Gaming the Game

There is a new game that has transformative powers.  This game is based on the age old premise of good vs evil with the winner of this game actually being the loser.  When all the points are counted the scoring gives more credence to the weight of the choices rather than the total points accumulated.

What is really interesting is that during the game the players have opportunities to alter the scoring rubric in order to instill a sense of  real life relativism, giving the player excuse points that can mitigate bad choices or bad behaviors chosen during the game.  As the game continues around the board the players realize that the platform is related to real life scenarios and expectation, but it’s those excuse points that put a spin on the mundane aspects of dealing with the real life foundations of the game.

I am taking orders ...Just kidding, and as far as I know there is no such game on the market.  If anyone wants to tackle the project I only require a small percentage based on my idea...However there is a real life game that many seem to want to play.  That game has to deal with the differences of responsibility and the motivations of how we react to what is responsible, who should be responsible and most important, how do we react when others we like or dislike act irresponsibly.  

Part of the real life game, it could be an important part of the board game as well, is the component of blaming.  The blame game is really nothing more than one party blaming another party for acts they don’t like.  In today’s game the level of blame has taken on a life of its own with blame being spread to others who are blameless, mostly to counteract the negative feeling of those who really should be blamed.  

If you have children you will recognize this process.  It is mostly an innocent maturing process that most children go through but it has morphed into a much more insidious practice that has found its way into our society and more succinctly into our lives.  From an innocent reaction of children to an evil attempt to cover up abhorrent behavior, blaming others for actions that you have done or continue to do is explained by Christ, “He that hath no sin, let him cast the first stone.”..No one picked up even a pebble, for they had been taught...

We have the left blaming the right, the democrats blaming the republicans, we have the white supremacist blaming the anti fas and we have the anti fascist acting like the white supremacist.  There is plenty of blame to go around, that’s for sure, but who truly is to blame? Who is responsible and what can you and I do about it?

The blame game is real, we all play it, we all use those excuse points to alter the perceptions of others, generally to make ourselves look better.  We point our fingers and wag our tongues never realizing that we’re acting just like those who we are criticizing and blaming.  The first thing we need to do is realize that regardless of what the others are doing we need to alter our perceptions so that we can more clearly see their perspective.  Having done that we will be able to more fully understand where “they” are coming from.

Part of the blame game includes specially designed dice that when rolled will tabulate your tolerance index.  It is this index that places you in an area of tolerance or intolerance. One major question within the game and society is should we have to accept, or be tolerant of those who we view as being intolerant?  

This subject is a complex issue of personal opinion, power, and political acumen or at least the desire to be adept at making good decisions.  The one issue seen in our society is the unwillingness of our political leaders to take an unpopular stand and I suspect that when dealing with the issue of intolerance vs tolerance most political figures would chose to ignore the entire issue.  How would you deal with those who you don’t like, opinions that fall short of your morality or an ideology that even threatens your own?  

In the game you would simply roll the dice and the decision would be made for you, allowing those who are intolerable or removing them from the game if a roll of snake eyes is achieved.  We do not have that option, and the intricacies of our society and constitution make those seemingly obvious choices not so easy.  There are lots of groups that do not share my ideals or morals but do I have the right to force them to change?  Only if their choices impact my ability to live and breath and exercise my God given rights, then something should be done.

We have forgotten the basic precepts of our constitutional republic and that is to live and let live within the confines of that constitution.  When a group defies those standards and precepts than those in authority must act accordingly and in concert with that constitution.  One problem now is that their are groups and individuals who claim that their way is a better way and everyone should be forced to follow their way.  That is intolerance and not acceptable.  As long as I have the right to pursue my beliefs, my dreams and my opinions without interference and as long as I allow others that same privilege, those we don’t like, agree with, abhor or even hate should be allowed to exist and thrive as we expect from them.  

Anything short of this level of tolerance puts you into the muddy waters section of the board and in that section the risk of total loss is real, the risk of immediate removal from the game is an imminent possibility, it will happen if your actions do not conform with the foundational rules of the game and in our case those foundational rules are our constitution.   

Intolerance is at a new societal high, tolerance for what is dangerous and illogical is also at an all time high leaving the country in a state of bewilderment and constant level of confusion in relation to how to throw the dice, how to react to your opponents rolls and who we can trust.

It’s your turn, roll the dice, hope you don’t get snake eyes but remember if you do you can always use your intolerance points in conjunction with your accumulated excuse points to alter the rules so that no matter what you do you can always be a winner.  Good luck with that.