Fischer's Four Seeds of Albion and Today's America

Historian David Hackett Fischer wrote an excellent book: Albion’s Seed, in which he traces four distinct—but fairly contemporaneous—migrations from the British Isles to what is now the United States. The book is well worth a read, and for those who labor over the printed page, you will have 946 pages to labor over! Each of these four groups originated from a distinct region of the British Isles, three uniquely from England, and each carried a distinct culture to the New World.

Fischer details the distinctions of these cultures, and then shows how these cultures have impacted America to this day. Even though only 20 percent of contemporary Americans have British Isles heritage, everyone has British Isles culture, or faces it daily in their neighborhood, workplace, television and so forth.

It would take pages of material to begin to synopsize Fischer’s book. However I can let you know some of my personal reflections. First, three of the cultures: Puritans, Quakers, and Borderers, all correspond to one of the Enneagram Centers! The Puritans correspond to the Head Center. They founded New England, New York, and worked their way across the northern US. The Quakers correspond to the Heart Center. They settled in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and rapidly became the most assimilated of the cultures. Finally the Borderers (sometimes called the Scotts-Irish) represent the Gut Center. The Borderers entered through Delaware and Pennsylvania and then migrated down the Appalachian Mountains to Western Virginia, Western North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

The Cavaliers don’t fit the Enneagram model as easily. I see their most basic characteristic as pride. This group, who settled in Virginia and spread to Maryland, and south on the coast to South Carolina, and Georgia, were the most like their English forbears. They practiced the same religion, shared the same foods, lifestyles and so on. Their reason for leaving England was primarily economic opportunity, unlike the other groups who fled because of religious persecution or border-war.

Putting aside the Cavaliers for the moment, the other three groups fall prey to the downside of their respective centers as well. I want to point out the Borderers, especially, since the Gut Center has anger as an issue. This is playing itself out in American politics right now. All the current media jocks, like Glenn Beck, are stirring the Borderers’ pot of anger. It is always at a simmer anyway, and now it is boiling rapidly.

Looking closer at the North and South, notice that the North as defined by the Civil War, and in popular culture to this day, is composed of two groups—the Puritans and the Quakers. The South is the other two groups, the Cavaliers and the Borderers. And for the South, this makes strange bedfellows. The Cavaliers are the genteel South of fine mansions, fine cuisine, fine clothes and elaborate social networks. The Borderers are the raw South of football, rednecks, country music and barbecue.

Knowing these four cultures, you can see them play out in public life. Fischer goes through the politics of this election-by-election from our beginning. But it applies to television today. Entire networks appeal to specific groups. One could say that Fox News is targeted to Borderers. HGTV pointed at Cavaliers. Public Broadcasting aimed at Puritans, with some Quaker programming. Other popular networks and television shows creatively appeal to more than one group, such as the popular CSI series which appeals to the Borderers’ love of violence and the Puritans’ love of science.

How have these cultural types effected you?

The Left-Right Divide on Health Care

Many are currently shaking their heads at the political divide in the United States. Various media outlets, on both sides, are fanning the flames of divisiveness, working against political solutions to the real problems that are in front of us.

I am wondering why some public person isn't standing up in the Health Care debate and asking why both sides have not already enacted a law that includes the 80% areas of agreement--so the people will have something--before going on to work on areas of disagreement. I can only conclude that they all--Both Sides--desire to be obstreperous as opposed to solve problems. Is not solving problems the reason we elected them?

Another matter, again in the health care arena, is the conspiracy theory of vaccinations. Presumably this was originated by people deep into their own paranoia, and circulated by people with little understanding of statistics or risk assessment.

Let's look at both those issues. Realistically, despite some rare books, television shows and movies, the United States government is not knowingly developing vaccines to harm its people.

Now, the risk assessment. You always look at the alternative or alternatives.

What happens if a major flu outbreak occurs and we do not have the populace immune to it? Massive fatalities, even more missed work days, family tragedies, economic and social losses. If we vaccinate the people, we avoid an estimated 60 million deaths.

Now, look at one alternative, the rare incidence of negative response to any vaccine. Yes, we have rare negative responses to existing vaccines. Most likely there will be a similar rate of negative responses. These responses are less than one event per thousand vaccine doses given. The negative consequences of widespread infection with this H1N1 virus is likely to be hundreds of major incidences of sickness and death for the same group. Thus the consequences without the vaccine will likely be hundreds or thousands of times worse than using the vaccine.

Now, look at many people in the target high risk groups opting out of taking the vaccine. If just a couple opt out, fine. If many opt out, we end up having a reservoir of people who are susceptible to the virus, and they dwell among us much like storing cans of gasoline next to a furnace--once they contract the disease there will be no stopping point. The entire nation will be hit.

I hope that more reasoned and responsible voices are heard on these matters.

Lalia

More Than One Way to Exert Influence in North Korea

In March of this year American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling were detained on the Chinese-North Korean border and subsequently imprisoned in North Korea where they remained until the international press and a personal visit by US former president Bill Clinton freed them on August 4th. Euna Lee was born in South Korea and lived there until college age when she attended school in the USA. She became a US citizen. Having lived in South Korea for all of her childhood, one presumes Ling speaks and reads the Korean language. Her colleague, Laura Ling, was born in the US of a Chinese father. Whether she speaks Korean or Mandarin (the official language of China, one of several Chinese languages) is unknown.

The story of the incarceration of these two journalists has been presented as an international outrage, with Lee and Ling as victims of a retrograde government. What kind of questions might an integrally informed person ask about this situation?

• Was this event a deliberate attempt to provoke the North Korean government?
  
• Was the motive for this event more freedom for the people of North Korea? Or was it publicity to aid the careers of two fairly unknown journalists?

But, leaving aside those questions, how might an integrally informed person create greater openness in North Korea? Be more effective about it?

Here is a radical suggestion. If North Korea intends to capture and incarcerate anyone found illegally crossing their borders—or appearing to do so—then how about using that information to impact the North Korean system? How? One could find individuals who speak Korean and have some familiarity with Korean customs who would be willing to be captured and held in North Korea for a time. Their mission while there would be to teach their fellow prisoners and any guards or other officials they encounter about the greater openness of other cultures, including that of South Korea. They could also teach western languages, English being my personal preference since it would open the most doors to international culture.

How would this impact the system? The fellow prisoners would eventually return to their homes and jobs in North Korean society. When they did so, they would take personal knowledge of what an open society might be like. They would perhaps have some language skills that would allow them to access materials on the internet and to join world conversation. Inevitably, they would be forces for greater freedoms in North Korea. The same would be true for the guards and other officials who spent time with these infiltrators.

This is a long-term strategy, but would eventually open the North Korean system of government. It might be that other strategies, especially interventions at the upcoming death of Kim Jong-Il, would be faster strategies. However, having multiple strategies at play would be smart.

What Does Integrally Informed Mean?

Hi,

Welcome to my new blog. It is Integrally Informed. This means that views expressed here are based on insights derived from the Integral Theory of Ken Wilber, and the teachings of others, most notably Steve McIntosh.

I direct you to Ken Wilber's many books, suggesting you begin with The Integral Vision (2007) which is an introduction to his theory. Also, as background, read Steve McIntosh's Integral Consciousness, and look to Wikipedia for relevant articles.

The Integral Model postulates five factors that determine all phenomena: lines of development, states of consciousness, quadrants, types, and levels (also called stages and sometimes memes) of development. With those five factors one can understand much more about the world, including how two people can simultaneously be "right" while holding seemingly opposite views.

I lead a monthly Integral Salon as well as regular workshops using the Integral model. The purpose of this blog is to publish some of my insights where they may be able to assist others in their work, understanding, and world-view.

May it be so!

Lalia