I used to wonder when I heard people say that consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds: why is consistency always bad? I’m all for creativity and originality, but if each one of the tires of the car was unique, of different diameter or different shape, one circular, one triangular, wouldn’t that make for a bumpy ride? If we didn’t have a consistent meaning for each word, when I said “no”, would you hear “strawberry”? 😀 So I looked it up, and people forget a critical word in the quote (to the right). It’s only a foolish consistency that’s the hobgoblin of little minds. Sometimes consistency is just right. And why are we harping on this point? It turns out that the recent episodes of The Expanse that we have seen are of varying lengths. If you remember from our previous 3 lessons, we measure our workout length in terms of tv episodes, and expect Jeopardies to be a certain lengths, and Expanses to be a certain lengths. Our aching muscles, sweaty pores, and whatever is baking in the oven, do not appreciate an unexpected extra 5 or 10 minutes added onto our workout time… But we do appreciate learning new lessons:
LESSON 1: FUTURE SHAVING TECHNIQUE IS BACK TO STRAIGHT RAZOR. The Expanse has shown has great advances: super-fast, interplanetary spaceships … check! Limb-growing technology … check! Ironman-like suits for soldiers … check! Artificial gravity … check! But shaving is still done with a straight razor. Did we mention artificial gravity? Artificial gravity turns on and off at unexpected times with little to no warning? One would expect that shaving would be done … differently, or at least less dangerously. No, that’s not what the Expanse teaches us.
LESSON 2: PEOPLE PREFER TO BELIEVE LEADERS WHO LIE TO THEM. The Expanse shows us that life is not easy in the future. Not for Belters, and not for the Inners (read Earthers and Martians). What’s true across all the factions is most people prefer to believe leaders who lie to them: who tell them that life is tough for them, but it didn’t use to be (it was). That they don’t have to change, that it’s really THAT OTHER faction’s fault (the Belters blame the Inners, the Martians the Earthers, etc.). That there’s no need to change, just to fight and kill THEM. As Belters often say when killing Earthers “it’s just Earthers”, and Earthers feel that “it’s just Belters.” And no one has to change. Change is difficult. The different ones are at fault. Easy. Easier than leaders that claim that they must change. Best to kick those out of office 🙂
LESSON 3: THERE IS HOPE. See that beacon of shining light in the dark? The Expanse tells us that there are more than one of them. People, who despite the personal cost to themselves do the right thing. Not for themselves. Not for their faction. For humanity. For the betterment of all. Beacons who rise above our instinctive turtle-in behavior, like in the quote on the right (from one of the episodes in Expanse). Despite the insults (and sometimes bullets and missiles) that are hurled at them. Despite the personal price they end up paying more often than not. And sometimes those beacons of light end up in a leadership position. And there’s hope for humanity.
What are your thoughts about these lessons? What gives you hope for the future?
The Endless Weekend 
I’d think that once the baby boomers are dead (I’m one), then the current trend for change will gain ground. Having been raised with the Viking/Roman/British mindset of conquer and might and power and greed, I don’t know how humanity makes the jump to a more egalitarian/utopia existence, but I sense now a days many want to try.
I am old enough to be a cynic. Power and greed and money rule the planet. If we moved to Mars, I think it would still be that way. It seems biologically impossible for humans not to muck things up.
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I read your comment, thought about it, read some about the different generations’ perceptions of each other (going back to Ancient Greek times we seemed to have cross-generational contention!), re-read your comment and came up with:
1) I admire and respect your willingness to shoulder responsibility of what ails us, and even more so, for your desire to change and make the world a better place. And if you shoulder the responsibility, i think that means you should also get the credit for the inventions of the generation, everything from the introduction of PCs and the Internet, eradicating (or close to it) horrible diseases like smallpox and polio, ending the Cold War, you got us to the MOON (and we haven’t been back since), need I go on? 🙂
2) Your comment about the generational contentions is so thought-provoking I need to think about it some more 🙂
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Your post had me pondering, too. So much one could say but alas I have a job and had to nip my thoughts. I can add that I believe in rugged individualism and that things need to be earned not given. It’s too easy to throw up one’s hands because it’s tough. I just have read too many books and studied too many lives to write off the efforts and sacrifices of those before me. While it is unfashionable these days to be patriotic and believe in small government, I do think that. I believe history should not be erased because it is uncomfortable. In fact, it is the only thing that gives the current generation a sense of self and the ability of perspective. To see how far we have come is great! I love that human struggle of good vs. bad. The conflict between the individual and survivial in the community. Religion. Our best selves.. goodness, you caught me on my lunch break. I’m blabbering…
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I recently was watching some videos on YouTube, of Jimmy Kimmel’s show asking people questions like “can you name a country on the map” or “can you name a book” (I added the link because …🤦♀️ )
When so many people are ignorant, of history, of geography, of literature, of science, I wonder if they are able to gauge the inter-generational differences, or understand accomplishments or shortcomings. And then do they just give up or be angry or both?
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They give up and rely on. Google to give them the answers.
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Buy more now? 🙂
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1984 is alive and well
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gulp in what way?
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As long as each of us fights tooth and nail for all the power and wealth we can grab, there is little hope for progress. I see the prime example in both U.S. and Canada all the time. Blame the other party for everything including the colour of your eyes and promise you will fix it, if only we elect you. What one party builds, the other tears down, whether it is good, bad or ugly. Over and over and over, wasting money and creating dissent. Voters simply do not do their research when checking out who to vote for and that is not a good thing. We still have hope, but…
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You bring up two exquisite points:
1) the settlers of the blame-game: it’s much easier to settle into blaming (I love how you said the color of one’s eyes, of course you’re to blame for it 😁) than to dip a toe into accepting responsibility and trying to change…
2) pervasive ignorance. I’ll use a funny (?) video:
My question to you is what’s the solution to these problems?
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PEOPLE PREFER TO BELIEVE LEADERS WHO LIE TO THEM. Yep, see it all the time. In politics, in family dynamics. I sense a liar immediately and am skeptical, but people just seem to not notice, or overlook, leaders who lie. Most infuriating for me.
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You and me both, and it’s mind boggling to me as well. How do you deal with it on a personal level? And what do you think, do most of the people who TELL the lies believe their own lies, or “only use” them?
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YES. Why is this??
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Do you have any thoughts about why that would be? Are people who prefer that unaware of that? Trust that it’s the truth? Want it to be the truth? Find it more palatable than the truth? Use it as an ego boost? Helps them “belong”? Something different?
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I truly have no answer, but my gut is telling me it’s fear.
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That is phenomenally insightful! I believe that your gut has much wisdom. I believe you are right and what’s left is to find the chain or thread connecting fear to this desire to follow people who lie to their followers. Thank you for such penetrating insight!
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I just need to have hope that at least one thing will go right for me on any given day. Without hope we have nothing
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I’m also a big believer in Pandora’s Box, that despite everything, as long as we have hope… well, then there’s hope 🙂 And like Nelson Mandela said (paraphrased, so no quotes…) May our choices reflect our hopes, not our fears?
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Perfect! I’m a big believer in hope
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I’ve never watched the Expanse but your mention of consistency caught my attention. I have struggled with consistency all my life and aging has intensified this issue for me. I have a (fairly) consistent morning practice but I don’t do it in the same order or the same time every day. For much of my adult life I really struggled with it (like consistently getting to work on time!). But finally, I realized that I do better when my focus is on being reliable rather than consistent. So if I say I will do something, I really try to make sure that I am reliable, or I don’t agree to. It is about the best I can do knowing that consistency just isn’t in my nature. I enjoyed your post,
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Thank you very much, I really appreciate that, LuAnne! You’re reminding me of a mentor I once had who told me that he tries to switch jobs every 2–3 years. Why? He feels that after that amount of times he feels comfortable in a job, so comfortable that he sees consistent patterns, and behaves in consistent patterns, and he felt that that was bad for the job, bad for him because it’s going to make him less likely to see small changes, small signs before they become avalanches. He felt there was risk in too much consistency. Maybe that’s what your inner self is telling you? Keeping you alert? (And I, too, struggled all my life with timeliness, unlike my mom who is consistently early…)
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Well, considering half the country still backs the biggest liar who ever held office, I’d say there’s a lot of truth to lesson #2…but with one caveat: do they prefer those types of leaders, or are they just blindly delusional?
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You’re bringing up an intriguing difference: the difference between those who believe a lie, for example, flat-earthers, and those who promote the lie to take advantage of the believers, for example, those who would sell turtle-feed to the flat-earthers (I’m assuming for sacrifice to the turtles who hold up the flat earth? 🙂 ).
And even more so, you’re making me delve into why it is that we/they prefer lies: is it because the world is complex and ambiguous and lies tend to be simple and clear? Is it because truth is rarely pure and simple (especially about oneself)? What is it that makes “A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on”?
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That is pretty steep. Perhaps it’s time for a make-your-own t-shirt, something like “When Betsy looks into the abyss, the abyss looks the other way”? 😀 (Yes, Chuck Norris has been de-throned as far as I’m concerned… Long live the Queen!)
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This is what gives me hope for the future: my generation (Gen X) and the Millenials are undergoing some significant healing. They are not having children at the same pace as Baby Boomers or even Generation X. They are consciously doing a better job of raising children than my parents’ generation and my generation were/are doing. That alone offers me a ray of hope for future generations. That there will be better beings on our earth in the future. Because it isn’t only about putting noses to grindstones, technology, and robots. It is about compassion, kindness, emotional maturity, and unconditional love as well.
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That is so insightful! We often do see the “trappings”: the technology, the long hours, etc., and miss out on what matters most. I recently read an interesting article about how technologies (mostly ones like Facebook, YouTube, etc.) that were supposed to make us connect more and form stronger communities and more meaningful bonds did the opposite… They put their participants on display rather than connect, and alienate rather forge bonds. I love how you highlight what matters, and what is missing (emotional maturity: YES!).
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The shaving thing cracks me up. Surely there must have been a reason for this. Like…. hold on, hold on, I’ll come up with something… the writers were sapped for ideas? (an electronic doohicky that you simply wave across the face and a laser fries the hairs off in a flash. There, was that so hard?) Or the prop people were on strike? Or the cinematographers were like, “We really really need an excuse to get a sustained close-up of this dude’s face.”
I’m going to take the high road and assume they had good reason and weren’t just being lazy. 🙂
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I love that generous approach! It didn’t occur to me that it was for a long, sustained closeup at that person’s face! To be fair, there was only one shaving scene like that (this isn’t a barber-shop show after all…💈 ).
I like that much more as a foreshadowing (not a 5 o’clock shadow 🙃) rather than another one of the old reman ends like the QWERTY keyboard bit we examined in our first trio of lessons 😁
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Gosh that mantra change is not necessary and you just have to fight them, sounds like familiar politics! Sadly!
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Isn’t it? I actually used to place it in my presentations at work 🙃 It’s just as powerful, and more succinct than the Machiavelli one about the thankless, uphill battle for change, don’t you think? That’s my two most favorite change quotes, methinks. What are yours?
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Fall down seven times, get up eight! ( Japanese) but also a few more relating to change here: https://forestwoodfolkart.wordpress.com/2019/07/14/sunday-sayings-change/
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Wonderful! Thank you for sharing! You’ve inspired me to pick up the topic, too! So triple thanks!
It’s funny how many learnings (we’ve blogged 4 sets of 3!!!) one can have from a show, did you ever watch Expanse?
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No I haven’t heard of Expanse
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