Global Strategic Implications of the Unsaid

Year: 
2003

From myth-making towards a wisdom society (Part #1)

The Varieties of the "unsaid" in sustaining psycho-social community (and References) are presented separately as an Annex


Introduction
A. Examples of the "unsaid"
B. Encompassing the "unsaid"

Annex: Varieties of the "unsaid" in sustaining psycho-social community

  • The "unsaid" in politics and international relations
  • The "unsaid" in social systems
  • The "unsaid" in security and the "war against terrorism"
  • The "unsaid" in business and the corporate world
  • The "unsaid" in the legal system
  • The "unsaid" in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy
  • The "unsaid" in personal relationships
  • The "unsaid" in the arts and aesthetics
  • The "unsaid" in philosophy and theology
  • The "unsaid" in research
  • Variants of the "unsaid" from other cultures
  • Non-verbal knowledge
  • Implicit and unstated obligations
  • Implicit requirements for respect
  • Conversational implicature
  • Hidden agendas and conspiracy theories
  • Deception and lies
  • Secrecy and codes of slence
  • Ignorance, unknowing and nescience
  • Via negativa andf mysticism
  • The unmentionable and the unsayable
  • Unasked and unanswered questions
  • Repression of memory
  • Open secret: partial acknowledgement of the "unsaid"
  • References


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    Introduction

    The increasingly globalized communication society is paradoxically characterized by an increasing number of topics on which little or nothing may be publicly said. Whilst many of these "zones of the unsaid" have existed in the past, their existence becomes all the more felt in an information-rich environment. They might be compared with the astronomical "black holes" which populate the galaxies.

    The concern here is at what point an increase in the number of "zones of the unsaid" may completely undermine conventional hopes for global policy-making, world governance, and the implementation of strategic initiatives in response to global crises.

    This concern builds on the experience of the author in profiling some 59,000 world problems (in the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential, 1995) -- as perceived by the network of 63,000 international organizations (identified in the Yearbook of International Organizations, 2003). Many of these problems have also been considered unmentionable in the past -- and may continue to remain so. Note that those considered unmentionable by one constituency may not be so for another.

    The following text comprises three sections. The first offers some examples of the "unsaid". The second discusses possible opportunities for navigating a strategic-space with a relatively high density of the "unsaid" -- and the circumvention of its dysfunctional effects in a knowledge-based society. This is seen as the basis for transforming a society grounded on myth-making through the media into a "wisdom society". The annex provides clues to further reflection in the light of extensive web resources on the variety of forms of the "unsaid". The contextual challenge for a "knowledge society" has been articulated in an earlier paper (Coherent Policy-making Beyond the Information Barrier, 1999) based on an earlier exploration of Development beyond Science to Wisdom: Facilitating the emergence of configurative understanding in Councils of the Wise (1979).

    A. Examples of the "unsaid"

    • Over-population: The manner in which the explosion in the world population and its implications for resources in the future has now been effectively designed off the international agenda and is no longer a matter for discussion for action. This is despite the fact that this increase is a prime driving force for many social and environmental problems.
    • Depletion of petroleum resources: Denial of the rapidity of depletion of the resource on which modern civilization is built, and of the foreseeable consequences as the extraction of remaining reserves becomes more difficult and more expensive.
    • Substance abuse: The pervasive extent of substance abuse is not a matter for extensive debate, the focus being rather, in the case of drugs, on inhibiting the process of manufacture and distribution from foreign countries rather than on the need felt by consumers -- as a result of the inadequacies of modern civilization.
    • Hidden agendas: The ubiquity of unstated and hidden agendas that effectively render meaningless any explicit rational strategic initiative.
    • Withholding assistance: The characteristic empty quality of firm commitments made to those in need (notably developing countries) knowing that such promises will be broken in due time. Also the extent to which assistance to those in need is not even offered.
    • Threat: Failure to acknowledge publicly the high level of threat, coercion and political bullying associated with transactions in supposedly democratic societies
    • Over-selling: The significant level of over-selling despite a track record of product and service failure (even in the case of complex systems) and its direct consequence for over-budget project completion and delay.
    • Over-optimism: The extent to which official reports on problematic trends tend to be dangerously over-optimistic to avoid facing decision-makers with possibilities which they are unable to handle -- and which may increase anxiety in their constituencies.
    • Demonization: The level of demonization deliberately cultivated in order to frame strategic opponents as completely unreasonable and unworthy of any attempt at meaningful dialogue.
    • Disparities in wealth and income: The extent to which such disparities are only the subject of momentary and anecdotal comment that do not lead to substantive efforts to address them effectively.
    • Sexual disease: The failure to acknowledge infection by sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV/AIDS, and the life-threatening consequences for others
    • Corruption in highest places: The unacknowledged level of corruption in national government and intergovernmental organizations -- exemplified by the mass resignation of the European Commission under Jacques Santer and its subsequent challenges in dealing with fraud.
    • Criminal networks: Denial of the extent and influence on public policy of international criminal networks
    • Apocalyptic scenarios: Unstated influence of apocalyptic and biblical "End Times" scenarios on the strategic thinking of some world leaders.
    • Penal conditions: The unacknowledged level of violence and humiliation within prisons, including male rape, and its tacit acceptance as an aspect of the punishment meted out by the law.
    • Sexual abuse by priests: The extent of abuse (unacknowledged until recently) practiced by priests on parishioners and young people in their charge -- and the complicity of their superiors in failing to acknowledge this.
    • Unchallenged certainties: The extent to which unsubstantiated certainties (of religions, scientific disciplines or ideologies) are promoted and inculcated, unchallenged -- possibly with the protection of civil liberties legislation.
    • Suppression of information: Collusion in the prevention of dissemination of information on human rights abuses (eg Chechnya, Tibet, etc)
    • Animal processing for food: Avoidance of information on the conditions of factory farms, animal transportation and slaughter, and associated food hygiene
    • Humiliation: The extent of the unrecognized sense of humiliation forced upon the peoples of many developing countries by an arrogant industrialized world (cf Mahdi Elmandjra. Humiliation à l'ère du méga-impérialisme, 2003)
    • Collective incapacity of the wise: The significant difficulty experienced by the "best and the brightest" to orchestrate their differences creatively and fruitfully in response to complex strategic challenges.

    B. Encompassing the "unsaid"


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