Comments on: Gap-Shrinking in Boston http://opposedsystemsdesign.blogsome.com/2006/02/12/gap-shrinking-in-boston/ Strategy, Systems Thinking and Military Affairs. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:54:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1-alpha by: Wiggins http://opposedsystemsdesign.blogsome.com/2006/02/12/gap-shrinking-in-boston/#comment-58 Fri, 03 Mar 2006 03:04:45 +0000 http://opposedsystemsdesign.blogsome.com/2006/02/12/gap-shrinking-in-boston/#comment-58 Thanks for coming by and sharing your perspective, Paul. You bring up a very good point that personal security in the Gap is often provided by traditional beliefs that are tied to a tight-knit social group (be it kin, tribal, ethnic, whatever). Connectivity can shake up this status quo. Long term, we hope that connectivity brings with it states that can provide for their citizens' personal security. During the transition periods, however, the flux can inspire a great deal of fear. Thanks for coming by and sharing your perspective, Paul.

You bring up a very good point that personal security in the Gap is often provided by traditional beliefs that are tied to a tight-knit social group (be it kin, tribal, ethnic, whatever). Connectivity can shake up this status quo. Long term, we hope that connectivity brings with it states that can provide for their citizens’ personal security. During the transition periods, however, the flux can inspire a great deal of fear.

]]> by: Paul Alciere http://opposedsystemsdesign.blogsome.com/2006/02/12/gap-shrinking-in-boston/#comment-57 Thu, 02 Mar 2006 21:19:48 +0000 http://opposedsystemsdesign.blogsome.com/2006/02/12/gap-shrinking-in-boston/#comment-57 I grew up in Dorchester in the 1930's and '40's. Crime was endemic then too, and it wasn't that the police couldn't stop it, it was that they wouldn't, because the gangsters paid them off. Our next door neighbor was a gangster. We all knew it, but so did the police. Every Saturday a marked police car pulled into the driveway next door, and a uniformed officer went into the house for a few minutes, then came out and drove away. We just had to try to get along with the guy until he moved away. The difference was that the crime was relatively harmless stuff, like the numbers racket. Dorchester was solidly Irish Catholic, and in those days we Catholics believed in Hell. The difference between venial sin and mortal sin was serious then. Selling dope would have been a mortal sin. In the Gap, what security there is comes from traditional beliefs, and concern about what our friends and neighbors will think of us. That's why people there are scared of outside influences that might introduce different beliefs and standards or weaken family or community ties. I grew up in Dorchester in the 1930’s and ’40’s. Crime was endemic then too, and it wasn’t that the police couldn’t stop it, it was that they wouldn’t, because the gangsters paid them off. Our next door neighbor was a gangster. We all knew it, but so did the police. Every Saturday a marked police car pulled into the driveway next door, and a uniformed officer went into the house for a few minutes, then came out and drove away. We just had to try to get along with the guy until he moved away.

The difference was that the crime was relatively harmless stuff, like the numbers racket. Dorchester was solidly Irish Catholic, and in those days we Catholics believed in Hell. The difference between venial sin and mortal sin was serious then. Selling dope would have been a mortal sin.

In the Gap, what security there is comes from traditional beliefs, and concern about what our friends and neighbors will think of us. That’s why people there are scared of outside influences that might introduce different beliefs and standards or weaken family or community ties.

]]> by: tdaxp http://opposedsystemsdesign.blogsome.com/2006/02/12/gap-shrinking-in-boston/#comment-52 Wed, 01 Mar 2006 16:23:57 +0000 http://opposedsystemsdesign.blogsome.com/2006/02/12/gap-shrinking-in-boston/#comment-52 <strong>Defending 4GW Against MountainRunner</strong> Last May I defended 4GW against Antulio Echevarria. Now Mark of ZenPundit blogs that Matt at Mountainrunner has joined the fray: Generational warfare is based on technology and tactics. The Napoleonic shift a radical change in how and why wars were... Defending 4GW Against MountainRunner

Last May I defended 4GW against Antulio Echevarria. Now Mark of ZenPundit blogs that Matt at Mountainrunner has joined the fray:

Generational warfare is based on technology and tactics. The Napoleonic shift a radical change in how and why wars were…

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