Atheism for Lent 2022 Day 2

 

Atheism for Lent https://peterrollins.com/atheism-for-lent-welcome-2022

Knight and Squire and the Time in a Bottle Pub – A DC Comic

Time in a Bottle is a pub where superheroes like Batman and super villains like The Joker can convene.  It is a place with “truce magic.” Truce magic make the pub a place where no one can commit an act of violence upon another.  And yes, truce magic ensures you cannot be followed when you leave.

Since this Lenten season is a journey that is accompanied by the Russian invasion of the Ukraine and the potential start of World War III, it is a time of anxiety. The Ukraine Russian war is one of the reasons that I decided to pursue Atheism for Lent with Peter Rollins this year. 

I imagine the room where Putin and Zelensky diplomats are attempting negotiations to be like the Time in a Bottle pub.  Zelensky and Ukrainian people are trying to save themselves and their freedom.  At the same time Putin is publicly denying Ukrainian sovereignty.  How do you walk into that negotiation room?  Why do superheroes want to go to that pub to socialize with super villains at all?  Presumably their core values are not aligned.  Could they find values to share?  It is beyond my imagining.  Perhaps the motivation is to find a safe place?  Just to spend time in a place without violence.  That must be the draw for Bat man and Superheroes, but I still cannot fathom collegiality.  I cannot imagine leaving my anger and resentment outside the Pub.  You might learn to move past these emotions to embrace the peace the pub.  Is there any hope to change behavior when any leave the pub?  Certainly, there is more chance of that occurring in this setting than any other.

Why are the Ukrainians showing up to “Peace Talks” when Putin is not offering hope for anything other than submission? It must be hope.  I’m surprised that this exercise of understanding the suspension of the battle in a place of Truce magic can challenge my thinking about the war.  I can't fathom any other reason to walk into that room where the Peace Talks are taking place.  I do fear for the safety of the diplomats, and I appreciate their bravery.  Why does Russia participate in diplomatic negotiations? To provide a pretense of hope to the world that de-escalation is possible (buying time)? To provide expediency for surrender of the Ukrainian people?  At this moment I can't fathom any other motivations

Peace Talks are negotiations.  Harvard Business School lead the thinking regarding business negotiations.  Harvard negotiations are built upon the concept that negotiates are rational actors.  Chris Voss, former FBI hostage negotiator, blew that idea out of the water when he published Negotiate Like Your Life Depends Upon It.  There is good reason why this book has remained on Amazon’s Non-Fiction Bestseller list for years. I encourage everyone to read this book.  I have read and studied it several times.   I have gone through the Chris Voss Masterclass and plan to do it again. I am hoping that anyone directly involved with a negotiation, especially those in the world peace negotiation “truce space” has practiced Voss tools and skills.  Understanding Putin's emotional state is key to a pathway to de-escalation and preventing World War III.  As I write this, and I corrected my thinking.  We are in fact already in World War III.  We should acknowledge that we are only hoping to avoid the use of nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction.  We are correctly afraid of weapons that could be continent or world killing.  We have observed a willingness to bomb a nuclear power plant.  We have seen a willingness to deploy weapons of mass destruction, but the West is still denying that it is happening. 

As a feminist, I recognize I am angry at male political leaders and particularly in their reaction to what is happening to the balance of world power male testosterone and toxic masculinity are a component that I see in this it is also a component of Putin's emotional and mental state.  That other men applaud Putin's demonstration of brutality as strength is horrifying to me.  This is the patriarchy. This is another demonstration of why I fight against the patriarchy. 

Ukrainian bravery is a model for the world.

Freedom is not free.  We must pay the price or give it up.