Blessings and Traumas
A surreal character-building experience
Upstream: Ergonomic Hijinks
Experimentation, collecting personal experiences, and stretching professional operating environments has been a lifelong personality quirk across organizations, the country, and globe.
I make a conscious effort to seek out colleagues who seem capable of having intellectually rigorous conversation about philosophical differences in strategy, leadership, and management.
My consultative nature and interest in organizational change management led me to seek out contacts in private equity who could provide me feedback or direction. My objective was to seek validation that my background and skill set lent itself to the operational aspect of M&A integration or breadcrumbs to continue my quest for valuable, interesting, and productive conversations.
As a student of human psychology and amateur sociologist, I was fascinated by one particular interaction.
After years of being connected, but without having ever had a conversation, I reached out to contact who unexpectedly and immediately scanned my LinkedIn profile, choosing to drill down into my early professional development: working as a field organizer for Service Employees International Union.
This person was very curious if I knew that there was a significant amount of research into the “links between SEIU and BLM and antifa.”
As someone who gains great satisfaction from dialoguing with people whom I disagree with, I was self-conscious that this subject matter was not in my objectives nor on the unwritten agenda for the call. So I decided to experiment, collect another personal experience in a - purportedly - professional operating environment.
This potential colleague felt their vision was perfect, their understanding of the objectives and mission of other actors was clear, and they were seeking to validate that perspective. They sought to validate my experience as a 2nd generation American, married to an immigrant. I believe actuaries are the world’s oldest data scientists and this Ivy League educated former data-driven professional had packaged up lots of feelings.
I played along to learn, interact, and observe adult human behavior in a quasi-workplace environment. I asked what “antifa” stood for. With a cynical laugh, they said “ironically, it means anti-fascist”.
My pragmatic political philosophy: there are ideologues out there intent on engaging in lawfare to undermine the administrative state built on top of the 13th through 19th Amendments, and many of the rest are cynics (or nihilists/fatalists) who’d prefer nuclear holocaust to facing consequences for words and/or action. The cynics are usually expressing a maladaptive response to unprocessed trauma.
I decided to learn as much as I could from this person.
Our conversation veered into the events of Ferguson, touched on whether Missouri was a Southern state, and the history of the Missouri Compromise.
I explained my belief that throughout all of American history, I felt that all levels of municipal, state, and federal politics were influenced by a confluence of 3 factors:
Property: what is the consensus definition of an asset, and who has the legal rights to its store of value
Demographics: who are enfranchised citizens, constituents, and consumers and what is their projected relative increase or decrease in share and/or consumption
Financials: what is the consensus expected cash flow for free enterprise and subject to fiscal oversight generated from the combination of #1 and #2
They listened and nodded along, seemingly agreeing with my analysis and summary. Eventually, the brief but winding conversation about political ideology, economics, public policy, urban centers, and real estate ended. Abruptly, they said the conversation was over and wished me luck. Later, I learned they “unfriended” me on LinkedIn and were bought into conspiracy theories.
I felt there was a lesson in here about power dynamics, priorities, and intellectual honesty.
Many people who belittle “deconstruction” of societal, moral, or religious institutions have motivated reasoning to stand on top of those same structures, advantaging their beliefs and worldviews without the existential risk of self-examination or processing of unconscious trauma.
The 3 factors made sense when applied to the current and future potential of cryptocurrencies, but going back through history, evoking the Missouri Compromise and limits of chattel slavery generated…feelings. Likely confronted with this unease, they chose to end the call.
Many are wary of engaging with people they disagree with because they might be convinced otherwise. When someone’s worldview is challenged or they are presented with evidence that they are not intellectually honest people, some may exhibit subconscious behaviors in response to those triggers.
We are all products of blessings and trauma inherited from our family, culture, and lifestyle.
Engaging with people who are hurt, don’t know it, and may condone hurting others requires a sense of democratic vision, healthy conflict management skills, and kindness.
Downstream: Gray Rhinos Here, There, and Everywhere