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Since Trump was elected, we've heard a number of explanations for the confounding question of how he got elected. Most of these explanations, at least the ones I've seen, have operated on an unstated assumption.

Conservatives elected Donald Trump because liberals called them racist!... for voting for Donald Trump. Or because liberals didn't respect them. Or because liberals wouldn't date them... Yeah, that's one of the reasons.

In short, we liberals weren't nice enough to conservatives or Republicans, thus forcing a portion of them to elect Donald Trump their nominee and the rest to hold their nose and vote for Trump. If only we were nicer.

I want to explore a few options that make a contradictory assumption. Let's look at the history of what got us here with the assumption that conservatives are responsible for their own choices. (If you need to take a moment to wrap your mind around that, I understand. Apparently, it just never occurs to some people.)

So, let's go through a bit of history and find out some of the reasons.
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This one goes to the root of a number of previous tips to this series. How does your new society handle societal shame?

Writing this in 2017 America, the answer is that this is actually the source of a set of grave internal conflicts. One side will want to examine our history in order to better understand both the wrongdoings of the past and the consequences thereof. The other side will be a mixture of those who want to view America's past as one of ideals and/or treat any wrongs done as completely issolated within the past.
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We're still in Chapter three and we're only now meeting two... maybe three of the major characters in this story. All of what we've gone over so far has been exposition. And, let me say that Huxley did a great job with exposition, far better than Orwell.

Orwell just explained the various ministries, which was well enough in getting the information to us. And, hey, it was interesting enough information.

On the other hand, Huxley literally gave us a tour and answered our questions. The exact nature of the responses and which questions weren't asked also gave us information. And, he topped it off with a spite-filled rant about past sexual and familial politics that's well articulated but filled with enough bile that it might foam at the corners of the world-controller's mouth.

Good job to Huxley on that one.

Now, let's meet three of the major players.
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Nothing big. Just a note that I have a patreon account I also have this e-published book if you'd like to purchase a copy and leave a review on Amazon.

https://www.patreon.com/WingedBeast
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XN6H17L

I'm working on another. I'm just setting this out there, in case anybody wants to support this blog.

This way, I get this done and don't have to bother my regular posts with this.

"A faith that makes losing a sin will make cheating a sacrament." This was said, recently, regarding politics of recent campaigns and adminstrations. It should have been applied, long ago, to Evangelism and Apologetics.

I haven't gotten into matters of logical fallacies. The internet is full of places you can go to see those. I bring them up because, as easy as they are to fall into by accident, they represent cheating. So can the bulk of the subjects of previous tips in this series.

For the most part, people who cheat don't cheat for its own sake. They cheat in order to win. In conversation and debate, often times, "win" takes on the functional definition of "not lose." And, the way to not lose is to organize your points and the effective rules so that your position doesn't have to be right in order to avoid losing.
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Setting: A boardroom full of people sitting around a meeting table, looking to the chairman. His as yet empty seat is at one end. A golden-colored picture of a cartoon-like calf is at the other.

Chairman as he walks to his seat: Morning shoppers.

The board in unison: Morning.

Chairmen takes his seat: Anyone seen the overnights?

Various board members not in unison: No.

Chairman with a grin: We creamed 'em.

Light applause from the board.

Chairman: Last night was a rerun, which says to me that... *look up from his papers* Do I smell onions? *leans to the side and looks to see two men in casual dress, one cutting at an onion with a knife*

Chairman: Excuse me.

Loki (not the Norse god, played by Matt Damon): Huh?

Chairman: May I ask what you're doing in my boardroom?

Loki looks forward, indicating his friend: You may procede, mon frere.

Bartleby starts as he stands up: I have to start by apologizing. My friend has a penchent for the dramatic.
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Chapter two shows us a bit more of the conditioning, this time some eight-month old Delta infants. The area is prepared with bowls of flowers and bright, colorful picturebooks. All of it made to be enticing to little infants with little infant hands that like grasping bright, colorful things. The sun comes out at just the right moment to really make it all that much more enticing.

Much like for the babies, themselves, we're being set up. As all the identical babies make their way over to enjoy the colorful books and flowers, the head nurse presses a lever. Explosions, shrill sirens, alarm bells, all the things that exist to scare a baby... literally, that is their purpose. And, those are followed up with a mild electric shock to the infants.

Books and loud noises, flowers and electric shocks-already in the infant mind these couples were compromisingly linked; and after two hundred repetitions of the same or a similar lesson would be wedded indissolubly. What man has joined together, nature is powerless to put assunder.

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This experience was relayed to me by an online friend. The person who said this to her had already made efforts to convert her to Christianity. Those efforts were reported to HR who made sure that said person knew that this was not acceptable work-place behavior. Still, upon a temporary move of office, said person, knowing that my online friend had recently lost a dear pet, said this.

"God wants me to tell you that if you accept him as your Lord and Savior you'll go to heaven after you die. You'll see your lizard again. She'll be there to greet you with him when you first get to the gates."

There's a great deal to be said about time and place. But, I'll focus on this.
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For those who are not aware of the 1980s classic, "Revenge of the Nerds" is the story of Lambda Lambda Lambda's quest for revenge against their abusers.

The stage is quickly set. Using the 80s tropes, Lambda Lambda Lambda is a fraternity peopled by those who would be labeled "nerds", "dorks", and "geeks" interchangeably. For the most part, they're intelligent, technically minded, with interests in science, chess, and the less socially desired musical instruments. They also included a gay member, an immigrant with a thick accent, and one nicknamed "Booger". They interact among themselves quite well, but face social censure for who they are, despite causing no harm.

Their rival fraternity, the Alpha-Betas, are made up of the athletically accomplished. Or, in simpler terms, they're "jocks". Early in the movie, the Alpha-Betas burn down their building, quickly blaming that on faulty wiring, and are given the Lambda house. This isn't enough, they continue to humiliate the Lambda fraternity to the point of a mass-physical assault, which prompts an important question.

Louis Skolnick, the leader of the Nerds throughout the movie, asks the question. "What did we ever do to you?"

The response was "You were born."
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Here we start with Chapter 1 and already I realize that I'm going to have to cut Brave New World a tiny bit of slack that I did not cut for 1984. I did not forgive 1984 its sexism and I will endeavor not to do so for Brave New World. But, I just can't read Brave New World unless I forgive its science.

The first chapter takes us to the Central London Hatching And Conditioning Centre. That is, it's the place, in London, where humans are made. It's the place, in London, where humans are mass-manufactured.

Males and females donate their respective gametes.

the operation undergone voluntarily for the good of Society, not to mention the fact that it carries a bonus amounting to six months salary.

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I've heard the following line once, but I've heard the basic idea more times than I care to count.

"I don't want to this to be a conversation, but..."

There are other ways to do this. To respond to things I say with complaints that, they'll later insist, are not about me but are simply universal to... groups that include me. Of course, it's my fault for responding to make what was once a simple statement of position (be it on topic of politics, religion, or other high-emotion topic) and trying to turn it into some kind of divisive argument. And, of course, there is the tried and true method of pushing back against someone who is trying to take away your freedom of speech by bullying you with their disagreement.

From your perspective, when you say something like that or engage in such a tactic, it seems like you're being quite reasonable. After all, you don't want to get into this huge debate. You don't want to have to deal with disagreements that will only raise tensions and blood-pressure.
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In the pre-apocalyptic society from which I am writing this guide, part of the reason we are so pre-apocalyptic is that some of us long for violence. So many of us see the society around us not as something we build together, but as something that oppresses us. So many of us long to see it torn down and fully expect our neighbors to turn against us.

Even those of us who hold a self-image of holding to the highest standards of morality tend to imagine that the needs of the post-apocalypse are found in weapons and the ability to, through military means, isolate ourselves.

It boils down to a vision for the society after the apocalypse that can be summed up in the phrase "to the last alive go the spoils."
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A couple weeks ago, I presented my fan-theory that 1984 can be viewed as Party Propaganda. The purpose isn't to make the reader think of the Party or Big Brother as good or worthy. The Party, in its way, doesn't want to fool you. It wants you to fool yourself out of fear of the Party. No, what it wants is to be viewed as impossibly large and all rebellion to be viewed as impossibly small.
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Camera perpsective from a corner office in a tall building. The lights are off.

Camera pushes beyond the trees to an... eclectic community. Camera passes over a cave looking out at the street, with only a rocky space and a reinforced lawn-chair between it and the street. The mailbox reads Polyphemus

Next door over is the rib-cage of what must have been an elephant. The lawn is dry, cracked, and littered with smaller bones.

Next door from that is a shack with a green glow coming from inside, as well as a sign reading "Consultation with Friends on the Other Side: Side Entrance".

Camera rushes through a commercial district with such signs as "Needful Things" and "Poor Unfortunate Fashion Consulting" to focus in on a large half-sphere of metal grid and pikes. The sign reads "City Hall". The many who have climbed up on the grid are attempting to chant "Hegelian Dialectic". As the camera pushes into the dome itself, one of the chanters comments "the other one was easier."

One woman stands up in front of a microphone stand for the audience. She has the undeniable beauty and presence of someone played by Sigourney Weaver.

Alexandra: Excuse me, I thought the point of this community and this endeavor was for those of us who are treated poorly by our canons. I realize I'm new to this, new enough not to understand how Reepicheep qualifies-

Susan Pevensie is dressed in a smart, black blouse and black skirt, short enough to display her nylons.: I can get into that later.

Alexandra: But, George Bailey was done injustice by his canon.
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As a teaser for this week (because I like to pretend I have a wide audience that would spend the week anticipating the next installment), I said that I will ask if Oceana can last.

Dragoness_E immediately responded with a resounding "no" on the basis of unforeseen externalities. The externalities included a new disease a la Black Death, an extinction level asteroid (such as is found in late 90s movies and the far better done "You And Me And The End of the World"), a much more advanced civilization coming to conquer and colonize, etc. The phrase for the whole category is "Outside Context Problem".

I will agree with this. For one thing, some of those problems are problems that would and could destroy any nation without needing to kill all or most of the people within. There's an Italian movie about a world-wide outbreak of crippling-to-lethal agoraphobia. (It's on Netflix with the title "The Last Days", if you don't mind reading the subtitles.) The affliction doesn't even kill anybody. It's the isolation and the breakdown in communications that causes civilization to break down.

Any such Outside Context Problem can destroy a nation that either does not or cannot adapt quickly enough. And, The Party will not allow Oceana to be adaptive. It cannot survive a world of changing people. It can only enforce a status quo that, given enough of an Outside Context Problem, cannot last.

That said, Orwell doesn't seem to consider anything like an Outside Context Problem. According to O'Brien and The Book, of which he is part author, the only external issue is another nation, but that is handled by Doublethink Agreement among the three extant nations. This leaves, under Orwell's examination and O'Brien's belief, only the internal matter of controlling the individuals within Oceana.

In a world without Outside Context Problems and externalities, could Oceana last as it is?

Let's take a look at what Oceana is. O'Brien will tell us, in fact.
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With the events of this past Saturday, I feel there are things that I should not have to say. I should not have to speak opposition to white supremacy, white nationalism, or the Nazis. I would hope that can be taken as a given. But, there is an element of many responses to the riot and violence, including one man ramming a car into a crowd of people injuring many and killing one, that I feel important to address. And, I'll address it in this series, because I hear it in these arguments, too.

When you discuss conflicts, particularly ones wherein your side or the side with which you empathize has done wrong, there will be a temptation. It will be tempting for multiple reasons. You might enjoy the feeling of being detached and above the conflict. You might seek a solution in which both sides are equally pleased. You might want the sense of having an advanced, complex understanding of the issues at hand without needing to go through the effort of understanding said issues.
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Setting: Waterfront park in New York. The bench faces the ocean.

Camera focuses on the profile of a distinguished, older man, wearing black suit and tie, speaks.

Agent K:Humans, for the most part, don't have a clue. They don't want one or need one, either. They're happy, they think they have a... good bead on things.

The other person from off camera.: Why the secrecy? People can be smart, certainly enough to adapt to a new normal.

Agent K: A person is smart, people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago, everybody knew the earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the earth was flat.

Other person: That is a modern myth. The size and shape of the earth had been mathematically verified thousands of years prior.
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First a quick note, based on some of the comments I've gotten. I know that much of my interpretation doesn't match up to Orwell's intent. I'm taking a Death of the Author approach and I'm outright stating where I think Orwell is wrong.

Now, into the deconstruction.

According to O'Brien, Winston has gone through stage one, learning. The next stage is understanding, which will be the task of the current chapter. The final stage will be acceptance.

The stage of learning included O'Brien's line about meeting where there is no darkness, a line of invitation to the thought that O'Brien is like Winston himself (which he might be). It included giving Winston the book so he could read it. And, it included reinforcing the very same things, via torture, that had been expected of Winston all along.

Now, we get to the question that most plagues Winston.
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(Note: This is a fan-theory. This is a way of viewing and interacting with the text. This is not, in any way, statement on authorial intent.)

Oceana and the means The Party has of maintaining their dominance strike me as... unbelievable. I fully believe that they'd try it. I even believe that they'd believe it. But, as means of control, these aren't very useful.

There are elements that just don't fit.
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A little backstory, because I don't know that there is a name for this Trope and I'm not about to get lost in a TVTropes search in order to find it. It comes from the comments in another webpage, wherein I had promoted the posts on my blog. Someone had noted that there is a common sexist trope that can happen in some of these kinds of movies. A woman makes ready to do a man's job and is shown to be silly for thinking she can do such a thing.

In some ways, our culture have already addressed this trope. The more common trope, these days, is that the woman announces her intention and, indeed, achieves that which sets out to accomplish. In fact, we've moved past that to a point where, sometimes, the trope is how outdated it is to even need to prove such a thing. The narrative either reaches a point where the protagonist outgrows the desire to prove herself to someone else or reacts, initially, with the roll of the eyes such a demand deserves.

Even so, we can still put in our own response. And, I dare to say that the 60's/70's style screwball comedy is exactly where we should put it.

My proposal is we set up something like a bet.
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