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Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of January 22, 2023
Since police are going to keep brutally and unnecessarily killing black men, it’s refreshing to see it done by black cops, too. It reveals more of the truth that American policing itself is the problem, not just your standard white cops hate black people cliche.
Social Contract for Dummies
Trevor Noah released a video the other day describing how looting illuminates the brokenness of the social contract: If George Floyd can be murdered, publicly and deliberately, police—and if this is not an aberration but part of a pattern—then there is no rule of law.
Just in case it was too subtle, let’s revisit recent events moment by moment, using building blocks to understand Noah’s explanation. Call it The Social Contract for Dummies.
I’ll be Disappointed if My Son Becomes a Cop
A young boy wanting to be a cop is not as bad as a young man becoming a cop. But a want that sticks around long enough is often gotten, especially if my son is raised to be the achiever we want him to be. If my son becomes a cop, if his want becomes his achievement, I’ll be disappointed. Not disappointed in him as much as I’ll be disappointed in myself and my wife. Because if my son becomes a cop, we were not good parents.
Finding Three Pain Points — How to Sell Progress
My brief stint selling window replacements did garner me some insight on the process that, as I look out into our divided country, I can’t help but wonder if the technique used to get people to spend $30,000 to replace their windows might have some value in selling our most untenable ideas to one another.
Tell Them One Thousand-and-One Times and Then Change Your Tactic
If you were watching that parent scream at his child, you might suggest he try another tactic rather than hostility and demands. You might suggest that another approach to his child might bear a more fruitful result. You might suggest that his frustration and rage, while perhaps completely justified, is not achieving the result he wants. And, sure, he might tell you to stick it up your ass but at least you tried.
The Enemy is Us
If you hire soldiers to become policemen, civilians become the enemy.