The A$$Hole Paradigm: Simple Binary Storytelling since 1789 of the Left-Right, and Personality Trait-Perspectives driving Large Group Ideological-Political Consciousness.: The Asshole Paradigm

Human life is much like writing an essay: with an introduction, a thesis, supporting evidence, a counter thesis, and finally, a conclusion. The same structure applies to human communication, whether we’re speaking directly to one person, writing a book, a play, a film script, or in politics. Politics is storytelling, through which we attempt to simplify complex issues into digestible binary systems of 1s and 0s.An example of this binary in politics is in the 1954 Looney Tunes cartoon Gone Batty, directed by Robert McKimson. The cartoon depicts a baseball game between the Sweetwater Schnooks and the Greenville Goons. The term Schnook, a Yiddish word for a gullible simpleton, someone more pitied than despised for their naturally good nature. Goon refers to a thug, a roughneck, coarse, foolish individual. In the cartoon, the Goons are winning by cheating until the Schnooks introduce an elephant who, through intelligence and agility, helps them triumph.Politics often mirrors this analogy: one group acts as the Bully, manipulating rules and standards to win by any means necessary, advancing policies that benefit the Few, the “0s.” The other group, the Outlier, idealistic and well-intentioned, strives to maintain higher ethical standards and enact policies that benefit the Many, the “1s,” yet is often taken advantage of for their integrity. Both are stereotypes, archetypes, and characters within politically useful storytelling devices, and fail to capture the true complexity of reality. Life, after all, has far too many variables to fit neatly into a simple story.This book introduces what I call the Asshole Paradigm, which suggests that from our limited perspectives, we all perceive “the Other” as the asshole in any given situation. The same dynamic applies in politics. Before 1789 French Revolution, the terms “Left” and “Right” did not exist; they replaced older labels such as Anarchists and Aristocrats. The French identified the “party of movement” or innovators, the Liberals on the Left; the moderates in the center; and the “party of order,” the Conservatives on the Right, royalists of the King.For the aristocrats, politics served the Few and was built on a simplified story, a Trinary of “1s,” “2s,” and “0s.” The group seeking positive change for the Many represents the “1s;” the moderates who punish either side for failing to deliver on promises are the “2s;” and the group pursuing change only for the Few, or the One, are the “0s.” The terms Left, Independent, Moderate, and Right are ultimately oversimplified storytelling devices on a grand scale.This book explores how we all perceive others as the asshole in any given situation, how we omit variables in our stories to cast ourselves as the Hero rather than the Villain, the Do-Gooder Schnook rather than the opposite as the Do-Badder Goon. We are all affected by the butterfly that flaps its wings, causing a tornado elsewhere. Human life is not simple, nor is it an essay; it is shaped by our limited, individual perspectives, trapped within our single human bodies and filtered through our five, or fewer, senses. Policies and regulations (i.e., laws) can affect people across the country or around the world, influenced by the political Trinaries of 1s, 2s, and 0s.Policies impact everyone, regardless of which side we’re on. All should ask whom do policies, laws, and regulations truly serve “We” or “Me?” We all want government to work for Us and not Them, which means, in one way or another, we all believe in “Big Government.” Ultimately, public policies, laws, and actions matter more than labels or terms. We waste our time focusing on differences instead of embracing debate with those we disagree with to discover our shared commonalities, especially in politics. Read more