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The Dictatorship of Data

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The Dictatorship of Data

McNamara epitomized the hyper-rational executive who relied on numbers rather than sentiments, and who could apply his quantitative skills to any industry he turned them to. In 1960 he was named president of Ford, a position he held for only a few weeks before being tapped to join President Kennedy’s cabinet as secretary of defense.

As the Vietnam conflict escalated and the United States sent more troops, it became clear that this was a war of wills, not of territory. America’s strategy was to pound the Viet Cong to the negotiation table. The way to measure progress, therefore, was by the number of enemy killed. The body count was published daily in the newspapers. To the war’s supporters it was proof of progress; to critics, evidence of its immorality. The body count was the data point that defined an era.

True Story of Winnie the Pooh | Arts & Culture | Smithsonian Magazine

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True Story of Winnie the Pooh | Arts & Culture | Smithsonian Magazine

In the main branch of the New York Public Library, there lives a group of wild animals that call the children’s section home. Together, in one cage, are a young pig, a donkey, a tiger, a kangaroo, and a bear known the world over as Winnie-the-Pooh. The bear is not the red-shirted “tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluffȁ found in cribs around the world, more a regular ole’ fuzzy variety, a simple knock-around bear. But he’s still Pooh, a bit matted down, a bit overly loved, but in great shape considering he’ll soon be 100 years old. The original Pooh is amazingly still alive, well into the 21st-century, in both literary and animated forms.

20th century

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The Twentieth Century is here, bellowing like a bull; but in quieter coves, families still make do with what they have—or do without. It’s a big country, ours is. – Foxfire Book, Volume 1 Pg 134

The Foxfire Series Of Survival Books – NAGUAL

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The Foxfire Series Of Survival Books – NAGUAL

Back in the 70's, when I was in High School and read my first Castaneda book, I was also reading the "Foxfire" books on survival, as it was the hip thing to do if you were an aspiring teenage backpacker in the mid 70s. There is something in those books in the way of attitude, which I would identify as the "warrior's way." It seemed to mesh very well with understanding Don Juan. I think the coincidence of reading these books at the same time as Castaneda's, made me approach it in a more sober fashion somehow, it was definitely a bit of luck, so that is why I'm including a link to them here. (The Foxfire books don't have anything to do with this militia site the PDF's are on, and I'm not sure if it is legit for them to be putting them online, so I would just download them all while you still can.)