Questioning Incentives

 

“Some who support [more] coercive strategies assume that children will run wild if they are not controlled. However, the children for whom this is true typically turn out to be those accustomed to being controlled— those who are not trusted, given explanations, encouraged to think for themselves, helped to develop and internalize good values, and so on. Control breeds the need for more control, which is used to justify the use of control.”

-- Alfie Kohn

Can incentives change how we think?

Only if you’re mercenary, that is, “primarily concerned with making money at the expense of ethics.” My thinking changes when I see the truth in something, not because someone offers me a cellphone if I’ll vote for them. How small is the person who changes the way they think if they’re paid to do so?  Where is the honor in this? During the Holocaust, there were Jews who sold out their own people just to save their own lives. How sad was this? No. Incentives should not change the way you think. The truth of evidence should guide your thoughts, and in the absence of evidence, faith should be your incentive. Faith should carry you until there is proof to the contrary.

Do people who believe strongly in an ideology to the point that it's become part of their identity refuse or are unable to think critically due to the risk that it might challenge their belief system?

This would explain Islamic suicide bombers. When an Imam says you will be rewarded with virgins in heaven for killing infidels, they have lost their ability to think critically if this is written nowhere in their Qur’an.

Where did you escape from? What went wrong?

A bad marriage. I was a self-imposed prisoner for 20 years. I woke up to the reality of it. It wasn’t that we fell out of love, she was never in love. By her own admission, she just used me to escape from life daily life in her parent's house. For 20 years I tried to keep it together in all the wrong ways, while she was trying to tear it down and doing a much better job than I was. It is always harder to build than to destroy.

“Reality doesn't impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls.”

-- Anaïs Nin

What ways of thinking should we develop to become more abundant?

Strive to be happy always! This way of thinking should be foremost in our minds at all times. Consider how much more abundant your life will be if you’re constantly happy instead of miserable.

Now, I’m going to answer your other question, here, as well: “What are the blockages that keep us from being happy?” Drama. We allow too much drama into our lives, and then we let the drama take over our emotions.

Life is all about making choices, and the choices we make are always our choices. If we let an employer, friend, or parent, tell us what choice to make, that becomes our choice to surrender our lives to them, to give them that power. We cannot escape our responsibility for making the choices in our lives.

At this point in your life, what do you think is your moral reasoning level based on Kohlberg’s theory of moral development? Why?

Level 3, Stage 6. However, although I use a seriously critical eye when the rule of law and moral reasoning come up against each other. I simply don’t bend because that might be what’s expected at this level. Even though situationally tempered, there are still ramifications when society’s laws are broken, or the laws are not worth the paper they’re written on… and they might not be, to begin with. The root causes need to be fixed, so the same things don’t keep happening. The ability to break laws at will without answering for the crime is tantamount to anarchy.

What fools do you pity the most?

Refer to the quote,below:

“The useful idiots, the leftists who are idealistically believing in the beauty of the Soviet socialist or Communist or whatever system, when they get disillusioned, they become the worst enemies. That’s why my KGB instructors specifically made the point: never bother with leftists. Forget about these political prostitutes. Aim higher. They serve a purpose only at the stage of destabilization of a nation. For example, your leftists in the United States: all these professors and all these beautiful civil rights defenders. They are instrumental in the process of the subversion only to destabilize a nation. When their job is completed, they are not needed anymore. They know too much. Some of them, when they get disillusioned, when they see that Marxist-Leninists come to power—obviously they get offended—they think that they will come to power. That will never happen, of course. They will be lined up against the wall and shot.”

-- Yuri Bezmenov (1939-1993), former Soviet journalist and KGB informant

Are great people or average people primarily responsible for social change?

You can win an election, decree there will be social change, and be voted out in the next election for decreeing change nobody wanted and that turned the country into shit. "Great people" have the responsibility to change minds and, then, institute change that the majority want. To do anything else is simply wasting four years of a country’s life, and for what, to have it all changed back again because an idiot was voted into office? Social change comes from the majority of society, "average people," wanting change and great people can make that change happen.

What are some things individualism does better than collectivist culture?

The arts.

If anybody thinks your answers are wrong, do you respect their opinions or beliefs?

If they give me the reason for their opinion or beliefs. It isn’t enough to say someone is wrong, call them names, and curse them out, it is actually incumbent upon that person to present a cogent argument supporting their opinion or belief. An opinion is usually based on something you’ve heard or read, whereas faith is a belief in something for which there is little or no proof. Taken at the definition, how hard can it be to tell someone why you feel the way you do, some cogent argument, without taking the conversation below the bar and into the toilet? I run into this “low bar” constantly with the League of the Perpetually Offended.

“If someone isn't what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”

-- Paulo Coelho

Can you escape the effects of institutions?

Our educational system is a very large institution. Can you escape their indoctrination? Can you play their game, and go home the winner you want to be? Having some experience in "resistance training" while in the intelligence field, I can safely say this all has to do with how strong your will to survive it is. Can you go through the educational system to learn what you are there to learn and come out with the same personal beliefs concerning your rights to freedom as you went in with? If you’re strong enough to resist the subtle brainwashing, then, yes, you can escape the effects of institutions.

Why can it be difficult to apply Maslow's ladder of needs to older and very old people?

Well, let me refresh my psychology training. It has been about 49 years…

1. Biological and physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

I’ll buy all of this, but sex tends to be so much less important the older one gets.

2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear.

I’ll buy most of this, too. But, as we get older we tend to think we know better, and we usually do.

3. Love and belongingness needs - friendship, intimacy, trust, and acceptance, receiving and giving affection and love. Affiliating, being part of a group (family, friends, work).

We have sage wisdom in all of this, so shut up and listen.

4. Esteem needs - which Maslow classified into two categories: (i) esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement, mastery, independence) and (ii) the need to be accepted and valued by others (e.g., status, prestige).

We have defined our esteem by this point, and your opinion of us is so not important. If you want to accept us, fine, if not, get the hell off of my lawn.

5. Cognitive needs - knowledge and understanding, curiosity, exploration, need for meaning, and predictability.

Been there, done that, or it’s too late. And there’s always the memory issue, “Wait. I did that?”

6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.

Now, this is something old people can dig their false teeth into, appreciate and search for beauty, et al. I find myself constantly appreciating the beauty around me, but, refer back to the answer for Item1.

7. Self-actualization needs - realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences. A desire “to become everything one is capable of becoming”

What do you think we’ve been on about for the past so many years? If we aren’t actualized yet, we probably don’t stand a chance. We’ll work on this in the next life or the life after that.

8. Transcendence needs - A person is motivated by values which transcend beyond the personal self (e.g., mystical experiences and certain experiences with nature, aesthetic experiences, sexual experiences, service to others, the pursuit of science, religious faith, etc.).

The majority of us old curmudgeons are motivated by all of this, or we’ve wasted our life. Some, or all of it, takes place mentally (yeah, you have to go back to Item 1, again). Our hope to transcend all the other crap is our desire to be prepared for what comes in the next great adventure (where we will continue to work on the answer for Item 1).

Do you trust too much or too little?

The people I trust have earned it. Having said this, people are what they are, so even if they’ve earned my trust I have to wonder why? I'm just a product of my intelligence training: Trust no one.

“I don't trust people who don't love themselves and tell me, 'I love you.' ... There is an African saying which is: Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.”

-- Maya Angelou

Can being agreeable & always willing to help people (even when they aren't nice to you) cause people to start disliking you eventually, even if you come from a genuine place?

Only if they aren’t ever nice to you. They’re going to start wondering what the game is. Being weak-minded people that can’t treat others well, they’ll either become paranoid and start distancing themselves from you, or you’ll win them over and change their mind. Either way, you’ll be the winner.

How can I make sure I'm never killed by a human in this world?

Stay away from them. 

What are some life lessons men should learn by the age of 40?

Have a stable job. Stay out of debt. Treat women, and everyone else for that matter, with respect. Have a retirement portfolio. Stay out of debt (this is so important it requires saying twice). And, finally, strive to be happy always!

“Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.”

-- Roy T. Bennett

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion, in an arena of mutual respect, concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with the United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world-renowned, Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research. Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, and wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteered as a chaplain at the regional medical center.

Feel free to contact Pastor Tony:  tolerantpastor@gmail.com