I hope Musk does well by the world’s people by truly allowing free speech on Twitter. If he means the above, he won’t. Freedom of speech without freedom of reach is not free speech, it is censorship. It’s a word game that conceals a vile intent. ABN (first posted )
UPDATE: At best Musk’s free-speech absolutism is true but also impossible (for him) due to the economics of Twitter and all social media, including Big Media/MSM. At worst, it was never true and/or he fears for his life and welfare if he defies his control masters. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle and our nation (and all of the West) is trapped in a circle of money-lies-bribes-blackmail-taxes-corruption-election theft-censorship-propaganda-more lies-money-blackmail-etc. At bottom this circle is ruled by money-blackmail-and lies, especially lies. Notice that covid and covid vaxxes would have gone nowhere without the lies. Ditto Ukraine War, election theft, climate change, and so on. I think we can have some compassion for Musk as the pressure must be enormous. Everyone else has folded. Truth today is like cracks of light you can find only in obscure corners of the Internet or with a select few amazing & wonderful people. ABN
In this post I am going to contend that: linguistic ambiguity tends to lead to or produce hierarchical social systems.
By linguistics, in this context, I just mean language and its uses, though expressions, gestures, roles, and so on can also be factors. Of course, many other things–genes, wars, historical precedents, etc.–also produce hierarchical societies, but today we will just deal with language.
Another way of stating the contention above is: humans have adapted to linguistic ambiguity by forming hierarchies. Or human hierarchical societies have evolved as adaptations to linguistic ambiguity. A stronger way of saying that would be human hierarchical societies have evolved as adaptations to linguistic ambiguity and they exploit ambiguity to maintain themselves.
Another way of saying all that might be to say that in hierarchical societies linguistic ambiguity is good for the top people because it maintains the status quo. This happens because if the ambiguity matters in any way, it is almost always the top people who will decide what it means.
I am going to present a microcosmic example of this point. Please notice as you read this example that this kind of ambiguity is very common. Something like this will occur in your life very often, maybe as often as a few times per hour of conversation, maybe more.
This morning I was cutting some (store-bought) potatoes for breakfast. As I was doing that I said to my partner: “The potatoes from our garden are so much better than these store-bought ones.” All I meant was that. I had no further implication in mind.
My partner (my FIML partner) did a FIML query and asked me: “Did you say that to make me feel good about our garden?” I replied: “No, I did not.” After which she said: “Because if you had I would have felt bad because I was very careful when I bought those potatoes so I would have felt that you were criticizing my shopping.”
This example shows very clearly that the only way to resolve the ambiguity inherent in my statement is to fully discuss the statement–why I said it, what I meant by it, and what I didn’t mean by it. Anything less would leave a puzzle in my partner’s mind.
This example also shows the value of trivial incidents for FIML practice, something we have emphasized many times. That this incident is trivial and small (just a single sentence) makes it perfect material for a FIML query. If the incident were larger, it would be harder to isolate and agree upon data points. As it was, my partner and I were able to clearly remember what I had said and how we both understood that statement very differently. As it was, we were able to clear up the ambiguity very quickly. No, I was not implying criticism. Yes, I do appreciate your careful shopping. Yes, these are excellent store-bought potatoes, but they aren’t as good as the ones we grow in our garden.
Everything was clear and we both experienced a resolution, my partner more than I because I had not initially noticed the ambiguity in my statement or the effect it had on my partner.
That’s a good example of a FIML query. And it is a good example of how a FIML query can lead to an extensive discussion. The extensive discussion in this case is how even very minor ambiguities like the potato incident can lead to or support hierarchical social structures.
In most non-FIML homes, I am pretty sure most people would not have inquired as my partner did. Most people would probably not say anything. Not saying anything would maintain whatever status quo had been established in that home.
If our home were a hierarchy and I were the top dog (and we did not do FIML), my partner would be forced to wonder silently about what I meant about my potato comment. Maybe she would suffer or feel confused or resentful. It is natural for humans to interpret language in a self-centric manner and it is natural (normal) for humans to be a little paranoid about what they hear. If my partner were the top dog and I had said that, she might question me in an aggressive manner or accuse me of being ungrateful. In that case, I would probably be forced to apologize and claim that I hadn’t meant it that way. Going forward, I might become more wary about what I said around her.
So, not inquiring, not resolving small linguistic ambiguities maintains the status quo. If the status quo is a hierarchy, it will be maintained.
If the status quo is not hierarchical, other problems will result from not resolving ambiguities even as small as the potato example. In the example of partners who live together, partners will feel a mounting sense of confusion and uncertainty as ambiguities like that accumulate. It will be harder for them to trust each other. Kind motives may be misinterpreted as being aggressive, and so on. In time, things may get so bad partners will separate or stay together but divide their lives into separate spheres of influence. If they separate, no status quo has been maintained (demonstrating my main point). If they divide their lives into separate spheres of influence, they will essentially be dividing their lives into small hierarchical spheres of influence (ditto). The garden is yours. The basement is mine. Et cetera.
Some hierarchy is inevitable and desirable between friends or in the home. But for close relationships, less hierarchy is better for most people because it is through egalitarian relationships that we learn the most about ourselves and each other, and it is in these sorts of relationships that we develop the most.
In hierarchical societies, generally speaking the person who is higher up decrees the resolution to all ambiguities. Do what the boss says. Just do what you’re told. She’s in charge. He is infallible, etc.
One reason hierarchies get away with decrees like that is it would simply take far too much time to resolve every ambiguity in a perfectly egalitarian way. Thus, almost all humans today are well-adapted to living in hierarchies. I am sort of OK with that in many professional and business contexts.
Where I am not OK with it is between close friends or couples, except for a little bit here and there depending on context (for example, one partner has special knowledge or experience the other doesn’t have). I suppose many people are very content living in a hierarchy in their own home, but that’s not for me. I don’t want my partner obeying me or being afraid of me and I don’t want to obey or be afraid of her either.
From this small potato example, I hope readers will be able to extrapolate to the formations of social groups. Surely social groups formed in many places at many different times. As history moved forward in time, less well-adapted groups were dominated by groups that were better adapted. And that is why the world is run by hierarchies almost everywhere.
One consequence of this is it affects the individual psychology of all of us who live in hierarchical societies. This may make us intolerant of ambiguity. It may make us view our private lives through hierarchical lenses. Without FIML, our massive training in hierarchical systems will lead to confusion and suffering in our private lives. The inevitable ambiguity will eat away at us if we have no way to fully deal with it.
Another consequence of living in hierarchical societies is people who for one reason or another don’t quite understand the rules will often be judged as mentally ill, dangerous, trouble-makers, outlaws, and so on. In very rigid societies you can be sent to a gulag or be burned at the stake for not conforming. In less rigid societies, you will be fired or ostracized.
The answer “why” is not complicated…. not complicated at all.
In 2008, the ‘activists’ took control of government.
In January of 2009, the leftists, community organizers and activists took control of the systems they had opposed for the preceding 50+ years.
In January of 2009, and inflection point took place; an inflection point that no one realized in forethought, scale or consequence.
Starting in 2009, all of the systems of federal government were now under the control of the people who previously fought against the systems of federal government. Everything since is an outcome of that inflection point; that’s why everything flipped.
All of it, and I do mean every scintilla of the thing; every single granular detail and example you can put in front of me can be traced back to that moment when the activists were no longer outside government railing against the corrupt system they hated.
Starting in January of 2009, the activists took power over the United States government, and every outside institution, including media, necessarily and ideologically followed that inversion.
Starting in 2009, the systems and institutions of the U.S government now came under the control of the radical activists.
In the eight years that followed, the mission of every institution was changed. Government was weaponized on behalf of the leftist activists who now took control of it. Everything thereafter is a consequence of this change.
The Wallowa County Clerk notified Greater Idaho volunteers yesterday that the Greater Idaho measure has clinched a win. It has 8 more Yes votes than No votes and there are only 7 incomplete ballots left to be cured by voters, according to a statement at the movement’s website, greateridaho.org.
Professional Portland political operatives broke the law to try to hide who they were and how much money they were spending, but they still lost. Trying to associate normal rural Oregonians like the Greater Idaho movement with scary extremist groups did not work. The election results in Wallowa County this year were 1% more favorable than in the same County in 2020 despite the movement being outspent by social justice warriors this time.
…In the States, Leigh Finke, a transgender-identified (biological male) legislator in Minnesota, drafted a bill declaring Minnesota a “refuge state” for the medical transitioning of minors, and has now proposed an amendment to state legislation that would classify “sexual attachment to children” as a protected sexual orientation.
In Colorado, twenty-seven Democrats in the State House of Representatives just voted against making indecent exposure to minors a felony, with one legislator commenting that the criminal prohibition unfairly targets the drag and trans communities.
And in Washington state, Democrats passed Senate Bill 5599, which would allow the state to legally hide runaway children from their parents if the parents don’t consent to their child’s “gender transition” or abortion.
Clinical research is even being done on the distinctive features of particular populations with sexual attraction to children. Two researchers recently focused on the unique experiences of “minor attracted” women, for example, and called the link between “minor attraction” and “sexual offending against children” theoretical. The link can hardly be called “theoretical.”
The White House has nominated a Pfizer-tied doctor to become the next director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In a statement released by the White House, President Biden declared Dr. Monica Bertagnolli “a world-class physician-scientist whose vision and leadership will ensure NIH continues to be an engine of innovation to improve the health of the American people.”
The NIH is currently led by Lawrence Tabak, a Bill Gates stooge who replaced longtime NIH chief Francis Collins.
Collins resigned after emails surfaced that he and Anthony Fauci, among others, coordinated with other influential figures to silence doctors and scientists who opposed the covid hysteria narratives.
Dr Bertagnolli has received a stunning $290.8 million in research funding from Pfizer.
The Daily Signal, a project of the Heritage Foundation, reported that from 2015 through 2021, she “received more than 116 grants from Pfizer, totaling $290.8 million, making up 89% of her research grants.”
UPDATE: Just a guess here, but this probably means that for one grant after another she produced the results Pfizer wanted. They played her and she played them and they trained her so by now it’s second nature and she can be sure of something cush and sweet after leaving NIH where she will surely deliver exactly what’s expected of her. ABN
#1 Look at the increase of news articles mentioning "white privilege," "systemic racism," "diversity and inclusion," and "unconscious bias."
How does the media's focus on identity politics and critical race theory contribute to the division and polarization of society?
[The R-word is a psycholinguistic hot button like many others. It limits thought as its usage raises cortisol. It has become a fight-word and ‘wins’ arguments which shouldn’t even happen because cortisol blocks thought. ABN]
Here we go. Hard data is now starting to surface showing the devastating impact of the Anheuser-Busch decision to rebrand Budweiser products as the beer for the transgender community. The #1 and #2 best selling beers in the United States are now fully rebranded to consumers and destroyed. Now we see the ramifications.
The irony of Budweiser creating the “born on” date and freshness date system in the beer industry is just too damned funny, here’s why.
Across the United States, wholesalers are on the hook for inventories of Bud Light and Budweiser products that no one is buying. These products have an expiration date, thanks in part to the previously mentioned freshness campaign long ago created. The wholesalers have to swap out the close-dated products that are not being sold in retailers and restaurants. The wholesalers are then stuck with out-of-date product; and turn back to the corporate office for help.
From reporting in the Wall Street Journal, Anheuser-Busch (A/B) is telling the wholesalers to give the product free to their employees, rather than dump it. By law, they cannot give it away to consumers, and they cannot cross promote the beer by “bundling” alcohol with another CPG product (ie, buy chips, get free beer).
The story is being promoted as A/B being magnanimous in giving the beer to the employees; however, in reality as the product hits its expiration or sell-by date, A/B only have that option, other than to dump it in the garbage and recycle the containers. There is so much unsold inventory, data below, they are now giving it away (lol).
This loss in sales amounts to an opinion poll that cannot be faked. It’s similar to very low uptake of the bivalent covid vax signaling no confidence in CDC. Both are examples of failed top-down mind-control. And both are entirely organic. ABN
Well-worth viewing, especially for Americans. Provides a clear outline of EU dominance of European nation states as well as European civilization as a whole. ABN
In light of recent events in Kansas City, does the media truly selectively focus on white criminals over POC ones?
Yes, seemingly so. A murderer’s race is mentioned 4x more often if he is white rather than black.
And not only does the media mention the race of white murderers more, they also do it sooner into the article! I’ve noticed this myself, they place the race of white offenders more prominently
American Buddhist Net 
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