Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine ( the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers )
No, really…welcome. Don’t click away yet! Have just endured reading yet another, ‘tips to improve the readership of your blog’ advice-posts, and I agreed so much with what the writer said that I decided to start today’s Post with a quote:
In that (incredibly short and unforgiving) time frame, a new visitor decides as to whether, a) They like you, b) They think you have something valuable to bring to the table, c) They’re going to buy ( continue to read) it. (Ashley Ambirge of themiddlefingerproject.org )
We all know that the Wakefield Doctrine is a fun, amusing, productive and totally unique way to look at personality types. With the insights provided by the Wakefield Doctrine, the behavior of the people in our lives (can) finally begin to make some sense:
- if you know that your husband is a scott, then(his) tendency to blow-up over totally minor frustrations will seem less…irrational;
- if you know your wife is a roger, then her insistence on providing meals that not only come from a cable TV Cooking Show, but it is an exact duplicate of a meal from a cable TV show (so much so that you are half expecting to see one of those fake cooking interns that serve as background set-decoration on shows like America’s Test Kitchen);
- if you know your boyfriend is a clark, then the incredible flights of fancy that somehow combine genuine intellectual rigor with a creativity that suggests insufficient medication won’t seem so odd;
- if you know your girlfriend is a scott, then the guys that seem to gather around her at any social occasion that does not involve nuns and has more than 3 people in attendance will not bother you quite as much, because you will be able to have a conversation with the girl, whose boyfriend is doing his best imitation of a Labrador puppy in front of your girlfriend;
- as the clarklike girlfriend, you will now be able to enjoy the conversation of the clark (who showed up with the scottian girlfriend) and know that ‘rogers will be rogers’ and even though you may give your rogerian boyfriend the silent treatment after this event, you know that you are acting according to your personality type when you try to decide between forgiving the boyfriend and becoming a nun.
The point of the advice column (and the title of today’s Post) is simply that the average Visitor to the Wakefield Doctrine is more than capable of ‘getting it’, the responsibility of the authors (of this blog) is to present what we have in a manner that is clear, concise and easy to understand. The quote above from Ms. Ambirge is referring to the 8 seconds that the average internet tourist will spend on a site, judging if it is worth their time. One of the better salesmen I have known, Alex Mouzas, taught in sales seminars that our strategy must be three-fold. He would say at the beginning of each session, “tell them what you will be telling them, tell them and tell them what you have told them….pretty simple, isn’t it?”
(OK feeling guilty. The above is the repeat, below is not.)
But, a blog Post is not timeshare sales, nor is it a Sales Training Seminar …hell! a blog Post is not even a Writing Desk* In our opinion, a blog Post (and blogs themselves) are more along the lines of being comfortable, virtual soapboxes.
But unlike the Hyde Park soap boxes, we are, in fact, trying to sell you something. Strike that. What we are trying to do is far, far worse than selling. What we are trying to do with this blog is to alter your reality. (If this is your first visit to this here blog here and you happened to have lightly skimmed to this point in this Post, there is a chance, a slight chance that you can continue your life exactly as it was before you came upon the Wakefield Doctrine. …a slight chance. …nah, too late.)
We’re not trying to be coy, or cute or ponderously precocious… it’s simply that the Wakefield Doctrine is a view of the human experience that, while unique, is still very ‘true’.
The observations on human personality and behavior that we ascribe to the three personality types can be seen in your own day-to-day life. clarks, scotts and rogers act pretty much the way you will read about in this blog. Worse by far, once you ‘get it’, you will not necessarily be able to stop seeing the people in your life acting like clarks, scotts and rogers. (even you rogers, who will insist to yourself and anyone who listens, how stupid the whole idea of 3 worldviews being the basis for all personality types… you will still see the clarks and the scotts)
I just thought you should have the benefit of a warning. Take it for what you will.
In any event, this started out as a ‘repeat/re-print’ Post, so lets use a little of the pre-written content to get out.
If you are still reading, then:
- you think you are sure that you know what we mean by scotts, fairly certain that you will recognise a roger and need more description on clarks
- you are bothered by the fact that you, yourself seem to be one of these (clark) sometimes, another of these (roger) the rest of the time and a scott (only under duress)
- you think you would like to come back and read this blog again, but don’t want to bother subscribing, (’cause you get enough email as it is)
- you have a friend you think would really get a kick out of this and you will try to remember to show it to them later
- you see that there are music videos, so you figure, what the hell, I’ll play it once…
Hey, you get bored tonight, and you find yourself reading this again, save yourself a lot of trouble and call us! Really. We have one of those conference call things set up… not an 800 number but everyone has unlimited long distance plans nowadays! (the phone number is to somewhere out near where Molly lives)… it should cost you about the same as the movie rental you have as your alternate plan for the evening and will cost you way, way less than the amount you are willing to spend trying to get lucky down at the club tonight…so call us:
1-218-339-0422 access code 512103 #
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnUFVyt1dHQ
About clarkscottroger
Today I was let loose on computers, sent as a volunteer to the library there(homage to the lady) as volunteer today without benefit of cold medicine. No one to stop me and say “Hey, DS. Dontcha think maybe ya ought to lay off editing your resume, applying to jobs, and leaving comment crumbs at blogs until, you know, your head is straight?”NO! NO ONE STOPPED ME SO HERE I AM TO SAY…..it is true that when you get a handle on the general characteristics of the 3 personality types (of the Wakefield Doctrine), when you start understanding how that other person looks at life, then simple examples validating that person’s view become so very apparent. Example: I am a clark and my SO is a roger. I understand that the way a roger looks at and sees the world (and everything in it) varies greatly from the way I see it. There is comfort in knowing that I can explain that my SO lives in a world that has certain boundaries, that things are done a “certain” way or that there are “expected” behaviors (socially condoned and codified) from others that is expected in certain social situations…..and there are particulars that must be present in order for a table to be a suitable, proper coffee table. Before I go further, I am not poking fun at my SO but I had to marvel at his “conformity” this weekend to certain charactersitcs ascribed to rogers. Back to my example. We will be moving in the not distant future. In order to move “lighter” we are selling some furniture. At issue are 2 tables. We already have a coffee table however there was consideration over which of the 3 to keep as the “final” coffee table. For me it was a matter of simple perspective – is the table too large or too small for the couch? Height is not a huge factor for me nor is the fact that one of the tables had those little drop down, fold up leaves (very old timey). I assured my SO I would be happy with any table he liked the best and wanted to keep. Long story short, the SO kept talking about the other 2 tables not being quite right. One not quite the right shape and a little too tall. The other was a little wide but the height was within the limits. Frankly, it was an amazing display of a rogerian mind at work. There was a tape measure to measure each of the 3 tables for height mostly and a fair discussion about which one looked right. Surprisingly, there was also discussion as to the “proper” use for the too high table with the drop leaves. Because you know, there is a proper place for things, even furniture.
It was assessment, measurement and then overall look. It smacked of conformity, symmetry and propriety. In the end the table we originally were using won out. It was of proper size and look. It would pass for a coffee table anywhere.
My mom used to have this expression “diarhea of the mouth”. In fact there were other expressions using the word “diarhea” (eew!) such as “dishpan diarhea” (when it was time to do the dishes and suddenly you had to “go to the bathroom” lol. Anyway, seeing as no one else has arrived to take up space in these comment boxes, I’ll ramble a bit.
Didn’t have enough for an actual post about last night’s Saturday Night Drive Call In Show so I’ll just list a coupla highlights:
– clarks’ eating habits are seen as somewhat bizare to most folks – we are not fond of eating in public, at least not too much (food that is).
– clarks, being the “intellectual” ones, are none too concerned about looking stupid or dumb (at least about their writing)…. ask a scott about that one!
– clarks have an inordinate ability (duh) to look beyond their own damn selves (sometimes at a cost)
– clarks can learn the secret of spontaneous action (sometimes) when they try to function normally while they are sick, which is rare.
– clarks are not very good product salespeople(or marketing people) – they need a gaggle of scotts to sell their product and get the crowds in, then they can settle in and do what they do.
S’all I have this morning folks. Sorry ya missed a good call last night. See you next week! (it was unanimous – next week’s call – no talk about rogers!)
Good Point(s)
…not surprisingly, today’s Posts will be much along the same lines as you Comment here. (In fact) the idea of this Comment and the conversations of our little Saturday Night Drives is the central idea of the Post. The next few weeks should be busy in the odd sort of ways of pre-autumn/start of school. Re-setting the rhythm, storing emotional content (against the approaching winter) so we will all be writing/conversing ‘on the fly’… but consider the inputs sources: AKH(southern New England) Molly(big square state in the western landmass) Steve Ctree (the eyyhaa State) Mel (“michigan”) Nell and Jenny (over in ‘Jolly Old’) Claire Peek ( in sven-de-gendaven, Sveedan) and Karen-a-Scott (god knows where, given how much she travels) and ‘the roger'( from what the hell was the name of the town in that book by either Ursula Laguin or CS Lewiss …something about a clockwork town and a little kid who the sister had to rescue…)
In any event, expect to hear from everyone sporadically for the next few weeks while we set our damn clocks and such!
OK let me simplify (if you made it this far after reading what amounts to 2 1/2 posts.
The Doctrine is not some mysterious cult. It’s not out of the realm of possibility. It just is as are other personality type theories. The difference being that the Doctrine is the only one that is spot on. No Jungarian 16-type personality theory. No 9 type Eannagram theory. What are we? Fucking schizophrenics?
Go read the three types (label ’em x, y, z if that makes you feel better) and their nuances, read a few posts and you’ll be off and running.
lol
wait a minute! we are not a mysterious cult??! damn… I suppose that means I have to start wearing my bathrobe the right way with the pockets on the front and everything, huh?
LMFAO!!!