If you read a textbook-style account of conflicts centering around the Protestant Reformation(s), it'll probably focus on theological disputes: justification by faith, the lay chalice, baptism, the meaning of "hoc est corpus meum," predestination... kind of thing.

But a lot of the most persuasive work – at least IMHO – on religious conflicts in the 16th and 17th cautions against focusing too much on "ideational content."

There are a variety of pitfalls here. One of them is that most of the people fighting over religion probably didn't to that point by carefully weighing the finer points of theological disputes. Dynamics of community, identity, and ritual probably played a more important role.

I've been thinking about this as we approach election day. American politics scholars understand very well that, for most Americans, partisanship drives ideology. Scholars of ethnic politics see familiar patterns in U.S. political polarization (cc @sstroschein2).

Political movements embrace conversion (!!) narratives as validations of their beliefs, and the converted stress ideas and epiphanies. But it doesn't take much poking around to see the crucial role if identity, belonging, and social affirmation.

What if too much empathy leads to bad decisions?

Is being too empathic holding you back as a leader?

///THREAD///

Empathy is the ability to feel what other people are feeling, and it is seen as one of the most essential leadership skills

Empathy indeed helps you see from the perspective of others and helps build stronger relationships

And all leaders need an element of this...

However,

Some psychologists estimate that one in five business leaders have such low empathy they can be considered psychopaths

We have all worked for one or at least worked in an organization that sees you as employee #2658, not an individual

All numbers

No heart...

Now I know you are not one of the psychopaths

You are like the vast majority of leaders

You have a big heart, and you want to do the right thing

But let's look at a typical example...

You have a team member

They've been with you years, your team loves them, and you can't imagine work without them

However, they're failing with the new demands of their role

People are starting to notice, some complaining to you

Results are being effected...

When we look back at the past we see eras associated with family, household, respectfulness, faith and order and we know them as "traditional" eras. These eras are also unequivocally associated with male domination and power.

When we look back we identify eras that we've naturally associated with a break with this that happens every so often and tends to invert what's associated with traditional eras. Including who has power.

This is no accident.

Indeed, be it that it is one group or multiple sharing power the fact remains that the traditional power holders are characteristically (in these eras) powerless and those who hold power are always the same.

The first anarchist, Proundhon, wrote about what happens when women have power and called it "Pornocracy". He argued that men should do everything in their remaining power to prevent this including using their natural superior physical strength.

He had argued for using everything to usurp a society and establish proper order. Nothing was off the table.
He argued to same towards women for the same reasons.
The debilitating sort of power both possess and the cruelty with which they use it.

1/9
Insights gained from helping EX SERVICE PERSONNEL, who have entered the criminal justice system to progress into employment

I have had the privilege of meeting numerous veterans in prison & helping many to secure permanent jobs in the community.

#InclusiveRecruitment

2/9
People leaving the armed forces need more support than is offered.

Some have complex resettlement needs including mental health challenges & struggle to adapt to civilian life.

Many have non-mainstream qualifications & struggle to secure employment without practical help.

3/9
Most veterans are used to having a regimented structure to their lives & rules to follow.

In the absence of such structure, many dwell on their experiences & slip into despair; others turn to drugs, alcohol,or crime.

Employment helps, providing a support network & stability

4/9
Veterans who are suffering from diagnosed or undiagnosed PTSD make up a surprisingly high percentage of the prison population.

"10,000 UK armed forces veterans are in prison, parole or on probation." Liz Saville Roberts, Justice, Plaid Cymru @LSRPlaid

#PrisonersArePeople

5/9
Years ago politicians promised veterans a career in the prison service after discharge.

Unfortunately, those promises were not delivered; thousands of Armed Forces Personnel did come to prison - BUT not as officers, instead as prisoners themselves.

#PrisonersPeopleToo

I’ve been thinking a bit about being openly or obviously ‘other’.

My life experiences have been fairly unusual, & while I do enjoy communicating about this, it can also be quite othering being perpetually the odd-one-out in a group who folks ask to explain stuff.

THREAD

And while it’s well-intentioned, and I think it’s important that folks actually listen to autistic/trans/POC/etc people when it comes to understanding our experiences, it can also be a lot of pressure when I’m the only autistic nb non-white person in a group of cis white folks

And over time even when folks listen and are respectful, I feel that self conscious, and also worried that they are placing me on a sort of ‘pedestal of otherness’ that actually can stop them from truly empathising and understanding.

To start to understand folks who are different, it’s important to both acknowledge how different experiences can be(esp if yours are more ‘typical’), but also acknowledge that they are not SO different that you should not try to challenge yourself to try and understand better

We should not be stopping at “I can’t possibly understand what it’s like to be you” but instead always be trying, even with the knowledge that it might be difficult. This is the perhaps the kind of labour that NTs, cis, white, and other dominant groups owe marginalised identities

I've talked with people who argue that they should be allowed to have the sort of conversations that might offend people because if someone is offended, they don't have to be part of it. It's a seductive idea, but it won't

Why? Because there's a ratcheting effect. If you could measure rudeness, a chat might start at 1. People who don't care for that level will leave. So now the chat can start moving toward rudeness level 2 with fewer people to object or moderate.

Where is the limit? Well it will trend toward the comfort level of the most committed members. If part of the "value" of a chat is that it's "honest" (read "rude"), people who don't value that will leave. Problem solved? No! The next level will offend another set of people.

This is what make me so uncomfortable about the ignore feature. It gives people the idea that the way to handle rude behavior is to look away. On an individual level, that's not a bad technique. Why put yourself though frustration if you don't need

But for a group, it's a disaster. It just creates a situation where many people feel powerless, unheard and left out. At some point someone speaks up and discovers it wasn't just them. Now everyone is in for a world of hurt and misunderstanding.

🔮🃏
hahah I love this energy I'm seeing like a masculine who is waiting and day dreaming and very sweet and it's like they are both the knight of cups and the emperor but what's fascinating is the feminine is also the emperor? lmao so the way it's playing out is the masculine is

kind of like off waiting for the feminine to get their work done I see this feminine being really focused, sitting working at a computer, writing in a notebook, or a sketchpad, i'm seeing a red pen/marker, I feel like the whole month of october the feminine was very busy and this

masculine was like no it's okay I know you've got stuff to do I'm going to just wait and do my thing and I know you know I'll be here when you're done and it's kind of funny I think this feminine doesn't even realize hahaha The empress also came out 🌚 I do feel like essentially

whatever this like big push to do all this work was is coming to a place where yes like it's still there that "down to business' energy is there but this empress / emperor feminine is very balanced and it feels like someone stepping into a place of creation and manifestation and

phewwwwie that hard work has paid off with the ten of pentacles I tell you. I'm seeing that this feminine is also walking away from anyone who is like I guess not picking up the phone let's put it that way like if someone is sleeping on them or like the knight of cups can be kind

Rarely does a pressure group go into a closed door meeting with the govt and come out the same. History is replete with examples; the trust deficit is justified.
The wiles of the oppressor haven't changed either.

*Brute force - already in display.
*Divide & rule - currently in play.
Money doesn't seem to be working, the PDP/APC card is dead and the last few days have shown that the religious and ethnic division is mostly inherited and sustained only by the ignorant

... and those benefitting from the resulting disunity.
Time to pit them one against the other.
The one who plants, is not necessarily the one to harvest. And e fit be say who harvest; no no go chop. Everyone has a role to play.

If the fight is truly for and about "country" it will not be sacrificed at the altar of ego. If you find yourself saying "I" too many times; re-examine your motives.
My age grade with the knowledge and experience; how far? With all the wisdom, nibo la ba de?

Barely 3 weeks ago we were all groaning under the weight of multiple increased taxation. Not a month goes by that we don't clutch our chests because another young Nigerian has been murdered in cold blood or another village massacred & razed by bandits.

THREAD! 👇🏻
What is Gaslighting?
1. The term originates in the systematic psychological manipulation of a
victim by her husband in Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 stage play Gas
Light, and the film adaptations released in 1940 and 1944.

The stunning announcement of >$6B in philanthropic donations in one year by @mackenziescott deserves wider

Fine piece by @nkulish in the @nytimes that addresses some of the key

But this should be just the start.

Important first to put the $6B total in context. Total grantmaking in 2019 by @darrenwalker at the @FordFoundation was ~$350M. Total at @Hewlett_Found was ~$450M.

So @mackenziescott is ~15x some of the largest and most discussed foundations.

To the best of my knowledge, what we know about her philanthropy stems from a total of two posts on @Medium.

No address. No website. No known staff. We don't even know much about the entities she's using -- DAFs, LLCs, private

What's interesting about her philanthropy?

*Proves it's not that difficult to give away a billion dollars.
*No strings attached giving - all general operating support over multiple years
*No reporting requirements, AFAIK

The stunning announcement of >$6B in philanthropic donations in one year by @mackenziescott deserves wider

Fine piece by @nkulish in the @nytimes that addresses some of the key

But this should be just the start.

Important first to put the $6B total in context. Total grantmaking in 2019 by @darrenwalker at the @FordFoundation was ~$350M. Total at @Hewlett_Found was ~$450M.

So @mackenziescott is ~15x some of the largest and most discussed foundations.

To the best of my knowledge, what we know about her philanthropy stems from a total of two posts on @Medium.

No address. No website. No known staff. We don't even know much about the entities she's using -- DAFs, LLCs, private

What's interesting about her philanthropy?

*Proves it's not that difficult to give away a billion dollars.
*No strings attached giving - all general operating support over multiple years
*No reporting requirements, AFAIK

The news today from Washington signals the biggest victory in the field of #CollegeInPrison in decades. It’s a long time coming. This undoes the #94crimebill’s ban on #Pell Grants for incarcerated students. #PellRestoration #PELLYES
A thread.

Prior to the #94CrimeBill, college was common, even normal, in state and federal prisons across the country. The #Pell ban eviscerated college nearly

Since then, a small but growing number of privately funded programs helped keep the field alive. @BPIBard has been proud to be one of them, but we want to shout out our friends & fellow travelers at @MtTamCollege @HudsonLink & women in Bedford Hills who got so much of this going.

After years of advocacy, the critical moment was in 2015 when advocates convinced the Obama administration created Second Chance Pell, formally restoring college-in-prison to the CJR agenda. No one did more to make that happen than our allies @Vivian_Nixon_WW & @glennEmartin.

Just to say, there was one person in the federal government who carried this torch the whole way. That was our friend John Linton in the Dept of Ed, who we lost last year to pancreatic cancer. We love and miss him.