In The Know or Dark

So here is one way that some people can (try to) manipulate you–positively or negatively. 

They can help either to keep you “in the know” or “in the dark.”

As we all know by now, information is power!

When you’re in the know–you are a trusted agent and a valuable resource; you have more dots and more connections between the dots to make; you are able to analyze what’s happening and make better decision going forward; you can lead with knowledge, wisdom, and hopefully understanding. People come to you for advice, guidance, and because you are a true asset to the team, your superiors, and the organization. 

When you’re in the dark–you are untrusted and unvalued, you may actually be seen as the enemy who needs to be marginalized, put out or taken out! You are kept out of meetings, uninformed or misinformed, and so you become more and more intellectually worthless. Further, others are implicitly or explicitly told that you are poisonous and not to get caught up in the pending slaughter.  A colleague of mine put it this way: “Don’t get between a man and his firing squad.”   

So with others, there can be information alliances as well as information warfare. 

To a great extent, you are responsible for keeping yourself in the know. You need to build relationships, bridges, and networks. You need to read, observe, and talk to lots of people. You need time to digest and analyze what you learn.  And you must build your information store so that it is ready and actionable. 

But to another extent, there are others–superiors, competitors, bullies, abusers–who just might seek to keep you in the dark and bring you down. Not everyone is your friend…some maybe just the opposite. (Wouldn’t it be nice, if we all were just friends!) But showing you the intellectual ass of the group is a powerful nut that once superimposed as an image, cannot be easily distilled. There is plenty of groupthink to go around. And taking out a perceived enemy diffuses their power to everyone else.  What a lousy coup by some nasty f*ckers!

Why some friend and others foe you–who the heck knows. Perhaps some is chemistry; some is tit for tat; some is personal bias and bigotry; and some just the crapshoot of fate. 

In the end, keep doing your part to enhance your value, your friendships, and your integrity. The rest, you have to be vigilant about and realize not everyone wants the lights kept on. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Not A Kiss

 

So I learned a lesson recently.

Sometimes, a kiss is not a kiss. 

It could be a phony show. 

Like a snake. 

It slithers and fools people into complacency. 

Kiss kiss!

Hug hug!

But around the back is a hand holding a dangerous dagger. 

It stands ready to swing and plunge into your soft unsuspecting tissue. 

The more kisses, perhaps the more hiding of their true intentions. 

People are complex and sometimes malevolent. 

They want what they want, and when they want it. 

When the time comes, a kiss can turn into a sharp knife. 

You wonder how is it that person has no more kisses.  😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Two-Faced Monsters

One of the scariest things with people are when they are two-faced. 

And no, we’re not talking about people making funny faces or googly eyes.

My father use to joke:

“If that person was two-faced, they would never use that face {the one they are wearing now}!”

But many people really do have two-faces (and sometimes more).

– The seeming friend, but backstabber if they get the chance.

– The “goodie two-shoes,” but what a real mischievous side to them.

– The “nice boy/girl,” but what an unbelievable mean streak.

– The calm, quiet person, but what an explosive temper they really have. 

– The person who it seems “would never hurt a fly,” but what an abuser and bully they are.

This is not about multiple personality disorder, but rather people who either are truly this AND that, or who “fake it to make it.”

Many people do have multiple “normal” sides to their personality (like hardworking, but playful).

However, others more malevolently, use a cover up (and it’s not mascara) to hide their inner bad natures/behaviors and demons.

These are the people that are really scary dudes (and dudettes). 

You see one thing on the surface (superficially), but beneath it is a type of molten lava ready to explode and do very bad things. 

Sure, everyone alternates between good and bad days, happy and sad, more loving or less, etc. 

But when people are fundamentally insincere phonies who are deceiving others until they can but strike and do bad things to them, then they are not just two-faced, but seriously f*cked up! 

This is all part of the fight in this world of good over evil–it goes on everyday with the monsters out there that are allowed to roam free and prey on others–perhaps some of afraid or even others are covering for them. 

How long can they keep up their heinous act?

Often way too long, until those good people of faith and conscience ask when will they be unmasked and held accountable–when will justice prevail. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Diversity Necessitates Respect

So this was an interesting photo taken of a sticker hung in front/near the Capitol reflecting pool in Washington, D.C. 

It is one of the faces of the resistance, and while it’s not Linda Sarsour, it reminds me of her–she is the one who garnered wide attention at the 2017 Women’s March not long ago. 

Remember her rant of “Sisters and Brothers!”–whose sister is she anyway?

With her polarizing politics, support for Sharia Law and anti-Zionist rants and support for the BDS movement, she certainly is not mine. 

Note: An Israeli official even came out yesterday with like concerns about her. 

Here are some of Sarsour’s alleged sayings about Sharia Law–or is this more a complete embrace? 

While I greatly believe in diversity and strongly adhere to valuing and respecting all good people out there… 

There is something that feels wrong here. 

Generic images like the top photo with the traditional Muslim hair covering–again, I respect this.

It is overlaid with the American Flag–again nothing wrong with that–Jews wear yarmulkes with the flag too.

But look further now…underneath it states: 

“We The People 

are greater than fear”

Hmm…We the people–who is the “we” here?

Is this a group photo of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Atheists, etc.–so where is the inclusivity?

With Sarsour insertion of a Sharia ideology into American politics, perhaps, there is a subtle–or not so subtle–attack on our greater American freedom and democracy going on here.

Sharia law is being spread around the globe by:

– Decree (think of the Mullahs in Iran)

– Terror (think ISIS and Al-Qaeda)

– Sympathy (think of the Palestinians)

– Mass immigration (think of the changing cultural face of Europe), and 

– Expropriating other people’s causes (such as Democracy and freedom and so called justice with Linda Sarsour).

Everyone is entitled to their peaceful beliefs, especially when there is a ethos of  mutual respect and a truthful recognition and acceptance for everyone of “Live and let live!”

But when the bounds are trampled by those who want to see only “their way or the highway”…then we need to seriously fear–who are “We the people”–and what do they really want? 😉

(Source top Photo: Andy Blumenthal and memes from Internet search)

Burning The Evidence

This is a brillant funny advertisement that was displayed on the Metro in Washington, D.C.

“If I burn the evidence, those donuts never happened.”

This as astute marketing for a fitness facility.  

Burn baby, burn (calories that is)!

But in Washington, D.C. (and at times for fiduicary duty bound Wall Street), where transparency is supposed to rule the day–but often doesn’t as we know–this resonates in a whole other way for a class of political and wealthy elites as well as for a host of criminals. 

Bad things (fraud, waste, abuse, and stupid mistakes)–uh, they never happened if there is no evidence to prove it.  

Like the tree that falls in the woods that no one hears…it’s as if it never fell. 

Also, is there a habit of perhaps punishing the innocent in order to protect those that are really guilty? — That never happens too, right? 

But G-d knows what really happened, and often somehow, someway the truth does get exposed (whether by savy investigative journalists, Congressional or court inquiry, brave innocents that come forward, or some bad people getting caught up in their own jumble of lies and deceit).  

As Judge Judy says, “If it doesn’t make sense, it’s usually not true.” 

Or more in line with the ad, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

If Terror Fits

There is the old saying that “If the shoe fits, wear it” or as this holiday shopping sign says, “Buy it!

I know everyone has their personal filters through which they see the world–many of these come from family, friends, community, teachers, religion, personal experiences, or even innate personality. 

One thing that I think many people are struggling with these days with politics is what possible filters are guiding many concerning policies of our country resulting in:

– The tepid response to terror attacks on this country as well as in Paris, London, and Jerusalem. 

– The clamping down on free speech in the wake of terror.

– The lax immigration checks on refugees.

– The dangerous spread of ISIS after the withdrawal from Iraq.

– The disappearing red line in Syria.

– The emboldening Iranian nuke deal.

– The bias perceived against friend and ally, Israel.

– The unbriddled Russian resurgence. 

– The lumbering pivot to address Chinese militarization.

We are living in chaotic world times, and we need strong hands on the rudder to safeguard the people and future of the country–for that we need to understand where politics and politicians are coming from that may be leading to either sound or compromised decisions and the resulting return and risk to the fate of us all. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Talking It Cryptic

So for a while when I received weirdly worded communications from others, I thought “Gee, this person doesn’t know how to communicate!”

They aren’t saying what they mean or aren’t saying it clearly, and I am having to decipher it, read between the lines (more than usual) and certainly not always getting it right. 

I seriously thought some of these people needed to go for remedial communications and project management training, and was more than willing to send them.

Then, I started to see the bigger picture and context and it was beginning to all make sense.

The terse messages, the cryptic language, the dancing around the topic…these were not (necessarily) because the person couldn’t communicate well, but it was intentional!

No, they weren’t trying to mess with me.

They were afraid to say what they really wanted to say–not to me, but generally speaking.  

Why?

Conjecture, but perhaps they didn’t want “it” so explicit, they didn’t want a flagrant (unnecessary) trail, they didn’t want to potentially get in any trouble. 

So they truncate, obfuscate, used “code” words (not real code, symbolic) and otherwise made the communications so vague that they had plausible deniability or could interpret it just about any which way they wanted.

Ah, sort of a “get out of jail free card”–self made, signed, sealed, and delivered.

This is the art of being cryptic!

Fear and overly strict political correctness is not a good thing when what you really need is clear and honest communications from folks.

We do ourselves a disservice by “playing games,” keeping hidden agendas, and protecting ourselves over the necessity to get the mission accomplished and done well.

Perhaps when people are caught between competing masters and agendas, they are “forced” to do this to get the job done, stay alive, and in the important game we all must play in life.

Ink a dink a bottle of ink the cap fell off and you stink…got that?  😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Dancing Around Anti-Semitism+

The Washington Post yesterday stated that the President “suggested that the January attack at a kosher supermarket in Paris was in fact [just] jihadists ‘randomly [shooting] a bunch of folks in a deli.'”

Hmm…are we having a difficult time being totally honest about important issues these days?

Maybe just a few examples would include, not calling:

– An anti-Semitic attack, anti-Semitism.

– A terrorist, a terrorist–such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, which are now merely an “armed insurgency.”

– The fight against terrorism committed by Islamists, a fight with “radical Islam.“

– ISIS for them to be destroyed anymore, only that we will “defeat them.”

– Syria on the use of chemical weapons initially, saying only that if they did, “they would be held accountable” (remember that vanishing “red line”).

– Iran a serious threat to nuclear non-proliferation and global peace saying, “It is not a nuclear power.“

– Russia annexing Crimea, a threat to Europe and NATO, branding it just a “regional power” play. 

What can we expect in terms of blind hatred, racism, discrimination, anti-semitism and future terrorist attacks and war around the globe, when we can’t even call a spade, a spade, anymore.  😉