the Wakefield Doctrine

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine ( the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers )

No theme, no plot and (sort of) no message¹  just a quick Saturday Post.  Thanks, though, to Claire  for a message on ‘the FaceBook’ that kind of inspired me to write this particular Post.

Lets get right to it!

First things first!  Tee Shirts!  Apologies for the tiny print on the sample shirt, but the discussion will mostly focus on:  what color should the shirts be, what size (for the first run) and crew neck versus v neck?  For those who cannot get their computer to enlarge the above jpg, the front is just like the Wakefield Doctrine hats  ‘clarkscottroger’ in an arc over  ‘the Wakefield Doctrine’. And on the back of the shirt:  www.wakefielddoctrine.com
Pretty simple and straight forward, no?

Any Readers on the Facebook, stop by the Wakefield Doctrine page ( or wall or whatever the hell it’s called)  click here.  ‘LIKE’ the damn thing, if you can. Not sure why you should, but it seems like a good idea.

(Semi-serious topic)²

Was talking with Claire and some of the others about the fun we have here with these Posts and Contests and such, the topic meandered around but ended up with a discussion of the future of the Doctrine in general, and this blog, in particular and the matter of how the Wakefield Doctrine is explained to new Readers came up. I mentioned how I think that I have to improve my writing skills and/or find ways of explaining the Wakefield Doctrine that are less…. idiosyncratic..oddly entertaining…deliberately provocative and inflammatory. At least, when I think about how I would explain the Doctrine to a 6th Grade Classroom³  I tend to have a more difficult time doing it than when I am writing one of these Posts. But, then again, the point of this blog is to have fun with a cool idea (the Wakefield Doctrine) and interact with a bunch of talented people ( Claire and Molly and Nell and AKH and DS and the roger ) and others that come around here.

Having said that, and in conclusion, let us re-iterate:

the Wakefield Doctrine is a unique, useful and fun way to look at personality types. the Wakefield Doctrine is a tool for understanding ourselves and the people in our lives. With the Wakefield Doctrine, you need never again find yourself saying, “Now why on earth would they go and say a thing like that? I really thought I knew them better!”  (the Wakefield Doctrine maintains that):

• there are three personality types: clarks, scotts and rogers
• that we all have personal realities that coexist with the common reality that we all share
• that these ‘personality types’ are the result of the reality that the person lives in
• ‘personality’ and ‘personality types’ are not a list of preferences, they are reasonable coping behaviors based on the reality that is being ‘lived in’

(the Doctrine further maintains):

1)  lol  …”as if”

2)  not really,  here, …watch this instead:

3) one of the more scottian of the Friends of the Doctrine, Alex used to be fond of saying, “When you are trying to explain things to a person, think like they are 6th Graders and tell them 3 times. Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them and tell them what you told them” …kinda paternalistic, but you get the idea.

I don’t play the drums, but this particular song forces you to hear what a frickin genius Bonham was….

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine ( the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers )

The Wakefield Doctrine is predicated on the notion that we live in a personal version of the world, the world that, at the same time,  we all share in common. Trees are still trees, people can’t fly un-assisted and the ocean is wet…but while this is true in the common world, my personal world/worldview is one in which I am, a clark, an outsider.  And in this common world, I have one friend who is a totally and naturally social person in his (rogerian) world  and (we both) have a friend who is naturally aggressive, impulsive, you know…scottian!
(And so it began, years ago), when the three of us walked down the street, we saw the same blue sky and all the cars on the street had 4 wheels not 5 or 7, but when we happened to pass a girl, she always seemed to notice one of us first! As we walked along the sidewalk on that day many years ago..and when we needed to ask a cop for directions one of us would smile and get a conversation started and the next thing we knew, she would stop handing out parking tickets and take the time to help us…and when we were all kind of bored… well, it seemed that all three of us were very good at something and while these ways complimented each other, there was no overlap and therefore no friction and no competition.

You know, the Wakefield Doctrine ‘started’ with three people experiencing the world three basically different ways and yet still sharing the normal ‘everyday world’. So in the course of the day today,  if you think you feel like a scott when the teacher is really boring or if you are sure that you must be a roger, ’cause you can really focus on the details of a problem, thats because you are…all three. At some point in the day and at different times. You can see the world as each of the three personality types do, but in quick glances. Here at the Doctrine we call it  predominant type… the world that you wake up to…that is your world:

• you know that you should be happy and you know that you aren’t un-happy but…. you look around and wonder ‘what the hell do they have to be so satisfied about’
• you know that all this Wakefield Doctrine stuff is fun and all, but that’s just a distraction…the real world is real people, pushing and being pushed fighting and laughing
• nothing is wrong with the way things are, everything is fine the way things are, nobody needs to change anything about the way things are…but still, there is something about that theory..

So look around today. At home. In class. At work.  They are there, those three friends who live in very different worlds and yet you would never know it to talk to each one of them, but talk to them as a group…