Couldn't be more timely! never heard it worded as "Preference Cascade" but it definitely well-describes the Ashe experiments and in particular I like the strong the image of a cascade... where each one falls from the next lettin' gravity assist until it flows rapidy . The metaphor works well. It also evokes the idea of not easily stoppin'--from inertia to a gusher! And it does seem ta function that way--for better... or in some cases...worse.
But then this gits me askin'--if that fulcrum tips in one direction to finally exact desired change (let's say, finally a push back against tyrrany) or a shift, a revolution even--then what makes things tip back, often with the same folks? What makes free folks tip "back" an' beg for tyranny? Masks an' rules an' limitations an' harsh treatment for those who still wanna reject the tyrants... What makes folks embrace self-destruction after they seem to have formed strong opinions AND experienced them too!
An then what's got me equally bemused is the lack of critical thinkin' in some of the "cascaders" --even as they see more lemmings jump over the cliff an' feel free to join 'em (eg. the Gazan cheers of the gender queer -- oy) -- I mean these young'uns seem ta become more & more comfy with a set of values that would literally mean their very destruction (as ya point out)... Kinda like 2+2=5 in Ashe in terms of impossibly flawed logic--but with far greater consequences... which you'd think would temper their irrational views but does not!
Anywhoo--regardin' the important point of those remainin' silent even once their views are strongly formed, I'll share a great podcast from Ilana Rachel Daniel with a political analyst from Lebanon (he lives here in the US now). To my surprise he shares that MOST citizens there (unlike their American brethren) are very much against the totalitarian / anti-western regime but keep quiet out of fear and do not vote (if vote they do) for the one they want--they vote out of fear. (Hussain Abdul Hussain--it's a good'un). He says there is a consensus there already... but folks are really cowed.
I'd like start a cascade or two myself tho! (If there is safety in numbers there is risk in too few've 'em!)
Thank you for this ! Love the term “ whipsawing””. It does seem like our society is doing a lot of that and it appears that the propaganda we have been spoonfed has encouraged this. That might be another article for you how people are manipulated by the media reports that vary widely from one day to the next and sources that were once trusted are exposed to be blatantly false. I think that surely the toppling down of institutions that were once revered due to the truth of their horrific foundations could definitely have the effect of changing people’s perceptions. But I also appreciate that you mentioned that tge Perference Cascade etc are not inherently good or bad. Great article. I think the world is in for some very turbulent times looking for peace and safety there or there saying this one or that one will save us ( sound familiar?!) It is a time I think when we must look within and discover who we are
http://www.jrnyquist.com/petr_cibulka_2003_0310.htm ...in the spring of 1991 we published the first issue of "Uncensored News" in about 70,000 copies. Our newspaper was then published by-weekly and later as a weekly issue. Unfortunately for Vaclav Havel's "velvet" regime this newspaper was too true and uncensored and was informing people too thoroughly about conditions in the Czech Republic. Our paper debunked many lies widely believed about the November revolution [of 1989] and the fact it was not an anti-communist revolution at all. It was a privatization coup organized by the reform wing of the Russian KGB. It was accomplished in order to install the self-invited "new administration," turning them into the country's rulers and lawful owners. And that was achieved in full measure by the communists, the STB and KGB structures under the leadership of Vaclav Havel. As a result there was a fraudulent privatization of state wealth that in fact ended up in the hands of communist and STB/KGB structures only.
This was shown fully and accurately in 1992 when, by blind luck, "Uncensored News" acquired and published the names of 160,000 officers and collaborators of the communist secret police, STB, and its Second Department (the department charged with the "struggle against interior enemies"). For the first time the people had a chance to read the truth about the level of infiltration and the level of control of this society by communist and STB powers and structures.
How much interest was there from the government and also from the public to publish the communist dossiers? Were there any obstacles put up by the state to block publication?
The public was, from the first day, insisting on a full disclosure and publication of all communist secrets (including those of the Soviet occupation government). Unfortunately, all the people in power, and that means President Havel, and all the others (Vaclav Klaus, Milos Zeman, Dienstbier, Pithart and others) were very strongly against it, against any publishing, against any openings of communist archives, against any punishment of communist criminals to whom they had guaranteed immunity! In fact, punishment was blocked by this "revolutionary bunch" through a "law" rubberstamped by the Czechoslovak Parliament -- a law that in fact guaranteed legal continuity with the previous communist regime. So today it is impossible to bring the communist criminals to justice. You see, the communist dictatorship passed laws so criminal and hideous that when it needed to liquidate people with a different way of thinking and believing it could do so legally. In fact, those who disagreed with the system were punished according to communist laws. Cases where it would've been necessary for the communists to break their own laws in order to punish somebody with different views do not exist.
A preference cascade here as well. A bourgeois one. Luxury and celebrity go far.
Fascinating! It's a little disappointing to hear that Havel sold out, but it certainly explains why the Soviet regime was so willing to relinquish power.
Much like our Western "democracies," it appears that the figureheads were allowed to change as long as the underlying policies and power brokers remained in place.
Sold out? No. From the outset. He is a scion of a family. https://www.hegaion.com/2012/11/facts-from-life-of-vaclav-havel-and-his.html. During WWII, the members of Havel family made friends with highest Nazis in Czechia, including members of thesecret service, gestapo, and the protectorate government. The father’s brother, uncle Miloš Havel, even activated the Nazi friends against his competitors. During the Nazi occupation and holocaust, their film studios in Barrandov produced many idyllic movies and comedies. As a boy, Václav Havel admired German uniforms and was running after German soldiers in the streets, as was affectionately noted by his mother in her diary. After the war, it was the communists who won favor with the family. The special relations of the family with the authorities could be seen when Havel’s father managed to keep a good position despite an investigation of his Nazi past, when his grandfather, an indicted Nazi collaborator, was acquited, and when his uncle Miloš “succeeded to escape” from the communist prison and crossed the well-guarded border to West Germany.
That's very interesting. After reading "The Power of the Powerless," I became a fan of Havel's writing, and did not understand why my late father, an ardent anti-communist, had always despised Havel. Thank you for explaining it!
I was a fan of Havel as well. I was a youth when Ginsberg became May King in 1968. As I age I learn much about publishing and attention and ideas about noble high minded heroes and for about 30 years now the feet of clay and helpful service to power I seek first. I was a big Solidarity man and then I studied the myth vs. the actuality.
Couldn't be more timely! never heard it worded as "Preference Cascade" but it definitely well-describes the Ashe experiments and in particular I like the strong the image of a cascade... where each one falls from the next lettin' gravity assist until it flows rapidy . The metaphor works well. It also evokes the idea of not easily stoppin'--from inertia to a gusher! And it does seem ta function that way--for better... or in some cases...worse.
But then this gits me askin'--if that fulcrum tips in one direction to finally exact desired change (let's say, finally a push back against tyrrany) or a shift, a revolution even--then what makes things tip back, often with the same folks? What makes free folks tip "back" an' beg for tyranny? Masks an' rules an' limitations an' harsh treatment for those who still wanna reject the tyrants... What makes folks embrace self-destruction after they seem to have formed strong opinions AND experienced them too!
An then what's got me equally bemused is the lack of critical thinkin' in some of the "cascaders" --even as they see more lemmings jump over the cliff an' feel free to join 'em (eg. the Gazan cheers of the gender queer -- oy) -- I mean these young'uns seem ta become more & more comfy with a set of values that would literally mean their very destruction (as ya point out)... Kinda like 2+2=5 in Ashe in terms of impossibly flawed logic--but with far greater consequences... which you'd think would temper their irrational views but does not!
Anywhoo--regardin' the important point of those remainin' silent even once their views are strongly formed, I'll share a great podcast from Ilana Rachel Daniel with a political analyst from Lebanon (he lives here in the US now). To my surprise he shares that MOST citizens there (unlike their American brethren) are very much against the totalitarian / anti-western regime but keep quiet out of fear and do not vote (if vote they do) for the one they want--they vote out of fear. (Hussain Abdul Hussain--it's a good'un). He says there is a consensus there already... but folks are really cowed.
I'd like start a cascade or two myself tho! (If there is safety in numbers there is risk in too few've 'em!)
https://ilanaracheldaniel120.substack.com/p/breaking-the-cedars-of-lebanon-with
Thank you for this ! Love the term “ whipsawing””. It does seem like our society is doing a lot of that and it appears that the propaganda we have been spoonfed has encouraged this. That might be another article for you how people are manipulated by the media reports that vary widely from one day to the next and sources that were once trusted are exposed to be blatantly false. I think that surely the toppling down of institutions that were once revered due to the truth of their horrific foundations could definitely have the effect of changing people’s perceptions. But I also appreciate that you mentioned that tge Perference Cascade etc are not inherently good or bad. Great article. I think the world is in for some very turbulent times looking for peace and safety there or there saying this one or that one will save us ( sound familiar?!) It is a time I think when we must look within and discover who we are
http://www.jrnyquist.com/petr_cibulka_2003_0310.htm ...in the spring of 1991 we published the first issue of "Uncensored News" in about 70,000 copies. Our newspaper was then published by-weekly and later as a weekly issue. Unfortunately for Vaclav Havel's "velvet" regime this newspaper was too true and uncensored and was informing people too thoroughly about conditions in the Czech Republic. Our paper debunked many lies widely believed about the November revolution [of 1989] and the fact it was not an anti-communist revolution at all. It was a privatization coup organized by the reform wing of the Russian KGB. It was accomplished in order to install the self-invited "new administration," turning them into the country's rulers and lawful owners. And that was achieved in full measure by the communists, the STB and KGB structures under the leadership of Vaclav Havel. As a result there was a fraudulent privatization of state wealth that in fact ended up in the hands of communist and STB/KGB structures only.
This was shown fully and accurately in 1992 when, by blind luck, "Uncensored News" acquired and published the names of 160,000 officers and collaborators of the communist secret police, STB, and its Second Department (the department charged with the "struggle against interior enemies"). For the first time the people had a chance to read the truth about the level of infiltration and the level of control of this society by communist and STB powers and structures.
How much interest was there from the government and also from the public to publish the communist dossiers? Were there any obstacles put up by the state to block publication?
The public was, from the first day, insisting on a full disclosure and publication of all communist secrets (including those of the Soviet occupation government). Unfortunately, all the people in power, and that means President Havel, and all the others (Vaclav Klaus, Milos Zeman, Dienstbier, Pithart and others) were very strongly against it, against any publishing, against any openings of communist archives, against any punishment of communist criminals to whom they had guaranteed immunity! In fact, punishment was blocked by this "revolutionary bunch" through a "law" rubberstamped by the Czechoslovak Parliament -- a law that in fact guaranteed legal continuity with the previous communist regime. So today it is impossible to bring the communist criminals to justice. You see, the communist dictatorship passed laws so criminal and hideous that when it needed to liquidate people with a different way of thinking and believing it could do so legally. In fact, those who disagreed with the system were punished according to communist laws. Cases where it would've been necessary for the communists to break their own laws in order to punish somebody with different views do not exist.
A preference cascade here as well. A bourgeois one. Luxury and celebrity go far.
Fascinating! It's a little disappointing to hear that Havel sold out, but it certainly explains why the Soviet regime was so willing to relinquish power.
Much like our Western "democracies," it appears that the figureheads were allowed to change as long as the underlying policies and power brokers remained in place.
Sold out? No. From the outset. He is a scion of a family. https://www.hegaion.com/2012/11/facts-from-life-of-vaclav-havel-and-his.html. During WWII, the members of Havel family made friends with highest Nazis in Czechia, including members of thesecret service, gestapo, and the protectorate government. The father’s brother, uncle Miloš Havel, even activated the Nazi friends against his competitors. During the Nazi occupation and holocaust, their film studios in Barrandov produced many idyllic movies and comedies. As a boy, Václav Havel admired German uniforms and was running after German soldiers in the streets, as was affectionately noted by his mother in her diary. After the war, it was the communists who won favor with the family. The special relations of the family with the authorities could be seen when Havel’s father managed to keep a good position despite an investigation of his Nazi past, when his grandfather, an indicted Nazi collaborator, was acquited, and when his uncle Miloš “succeeded to escape” from the communist prison and crossed the well-guarded border to West Germany.
That's very interesting. After reading "The Power of the Powerless," I became a fan of Havel's writing, and did not understand why my late father, an ardent anti-communist, had always despised Havel. Thank you for explaining it!
Also, thanks for the link to Thomas Guttman's blog. I've never heard of him, but he seems to be a kindred spirit.
I was a fan of Havel as well. I was a youth when Ginsberg became May King in 1968. As I age I learn much about publishing and attention and ideas about noble high minded heroes and for about 30 years now the feet of clay and helpful service to power I seek first. I was a big Solidarity man and then I studied the myth vs. the actuality.