Robot Monkeys

Aaron David Miller is tonight’s (June 2, 2008) guest on Charlie Rose. He argued that America could not leave Iraq because of the Pottery Barn Effect. We broke it, and so we’re responsible and have to stay. Because if we don’t we’ll lose face. (To his credit he did admit that this was the Vietnam argument.) He also admitted that we may never be able to “fix” it. So in essence he was arguing throwing good money after bad.

That isn’t a solution. That’s dumb. That’s an argument that only someone with nothing at risk can make. It’s also the argument of a weakling.

I don’t pretend to know the Great Secrets™ of life, but I have learned two things:

1. Everyone is a bit insecure, and scared of being discovered as a fake.
2. Nike was right. “Just do It.”

That second one is a powerful idea. It’s a subversive idea. I don’t think about it a Nike slogan, I think of it as what I believe is a quote from Václev Havel, even though I can never find it. “If you want to live in free society. Then act like you do.” Havel was in out of prisons for being a political dissident. Every time he was released, he wrote a new play, and would be sent right back in. Why? Because writing plays against communism is not illegal in a free society. People’s power comes from other people ceding it to them.

People always believe that they can’t do something. There’s always a risk, and the vast majority of time the real risk is not even close to what we believe it is. Do it. Deal with the immediate consequences and the move on. It’s not, not caring. It’s not being paralyzed. Just say, “Fuck this shit,” and move on. You’ll feel better.