the play and that was essentially the difference. Oklahoma, was just overwhelmed and never got it.
People talk about the offense of V in the O game, but realize that when you are stopping someone at will, all across the floor at each position, the level of confidence goes way up. In fact, you take your head out of the game and rely upon instinct such that you are in another world. One reason that Villanova gets so many charge calls is that they each play the spacing in coordination with each other. You can only teach so much of that. Most of it comes from playing together a lot, and playing with others who do the same thing such that it is instinctive across the board. When one guy take a space, the next guy has to recognize what space is left, then take that space. Charge is the result. If you don’t play against this all the time, it will surprise you. I could go on, but, hopefully, someone else will get this. Give me a shout if you do.
V will beat NC if they surprise NC and NC cannot adjust. (The footwork is the key, and if you have only played against regular D, and not full team, all the time, everywhere D, then to learn the footwork in the course of a game is tough.) I am not sure what will happen, but the D from V will be there in any event. That is what NeighborDave always carried with him to every court upon which he found himself, such that he was always valued in the pick of teams. It may be that they didn’t want me on the other team. If you are from Philly, and you recognize this, let me know. I played a little in Jersey, but never actually in Philly. Of course, I never knew any of this then, as I was just doing what came naturally.
Spike Lee and Jalen Rose might get some of this.
Trump explained by a picture.
The attached picture illustrates what the Trump card will do, so as to result in America being great again. Everything is relative, as would be the level of greatness he would bestow upon “us” or “US”. The picture shows an old clamp that had operated for years submerged in a pond, taken on and off, yet surviving. Its brother or sister was lost between fall take down and spring revival of the pond. I had to purchase a replacement and went to the local hardware store, still within walking distance of my house.
I had been twisting and untwisting the old clamp as I walked. Even discovered living organisms in the threads/teeth of the drive for the clamp. But, I could go back and forth by hand easily. As I walked home with the new model, I could not twist it by hand, and it was thus illustrated and illuminated to me what the Trump card would be doing to (not for) America. The old clamp is made of alloy steel (the brown in the picture is organic residue, not rust). The old screw mechanism is clearly forged to a significant degree, whereas the screw in the new version is aluminum, and merely machined after casting. (Forging hardens the steel, especially at the edge where it can come into contact with other materials. Machining after casting leaves the aluminum, a softer material to begin with, with no appreciable “hardening” at the edge.) Notice the longer length of the head of the screw. That length allows for application of stress over a greater mass in the equations discussed below.
The band on both version is steel (though the band in the new version has merely been stamped and brushed once. The old one is polished, with divergent results similar to the hardening from forging, then machining vs casting then machining.) Bottom line, the old one was made to last, the current version was made to meet the specifications for the initial application, and no implication as to how many times you can rely upon it.
The biggest detriment to repeated service of the tool is the aluminum screw drive used to move the steel band. Remember, this is intended to hold a hose in place under pressure and it should be tightened to a significant level in order to function as intended. There is way more engineering that applies to the difference, but the numbers that carry the day today, and the numbers promoted by Trump, are not supplied by engineers, they are supplied by bean counters. His supporters are beans and he is counting on them. (The bean counters are the Sheep from the Randy Newman song of the same title. Trump is the Kingfish, as set out below.)
Here is the summary: America was great when we were making products like this old clamp. (Note, the old clamp has “Murray Gold Seal” stamped on it. The new clamp has no manufacturer claiming it, or suggesting any level of quality.) The Trump card’s version of great will be the new version. One that may work in its intial application, but one that is not expected to work repeatedly for its expected life. The new version is much cheaper to make, both in the cost of the good of which it is comprised and the time and effort it takes to spit it out. Also, the new version can be made almost entirely by machine. The bean counters love it and justify it all day. There are probably equations in the record upon which they rely and which show the force that can be safely applied to the screw slot. Note that it is deeper than the old version, and that it does not have the reinforcing rim around the head of the drive. The equations are at least for the first use, and might be theoretical for many uses, but any such equations for the alloy steel version would always be for many more applications, and that does not even take into account the wear between two disparate materials comprising the screw mechanism and the band (as far as hardness and various stress allowances).
The Trump card will not make us great, again, as we once were, he will merely bring us to the top of the current heap of countries that make a whole bunch of cheap stuff that doesn’t last, and the wages paid for that effort will correspond to the world market place, which will be much less than the relative value of working in America at the time to which he would have us reach back. Oh, it will be great for him, and his ilk though.
(For Trump diehards, I know you can make excuses around this, and you will. If you are a disciple, you got to believe. Just remember that guy that took all those believers to Central American and had them drink the cool aid. Go in peace.)
Kingfish by Randy Newman
There’s a hundred-thousand Frenchmen in New Orleans
In New Orleans there are Frenchmen everywhere
But your house could fall down
Your baby could drown
Wouldn’t none of those Frenchmen care
Everybody gather ’round
Loosen up your suspenders
Hunker down on the ground
I’m a cracker
And you are too
But don’t I take good care of you
Who built the highway to Baton Rouge?
Who put up the hospital and built your schools?
Who looks after shit-kickers like you?
The Kingfish do
Who gave a party at the Roosevelt Hotel?
And invited the whole north half of the state down there for free
The people in the city
Had their eyes bugging out
Cause everyone looked just like me
Here comes the Kingfish, the Kingfish
Everybody sing
Here’s the Kingfish, the Kingfish
Every man a king
Who took on the Standard Oil men
And whipped their ass
Just like he promised he’d do?
Ain’t no Standard Oil men gonna run this state
Gonna be run by little folks like me and you
Here’s the Kingfish, the Kingfish
Friend of the working man
The Kingfish, the Kingfish
The Kingfish gonna save this land
Why can’t even the pros articulate what has broken down with P. Manning. Everyone agrees that he has to have good pocket, good route running, etc. to work right. They look at metrics and put it in terms of metrics – “he just can’t do what he used to.” But what was it that he did then that he can’t now? What is the “why” not merely the “is” of the situation?
This is what no one seems to get, or say it if they do get it. Maybe (me editorializing with a smirk), Peyton learned how to make certain throws off balance, with feet and or hips “wrong”, but the rest of his body adjusted, and that is what he has lost. The ability to do with his body the adjustments that his head knew how to do. Peyton may not realize this himself, but that is the deal. Haven’t heard this from Merril, Jaws or even Farve, so wonder if they understand this on the same level as expressed herein. (Neighbordave has played a lot in life and he has acquired person experience in some fields that he seems to understand.)
BONUS: Those adjustments that are made can come one of two ways to an individual. They can arrive by pure instinct, not thought of on the way in or in use, but learned by incremental mistakes in the calculations being made by the brain (with the mind staying out of the way) based upon what the eyes were telling it, or by conscious repetition and film analysis and the equations coming from that process, expressly through the brain. Pretty sure that Peyton is the second kind, his brother the first kind. Anyway, his body parts, mostly from the hips up, cannot adjust for the limitations provided by necessary foot placement/movement, such that the feet have to be “fundamental” or the pass is off. Some folks can age and keep that, but not Manning.
DOUBLE BONUS: The other night, at the end of a game in Cleveland (I can’t even remember the competition right now) the Cavs needed only to rebound the miss of a free throw that other team was shooting, but LaBron allowed the ball to be taken right in front of him, mostly because his feet were not right. He was never forced to learn fundamental foot work as a kid because he was so physically dominating that he could easily get away with bad foot work. He has cleaned up some, but he is still off such that it shows up because he now plays with the best in the world. Long ago, the Cavs lost a late move game with Boston, in which The Truth completely beat LaBron at the circle in order to take a jump ball tipped ball from LaBron. Pickpocketed by footwook. Similar analysis as above, but down a different path in the same woods.
I just noticed that my past several blogs have been about trump. My blog is entirely intuitive such that what pops out pops out. As would likely please him, no apology is offered. So long as he keeps teeing it up, I have to hit it.
OK, what he says resonates with many people. Some of those people are “Racist” if that term can be used for purely a religious distinction. Even “smart” people, would, by bean counting or other justification, jump on the train trump is riding. Heck, they may already be the Engineer or the Conductor on that train. However, the danger to America is not the smart people, it is the “lower 80”. Since the first time people got together and lived in a “pack”, there has always been a group that needs someone else to make decisions for them.
Trump’s words make sense to them on a level that never rises to any form of cerebral analysis (based upon understanding and awareness of the history of people). The visceral reaction seems comfortable and it has always been the biggest problem, at least when there is no emergency that needs to be addressed. Once there is a recognized emergency, sometimes created by the short sighted behavior that can be a favorite of the lower 80, those that shouldn’t make decisions concede the field and go back behind the lines. Until then, though, especially now that we have wide communication through the internet that allows for silly speech and thought to be separated from the deliverer on a face to face basis, the allure of the silly is easier to promote and maintain. In the old days, someone would just call BS and that would disperse the crowd, laughing. Not so now (except this distribe).
WE HAVE TO HOPE THAT trump IS SO AUDACIOUS IN HIS SILLINESS THAT IT IS RECOGNIZABLE FOR WHAT IT IS. Once that happens, which I think may have just happened (the “tipping point” being his silliness in relation to all Muslims) the question now becomes, “How do the smart people communicate the silliness to the lower 80? Hard truth, but there it is. How can you educate the masses into understanding how silly trump is in the long run? He cannot survive reasoned application of his thoughts, but how can that be shown other than his ultimate failure in the endeavor that consists of his present undertaking. If he succeeds in his bid, the world will be facing its greatest challenge to date, the story, being true, would outstrip any “Sci Fi” story that could be made up. OMG
Last thought: this guy is not Josey Wales, he is the guy that sells the bottle of miracle potion that cures everything. As Josie mused, “How’s it work on stains?”
The Election:
All of the “little” issues, abortion, tax, gay marriage, wealth redistribution, will stand to the side such that the determining factor for the next presidential election is who can protect us against terrorists, ISIS perhaps, but more. Trump is a salesman. He sells people on the prospect of them surrendering their money in exchange for a deal he puts together. He does not put his own money in the same pot in which they put their money. At the closing of each deal, he leaves with his money. Sometimes the amount that leaves the deal at closing is up to 40% of the entire collection in hand (or merely prospective in some instances). The audacity of the transaction is accepted in that world, but for the common man, they would say,” What the heck?”
Anyway, he may be able to sell the concept he is selling as to how to deal with terrorism, but beware that a person like him, who resorts to courts to leverage the situation in his best interest, will not be able to operate his normal and customary behavior without the leverage to which he is accustomed. Therefore, he would leverage the United States, just as the 2nd Bush leveraged us by going into Iraq (after we were already in Afganistan, and while we still had high ground on the “opinion” scale around the world).
That is not the person we (The US) will need in the current times. The leverage of being a big nation evaporates in the face of how terrorism exists (See – the American Revolution, e.g.).
Instead, we need a person who can “negotiate” without leverage, play the hand without a trump suit if you will. (Couldn’t pass that up.) Trump certainly appears to have always had leverage on his side, including, in the most obvious sense, his threatening and “doing” bankruptcy for the leverage it provided to him. Oh, and each of his deals is independent of the other such that any liability is tied only to that particular investment. Surely, or he has bad lawyers. The US does not have “independent” deals, as we have found out as the result of our behavior. Everything we do is measured, often by standards that are skewed, but that is “today”.
Anyway, the issue now becomes: How to illustrate the Trump Card’s need for leverage to the voting public in advance of it becoming obvious by operation – at which point it will be too late for the glaring shortcoming to be “undone”? Be assured, if the Trump Card is played (elected) every other player at the table will just shake their head internally. Most will work for our good, since we are so necessary for the good of the world, but the Chinese and the “terrorists” will just begin to play the game at a level that we will find challenging.
In the business world the Trump Card impact can be addressed by lawyers, but the US is not a mere business entity. It is perhaps the most unique creation for the governance of human kind yet created, at least on the scale it operates. Do we really want to overplay our hand as The Trump Card would have us? Perhaps some are willing so to do, but should clearer heads prevail? Will Nero fiddle again?
I was made aware, today, of a fundamental paradigm in which NeighborDave dwells. My dad used some phrases, in my presence while I was growing up, that were not readily discernable by most children of my years. I didn’t know that then, but I did know that they made me think about why he would use that certain combination of words. As a result, at least as far as I can tell, I “saw” phrases in their entirety right away, but I also “heard” every note that was being played in the piece. I didn’t need to see the chart for the music, but I understood the difference in the notes.
“If I made that up, they’d call me a liar.”
Here is one explanation as to why “these people” (since they have chosen to put themselves in a certain box, we outside the box should be free to accept that distinction) will vote for Trump. (I refrain from both names as that is superfluous, and The Donald is passé. However, thinking of him in terms of being a trump card, with some “extra” power just by sake of being from a certain suit is just too poetic to pass up (isn’t it).) Oh, these people:
Seriously, the thought (at least somewhere inside this group, though certainly not pervasive throughout the group) is, “If we are going to lie, it might as well be a whopper.” (They bend that way with the statement “Greater Cincinnati Area”. This sign is 100 miles from Cincinnati, and facing the traffic with Cincinnati at its back. (they would have to turn around to take advantage of this offer!) The “museum” itself, is 16 miles or so from where Cincinnati touches the Ohio River, but it is out in the boonies in KY (maybe coincidentally only, there is a casino in Indiana, across the river and not far, at least as compared to Cincinnati. But I diverge.)
I have not been to the facility, nor will I ever, so I can’t advise you what you will find there. Apparently, though, “All Answers are in Genesis”. I postulate that such level of assurance almost guarantees that these people will vote for The Trump Card (really, it just jumps out at you doesn’t it, it is a must use from here on since that is exactly what he has assumed for himself, yes I get the ass reference). For, Trump Card always has a guaranteed answer. Now, the guarantee has an unstated time limit, and none of them are for all times (as I am sure that the above Genesis guarantee is), but the distinction of the fourth dimension is lost on quite a few in today’s world of America. Trump Card may not be right, but he is sure and that is all they have to hear. His lie can be adopted by them and suddenly he has, what, 4-8% of the voting populace in his camp. Note, I said the voting populace. With the entire populace, his numbers are lower, but so what, eh. The Card (had to shorten it now that it is out there) disparately obtains any number of these 4% groups (and boy they get locked in once they have to defend him to themselves (and others)) and off he goes. This is a game he plays with the things he “owns”. He doesn’t really own anything outright, as there is financing for all that he does, that is his true game. Walking others into the room, then selling it to them such that the financing is in place, and he moves on to a new room, leaving the residents to the results they may get. Because he has so many rooms, the financial people keep holding his hand, but you know that they don’t really like the feel. It is the ultimate bean counter game, and the “seeing” sense, applied to numbers, outweighs all the others, especially the sense of smell. Hearing is quite dulled as well, but not that sense of touch (of things).
So The Card can get libertarians to lean his way because all he wants is the freedom to make whatever choices he thinks are in his best interest. Libers guess that such a world, in which each and every one of us gets to do what we think is in our own best interest, would be a great deal. (Problem is, again in the numbers: there is a certain percentage of us that are absolutely, unbelievably, evil in carrying out such a tactic, and a little greater percentage who are pretty darn rotten in so doing, such that the real ability to decide for yourself may well be negated significantly. Good in theory, but the bigger the sampling pool, the harder to maintain. (NeighborDave would do well in that dance, but he has doubts about society as a whole being able to slog it out.) The Donald also picks up the anti-abortion folks, though he was apparently always pro-choice (of course he is, he wants to be able to make all of his choices unhampered by interference by anyone, and he will sue you to prove it). He has other, disparate, groups, that, if they were in the same room as his other groups, would be screaming and yelling at each other. They add up. So long as he keeps them in their separate rooms, as he does with his “holdings” none of them really communicate with each other. They are sucked in by their investment now, and to disinvest, would be a big cost (not the least of which is admitting the error to themselves). Here is my close to the loop for now, not really a close, but….
Yesterday I saw a note on the internet attributed to Hunter Thompson and suggesting that sometimes it was good to return to Louisville, wander the park and recall the place that formed him. I would guess that Thompson, as perhaps illustrated by his musings in his great book “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail”, would have had one hell of a rift on The Card. Man, that would have been fun to read. Heck, it would be fun to see Thompson in the “gallery” when the Card was speechifying. This sign is in the Ville and my brain just had to run down this path. Couldn’t stop it, but as my friend Forrest once admonished me, “It’s no good unless you share it.” (I guess my dad and Forrest had some commonality, at least to me.)
Just a quick heads up for those that need/want it. Here is one of the ramifications of the two rulings of interest this week – health care and marriage rulings. Both of these are here to stay, but rest assured that the fight will go on, and here is the point. The fight will go on because there is a very small percentage of society that gives a crap, but the real reason why the fight will go on is because there is money to be made in the fight, and political “gain” as well. (The gain is imaginary to a certain degree, but of course that is true in politics anyway.)
Advertisers will be the first to make money, FOX network will blab, blab, blab about it and its advertising payments will continue to be source of income to those that sell advertising (and to a lesser extent, those whose service or product is advertised). It does not matter the validity of the discussion, just so long as it occurs and results in viewers that are measured and counted against a prediction as to how many are planted in front of the TV (doing little in the process). R. Limbaugh will sell the hell out of this, telling the 5% of society that forms his discipleship how he predicted it and then selling BS. Yes, 5% is enough of an audience by which to make a lot of money doing nothing but spewing inane trivialities.
So, the dead horse will be beat again and again. Righteous indignation will be promoted and the validity of the Justices will be questioned. (And the Joker, Scalia, will be quoted ad naseum. What an ego he must have!
There is no stopping this rock as it rolls down the hill, but thought I would point it out to you.
Did Gruden realize that with Hundley, on the first huddle, the action shown on camera, was Gruden “authorizing” Hundley, while also showing Hundley how he can control the group. First, he brings it right out in the open that Hundley has never been in a huddle before, then he walks up to the group and says, “This is what I would like to see”. He has established personal control over the group, even though they are under commercial control by contract. (Just like pros, so it ties.) After the first try, Gruden picked out one veteran who was clearly mailing it in. The veteran is not going to argue the call out, even internally, much less externally, so he takes it from Gruden righteously and Hundley “sees” how this aspect of leadership might be exercised. It is how Gruden would do it, and Hundley can then see if that would work for him (really some variance).
I am not sure whether Gruden articulates any of that to himself. He only does the huddle thing on this guy, maybe, because he had never done it before. Gruden saw a point that needed to be discussed, and put stuff in place, then he went intuitive based upon his book of knowledge earned by doing. He may well have set it all up in advance. Entirely scripted? All of it, with no ad lib?
This week, I appeared before a government board, in another state, in front of which I had been once before, but on a minor matter of little substance. Really, an advisory request, not a decision making request. This time we had applied for a special status. Turns out there was a big docket, taken in alphabetical order and my rep’s name began with an R. We got to see the board in action and they were very aggressive on a number of issues. My rep heard and applied that knowledge, resulting in her ability to respond to those issues as presented to her. We had discussed her testimony as we waited the 3 hours until it was our turn. Note, though, there was no “game film” by which to prepare our position to a verbal “assault”, the likelihood of which only appeared once the session started. One of the board members threw a curve to me. The answer/argument started formulating in my mind and I began addressing it. One board member cut me off and asked for a vote and a second, and we got unanimous approval before I could finish.
What I learned, though, was that my brain, without ever having “seen” the process before, and without articulated preparation for the event, with attendant pre-mapping of possible hurdles to approval with a line up position and documentation in response thereto, found the path to resolution on an instantaneous basis. Why do I tell you that?
In the two NFL games this weekend, that talent/ability of immediate analysis may be on display. One quarterback of the 4 starting appears not to excel in that ability – Brady. He is real good at preparing for everything that can be predicted, but not necessarily adaptive in the absence of mapping and pre-discussion in which he is taught or allowed to learn the reads resulting in the right reaction. It may be just me, but I think that is the case. Peyton is similar, though his little brother is not. Anyway, Wilson and Rodgers are both of that ilk, but Rogers has more data in his bank because he has been doing it longer. While Luck has only been around for a short time, he does have a dad that played it and may have given him a head start on the data in the brain from which analysis can proceed. Explaining this to a sensor, as I believe Brady is, as well as 80% of society, will not prove successful. For the intuitive learners out there, you might get this. However, it may prove out in the games.
Why is this more evident in the playoffs that the regular season? Because the playoffs give rise to new twist by the coaching staff on each side, which means the resolution of a new wrinkle can only be guessed at in advance. Thus, the preparers cannot be fully prepared. The intuitive and immediate reactors can see the resolution (or multiple possibilities) as the problem appears and adjust on the fly. It is really not on the fly, but the sensors see it as that. For the intuitive, they see it as a read of something that happened before, albeit with an extension or combination of certain prior events, but a series of results that are chronicled intuitively. Wilson will be as good as Rodgers with this, but presently he has less experience upon which to trade. Luck could have enough now, especially since he has played NE twice in his career. First time he look befuddled. Second time he lost, but was not as befuddled. It may be that the reason we have the phrase “third time is a charm” is because it takes two sets of data to enable the turnaround on the third. Empirical Data in two respects (anyone that gets that, let me know.)
Way more, but that would be beating the dead horse for those on the path, and there ain’t no amount of convincing those that don’t see the path.
I was with my grandson the other day, driving in a car, winter time so windows are down and no one will hear what I am saying. Someone in front of me did something totally against the rules, and potentially dangerous, and I said something aloud about the error of a such a move. He soon voiced the view that I should not worry about that driver since he was not affecting me. He also suggested that he would never affect me, and that is where his argument, and the argument of the majority of society whom I now recognize, he represents, breaks down. For that guy will continue his behavior and sure as crap, I will run into him again – in some form.
There are more than just one realization set out herein, with no warranty of sequence or importance as to the discovery, or the reveal. When one is an odd ball, it is possible that the status is not realized from within. I am sure of no other’s perspective, hence the possibility label. It might will be a probability. That is why many odd balls resist efforts to “convert” them, passively and actively on both the conversion and the resistance. As kids, they might be teased into conformation, walking in step, forced to play by rules that are not codified in any way and otherwise don’t fit the logic they understand. (I realize there is the possibility for the “rationalization” label to apply here, but…) So if you are not an odd ball, and you want anything out of this, you really need to pay attention as this is outside your bailiwick (as if you are looking into a snow globe).
Anyway, there are certain circumstance under which the odd bail can be distinct from, yet operate within the bounds of society, without being aware that he is the odd ball, at least for a while. If the odd ball is also very smart, or valuable in some way, they can do their thing without being impacted. (This is true with “bad” odd balls, but I had in mind the good odd balls. The great scientists, musicians, etc. that are easily recognized as odd, but allowed.)
So, I took the opportunity to advise my grandson that if everyone allowed rule breakers to pass unchallenged in that endeavor, then those types of people would not only continue, but expand the attitude, behavior, to greater and greater margin past the acceptable. For, I am not so silly as to deny that with every rule there should be a margin applied in the enforcement, but only in the event of circumstances that make the “bend” sensical. (Yes, rationalization potential again.)
It was not lost on me that, as a 7 year old, he might not get my message, or maybe get only part thereof. Hell, most in society would resist and not get my message, and I am presuming that they have many years of applied learning capability that might be employed in the effort. This message may well be only for the sheriffs out there, the Pyrenees Mountain dogs of the pack. Those are the folks, and they only will recognize the trait, except in characters presented to them mostly in fiction, that can’t keep from stepping forward when they are in the presence of “unrighteous” behavior. It is not a choice to step forward, as they would have to choose to do otherwise. (And believe me, there is often times pressure not to do as they would do naturally.)
Currently, there is a focus on bad behavior by men in the relationship world, abuse of spouses and children, courtesy of the fact that the perpetrators have been outed by being in a pro sport. Of course, these guys (and women to) have been apparent to anyone who has been paying attention, and certainly anyone who has spent any time in the workings of a state level district court. (Inversely labeled the supreme court level in NY, go figure. I mean I see how it came to be, but what were they thinking. If there was ever to be any appeal right from the ruling of the court, then by definition, the next court would be “supreme” in the relationship. Probably so named by an administrator. Wow, what an aside.)
Anyway, there is a current push to move everyday kids to the role of the sheriff (Stand Up, Be That Guy), but it will be taught by folks who know the mechanism on paper, but who have no instinct in the act. I am not sure it can be taught. Well, you will catch some kids in the logic, but whether they can learn a mechanism for exercising enforcement is a much bigger question. The best I think society can hope for is that those “taught” the concept will not cower when the sheriff needs a posse behind him. Most sheriffs have learned, by experience, that compatriots will not necessarily follow the sheriff as he confronts a miscreant. But if the passive can be taught to at least stand behind the sheriff, then that is a help. Usually, it takes some bad behavior and a recruitment by the sheriff to find such folks, but when bad behavior pops up, there is no time to recruit and most sheriffs know they are on their own for the most part.
The big question for me, immediately, is whether my grandson will adopt a different perspective by seeing my behavior. I will likely articulate concepts to him in response to confrontation by him, but I would not insist that he give in to my way of understanding. I have realized that I am an odd ball in regards to my response to personally experienced bad behavior, even if it is not directed at me.
I was going to close there, but the last line caught a thought. In my experience, when one confronts a bad behaver, who is exercising leverage against his object (victim), the truth of the position taken by the confronter is of some significant influence. The bad behaver is suddenly presented with an alternative perspective. If you can point out to them the righteousness of the perspective, they appear to have an actual loss of strength, which fades parallel to the loss of conviction. You have to, though, be wary of those that don’t have the level of awareness to get the distinction, because those do exist, either in nature or by drugs.
The foregoing is really just a start. The whole story is laborious to present in this medium.
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