I have read many people taking pot shots at the Doomsday church who predicted that the world would end yesterday - May 21. Some have used this to make an expanded shot against Christianity.
Last week I listened to an excellent radio show which focused on the topic of "End Of Times" predictions. The key point that was mentioned is that even after the first failure of the prediction - the group saves face by continuing on. The point is that the actual date is not important - the CONGREGATIONAL UNITY around the notion that they had better "Get Themselves Right, Jesus is coming soon" is the key point of the calling.
(You do know where I am going with this, right?)
For some people they are unable to take a step back from the "transactional" circumstance in which basic human/group behavior is applied and instead choose to consider the framework within which these specific instances of behavior can be applied.
As an observer I see little difference between the basic mental needs displayed by this "Doomsday Ministry" and the "JingOists" who are mounting up for Election 2012. They too plan to look past the failed "Garden Of Eden" that they previous marketing efforts had promised back in 2008. Instead it is the movement of VICTORY over their stated enemies that they most seek to reclaim.
The memory of the tears, the inauguration day, the after-parties that took place around the nation is the EMOTIONAL CONNECTION that they seek to establish once more.
The statistics of:
- Unemployment
- Home Foreclosures
- Government Debt
- The Future insolvency of Medicare and Social Security - and the very nation itself
are depressing bits of news that are merely ABSTRACTIONS if they congregationally agree to not focus upon them.
Today as I was exercising I heard a radio commentator refer to the "Optimism Bias"
Optimism bias is the demonstrated systematic tendency for people to be overly optimistic about the outcome of planned actions. This includes over-estimating the likelihood of positive events and under-estimating the likelihood of negative events. Along with the illusion of control and illusory superiority, it is one of the positive illusions to which people are generally susceptible. Excessive optimism can result in cost overruns, benefit shortfalls, and delays when plans are implemented or expensive projects are built. In extreme cases these can result in defeats in military conflicts, ultimate failure of a project or economic bubbles such as market crashes.
Regardless of the case that an instance of bias is POSITIVE and not the negative bias associated with racism or sexism or classism - the fact remains that a BIAS represents a basic disconnect between the REAL WORLD and the world that is maintained in the mind of the beholder.
We should all seek to build up systems of "constructive feedback" by which the set of information that we operate off us is most accurate to the real world facts of the time.
Failing to do so means that the "Exuberance" that we all see as captured on a given person's FaceBook page which captured the event is the only bit of evidence that they can cling to that will get them through their present depression after having been so miscalibrated from the truth.
The Christening Of "The JingOism Journal"
With all of the above in mind the sister blog formerly titled "After Obama" has now been rebranded "The JingOism Journal".
Its goal is to document just how much about our people has been COMPROMISED as a means of allowing "Optimism Bias" to continue unabated - without having to "Speak Truth To Power". This forbearance of our Permanent Interests done for nothing more than to deny the ideological adversary a chance to make note of the grievances that abound with.
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