THE EARTHIAN — 24

 

THE EARTHIAN, Number Twenty-Four, July 28, 2021, Effective Learning Publications, https://effectivelearning.net/effective-learning-publications/ 32 East Main Street, Statesboro, Georgia, USA,  Richard John Stapleton, PhD, CTA, Writer, Editor & Publisher   

THE EARTHIAN is a digest of articles containing facts, perspectives, theories, models, analyses, and recommendations concerned about existential states of affairs affecting all species of fauna and flora around Spaceship Earth. Recent relevant articles written and published by intelligent hard-hitting truth-seeking writers in Internet journals about psychological, social, economic, political, military, religious, and ecological states of affairs around Spaceship Earth are linked and posted below as sources.

To comment about this issue of The Earthian in general or any article included please scroll to the top of this page and click on the prompt for ELR Editor’s Daily Shares. Write your comment either at the top of the editor’s Facebook page or at the bottom of the specific article you are thinking about which has been shared on the Facebook page.

“ASK LESS WHAT YOUR NATION CAN DO FOR YOU–ASK MORE WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR SPACESHIP EARTH”

Individuals Are Not to Praise or Blame for How Earthian Economic, Social, and Political States of Affairs Evolve

By Richard John Stapleton

European immigrants in North America had a natural economic advantage from the 1600s up to about 1980 producing agricultural and industrial products because of where the territory they conquered is situated around Spaceship Earth, at the best latitudes and longitudes, on a Goldilocks spot of Earth, sheltered by two wide oceans from aggressive foreign enemies. Temperatures and fertile soils on that spot of Earthian territory were amenable to growing almost anything, and there was lots of soil to till, after it was expropriated from its native inhabitants by military force.

Excessive population growth in Europe and elsewhere insured a steady supply of land-hungry immigrants willing and able to move farther and farther west to farm new land as it was cleared of Indians, in what became known as the United States of America, however godless, immoral, and unethical this process might have been, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Surplus production of crops such as tobacco and cotton were in high demand in Europe and elsewhere, generating cash cow exports generating lucrative international trade cash inflows for USian planters, entrepreneurs, bankers, and traders, causing high growth rates in the USian economy, giving free USians of all socioeconomic classes competitive advantages relative to their counterparts in Europe and elsewhere.

African slavery in the South facilitated increased cotton production at relatively low cost. USian slaves had no wages or competitive advantages, giving USian cotton farmers owning slaves a cost advantage in international trade. The westward expansion of agriculture in both the South and the North of the US created demand for industrial products of all sorts, especially tractors after the development of the internal combustion engine around 1900.

USian territory was also advantaged in the Great Lakes region and the Ohio Valley for iron and steel production. Iron ore was plentiful in Minnesota and there was plenty of coal in Kentucky. Heavy loads of iron ore and coal could be floated on barges in lakes, rivers, and canals in the region to iron and steel mills and their heavy output could be floated to factories producing tractors, trucks, automobiles, plows, wheat threshers, railroad rails, train engines and cars, and what have you, at relatively low cost.

The farm land was relatively easy to take from Indians and relatively cheap when bought by farmers. While there were farmers who failed because of bad luck, weather, diseases, and what have you, USian agriculture winning in international markets was almost a certainty because of production and cost advantages.

The advent of trains, tractors, and automobiles by 1900 created enormous demand for gasoline, oil, grease, and coal, and USian territory was well stocked with coal and oil deposits in the ground that was relatively easy to mine and pump out, in coal mines in West Virginia, Kentucky and elsewhere, and from oil fields in Pennsylvania, Texas, Oklahoma, and elsewhere.

Consequently, the USian economy itself was a slam dunk winner from about 1900 to 1980, finding itself in an almost impossible-to-lose position in international trade and competition, thanks to sheer historical geographic good luck, with relatively high wages, salaries, and profits for most USians compared to their counterparts in Europe and elsewhere. Happy Days were here, for most USians considered white, and for some USians considered non-white.

Because of these eventualities, a large percentage of USians began to feel and think they were inherently superior to other humans around Earth, feeling and thinking they somehow caused their incomes to be relatively high by virtue of having superior religious beliefs, morals, ethics, intelligence, and abilities, and because of working harder than others.

USians in 2021 are no longer the luckiest humans aboard Spaceship Earth. They are no longer accidentally and inevitably better off economically than others because of natural geographic phenomena and causes. A higher percentage of  Earthian countries have industrialized, creating formidable competition; USian industrial jobs have been sent to low-wage countries; USian factories have been shuttered; USian irrigation wells have been pumped almost dry in several states; USian oil wells have about been pumped dry, no longer guaranteeing USians relatively cheap energy; USian exports of agricultural and industrial products no longer have natural cost advantages in global markets; the US is more dependent internally on relatively expensive car, truck, and airplane transportation systems than other countries, creating a cost disadvantage.     

What’s the answer?

USians believing they’re naturally superior and deserving and believing electing fascist political leaders can make the US great again is not the answer. Believing the US will again get its hands on almost limitless supplies of cheap land and natural resources is not the answer. Believing large USian corporations will bring their industrial factories back to the US and pay wages in the US several times higher than those of workers in industrial factories sited in low-wage countries around Spaceship Earth is not the answer. The above is magical thinking with little or no chance of happening.

Some possible survival answers include learning to live consuming less raw material per capita, producing only one child per woman to reduce the necessity for resource depletion, developing green energy sources, constructing housing and transportation systems that require less energy for each human served, humans doing some organic gardening producing some food in their yards, humans sewing some of their own clothes.

A case can be made that most USians past the age of thirty have been spoiled and poorly scripted by inevitable historical accidents, having had no idea how relatively well-off they were economically compared to others around Spaceship Earth, caused by historical accidents caused by inevitable cause-effect evolution.

A case can also be made that Earthians should worry about befuddled discombobulated sad, scared, and mad USians deciding humans different from them living aboard Spaceship Earth are to blame for their lowered social positions and impoverished economic circumstances, since they might blame different others so much they decide to hate, revile, scapegoat, sanction, incarcerate, disappear, and bomb them.  

If all effects have causes, and if feelings, thoughts, decisions, and behaviors are effects, then such phenomena were caused, and free will, a non-caused effect, does not exist. If so, as a consolation, Earthian humans can hope inexorable unbroken infinitely-regressive and progressive cause-effect chains, that cannot be changed or stopped by Earthian humans of any country, however superior and/or heroic they might think or say they are, will cause at least minimally OK states of affairs to indefinitely happen for all Earthians. 

A bitter pill for most people to swallow postulated in my books Business Voyages and Born to Learn is that everything that happens is either predetermined or accidental and therefore no one is to blame or praise. Believing and acting otherwise will perpetuate the same sorry I’m OK–You’re Not OK life position that has bedeviled humankind since time immemorial.

For more information regarding my use of Transactional Analysis  https://www.itaaworld.org/  to create better discussion groups and democratic processes read my book Born to Learn:  A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning.  https://www.amazon.com/Born-Learn-Transactional-Analysis-Learning/dp/0692584331 

For more information on how to co-construct better organizations and economic systems using transactional analysis read my book   Business Voyages:  Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds    https://www.amazon.com/Business-Voyages-Schemata-Discovering-Co-Constructing/dp/1413480810

Read my article “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc,”  https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-evolution-of-spaceship-earth-inc/   for some management science ideas on how human Earthians might eventually co-construct an economic system that is viable and satisfying for everyone aboard Spaceship Earth, making it possible for all Earthian humans to develop an I’m OK–You’re OK life position. 

This entails Earthians peacefully reducing through natural attrition the human population aboard Spaceship Earth, never doing work that machines can do better, and delegating the day-to-day management of systems for scheduling, producing, and distributing the necessities of life to artificial intelligence programs and supercomputers.

This is possible based on the general algorithmic matrix algebra form

Max CjXj, s.t. AijXj ≤, =, or ≥ Bi

as I explained in “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.”   https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-evolution-of-spaceship-earth-inc/  

Flying aboard an airliner about to land at night moving at four hundred miles an hour at thirty thousand feet with cloudy and rainy weather below, which would you rather have landing the plane, the plane’s radar and computer system or the pilot and co-pilot, seeing nothing out their windows but clouds and lightning?

The main reason however why turning over the scheduling, production, and distribution of the necessities of life to AI robots and magnum computers is that they do not get greedy and power hungry or play psychological Games. Thus far in human history most leaders atop large organizations such as countries, large corporations, and big banks have become corrupt one way or another playing psychological Games acting out their selfish ego trips, hogging all the power and money they could get their hands on for themselves and their cronies. AI robots and computers are not egotistical.

I am indebted to Buckminster Fuller for teaching me in his book Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth the airplane-landing metaphor in the above paragraph and for planting seeds for other ideas in my essay “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.,” such as computers being the best hope for mankind and humans not doing work machines can do better, being paid to think instead with what Fuller called mind grants. Fuller said unemployment all around Spaceship Earth could be eliminated overnight with mind grants. To my knowledge Fuller was the inventor of the appellations Earthian and Spaceship Earth.   

For details regarding my transactional analysis and management science qualifications see my RJS Academic Vita at https://blog.effectivelearning.net/rjs-academic-vita/ .   

If you have ideas on how to democratically discuss in Game-free ways economic and political problems and opportunities in something like the Ogeechee Economic Forum https://blog.effectivelearning.net/ogeechee-economic-forum/ go to our RESPONSES page and let us know about them at https://blog.effectivelearning.net/responses/ .

I do not sell subscriptions or advertising or solicit donations for THE EARTHIAN or the EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT but I would like to sell more books. If you feel you’ve gained value from THE EARTHIAN and would like to reciprocate, go to our Effective Learning Publications page and purchase one or more copies of my books at  https://effectivelearning.net/effective-learning-publications/ .

FOR A FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO THE EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT AND THE EARTHIAN: Email [email protected] and type the word Subscription on the subject line.     

Feel free to forward, share, post, print, or otherwise circulate this edition of The Earthian any way you see fit.  

Born to Learn has not been a best seller but it has had some impact as this review in the Texas Tribune implies at https://www.texastribune.org/2016/10/26/bookshelf-oct-26-2016/?fbclid=IwAR3ctGFk_zCH5QOyvLjqUiulkAcEPUQ4deUq1-tZIS6OuwaYhI-bmrM4Ebw . A German orthopedic surgeon discounted the book with a customer review at Amazon.com at https://www.amazon.com/Business-Voyages-Schemata-Discovering-Co-Constructing/dp/1413480810 lowering the book from a five star to a three star Amazon rating. The orthopedic doctor said I did not “come across” like a real transactional analyst and the book promised more than it delivered. Seems to me the Kirkus review in the Texas Tribune in this post is fair and accurate. Both reviews comment on admittedly a debatable issue with Born to Learn: Is the book useful only for teachers and students in classrooms or for all teachers and learners, including parents and children in homes, bosses and employees in businesses, preachers and Sunday school teachers and members in churches? Is it useful for leaders and members in all kinds of groups and organizations, civic clubs, chambers of commerce, street gangs, military units, and governments? I say it can be useful in all organizations and groups and can help increase human OKness. Read both reviews above for yourself and write a review of Born to Learn: A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning. The more reviews the better.

SOURCE READING FOR THIS ISSUE OF THE EARTHIAN

July 28, 2021

Say it aint so Joe

“Academentia: the Organization Insanity of the Modern University,” by Thomas Kilkauer and Meg Young, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/28/academentia-the-organization-insanity-of-the-modern-university/?fbclid=IwAR3tMEa_ZTwOpUpLp2AZ1DJbl9Qjtt5traatKKsExebt3iqCjd_GwjDR9fY.

July 28

Hard to believe

“Healthcare parasites are sucking Americans dry,” by Thom Hartmann, INTREPID REPORT,  http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/33219.  

July 28     

Edward Snowden is no dummy

“The Insecurity Industry: The greatest danger to national security has become the companies that claim to protect it,” by Edward Snowden, SUBSTACK.COM, https://edwardsnowden.substack.com/p/ns-oh-god-how-is-this-legal?fbclid=IwAR10wBZ2XLCBICRdYQKSoivRtQeoN5GoqOVvJO7fjXSuIZSij67cSaCA24k.  

July 27, 2021

Well said  

“The Collapse of the American Empire,” by Chris Hedges, COMMONDREAMS.ORG, https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/04/19/collapse-american-empire?fbclid=IwAR2x6sxhFcXJPtWExr-CPoUaYo7nQodXCSST0cPI2n-B9Ffkxb9VOlKEBv4.

July 26

Say it is so Joe

“Inside Bezos–a five-year old boy–outside, a cunning extraterrestrial…,” by Ralph Nader, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/33191.

July 26

Heck of a note

“Opinion: Big losses ahead for markets? Jeremy Grantham’s terrifying new forecasts,” Jeremy Grantham, MARKETWATCH.COM, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/granthams-terrifying-new-forecasts-11627061555?reflink=mw_share_facebook&fbclid=IwAR3F8Xp0iKw9Hiyfnlf7Otu86_AsFsD9R-z5lasiblZ2BRZ2uRWJ0AgSEAE.

July 26

Pathetic and sickening, making it easy to see why thousands of returning vets are committing suicide

“In Pre-Sentencing Letter, Drone Whistleblower Daniel Hale Says Crisis of Conscience Motivated Leak,” by Brett Wilkins, COMMONDREAMS.ORG, https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/07/23/pre-sentencing-letter-drone-whistleblower-daniel-hale-says-crisis-conscience?fbclid=IwAR22klPU6WPglMTnFpMToTPtNuc_tMCrtrprg58MhkTwlHqRF-xZorunH5g.

July 24

Yuk

“The Return of Logging Without Laws,” by Adam Rissien, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/23/the-return-of-logging-without-laws/?fbclid=IwAR08JeU9n5hQfh9lpUHKbS_pTsH-nDeXzIwFxJRbmL186QUgpLt59tWSd7k.

July 24

When push comes to shove

“Brazil, Amazon, World: Part Two,” by Jean Wyllys and Julie Wark, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/23/brazil-amazon-world-part-two/?fbclid=IwAR0VslfopxxVgavPgOgS3H9C8_6hMGTUaDZ4Ig0xFfa1ZkW_sOEgkD9Nkdo.

July 23

This woman’s from Australia

“The US is the absolute worst: Notes from the Edge of the Narrative Matrix,” by Caitlin Johnstone, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/33174.

July 23

Adventures of a smart bum

“The Beast that Kills the Beauty,” by Ron Jacobs, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/23/the-beast-that-kills-the-beauty/?fbclid=IwAR3MJA-AOolqcpVgbLAsUfMj4fYl660TSAy-nvWT2bZbTOJzzKwCyFM_hPA.

July 23

Say it aint so Joe

“American Psychosis,” by John Clamp, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/23/american-psychosis/?fbclid=IwAR1IJI7VCr2CdrefSSzdnnBus-iwFlvV7zd5qHDNNs-IAphlUr62nwZi8yk.

July 23

Showing his true colors

“Biden Promised Diplomacy, But He’s Overseeing Military Buildup Against China,” by Ann Wright, TROUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/biden-promised-diplomacy-but-hes-overseeing-military-buildup-against-china/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR3LaJuGsjADjcMn9OmnMgaF5hmep0NrDm4GgV_0jpl47OaVOkfZh9XohmE.

July 23

Since when was there a real debt limit? More bullshit, smoke, and mirrors in the USian presidency, congress, treasury dept, and Federal Reserve system. The only real debt limit is when the USian govt and the Federal Reserve System can no longer meet the government’s payroll for the govt’s military and civil servant employees, stops making its loan repayments to the USian Social Security System, and stops bailing out the USian deep state by purchasing non-market military products and inflated investment assets in manipulated stock and bond markets.

“How Much Of A Risk Is The Coming Debt Limit,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/how-much-risk-coming-debt-ceiling?fbclid=IwAR1cipZXL1BeeNcZVlqQSyS_rejvRnuomeuLBziyigABc2bTxfU7iUPZWfY.

July 22

Right. What is a fair share of taxes, not to mention a fair share of deficit spending for the US military and other budget items paid for by treasury debt purchased with funny money created from thin air by the Federal Reserve system?

“No One Has a ‘Fair Share’ of Taxes,” by Brian McGlinchey, STARK REALITIES, https://starkrealities.substack.com/p/no-one-has-a-fair-share-of-taxes?fbclid=IwAR1N41eEr_w-GhEzjB91GET1XgJFJ0YqDgDy6Tizy8P-VkxpZPtLhwAQ-5A.

July 22

Yuk

“Virginia Volvo Strikers Narrowly Approve New Contract,” by Kenneth Surin, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/21/virginia-volvo-strikers-narrowly-approve-new-contract/?fbclid=IwAR3jKQgSIcli-dCCMGw6vP3Wn4uJGjysNTOVUOWVWwCno1V7r41lQbjvyQ4.

July 22

On the road to fascism in the US

“When the Sh*t Hit the Fan: Recalling the 1970s,” by David Rossen, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/21/when-the-sht-hit-the-fan-recalling-the-1970s/?fbclid=IwAR1Nw0l7JgASyl9fm5Nvdvw3pN316eZkNQIp_WlpxZ4owsEvbzN80OIZvWI.

July 22

Sad state of affairs

“Holding Onto the Cold War,” by Melvin Goodman, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/21/holding-onto-the-cold-war/?fbclid=IwAR33DxYOSWFRxromID-NfV9GeAtE4spN7qWe4KG2wJSrtE20c7PC0CfCmbM.

July 21

Yes, there are side effects environmentally caused by electric cars such as mining for rare minerals to make batteries, but most Earthian humans seem oblivious to the fact electric cars are not a free lunch to solve the global warming problem. Why? Because electricity humans access by plugging a cord into an electrical outlet to recharge an electric car battery probably requires the burning of fossil fuel to generate the electricity fed into the car battery, offsetting any environmental improvements made by not driving fossil fueled internal combustion engine cars. I am not sure about the net result here, having never read a definitive article on it, but there are environmental pluses and minuses of all sorts comparing electric and internal combustion engine cars. If Earthian humans should completely switch from internal combustion engines to electric motors in cars, if new ways of generating electricity are not developed, such as by using hydrogen fusion reactors, it may take as much or more fossil fuel to keep on driving with electric cars as internal combustion engine cars. It takes energy to make energy, and it might take more energy to make enough usable energy to power cars, trucks, and innumerable other internal combustion contraptions with electricity than gasoline. In other words, what are Earthian humans going to burn to make the new electric energy to power cars, trucks, etc. in the first place? Mostly coal? Whoopee. A lot of energy is required not only to make usable energy but to transport usable energy, whether through electric highline wires or by trucks, trains, and pipelines. A lot of energy is lost through resistance in electric transmission wires. Mainstream media are not painting an accurate picture regarding these states of affairs, leaving most Earthian humans as usual to live in their dream worlds. Electric cars are not a panacea at this time.

“California’s electric car revolution, designed to save the planet, also unleashes a toll on it,” by Evan Helper, YAHOO!NEWS, https://news.yahoo.com/californias-electric-car-revolution-designed-100041571.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=fb&tsrc=fb.

July 21

First time I recall this happening

“Wildfires in US blowing ‘so much smoke’ into East Coast,” by Gillian Flaccus and Sara Cline, APNEWS.COM, https://apnews.com/article/science-fires-environment-and-nature-wildfires-cebad62e9bf8d5ed295b60fb9b0961fb?fbclid=IwAR2CPnyMWUmmpvQDiHZ28Fz8hngMWsgMhfS9lthmXQvCt1jQg8xWJxYnSKA.

July 20

Yes, let Cuba live

“If You Grew Up With the U.S. Blockade as a Cuban, You Might Understand the Recent Protests Differently,” by Manolo De Los Santos and Vijay Prashad, COUNTERPUNCH. https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/20/if-you-grew-up-with-the-u-s-blockade-as-a-cuban-you-might-understand-the-recent-protests-differently/?fbclid=IwAR1y5JHCGOMBn7KCy1w8ahm84bOaVzrglRxp7ZLIBh4PFeTPjBI4ehuW4JU.

July 20

How about just facing up to the truth, grieving, and going on from there, doing what has to be done, hoping for the best?

“Needed urgently! New US national myth,” by Eric Walberg, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/33139.

July 20

Say it aint so Joe

“Scenario for US & NATO invasion of Crimea and origins of American hatred,” by John Stanton, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/33141.

July 20

This was news to me

“Robotic Killing Machines and Our Future: Chris Pratt, Aliens, and Drones,” by Matthew Hoh, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/20/robotic-killing-machines-and-our-future-chris-pratt-aliens-and-drones/?fbclid=IwAR2EVMI69vSvXTcCll5usEfQMZSfc8i1IoFU4c10fzNkEBzF1NfOtjnfk1o.

July 20

The same being true with Trump in the US

“The Greatest Threat to Britain Isn’t China or Russia, It’s Boris Johnson,” by Patrick Cockburn, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/20/the-greatest-threat-to-britain-isnt-china-or-russia-its-boris-johnson/?fbclid=IwAR1_i7iKUPn4fyRJWY7jqoDjhoA_ImQitL4DSGtWS7yxTp7yd-w96WvcfdQ.

July 20

What right do lawmakers have to cram their beliefs about abortions down the throats of USian citizens who do not believe it?

“If the Supreme Court Overturns ‘Roe v. Wade,’ It will Impact Us All,” by Kia Guarino & Tara Romano, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/if-the-supreme-court-overturns-roe-v-wade-it-will-impact-us-all/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR3FZXUZD-OFfoupg3W8x1gxGILN2qro8fudxD5z4bRRXQ9yuv24SLr4eNw.

July 20

Say left wing extremists did it

“Our rulers have all the power and none of the responsibility,” by Caitlin Johnstone, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/33131.

July 18

Does it always happen this way when push comes to shove? Fascists take over regardless of the political and economic system the country professes to use, whether it be monarchy, democracy, communism, socialism, capitalism, or a hybrid?

“My Heart Aches for Cuba–and I Yearn for More Solidarity From the Global Left,” by Odette Casamayor-Cisneros, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/my-heart-aches-for-cuba-and-i-yearn-for-more-solidarity-from-the-global-left/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR1XH5dudgB7bhIywLzp-VaQunPBQCVAaK9OLPeeTR64Ao3StpnJdj49gyk.

July 16

The long arm of the law

“Trump’s former CFO resigned too late to shield his ex-boss,” by Katie S. Phang, MSNBC Opinion Columnist, MSNBC, https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/allen-weisselberg-s-resignation-doesn-t-protect-donald-trump-or-n1273950?fbclid=IwAR1kMMhhQB7dBH5UkuDBjv2yEnY_MbRtT0jFcM1d4kpuG4UyDLJR4cDiQmM.

July 15

Hard to imagine alright

“Imagine a Nation Like This,” by Paul Street, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/13/imagine-a-nation-like-this/?fbclid=IwAR19ToVYjJfmcU_geKfeyX1NcFE0WH-D3AAEy5xMQJTEFyrHFwTWqv3DIZc.

July 13

Hate to hear it

“Cornel West says in resignation letter over tenure dispute that Harvard is in ‘decline and dedcay’,” by Timothy Bella and Susan Surluga, THE WASHINGTON POST, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cornel-west-says-in-resignation-letter-over-tenure-dispute-that-harvard-is-in-decline-and-decay/ar-AAM6A29?ocid=sf.

July 13

Say it aint so Joe

“Assange To Be ‘Moved Around’ Sine Die,” by Ray McGovern, INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE, http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56643.htm?fbclid=IwAR3C86al1nIw-hUSA-TmDQcuqyjg9aVXEc2gX7_FYDtSMGqYs7UhwQuF_VQ.

July 12

Pathetic

“Biden regime escalates war on Russia and China by other means,” by Stephen Landman, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/33049.

July 12

Hard question to answer

“Why America Can’t Have ‘Nice Things”,” by Thom Hartmann, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/12/why-america-cant-have-nice-things/?fbclid=IwAR0fTBsl8zKuY_Y1On94EYEGltD3LyjqS8NSd32B-l8yVeOO63Wc5f-pyJo.

July 12

Afraid he’s right

“A World of Total Illusion and Fantasy: Noam Chomsky on the Future of the Planet,” by Robert Hunziker, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/12/a-world-of-total-illusion-and-fantasy-an-interview-with-noam-chomsky/?fbclid=IwAR0rwxRk5EtR0Ifn4uZ1KmeI80URZ9JpakVmf5RIVK6g3VpBFbyQAOMEfdg.

July 12

Yup

“Cryptocurrency May Wreak Havoc on Economy–Especially on People With No Assets,” by Sam Knight, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/cryptocurrency-may-wreak-havoc-on-economy-especially-on-people-with-no-assets/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR0ntSZckgbhNfi3fEXsld7Rut7WwSW1o_gm-jp-Tk3-lC5O11yfOJA8hS8.

July 12

Say it aint so Joe

“Suspected Assassins of Haitian President Moise Trained by US, Linked to Pro-Coup Oligarchy,” by Dan Cohen, MINT PRESS NEWS, https://www.mintpressnews.com/haiti-suspected-moise-assassins-trained-by-us/277898/?fbclid=IwAR19ToVYjJfmcU_geKfeyX1NcFE0WH-D3AAEy5xMQJTEFyrHFwTWqv3DIZc#.YOwMq3JMGeE.facebook.  

July 10

Say it aint so Joe

“From Iowa Nice to Iowa Nazi: A Report from the Friendly Fascist Heartland,” by Paul Street, COUONTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/09/from-iowa-nice-to-iowa-nazi-a-report-from-the-friendly-fascist-heartland/?fbclid=IwAR3nYrad7IKSlIA2wdVFa2koIWSLNA7GqNJYV8a9NwwVnTIxO0XXzLnpJ5o.

Juy 10

Sad

“Was it Just? America and Her Suicidal Combat Veterans,” by Matthew Hoh, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/09/was-it-just-america-and-her-suicidal-combat-veterans/?fbclid=IwAR2ShbGeMcChlVB1kohBBk7SCAVOoVHtTEu2A9gRF1p0Hwl5YszDXh_KsuQ.

July 9

Born to Learn: A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning by Richard John Stapleton was featured in “20 Great Indie Books Worth Your Time,” in Kirkus Reviews, VOL. LXXXV, NO 21, 1 November 2017, Page 130:

“Illuminating if quirky at times; insightful eye-opening observations about the interplay of teachers and students in the classroom. A refresher course in Transactional Analysis emphasizes its application in the classroom.”

Born to Learn has not been a best seller but it has had some impact as this post in the Texas Tribune shows. A German orthopedic surgeon discounted the book with a customer review at Amazon.com and slowed sales down, lowering it from a five star to a three star rating. The orthopedic doctor said I (Richard) did not “come across” like a real transactional analyst and the book title promised more than it delivered. Seems to me this Kirkus review in the Texas Tribune is fair and generally accurate. Both reviews admittedly touch on a debatable issue with the book: Is the book beneficial only with teachers and students in schools or with all teachers and learners, parents and children in homes, bosses and employees in businesses, preachers and Sunday school teachers and members in churches, and with leaders and members in all groups and organizations, including boy and girl clubs, civic clubs, Chambers of Commerce, military units, and governments? I say Born to Learn applies in all organizations and groups that teach and learn and can increase human OKness in general.

https://www.texastribune.org/…/bookshelf-oct-26-2016/…

“Born to Learn: A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning,” Kirkus Reviews, TEXAS TRIBUNE, https://www.texastribune.org/2016/10/26/bookshelf-oct-26-2016/?fbclid=IwAR3YeBRe0m_FZr7DgAursu7iM61QsRoWfqMlQA8oo9E_G1miwUfJWnDi7F4.

July 8

Great grandparents leading up to all four of my (Richard’s) grandparents from Virginia before the American Revolution owned farms and ranches, mostly cotton farms, on land recently conquered from Indians, in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Texas. All four of my grandparents were reared on cotton farms owned by their parents in Mississippi and Texas. I had two uncles who were cotton farmers near where I grew up in Texas. My parents owned a cotton farm I lived on up to age four near Wolfforth, Texas in Northwest Texas. One of my ancestors, a distant cousin, Dabney Herndon Maury, a West Point graduate and an army general fighting for the South, published a book titled Recollections of a Virginian in the Mexican, Indian, and Civil Wars. And, yes, some of my ancestors owned slaves, not something to be proud of, but there’s nothing I can do about it now. I am working on another book tentatively titled Evolution of a Professor Surrounded by Cotton Fields.

“Cotton and Conquest: How the Plantation System Acquired Texas,” by Roger C. Kennedy, AMAZON.COM, https://www.amazon.com/Cotton-Conquest-Plantation-System-Acquired/dp/0806143460/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Roger%20g%20Kennedy%20cotton%20and%20conquest&qid=1625510531&sr=8-1&fbclid=IwAR2xJrqF1y8AAFX3mkHH3mOg__P8kSv_tl_TdKVOcNPkcLMWtSkU8YHhroE.

July 3

Never knew this before

“Manchin Has Made Millions From Coal Sales Since Joining the Senate,” David Moore, Sludge, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/manchin-has-made-millions-from-coal-sales-since-joining-the-senate/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR0mdumu01NfCd3dbbMGPJEMDYQESS26xWSL23aFXXm42oNXjCU6xYEi9H0.

July 3

What next? How bad can it get?

“A Remarkable Silence: Media Blackout After Key Witness Against Assange Admits Lying,” MEDIA LENS, https://www.medialens.org/2021/a-remarkable-silence-media-blackout-after-key-witness-against-assange-admits-lying/?fbclid=IwAR22CLLcIKuuZgbQSgOydtW4DtWXIa-_y6ZGGmJDfCLOC3i3U8qlVHgbfoc.

July 3

Say it aint so Joe

“Freedom Rider: The terrible origins of July 4^th,” by Margaret Kimberley, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/32964.

July 3

USian fascists win another victory on the road to full blown fascism in the US

“Supreme Court Drives a Stake Through the Heart of the Voting Rights Act,” by Marjorie Cohn, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/supreme-court-drives-a-stake-through-the-heart-of-the-voting-rights-act/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR2INmIHTZJTgoDTYcZhidD74-PeJppintV2KPacVF98hUMav0CmxuGSQOA.

July 3

Pathetic

“More Than 72 Million Americans Are Living Paycheck to Paycheck,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/more-72mm-americans-are-living-paycheck-paycheck?fbclid=IwAR3FIvJ31RyMSlwAwNGJ1ixq-t1TariiOfPSuEd6QHnZwPM-EMMp3AAvN9M.

July 3

Is Eve right on again?

“Native Genocide, Native Liberation,” by Eve Ottenberg, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/02/native-genocide-native-liberation/?fbclid=IwAR2xJrqF1y8AAFX3mkHH3mOg__P8kSv_tl_TdKVOcNPkcLMWtSkU8YHhroE.

July 3

Afraid Street’s right again

“The Resistance Remains Hollow: The Weimar Ways of the Dismal Democrats,” by Paul Street, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/02/the-resistance-remains-hollow-the-weimar-ways-of-the-dismal-democrats/?fbclid=IwAR2VyJJ-YxqYNad_iARyaIAUAOOD7kN6IliX2aeuCvfDcfdC3A2es7rpsGc.

July 2.

What little USian and Earthian history I was exposed to in public school in the 1950s was a joke. No discussions, no nothing about why states of affairs happened, just dates of events and names of people in power to be memorized for so-called objective tests. Dull and dry stuff, explaining nothing.

“What Our Schools Actually Distort,” by Glenn Sacks, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/02/what-our-schools-actually-distort/?fbclid=IwAR1Y2iuQV8dh2OVzqJmnzjtmqRedoZZqB2GidL2UlFcvO2kYTQ1wTy8A80E.

June 29

The true story about the Assange Case

“FBI Fabrication Against Assange Falls Apart,” by Craig Murray, CRAIGMURRAY.ORG.UK, https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2021/06/fbi-fabrication-against-assange-falls-apart/?fbclid=IwAR14Tp5WwCSs7m9tmSeT33MdGilreUPB3-yDBkKGceX9fxxyGW0skv4xL04.

July 1

Yikes

“Dozens of Sudden Deaths Reported as Canada Heat His a Record 121 Degrees,” by Jake Johnson, Common Dreams, https://truthout.org/articles/dozens-of-sudden-deaths-reported-as-canada-heat-hits-a-record-121-degrees/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR3lqXptTFsPYQZRIM8fcj8_QlqPUIXj1s8orY2VoRh_UVmwpx_5GwxYJ3o.

June 30

Not weird, but creepy. The USian mainstream media have long decided to back up the narrative of the USian govt that Julian Assange is a bad guy who made them look bad with truth telling about their war crime secrets in the Mideast on Wikileaks leaked by Chelsea Manning, and therefore he deserves to be silenced and/or imprisoned forever regardless of international law.

“The weird, creepy media blackout on recent Assange revelations,” by Caitlin Johnstone, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/32936.

June 26

Xi is possibly the most efficient and effective top leader on the Earthian political stage today, despite his weaknesses mentioned in this post. It seems however he is following the same cause-effect path to ruin of past top leaders on the Earthian stage–getting greedy for personal power and fame, allowing his personal egotism to offset the good he has done, which is why computer programs and AI robots are needed at the top of large political and economic organizations around Spaceship Earth. In a word, computer technology and AI robots are not egotistical.

“Xi’s Gamble,” by Jude Blanchette, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2021-06-22/xis-gamble?utm_medium=newsletters&utm_source=twofa&utm_campaign=Xi%E2%80%99s%20Gamble&utm_content=20210625&utm_term=FA%20This%20Week%20-%20112017&fbclid=IwAR3lqXptTFsPYQZRIM8fcj8_QlqPUIXj1s8orY2VoRh_UVmwpx_5GwxYJ3o.

June 28

Yuk

“Biden’s Lawless Bombing of Iran and Syria Only Serves The Weapons Industry Funding Both Parties,” Glenn Greenwald, Substack, ZEROHEADGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/political/greenwald-bidens-lawless-bombing-iraq-and-syria-only-serves-weapons-industry-funding-both?fbclid=IwAR0qJU8fOp_VrKV_6vB1roJlzRR5FDisrg4FqnE_L8ZQp4uxjRar3Yzfjq0.

June 23

Ominous indeed

“The Republican Party has Turned Fascist and is Now the Most Dangerous Threat in the World,” by Patrick Cockburn, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/06/22/the-republican-party-has-turned-fascist-and-is-now-the-most-dangerous-threat-in-the-world/?fbclid=IwAR0Mf5-fdMyqzZQLwS_aDtcjlBaOi7eWTZYaWnE1MJoRpzPNa0gIPJIC4cE.

June 18

Let us grieve this does not happen in the US of A

“The United States Threatens

“In Washington, the dismissal of the justices did not sit well with the White House. Vice-President Kamala Harris, who oversees the working group in migration, which is exploring the causes of Central American migration and the problems of the Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala), issued a warning about the Biden administration’s reaction to the undermining of democracy and its institutions by Bukele and his deputies.

“This weekend, we learned that the Salvadoran Assembly moved to undermine its nation’s highest court,” she said on May 4 at a Washington DC conference on democracy in the Americas. “An independent judiciary is critical to a healthy democracy and a strong economy. On this front, on every front, we must respond.” She went on to say, “We are focused on attacking the causes and the roots of migration and among the roots we have identified corruption, impunity, the lack of good governance.”

Yeah, right, The best way to stop illegal immigration from Central and South America into North America is to help countries down there become decent law abiding countries, and the USian govt cannot do that by undermining the rule of law in those countries.

“Power and Corruption in El Salvador,” by Carmen Rodriguez, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/06/01/power-and-corruption-in-el-salvador/?fbclid=IwAR0pFojSPKECP2Gu8dGOrjNcU5kFsNJ-MFp3gJRM48IE7AA3cQLcvK3vM9g.

June 9

Good ole peace loving US of A

“Even the New York Times Now Admits That It’s US Sanctions, not Socialism, That’s Destroying Venezuela,” by Peter Bolton, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/06/08/even-the-new-york-times-now-admits-that-its-us-sanctions-not-socialism-thats-destroying-venezuela/?fbclid=IwAR0p-V9HPQCLXdKpFkGX6mIgSsZBX7t75wHiMMPl4kTddxrV9XsPavZbNX8.

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About the Editor  

Here’s Richard John Stapleton, PhD, CTA in his office at Georgia Southern University the year he retired in 2005, the senior professor of the university that year. The photo was shot by Lori Grice, a former student, founder of Lori Grice Photography. The object under his left hand is a Classroom De-Gamer™ he invented in 1978.

 

The spinner was spun in Stapleton’s classes to randomly select a student at the beginning of each class session to lead a discussion of the case assigned for that day, a case taken from a real business prepared by case writers at Georgia Southern, Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Alabama. Grades were based eighty percent on class participation; the rest of the final grade was based on case write-ups.

He learned how the case method works teaching with Bernard Bienvenu, DBA and Rexford Hauser, DBA (Harvard Business School doctorates) at what is now known as the University of Louisiana–Lafayette in 1969-70. 

He has published refereed journal articles and books explaining how his democratic Game-free Adult-Adult I’m OK–You’re OK case method system works, by banishing Persecutors, Rescuers, and Victims playing psychological Games from the teaching and learning process, first documented in an article titled “The Classroom De-Gamer” he published in 1978 in the Transactional Analysis Journal.

He studied TA with Martin Groder, MD; Graham Barnes, PhD; Vann Joines, PhD; and many others at the Southeast Institute at Chapel Hill, North Carolina (1975-1978).

He has degrees in economics, organizational behavior, and management science from Texas Tech University (1962-1969), and an organizational and educational certification in transactional analysis from the International Transactional Analysis Association (1978).

He had his own case method track at the undergraduate level in the business school at Georgia Southern University taught by him alone in the management department, four or five different elective case method courses offered each academic year (1970-2005), in which he led, coordinated, and graded twenty-five or so students each year who took all or most of those case method courses in their junior and senior years, of about two hundred students who signed up for all of his courses each year, using a democratic circle or amphitheater classroom layout. He also taught most semesters two sections of a case method capstone integrative business policy course he added to the business school curriculum in 1970 that was required for all undergraduate business majors that could be elected by any student in any major. He was the only professor in the business school to use the case method in this core curriculum required integrative capstone course for graduating seniors.

He conducted primary survey research in 1992 that discovered longitudinal data (published in “Evidence the Case Method Works” in his book Business Voyages: Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds, 2008, pg. 475) that showed his case method students during 1972-1982 reported higher yearly incomes in 1992 than students electing the same courses in 1972-1982 taught by professors using the lecture method and the authoritarian row and column classroom layout, who graded students based on how well they memorized “right answers” for so-called objective multiple-choice tests, indicating learners learning in Adult–Adult I’m OK–You’re OK Game-free learning processes graded subjectively became more successful in the real world of business than learners lectured to in Parent–Child I’m OK–You’re Not-OK un-De-Gamed learning processes. Only former students who had been in the real world ten or more years after graduating were included in the study.

He had one of the lowest student grade point averages among professors in the business school. About five percent or so of his students made A’s and D’s, and most made C’s, which is about right, since C = Average. There few F’s in his courses. He did not believe in Lake Wobegon grading.

As the philosopher Ludwig Wiggenstein wrote, “The case is all there is.”

Everything else in Earthian human states of affairs is a rendition of what was or might be.

For more on Stapleton’s cultural, educational, and professional experiences go to https://www.effectivelearning.net.