Bitter Grace

I was very interested in the structuring of the encounters we can see in this Heineken ad. The acquaintance starts with co-work, as well as with structured conversations that ask people to identify themselves in ways that may be novel to them, that don't immediately lead to any specific party affiliation or stance.

I think that co-work toward a mutual goal leads to better community practice-- where the goal isn't about determining in-groups and out-groups. I think that verbs trump nouns, when people are brought to work in verbs.

The people filmed were lucky in being given a kind of neutrally acceptable goal-- construct furniture.

But what if we in towns, cities, nations, the world, could focus on a goal of, for example, making sure children are nourished and educated, and then go to policies as means toward such an end?

And if someone said, "Well, what about deadbeat parents?" we could talk about which we value more, feeding/educating or failing to provide foothold for deliberate cheating, and what the incidence is, and whether that matters.

That was an example.

I could think of lots more.

I know it's hard to come up with a widely acceptable goal.

But maybe we could start by looking at the goals of policy, beyond the party-affiliations of policies or their proponents.

Asking about goals.