Tuesday, August 30, 2016
The Humphreys rule
Author Josephine Humphreys made a memorable point in her novels. It's an Ockhamish thought: You can reduce most human tastes or requirements to ONE simple measurement or rule, which usually isn't among your obvious or conscious thoughts, and usually isn't idealistic or 'romantic' in any sense.
What does it take to make you happy? Probably not the long checklist of things and activities you normally hold in mind. More likely there's ONE measurement or activity or NONactivity that must be satisfied before all the other checklist items even matter. It may be exactly 15 minutes of human contact per day. Or it may be two hours of sunlight. Or you may need to have a broad horizon without obstructing trees and hills. Or an ambient temperature under 72. Or you need a good dump to start the day.
It's too bad Trump's advisers haven't read Humphreys. His campaign would have avoided most of its problems by following ONE simple rule.
Don't mention any people other than your opponent and her staff.
If you want to say something about a person who isn't directly and publicly working for Hillary, STIFLE YOURSELF.
Trump started out by stating "outrageous" and CRITICALLY IMPORTANT truths about our SITUATION. He went off track when he said "outrageous" things, never important and often false, about individual PEOPLE. This enabled the Imperial media to conflate ALL outrageousness as unwarranted personal attacks.
Labels: Zero Problems
¶ 2:28 AM
