Savagery, Survival, and the Bell Curve.
Freud had
it backwards
Fig 001
Sigmund Freud’s quest to understand abnormal behavior missed
the part about normal behavior. Freud
also established the myth that all human behavior is death oriented. IMHO says that life is. His “wish world” is the Real World. Religion of his day is ideology of today.
Normality
Defined. What the hell do you mean by
normal?
The exact measure of what is normal, consider all the people
you have met in family reunions, marriages, funerals, Thanksgiving and
Christmas, may including the office party.
Choose a value or standard you feel applies and arrange all of them into
rank ordering depending on the measure you chose. The Middle Two Thirds is Normal. The
statistical term used is the normal “bell” curve.
Fig 002
If the value you measured could be assigned to each and
everyone in the group, the sum of those values (income, weight, IQ, or EQ)
divided by the number of individuals is the Mean (also called arithmetic
average). The normal “range” of what
was measured can be measured by how tight the shot group is, and this value is
called a Standard Deviation, which in management speak is Sigma. They give “Black Belts” in Six Sigma which
six accounts for 99.72% of the cases.
IMHO uses two Sigma or two Standard Deviations in the middle
to define “normal”. That equates to 62.68% on the chart above. Four Sigma gets you 95.44% of the
total. Six Sigma (Black Belt) gets
99.72% of the cases.
Simply put, there are two thirds in the middle and one sixth
at each end. Saints at one end, Sinners
at the other. .
Fig 003
Pareto’s
Law
Normal Curves as above are called “two tailed”
distributions. Pareto’s Law deals with
“one tailed” distribution which holds that 80% of the results come from 20% of
the causes. Thus 80% of the hours come
from 20% of the causes. 80% of the
crimes are committed by 20% of the criminals.
The “normal” curve applied to everyone in the middle two
thirds (Two Sigma) commit 20% of the crimes. One Sixth commits 80% of the
Crimes (Sinners) and one Sixth commit no crimes (Saints).
Fig 004
Normal people don’t run for President, nor even any work
that takes time and effort away from survival (Food & Family, Roles,
Rules and Tools) and a normal way of life. They are neither Saints nor Sinners. In any group focused on a problem, only one
in six gives a damn. Of them, only one
in six will read the mail. Of them, only one is six will go to the meetings,
and one sixth of them will run for office.
Statistical
Significance.
This goes to the “so what” category.
Fig005
It doesn’t matter
what is being measured, so long as it is statistically significant (it’s not a
accident of collection or errant definition).
In short, small samples don’t mean much like four out of five hitmen
prefer 9mm if only five hitmen were asked.
Then there is the definition of what is a hitman.
One and one equal two only if one and one are equal. The sum of one banana and one apple is two
fruits? If matters what to who how high
the water is, or how deep? Bridges and
boats differ.
Circular
Error Probability (CEP)
For those in the Field Artillery or combat aviation the CEP or
Circular Error Probability is given as the odds of a target getting hit by
a round or its fragments. Also known as a shot group.
Fig006
Likewise, it is of fair importance that one knows the CEP of
incoming rounds. The German 88 Flak gun
in an anti-tank role was a deadly threat to whomever rode in the valley of the
deathly open space. The 88 had a very tight CEP and the MG 42 too for a light
machinegun.
 |
| Images from the East Front |
Fig007
What is Normal Habitual Behavior?
The term “culture” is too politically correct for the
warrior or wannabe warrior when killing the bastards is all that matters. The tricky part is making the bastards out of
habit do something stupid. Sometime you
want to corner them, other times to split them up. Sometimes you want to make them charge, and
sometimes you want to make them run, and sometimes you want them to quit. Sometimes you want them to switch sides.
Sun Tsu said that wining
without fighting is the best. Given that
fighting without winning appears to be more often than not, perhaps this knot
should be untied.
It all goes to the normal spread (middle two thirds) which
may include the middle stamp out the ends.
The sum of our behavior goes back to the very first cell division back whenever.
 |
| From the Movie "Pulp Fiction" opening scene |
Fig008
Pareto’s
Law and the Alpha.
The one sixth that does eighty percent of the results
themselves fall under a smaller normal curve either one or two tailed. In nature there are animals called “alpha”
who get the eighty percent of the attention, food and/or sex. They are more aggressive, more territorial,
and more jealous of perks. It is the Alpha that drives action.
Mind Over
Body
Ontogeny
recapitulates Phylogeny on Purpose: The choices made at each
bifurcation of the genealogical tree are, so says IMHO, neither random nor
mutation. Life, instinctively is for
living, not dying. The attractiveness of
the alpha who gets the food, gets laid.
The will of the giraffe resulted in making a longer neck to reach the
top branches. This, of course, takes a
continuity of effort.
The behavior of trained animals can be through selective
breeding produce breeds of very different characteristics. Natural selection leverages that capacity to
change as applied by the will of the bred.
Likewise, the adaptation to a high level of trauma also
marks the DNA with reactive action. Most
warm blooded species hate the cold blooded.
The horse that shies from a bitty snake, is a reflection of the time
when they weren’t so bitty.
PLAY as
Survival Training
The young of most species often display the record of
choices made in the genealogical past as the individual grows. Consequently, Play is training for roles to
come.
Fig009
In vertebrates the
decision to mate in made by the female of the species based on an evaluation of
the suitability of the male’s probability of producing viable and competitive
offspring.
The “suitability factor” as analyzed by the female often
defies analysis, which any of my three ex-wives can note, that IMHO is
clueless. Normally it is the male of the species that sports extra visual cues,
while the female is often camouflaged to fit in the normal back ground. The song and dance that males have to do is
often quite extraordinary, but some mating rituals are synchronized.
Fig010
Often the attractiveness of the male is through
demonstration of attractive skill sets as often demonstrated during “rutting
season” when the males compete for attention and for dominance a proof of a
need to breed.
Fig011
The males in some species meet the rest of the herd, flock,
or gang only during mating season, then they go off and do “guy things”. Some animals are really strange about
that. This showing off of the mating
ability of the male often extends to combat, mock or not.
Fig012
One of the basic rituals to show competitiveness or
suitability goes to showing the ability to Feed. The Dinner and a Date also
extends to “doing lunch” and the meal prepared for guest of honor or on the
occasion of a big meeting. Such is often
the sum and substance of a day well spent.
 |
| From the UPORFA Conference in Buenos Aires |
Fig013
The Psychological Roles necessary to demonstrate the
capacity to Feed and Breed, goes to that of the Mother, Father, and Child. The mother nurtures, the father protects, and
the child is dependent on both. In some
species, the statistical probability of infant survivability is achieved by
long gestation, by redundancy (lots of kids), and by effective combat skills,
attitudes, procedures, tactics, and techniques.
Fig014
Fig015
Habits and
Habitual Behavior.
Normal behavior (two
Sigma) then should be called “habits” of any given group set. In sex, war and politics. There is a resistance within the Warrior and
Bellicose Creed that utterly hates any reference to culture as too politically
Correct, Homo, and/or Coffee Break poppycock.
If, however the
Warrior is also a Hunter, then the concept of the habitual behavior becomes
important. One needs to know when and
where the prey feeds, breeds, and/or hides out.
The study of enemy doctrine and task organization is exactly the same as
studying where fish, fowl or reindeer are so they can be your lunch or
trophy.
This goes to what IMHO calls F4F and consists of the basic
structure of habitual behavior aka culture: Food and Family, Roles, Rules, and
Tools.
Fig016
Tools include techniques, skills, equipment and so forth.
The selection of Tactical Imperatives in a physical confrontation is a way of
analyzing survival behavior, human and/or animal. The Vertical axis of the
Tactical Imperative menu is the parts of the being or groups anatomy that is
used in combat. This includes the brain, nervous systems, vision, hearing,
voice, lungs, guts, legs, arms and fists.
The horizontal axis is a simplified set of modes, stimulus and response
which when activated is like a four dimensional Pachinko game.
Fig017
Normal hunting behaviors involve both offensive and
defensive (stimuli and response) in a single maneuver. The lion is evading detection by lowing the
profile in the grass. The Impala in the
second frame has successfully evaded the clutch of this old one eyed lion.
Fig018
The social value of being able to bring in the dinner
enhances the image of the hunter in the soul of the diner. Symbolically, the human species is still tied
to the dinner-date ritual, but other features that add to the attractiveness of
the male to the female. As for female
wiles, a wink and a wiggle turns the hero into a blank dot.
Group behavior of many species have collective as well as
individual skill sets for the purposes of being the diner instead of the
dinner. Or at least avoiding being
lunch.
Fig019
METT-TH
The Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) should include
Technology and Habits to make it METT-TH.
Time belongs under terrain as weather is already there including BMNT
and time to do the mission is already in the Mission Statement. Habitual behavior applies to all the other
factors including Mission. The enemy’s
doctrine and doctrinal templates are in fact a study of enemy habits.
This changes the old acronym by adding technology, and
expanding civilian considerations to include all habitual behavior, even ours
Body Over
Mind, Usually
In the normal course of living, it is habitually Body
Over Mind that drives everyday choices.
Reason only interferes with habit when there is a choice or decision
that can be consciously noted, identified, and/or measured. This goes to steak vs chicken, regular vs
unleaded, beer vs wine, buy or to buy which is the question. The rest is run by
habits coded within the DNA that also cues behaviors at selected points in the
growth and experience of the individual.
Like puberty and senility.
Central to understanding habits of one or many includes an
understanding of the Roles necessary to nurture and protect the young. These, in vertebrates include Father, Mother
and Child. Since the child is not up to speed, they become the favorite food
for predators. The psychological
habitual roles play are summed up in Transactional Analysis as the urges to
Rescue and Protect the Victim (child).
Thus the psychological drama triangle developed by Dr.
Karpman is the rotation of roles even when there is neither victim nor
villain.
Fig020
The dramatic roles two pairs of three, defense and offense
can be played by a single person with neither villain nor victim. It is only necessary to create the illusion
of a villain or a victim. This is the
heart and soul of politics of the one and of the many.
Stamp
Collecting – Victim to Victimizer
Each time a role is switched with another player, the player
gets an emotional “Stamp” certifying the proper buzz (high or low). Charlie as player gets 3 victim stamps while
Lucy gets a Manipulator stamp. Charlie then trades the 3 victim stamps for one
dump stamp which can be traded in for depression stamps, rage stamps, and
murder stamps. A skillful player can
play this on one hand.
Fig021
The Rescue or Protection of a Victim is the favorite pastime
of politicians and a motive for murder, mayhem, and war. The common phrase heard in the courthouse, is
that the defendant is the victim (defense) which justified offensive measures
such as murder, manipulation, and madness. There are few political arguments
that do not include defending children as the ultimate objective of Candidate
Foghorn. It is the fundamental
justification used by Jodie Foster in Elysium:
Fig022
As the justification for shooting down two ships filled with
the sick from earth.
The Rules
Each species, group, herd, tribe, clan, pod, or flock has
sociological rules to govern habitual behavior to facilitate successful Roles
in order to Feed and Breed (Food and Family).
Most of these behaviors are the net result of DNA coded instructions, which
instructions require integration of local circumstances. IMHO had divided a model of these Rules into
two sets: Social Standing and Relations with the Physical World:
For a Templar set of Rules they include:
Fig023
And a different set for the Saracens:
Fig024
The arm and hand signals used in these illustrations was
developed by IMHO to avoid another acronym with eight wordy values to one in
which uses the hands in open discussion with those who need to know.
Fate is what is called “sources of authority” in political
science. In WW 2, surrender pamphlets
dropped on German troops had to look official and be signed by an authority
like Ike and/or Monty.
Fig025
WW 2 Propaganda is filled with examples of how the habitual
behaviors of a culture could be leveraged to do or do not do something that
supports allied objectives. These go
straight to the Food and Family biological imperatives by leveraging the Roles,
Rules, and Tools of one side or another.
The
Salacious and the Savage
Two Step Bullshit. Leveraging Roles, Rules and Tools back to
Food and Family Is the hallmark of WW 2 propaganda leaflets, like the “safe
conduct” above. Themes and Symbols are
the alphabet of Psychological Operations. The selection and design of themes
and symbols are directed at specific target audiences, the most effective being
the Two Step Bullshit which is used when the Decision Makers cannot be touched,
but who are approachable to someone you can reach effectively.
Fig026
The NVA and VC military efforts in South Vietnam had failed
by 1969 with their forces in Cambodia moved north to Laos. The VC local guerilla forces under COSVN had
been consumed by superior firepower of the Allies in Vietnam. Some say that that the NVA objectives
included annihilation of COSVN (Central Office of South Vietnam), the
government of the Viet Cong.
Fig027
Communist efforts to seduce the drafted US soldiers to
switch sides failed utterly. So the
draft dodgers and cowards on campus elevated treason to a virtue. This was classic Two Step Bullshit which
eventually reached Congress which pulled the plug and snatched defeat from the
jaws of victory.
Fig028
Who’s
Laying Her Now?
This is a famous Nazi series dropped on US troops, The Girl
You Left Behind
Fig029
In addition to someone else getting yours, the price you pay is
for someone else’s profit.
Then there is the heartstrings approach of what happens to
the Family with you gone.
Fig030
The emotion that the Germans wanted was that the GI would
either quit or slack off fighting Germans.
The Grand Prize is to get the enemy to switch sides as indicated in the
VC pamphlet. This goes to legitimizing the enemy as a real friend. Machismo helps.
Fig031
This requires leveraging the Rules that define who is the
victim here, and assigning a Rescue and Protect buzz to the Traitor.
Fig032
The fight against Bolshevism was the number one enemy that
Europeans could unite. In addition to
Waffen SS units from European nations, the French sent a Volunteer legion and
Frenchmen joined an SS Division Charlemagne (fought to the bitter end in
Berlin).
Fig033
Essential to effective propaganda is the portrayal of the
villain as murderous, manipulative, and/or mad so that the hero can play the
same roles against the Villain (Offense vs Offensive Offense). The Blue and Red get hard to discriminate
one from the others.
Fear and
Loathing
Key to such vilification is to arouse both Fear and Loathing.
The Victims portrayed in such propaganda are women and
children, as they ideologically are weak and vulnerable to villains of an
inferiors sort, as in bestial.
In George Orwell’s book “1984” portraying a totalitarian
state of the future created “NewSpeak” as a way to prevent dissension, dissent,
and dissolution.
“The aim of Newspeak is to remove all shades of meaning from language, leaving simple concepts: (pleasure and pain, happiness and sadness, goodthink
and crimethink” ….Wikipedia on Newspeak.
Fig034
The
inferior are out to get you!
Fig035
Protect your
women, children and old people from the savage beast. Who, ironically are super
beings that manipulate the world unseen by the upstanding and honest!
Fig036
The Manipulative and vindictive are everywhere. The elections now in swing at this time are
full of villainy from the manipulative vicious and evil. Including toenail fungus.
FAMILY
Propaganda leverages the imagery of the wholesome family as
that which must be nurtured and protected.
Fig037
In accordance with the Rules (Fate) in order to get Fame and
Face, one must use the Tools to smite the foe.
Harshly.
Fig038
To be continued….
Gordon S Fowkes, LTC USA RET, M.Ed., KCTJ
