Zero Sum

Zero Sum

Zero sum is defined as for me to win you must lose. Loyal people are indoctrinated to support their team regardless of philosophy, ideals, and policy that has gone astray from its original foundations. Neither U.S. political party has the same ideals, and values it subscribed to fifty years ago. Perhaps only a generation ago.

Politics has been described as a “blood sport” because it appears in some cases that it is okay to lie, cheat, and steal to get what you want – to win at all costs to the other party. Defame, disgrace, dig up dirt in false unfounded “anonymous” allegations where there is no witness or way to corroborate a story. But if that story is salacious enough to sell papers and TV ratings it is okay. Many Americans believe journalism, factual news reporting and vetting stories is dead.

Schools are supposed to teach critical thinking skills to understand propaganda, brainwashing, and indoctrination to make a point convincing and believable. Sort of like where there is smoke there is fire.  If you can repeat the lie and others repeat it many times, then you begin to believe it must be true.

To win you only need to subvert the needs and values of the voters with false promises you cannot deliver. All that matters is to get people to believe in your cause with hope for a better future and quality of life. The fact is only intelligent persons have projection ability to foresee down the road outcomes from prior experience. Uninformed people tend to rely only on their emotions and cannot envision the long-term consequence of their decisions.

In general, younger people who vote have not lived long enough to know history and gain knowledge from that experience. They act upon emotion and immediate gratification of their needs mostly provided by others all their lives. Many lack early discipline and a work ethic to value anything except getting more taken from others.

The point violated in these events is, “Anyone can rationalize anything to get what they want.” It’s all about winning at any cost. The adversary has no empathy or moral value in the story. Common sense truth and wisdom is not applied but reported anyway.

It’s my way or the highway. There is no accountability. The blame game occurs whenever poor performance yields bad sometimes catastrophic results. To avoid scrutiny the accused will double down to rationalize their belief is correct and everyone else is wrong. People who disagree with your opinion to win must be discredited to lose. They are called nasty names like racist, xenophobic, etc. Free speech and our Constitution come under attack.

Verbal slurs and loud voices deflect from the truth. Bias raises its ugly head, and there is no argument that can convince rationale thought. This continues until the next news cycle takes attention away from view.

Capitalism breeds competition. But there are only so many ways you can cut up a pie. You must be good at your craft to outsmart and outwork your competition. If you adopt the attitude to win at all costs, then you rationalize it’s okay to lie, cheat, and steal if you don’t get caught. And if you are questioned you simply deny and blame your competitor is a racist and liar.

There is an old personality principle. Those who make the greatest accusations are themselves most guilty of the same offense. I just heard a past President accuse the other party, “They will lie and do anything…” (sic. to get elected). Hypocrisy remains solid in the face of adversity.

All this divides a nation. The great President Abraham Lincoln said, “A nation divided against itself cannot stand.”  The playbook to win is to accuse your opponent of cheating. Let them prove their innocence. The injustice is we are presumed innocent until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The truth always comes out in the end. Unfortunately, that end can be in the courts for years, and only those with deep pockets can afford to defend themselves against mob opinion.

The media is motivated to report salacious stories to grab attention and ratings. Advertisers pay for the privilege of being seen by those viewers, so the reporters and networks get paid at the expense of the truth. Journalism is dead. People no longer trust the media all because of the philosophy of “zero sum.”