Quickies: Indications Of A Motivation Field

     One of the late Alice Sheldon’s / “James Tiptree, Jr.’s” best stories, “Faithful To Thee, Terra, In Our Fashion,” contains the following gem of an observation:

     “A mechanical process can reverse a bit at random, but motivation acts like a field – the elements won’t change unless the field does.”

     Motivation is functionally synonymous with incentives. The strongest incentives pertinent to a given context provide the motivational vector. An organization that’s premised upon top-down organization and control will – nominally, at least – feature incentives dictated from above. This synergizes powerfully with Robert Anton Wilson’s famous Snafu Principle.

     Now read through the various tweets emitted by the Washington Post in the aftermath of the raid that executed al-Baghdadi, and hazard a guess at the motivation field that pervades that organization. Go on, take a wild swing at it.

     The Post has long been known as a paper whose editorial staff was left-liberal in sentiment, but never before have I seen it launch such a fusillade of outright defamation at a sitting president of the United States. No, not even in the waning years of Richard Nixon’s presidency. It should be irrefutably clear at this point that the Post will do whatever it can imagine, including the utter perversion of its “news” coverage, to harm the Trump Administration.

     I’ve been counseled not to indulge in great fits of anger in these latter years, as they’re regarded as insalubrious for a man my age. Nevertheless, I cannot help but recall a marvelous observation whose origin, unfortunately, I’ve misplaced:

     “The problem with our time is that no one drinks from the skull of his enemy any more.”

     Truer words have never...well, have seldom been spoken. Either the motivation field that currently orients the major media must be reversed, or those media must be destroyed and their offices fumigated to prevent their rebirth. If we want Trump’s American Renaissance to continue to its intended destination, it is imperative that we return to the observance of Conan’s Maxim:

Mongol General: Hao! Dai ye! We won again! This is good, but what is best in life?
Mongol: The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair.
Mongol General: Wrong! Conan! What is best in life?
Conan: To crush your enemies. See them driven before you. And to hear the lamentations of their women.
Mongol General: That is good! That is good.

     Mega-indeed! Bless you, John Milius.

     (Yes, I’m in something of “a mood.” But “this, too, shall pass away,” so enjoy it while you’ve got it.)