sheep I

Researchers have also studied minority influence in the context of simulated jury deliberations, where a disagreeing minority prevents unanimous acceptance of the majority point of view. The minority group was never well liked, and its persuasiveness, when it occurred, worked only gradually, over time. The vocal minority was most influential when it had four qualities: it persisted in affirming a consistent position, appeared confident, avoided seeming rigid and dogmatic, and was skilled in social influence. Eventually, the power of the many may be undercut by the persuasion of the dedicated few.

How do these qualities of a dissident minority--especially its persistence--help to sway the majority? Majority decisions tend to be made without engaging the systematic thought and critical thinking skills of the individuals in the group. given the force of the group's normative power to shape the opinions of the followers who conform without thinking things through, they are often taken at face value. the persistent minority forces others to to process the relevant information more mindfully. Research shows that the decisions of a group as a whole are more thoughtful and creative when there is minority dissent than when it is absent.

-Philip Zimbardo, The Lucifer Effect p.266

prelude to sheep

To nine out of ten of you the choice which could lead to scoundrelism will come, when it does come, in no very dramatic colors. Obviously bad men, obviously threatening or bribing, will almost certainly not appear. Over a drink or a cup of coffee, disguised as a triviality and sandwiched between two jokes, from the lips of a man, or a woman, whom you have recently been getting to know better and whom you hope to know better still--just at the moment when you are most anxious not to appear crude or naive or a prig--the hint will come.

It will be the hint of something, which is not quite in accordance with the rules of fair play, something that the public, the ignorant, romantic public, would never understand. Something which even the outsiders in your own profession are apt to make a fuss about, but somethings, says your new friend, which "we"--and at the word "we" you try not to blush for mere pleasure--something "we always do." And you will be drawn in, if you are drawn in, not by desire for gain or ease, but simply because at that moment, when the cup was so near your lips, you can not bear to be thrust back again into the cold outer world.

It would be so terrible to see the other man's face--that genial, confidential, delightfully sophisticated face--turn suddenly cold and contemptuous, to know that you had been tried for the Inner Ring and rejected. And then, if you are drawn in, next week it will be something a little further from the rules, and the next year something further still, but all in the jolliest, friendliest spirit. It may end in a crash, a scandal, and penal servitude; it may end in millions, a peerage and giving the prizes at your old school. But you will be a scoundrel.

- C.S. Lewis, The Inner Ring (1944)

Poetry ?!

ok. . . well, go easy, kids, I don't usually go public with this sort of thing. ;)

also, the formatting is somewhat all messed up. Oh well.





My Friend Greg is a Fascist


I wanted to be somewhere warm
and kept moving around on the office floor
and called Greg, who first thing
reminded me I am
a cripple
and tried to focus on the talk
but somewhere between t12 and l4
the silence is screaming
and I focus not to focus on the pain
promising myself a future
and pardoning myself the odd lapse
in discourse

I imagine what he'd be like here
the cold impassive face of this, my friend
wonder if he could see my body shake
and what it would be like
if he could feel the things I feel
the cold, the shaking nausea, and
the God
god
god
the pain, that creeps into, and out,
around, clinging into the crevices of
your awareness you weren't even aware
were there
And know what I have learned
from laying on the floor fighting tears
unthoughtfully hushing the scream
of each new breath, alone

That those are the times
to breathe into your pain
and feel it calm
In every breath to touch the
new-found steel of its core
and then move on.

*sigh*

Summer reading

Recently (since the start of the summer):

The Awakening, Kate Chopin: don't know how I feel about her worldview, but it made me feel like writing, which consequently made me want to read it again . . .

Rape, sex violence history, by Joanna Bourke: fantastic, very insightful.

and some other stuff I didn't like as much.


Currently:

Watchmen, Alan Moore: a fantastic second read through. I actually think this will remain on my list for a couple of further re-readings when I'm done. . .

The Lucifer Effect, Philip Zimbardo: constantly feel as if I'm wading through poor reasoning and mediocre writing in search of fascinating information. . . . which is there. This is about the Stanford Prison Experiment and it's implications.


Next up:

Between the Blinds; A Derrida reader, edited by Peggy Kamuf. I'm told it's the good place to jump in to literary analysis, about which I'm excited.

How to lie with statistics, last chapter. It's an ok basic primer, at this point I'm interested in learning a lot more of the math and how it was developed.

And the other fifteen or thirty books sitting on my desk, including:
guitars
a gardening book
a history of the hellenistic societies
music theory for dummies
a small heap 'o classics, to be postponed till after the Derrida (which I expect to take a good while). Some of these I'm half or more through, and may finish first.


Hoping to get out of:

The God Delusion: I'll read the chapter that proclaims to have evidence in favor of atheism. . . as more than one more faith. Other than that. . . Wes can deal with my agnosticism. . . Except that it did kind of look interesting. But there's so much else that I really want to read. . .


Wanting to read, at some point maybe soon:

Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance
V for Vendetta
The trouble with Physics
more Kafka, particularly The Trial


Possible upcoming acquisitions:

Robert's rules of order
Chicago manual of style
Ethics of Ambiguity. . . which, come to think of it, I also want to read again. Wouldn't hurt to have it in French as well.
A complete Shakespeare with decent binding, probably vintage riverside.
My own copy of QED?
Some particularly good board books to read to Gavin
Lolita, as a gift for a young fashion designer. . .


Math and science reading shall be interspersed, and is at this point somewhat less planned.


By the way, if anyone has comments or recommendations, I'd particularly like to hear them on this.

So I've always been into the cheesy library summer reading programs; something about the deadlines and the prizes and the artificial gratification has been very appealing to me; it's one of those times grown-ups can reasonably behave like six year olds. This summer, I started out with the goal of five books a week--sort of reasonable, since I have a lot of reading time at work. . . and then I got caught up in the sort of books I can't cut through nearly that fast(aka most everything but young adult fiction and pop nonfiction). It's been really great--to realize that I'd rather be reading something more substantial, and to be enjoying it more than my (still) beloved silly prizes. I think my attention span is growing. :)