[Dan.Linehan]

Originally Posted by Angela

Dan, it seems to me that you get very outraged towards people, and towards groups of people, and that in effect you do sort of "villainize" them.

I get outraged by people murdering each other, sure. And when those people are trying to bring on the apocalypse, yes, it annoys me.

I'm not being sarcastic there. That honestly appears to be the situation.

Originally Posted by Angela

I hear you saying you want to find a way to love these people who outrage you, or in some other way to be effective.

Yes. I do want to find a way to stop being outraged by all the people who are not living ethically.

I think I even remember having this same conversation here previously. This really is a recurring theme for me. I promise someday I'll stop bringing it up, once I work through it all.

Originally Posted by Angela

What I'm asking you to try on is: is it exactly the tendency you are outraged about -- thinking that the other person is wrong, evil, bad, and *should* be other than what they are -- that keeps you from either generating love or being effective in making a difference in the matter?

Does my outrage keep me from generating love? Yes.

I suppose that's one of those binary choices. At any given moment you could be either be generating love or you could sitting there outraged, right? The opportunity cost for doing one is always that you could be doing the other.

I have a fear that if I choose to generate love all day without enough analysis or forethought that I'll go down the wrong path in life.

Here is an example to illustrate. Let's say I decide to work for an investment bank. I love my job, and I think I'm doing good for people, helping them manage their savings, etc. But it turns out that the investment bank is making risky investments with their assets and they default on everything Enron stye.

I guess it wouldn't be my fault per se, since I wasn't the one trying to scam people. But I'd just rather not the a cog in some malicious wheel if I can avoid it.

After really investing myself in a couple careers where I spent a few years only to realize that I was only furthering the interests and lining the pocketbook of God knows who, I've really been trying a lot harder to research all the different industries and financial systems to figure out how they all work.

And therein lies the problem. When you start to really research things, they are all screwed up. And I do see a lot of villains. And a lot of unnecessary victims too, sadly.

I can especially see why Steve says to never get a job. As soon as you get one you lose the ability to see whose interests you are really furthering.

I work for a non-profit right now. My boss drives a $141k Porsche and wears a $14k leather trench coat. That's tax money, creatively funneled here through our company lobbyists and state contracts.

Our non-profit actually has more lobbyists than programmers, even though we're a web startup. Lobbyists are very, very effective. Our small company has gone a long way our limited political connections. Imagine what the political connections that Hagee / AIPAC have can do.

Sometimes I feel like I have Will Hunting syndrome, that I can just see every single negative thing a mile away. Other times the negatives seem so blatantly obvious to me that I'm just wonder if everyone else just has their heads totally buried in sand. What is it that are we all doing here?

This has been a long answer to your simple question, hasn't it? Yes, my outrage keeps me from being in a connected, loving, accepting state at times. Yes, I blame the actions of others for this sometimes, and that is definitely an issue.

So many things seem broken that I am a bit overwhelmed by them all, and I'm not quote sure where to start troubleshooting.

Originally Posted by Angela

And here you are on this personal development board. Do you think it's worth trying on, the possibility that you are related to the people who make you so upset, in a very profound way?

I think I have tried the idea on. In my OP I tried to see if I had any core beliefs in common with the group that was making me feel outraged.

Originally Posted by Angela

I find myself talking on eggshells with you a little bit, because I am concerned about upsetting you with what I say.

So, I worked in a tech support call center for a few years. The sole goal of the center was to get people connected to the internet.

At one point I was the manager of 350 agents, with access to all their recorded calls from QA, all their employee files, their call stats (average time per call, number of calls taken, etc.)

I cannot tell you how much I learned at that job. Just an unbelievable amount about people, technology and business.

But the main thing I learned was this: There is always a correct answer. It might be easy or it might be complex, but there was always a right or wrong way to get someone online.

On windows 98 with an old modem you had to install winpoet and connect PPPOE that way. On windows XP there was a built in PPPOE connector available in the LAC. On the newer DSL modems the PPPOE shim was built into the modem firmware. Sometimes there were DSL line issues -- those could be diagnosed and repaired by running a NXTT test, then submitting a trouble ticket. Sometimes customers had a phone line installed that was too long, or filters that weren't installed correctly.
There were a lot of variables involved, but it was a finite number. There was always a correct troubleshooting path. Every single time. There was always a best practice to get someone online. The troubleshooting might be complex, or it might have a lot of steps, but it was always there.

In that line of work I saw literally hundreds of tech support agents doing the wrong things over and over again. Installing software where there was a line issue. Trying to log into old modems that didn't even have firmware to log into. Any way the tech support agents could get it wrong, they did, over and over again.

So I spend a lot of time documenting the right answers -- creating a map of the reality of how to get customers online. Then I spent a lot of time training agents to use that map, then more time holding them accountable when they deviated from the troubleshooting.

And it worked. I constantly had the best teams, lowest attrition rates, etc. And it was because I always knew there was a right answer. Not because there needed to be, but because that's just the way reality works.

If the goal is harmony on this planet, there is a correct way to work towards that.

I understand that I can be difficult to debate / argue with. I'm coming at things from a different angle than most people. My aim is to map reality. To find the right answers towards a common dream.

For example, I think Libertarianism can be proven to be the style of governance with the best trade-off between security and freedom. I think an organic vegan diet can be proven to be the healthiest diet, both for a person and for the environment.

I believe in best practices because they work. Because there is a right answer to problems. Because the concept that we should "do no harm" is more than an idea, it's a lifestyle.

Anyway, don't worry about the eggshells. I argue because I want to figure out best answers, not because of anything personal.