{"id":118913,"date":"2021-04-13T07:23:47","date_gmt":"2021-04-13T07:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/?p=134834"},"modified":"2021-04-13T07:23:47","modified_gmt":"2021-04-13T07:23:47","slug":"games-people-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/04\/13\/games-people-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Games People Play"},"content":{"rendered":"

See if you can play the hero
\nit is the game of dropping
\noff the skyrocket of courage
\nand landing
\nwith you head between your knees<\/p>\n

\u2013 Lou Hammer, \u201c28\u201d The Book of Games<\/em> (1986)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Way back in my scholarship Grottie days, a mild blue-eyed blond boy vouchsafed me with the wisdom of the German-born Swiss novelist Herman Hesse in the form of his Prize-winning novel, Magister Ludi<\/em> — Master of the Game — aka, The Glass Bead Game<\/em>. He must have seen something in me. At the time I was wont to lay on the Circle (a lawn at the center of the campus of Groton School) and look up at the stars, even in the daytime, and listen to old man Gammons (retired ESPN sportswriter Peter Gammons\u2019 dad) play \u201cTake Me Out to the Ballgame\u201d on the Chapel organ.<\/p>\n

Or I would amuse myself watching a pal in the smoking room light his farts on fire with a Bic lighter, eschewing his dares to do said same, one of the other boys (it was an all-boys school then) comically warned people were known to blow themselves up with this activity. I thought of Charles Fort, who a friend had told me about days previously, and the notion of spontaneous combustion. After I dropped out of the school, my pal would turn me on to a \u201csigned copy\u201d of the I Ching. Wouldn\u2019t you know it, I drew hexagram 56, The Wanderer. I\u2019ve been getting it up the ole yinyang ever since in my travels. Sometimes I feel I should have risked everything with that Bic.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I was thinking about Magister Ludi<\/em> recently. Got to thinking tThese wise guys get together once a year and play a game with beads that reveals, as they play, esoteric patterns of the world that they themselves are stoicially disinclined to engage in. Know it all think-tankers back at a time when the Canon was still extant, and so they were imbued with the mystical powers that sympathetic magic brings. (You remember Christmas morn as a starry-eyed kid, the radio playing \u201cI Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,\u201d Dad snarking that Rudolph the Red Nosed Lush should be driving, getting DIBS: In Search of Self<\/em> from \u201cSanta\u201d). Postmodernism has dealt such wise guys a vicious backhand blow, and, frankly, nobody really reads Herman Hesse anymore, except me, as far as I know.<\/p>\n

Got a notion to produce a screenplay out of the book; update it. Saw Silicon Valley faces — Musk, Bezos, Brin and Zuck — their gatherings on football field-length yachts to discuss the future of all of us, without our input, of course, as they know best, it\u2019s not a democratic process, and, consequently, it\u2019s none of our business. One of the assholes is putting implants in pigs\u2019s brains with a view to controlling behavior — making you think, inevitably, of what might have happened in Orwell\u2019s Animal Farm had Napoleon and Mr. Smith got hold of Snowball before he managed to trotsky away. Another quack wants to build gated neighborhoods in outer space. Zuck\u2019s in charge of the hivemind. Brin\u2019s bringing quantum to the table.<\/p>\n

I thought for sure my kids would be keen to join me in writing The Glass Bead Game<\/em>. But I was wrong. They just looked at me. So, to hell with it. But it did get me further thinking about the games people play. Or, rather, should play, to negotiate our understanding of global doings, to hone our defensive skills, and to beat the snot out of these fools when the shit hits the fan for realz and they try to weasel off to New Zealand. If they sneak out, we can arrange for some Maoris to meet them, at their private airport, with the haka<\/a> and show them what a rugby scrum is when the ball is made of silicon. Try and try their noses into the ground.<\/p>\n

While we\u2019re waiting for the Great Demise as if it were the Great Godot, it may behoove us to be ready for the rolling pearlharbors ahead. That\u2019s what RAND does, what all think tanks do; you’re a think tank, if you wanna be. Or you could just let them think for you. Have representative thinkers giving us the poop the way representative government looks after our interests. It\u2019s up to you, demo. Me, I hooked up with some \u201cmates\u201d on Zoom (natch) and we played games, bored games (Monopoly and Risk), mind games (Tony was insufferable with his \u201cYou\u2019re Made!<\/a>\u201d – a variation of tag – every 15 minutes), and generally talked turkey, finally drawing the conclusion that the following games were worth pursuing as the World Ends (\u201cand a new one begins,\u201d yelled Teddy, cup half full), and we passed a virtual bong around from zoomroom to zoomroom until our minds went badaboom and our mouths were non-stop — really fucking with the Zoom shifter..<\/p>\n

Tony, Teddy, Rhonda, Joy, Carla, and Richard Head all checked in and we got going. I explained the rules (none) and how we were to review together some games each of us had come up in preparation for the world\u2019s end, and to play a round or two to get the gist. Wouldn\u2019t you know it, Dick just had to tell us about the time he played a survival game with 6 others at summer camp. They had to choose which one would have to stay behind while the others were saved. Dick told us for the upteenth time (he\u2019d relate it before) how he immediately shot his hand up and said, \u201cI\u2019ll stay.\u201d Someone called him a dickhead. One of the women said, \u201cWell, in this survival game, you get to be the only one who leaves. Hoof it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then we watched a training video together. In a separate survey, we\u2019d all agreed there would be violence and blood — especially between coppers and people protesting the end of the world. There were training tapes left over from the 60s. Here, children choose roles — protester or cop. A surprising number of the youngsters wanted to be cops. I guess, because of the allure of batons. Here it is<\/a>. Dig it.<\/p>\n

After we checked in with each other, to make sure no one was triggered by childhood bashings by cops or parents or other Twinkie-thieving bullies who to diediedie, Rhonda kicked us off with her review of Six Fucking Hats, literally, a lateral thinking game so lame that the Zoomsters took turns making obscene gestures as she explained. Except for Teddy, who said, \u201cI suspect it\u2019s useful still. I certainly wouldn\u2019t discount its value.\u201d<\/p>\n

Six Thinking Hats (Rhonda)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rhonda:<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s go with good old fashioned Edward De Bono\u2019s Six Thinking Hats. (Tony groans.) I think Bono\u2019s Hats has passed the test of time.<\/p>\n

Richard:<\/p>\n

More than we can say for you Rhonda. (snarky laughter)<\/p>\n

Rhonda:<\/p>\n

Fuck you, Dick Head. (snarky laughter) Anyway, as I was saying the lateral thinking exercises that de Bono brings to the table are great enablers of critical thinking masses. I have an app attached by prior arrangement — so surprise — that allows us all to wear the six colored hats that de Bono delineates in his text. (we all have hats now, I\u2019m white)<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

Who the fuck gave me the pink cap?<\/p>\n

Rhonda:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the updated edition. This is not the 70s anymore. We\u2019re gonna change hats. That\u2019s a good sign, Tony, that you’re uncomfortable with that hat. You have to think like a pink person now. All of you have to think like the color of the hat you\u2019re wearing — matched to the chart of meaning. So Pink is in charge of eliminating sexual harassment in the workplace.<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

Eliminate, huh? Okay, I can handle that.<\/p>\n

Rhonda:<\/p>\n

So the idea is to create a situation and you respond not according to your own whims and fancies but according to the hat you were dealt.<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

What\u2019re we fuckin commies.<\/p>\n

Rhonda:<\/p>\n

If the hat fits, wear it. (Rhonda screws around with her gizmo to show how easy it is to change hats.<\/p>\n

Me:<\/p>\n

Interesting. That reminds of a Marx Brothers skit from Horse Feathers<\/em>. (he shares the scene<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Rhonda:<\/p>\n

Yeah. Yeah. That\u2019s how it works!<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

Marxists? Pink hats? Fuck lateral thinking. Give me badabing badaboom any day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Beautiful People: A Tool Box for Revolution (Teddy)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Teddy:<\/p>\n

Well, I really liked that clip of the kids getting ready for the show. Cops and protesters. That\u2019s about it. I\u2019m surprised Stanford didn;t have some kind of horror experiment with it. Anyway, I\u2019m bringing to the table Occupy Time. It\u2019s a book and card set that, like the deBono theory, has players getting ready to Occupy a space controlled by government or corporate interests — could be Wall Street or Pentagon or the Flint Water Management Corporation headquarters in Detroit. (he shares the book and cards) I really like this stuff. Instant mobilization against anything oppressive. Taxes. Corporate excesses. Mind Control. Fake News. The best of the 60s and 70s — the seriousness of play, as Nietzsche put it — revolution for the hell of it plus social media and stuff. The way OR Books describes it, Beautiful People has \u201cThe best ideas of the front lines of creative activism, and puts them in your hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

More commies. When do I get to wear the black hat?<\/p>\n

Teddy:<\/p>\n

Think the song \u201cBeautiful Dreamer,\u201d with the dreamer waking suddenly with a fist in the air and ready to go. Suddenly, she\u2019s an artist and she don\u2019t look back<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Joy:<\/p>\n

I had a dream. I had a dream like that. I had a dream like that other night where I woke up in my candlelit room in triumph and SANG! (a Melanie lick <\/a>from Candles in the Rain is heard)<\/p>\n

Teddy:<\/p>\n

Anyway, The book is highly organized and has many wonderful contributors who\u2019ve been there, done that and tell the next generation how to do it and succeed. It\u2019s a real useful staging manual.<\/p>\n

Carla:<\/p>\n

How come I never heard of it?<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

Coz you buy all your books from Amazon. OR\u2019s independent. You wouldn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

Carla:<\/p>\n

Fuck you, Tony. (she flicks him a goombah chin gesture)<\/p>\n

Teddy:<\/p>\n

Anyway, there are six parts: Tactics, Principles, Theories, Case Studies and Practitioners.<\/p>\n

Richard:<\/p>\n

That\u2019s only five parts.<\/p>\n

Teddy:<\/p>\n

For fuck\u2019s sake, Dick. The reader. The reader<\/em>. That\u2019s part Six. (Tony\u2019s fussing over his background; it switches at high speeds, like he\u2019s suddenly in the wormhole from 2001) So Beautiful People is great because it gives you specific things you can do — tactics — to fight the Man in a given situation. For instance, you can start a flash mob, get cheeky, kind of a bun swarmer. (shows Brave Heart image<\/a>) like Trump said antifas did on Jan 6 to incite sedition. And principles. There are reasons we do things. Moral compassings. And some of us are interested in the theoretical grounding to our forays into practical politics. Marx. Hegel\u2019s triads.<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

My left gonad. (Carla titters)<\/p>\n

Teddy:<\/p>\n

The Case Studies section is amazing. You learn where some of this stuff has been enacted and what the outcome was — what worked, what didn\u2019t and why. Sometimes people need to know what worked and where. You know, a lot of people know about the Gay Bomb<\/a> now, because it was the military was working on making an enemy division into pansies by dropping some afro-deesiac on them, but, you know, the hippies invented it. I think Abbie came up with that.<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

I would have iced Abbie.<\/p>\n

Joy:<\/p>\n

I heard he slept with Abe Maslow\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n

Rhonda:<\/p>\n

Timothy Leary said Abe never had a peak experience. Another hypocrite. Do as I say. But he was always down in the dumps.<\/p>\n

Joy:<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll bet she has some peak experiences with Abbie. I would\u2019ve.<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

Another one I\u2019d have to ice. I gotcha Belonging. (he grabs his shlonging)<\/p>\n

Carla:<\/p>\n

You\u2019re so crude.<\/p>\n

Teddy:<\/p>\n

Wow, I feel like I\u2019m in a gauntlet. Well, anyway. It\u2019s really useful. OR has put out a pocket edition. There\u2019s also a great strategy card deck that comes with it and is hip-ly inspiring. The cards contain mini-debates — kinds like the de Bono. In one section, titled \u201cThe Problem in the World Around Us,\u201d an argument is proposed: A corrupt society produces corrupt <\/em><\/p>\n

people; we must fi x the world first<\/em>. The card answers:<\/p>\n

Lots of assholes and hypocrites have done wonders for the world. Personal change does not equal political change. No matter how many meditation retreats we go on (or how much we recycle), polluters will keep poisoning poor communities unless they are stopped by concerted political action. As individuals, we\u2019re all in some ways flawed, but that\u2019s no reason not to work together to change the world. Let\u2019s start now, assholes!<\/p>\n

Funny too!<\/p>\n

Joy:<\/p>\n

Oscar Wilde said: Tell the Truth, make people laugh, otherwise they\u2019ll kill you.<\/p>\n

Richard:<\/p>\n

He died in some Parisian gutter.<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

He\u2019s another one.<\/p>\n

Me:<\/p>\n

Thanks, Teddy. Next we have:<\/p>\n

Hedgemony: A Game of Strategic Choices (Carla)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carla:<\/p>\n

Okay, who here\u2019s ever wanted to be Daniel Ellsberg? (Me and Richard raise our hands)<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

What the fuck, Carla?<\/p>\n

Carla:<\/p>\n

Tony (repeats her previous chin gesture). Hedgemony is a game of strategic choices. The first decision you have to make is how you can afford the game at $250 a pop. But we got people who know how to follow a truck. But seriously, the Player\u2019s Guide<\/a> describes the games as:<\/p>\n

a global, multi-sided, turn-based, facilitated, adjudicated wargame designed to teach U.S. defense professionals how different strategy and policy priorities could affect key planning factors in the trade space at the intersection of force development, force management, force posture, and force employment. In the game, players make difficult choices by managing the allocation of their resources and forces in alignment with their strategies to accomplish their objectives within resource and time constraints.<\/p>\n

So\u2026It\u2019s a game of the US influencing everybody else in the world and the best strategist wins.<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got a force posture. (Carla rolls her eyes noisily) But, come on, Carla, what are we talking here the mafia or the US government?<\/p>\n

Richard:<\/p>\n

No real diff.<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

Dick, you\u2019re another one.<\/p>\n

Carla:<\/p>\n

You know, so maybe you read Wikileaks State Department Logs to draw a bead or an angle and push it. Mortadella, mangia, badabing. So you wanna play the Chinese off against the Russians, like Nixon did with his Beijing visit, to get the russkies to \u201dcooperate\u201d on START.<\/p>\n

Joy:<\/p>\n

That\u2019s it?<\/p>\n

Carla:<\/p>\n

No. You tell the Chinese that when we hit the Russkies we;re taking them out too. Badabing.<\/p>\n

Me:<\/p>\n

That a conspiracy theory? Be careful. Let\u2019s keep to evidence.<\/p>\n

Teddy:<\/p>\n

No, Ellsberg says it right in his new book, Doomsday. It\u2019s like the War on Terror. We\u2019re fighting Communism. They all get nuked. Italy did an about face when they heard that.<\/p>\n

Joy:<\/p>\n

Sounds kind of boring. In my class I teach the kids to play Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory. It\u2019s \u201can asymmetric politico-economic card-driven board game.\u201d You belong to a class, be it Working Class, Middle Class, Capitalist or the State itself.<\/p>\n

Carla:<\/p>\n

No, it\u2019s not like that. America wins. It\u2019s just which strategy wins the day?<\/p>\n

Joy:<\/p>\n

Who decides?<\/p>\n

Carla:<\/p>\n

Oh, there\u2019s a meateater.<\/p>\n

Joy:<\/p>\n

You mean, mediator?<\/p>\n

Carla:<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what I just said. You fuckin with me, Joy.<\/p>\n

Me:<\/p>\n

Thanks, Carla. Joy, you wanna tell us about the Pandemic board game?<\/p>\n

Pandemic (Joy)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joy:<\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s basically about what happens when a pandemic strikes and folks are put into play to find a cure as fast as possible. So player roles are: dispatcher, medic, scientist, researcher, operations expert, contingency planner, or quarantine specialist.<\/p>\n

Rhonda:<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s like now.<\/p>\n

Joy:<\/p>\n

Wow, look who\u2019s woke up. Anyway, there\u2019s countries. People hard at work looking for a vaccine. Monoclonal.<\/p>\n

Teddy:<\/p>\n

I read an article last year that said DARPA was involved in these kinds of ward games. P3, I think the writer called it. There was some Candian company that got one of the first cell samples of an American Covid survivor and they had on their website — wait, wait, here it is<\/p>\n

(shows a link to Abcellera) — and said they could have a therapeutic monoclonal solution to Covid-19 in 60 days. They held war games — simulated a pandemic just a year before we had one!!! (tears his shirt) Oh –oh– oh, it means Pearl Harbor was a gimme\u2026.(pulls hair)<\/p>\n

Me:<\/p>\n

Ah, Teddy, calm down. Let us not cross into conspiracy theory. Take a long toke on your e-bong. We have a couple more games to consider. So, Carla, what do you draw from this game, Pandemic. What should we be doing?<\/p>\n

Carla:<\/p>\n

Well, I didn\u2019t know that. But it does show that you can make a buck off just about anything. But my game puts you in the middle of a solution; you feel like you\u2019re serving mankind. (I had a flash) My cousin Vinny was contact tracer for awhile. But he had to give it up.<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

And why\u2019s that Carla?<\/p>\n

Carla:<\/p>\n

He was hitting on some of the women. One of them called the cops. She\u2019s disappeared, can\u2019t be, ahem, contacted.<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

I gotta pal, a real goombah, did contact tracing for six weeks before he realized it wasn\u2019t skip tracing. He got Covid-19 trying to bring someone into custody. That was his reward.<\/p>\n

Me:<\/p>\n

That leaves just you, Tony. You want to tell us about your game.<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

Yeah, sure, sure, Me. Well, I looked into the government\u2019s games, and I gotta tell ya I was none too happy. I member back in the 60 s they were stockpiling anthrax and all kinds of nerve agents all over the country. People would see these pyramids and think, Whatta we got pharaohs buried here?<\/p>\n

Me:<\/p>\n

Er, Tony. Think we can keep it from conspiracy theory?<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

You callin me a liar?<\/p>\n

Me:<\/p>\n

No, not exactly, but I\u2019ve got a word count problem. My inner engineer is tapping on my imaginary glass, doing that hurry up thing with hand.<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

Probably choking his chicken. Poultry in motion.<\/p>\n

Me:<\/p>\n

Uh-huh. Can we keep it to your presentation? And not ham it up?<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll ham you up. You\u2019re another one. (sighs heavily through his nose) Anyway. So, American scientists are getting together to fuck with Nature in a thing called Biodefense In The Age Of Synthetic Biology<\/em>. <\/a><\/p>\n

Teddy:<\/p>\n

Yeah. I read about that, too. Same author. It\u2019s a framework, Tony, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

That\u2019s right, Tony. The government\u2019s scientists are gonna be creating viruses and bacteria — the meanest, ugliest, most vile satan bugs of all time with the aid of supercomputers. For instance, if they\u2019d wanted<\/em> to, they could\u2019ve created Covid-19 through gain-of-function \u201cresearch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Me:<\/p>\n

(shaking his head) Tony\u2026<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

You calling me a liar? (watches Me gulp in panic) Okay. Listen. This is a quote from them — the scientists not me — draw your own conclusions if you still remember how to:<\/p>\n

synthetic biology makes it possible to synthesize genomes and use those to generate, or \u201cboot,\u201d copies of naturally occurring organisms in the laboratory, opening new opportunities for the acquisition of existing, regulated pathogens\u201d and \u201csynthetic biology tools could be used to synthesize and boot entirely new organisms, potentially incorporating genetic material from multiple existing organisms.<\/p>\n

Badabing. Badaboom.<\/p>\n

Me:<\/p>\n

So you\u2019re saying\u2026<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

Hey you, don\u2019t tell me what I\u2019m saying, kapeesh? (everybody is swallowing, like a Gulp War) It\u2019s the government. They are using gain-of-function to create super viruses, saying they\u2019re doing it to be ahead of the curve if the enemy develops it first. They\u2019ll have vaccines ready.<\/p>\n

Carla:<\/p>\n

Tony.<\/p>\n

Tony:<\/p>\n

Carla. Shut up. Anybody else was president but Trump in October 2020 they\u2019d been rolling our vaccines in November. The New York Times noted while Trump was president that he was lying again when he said a vaccine was coming — because the vaccine for a virus had ever been discovered in less than four years. Trump\u2019s out, and we got vaccines for Covid-19 coming out the yinyang. Less than one year. Come on. Grow up. (various groans and sighs make the voice-activated screens shuffle wildly)<\/p>\n

Due to technical problems the Zoom session was suddenly curtailed. So we\u2019ll have to pick where we left off with Richard Head and his presentation on the games Silicon Valley plays next time. I myself will be soon reviewing The Book of Gametes<\/em>. Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

And watch your back. It\u2019s a dangerous world.<\/p>\n

The post Games People Play<\/a> appeared first on CounterPunch.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on CounterPunch.org<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

See if you can play the hero it is the game of dropping off the skyrocket of courage and landing with you head between your knees \u2013 Lou Hammer, \u201c28\u201d The Book of Games (1986) Way back in my scholarship Grottie days, a mild blue-eyed blond boy vouchsafed me with the wisdom of the German-born More<\/a><\/p>\n

The post Games People Play<\/a> appeared first on CounterPunch.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118913"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118913"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118914,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118913\/revisions\/118914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}