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

As we teeter on the mid-day of the workweek, I’m tempted….

(ha!  I’m sitting here at my computer this morning at 5:58 am and I hear a slow cracking sound from somewhere outside. The sound builds up speed and volume, sort of like a reverse clap of thunder …. breaking wood (and the sounds of tree limbs brush other limbs, only loud) and finally a ‘crack!’ and a sound/feeling of something really big hitting the ground. Naturally I laugh and say, (out loud, of course, since Una is half-asleep by the bedroom door), “I heard that!!”    …never fails to crack me up.)

Where were we before the metaphysics interrupted us? Oh yeah, Cyndi’s Comment from late last night. Excellent Comment and a totally appreciated prompt to get my Wakefield Doctrine on. It seems that with time shrinking and my side projects growing, I’ve been neglecting the mission and purpose of this here blog here. And that, (new) Readers, is to present the principles of the Wakefield Doctrine in such a way that anyone can read it once, smile and later that same day find themselves thinking, “hey! that’s one of those rogers that blog this morning was talking about!” or “god I must be such a clark, sitting here remembering what I know I’m still going to forget when the time comes…” or even… “lol those scotts! how do they keep it up and more, how do they stay out of jail!”

Well, Cynthia’s Comment, while specific to her own direct life, offers a good illustration, not only of the way that clarks experience the world, but offers us a real life context where we can take an admittedly difficult concept (of the Doctrine) and hang some regular words on it, make it more relatable, ya know?

Actually the Comment/Question/’so-what-does-the-Doctrine-do-for-us-in-this-situation was very basic, at least in the worldview of the Outsider. (And it is germane to the experience of scotts and rogers, it’s just not as pressing as it is for clarks.)

“…does the roger remember that moment forever like a clark does? Does having the “watch yourself” (but I said it in a nice way) speech with a roger warrant that they won’t try to “walk on you” again?”

hey! I just re-read the question and realized that I only half-answered the question! (what?!! a clark rushing through a situation, acting on one element (a valid element, mind you) but missing another?  never frickin happens!  lol)

In my defense, it was like, 11-way-late last night, when I read this… what I overlooked was the really practical aspect of her question, i.e. should she expect to have to go through the some thing with the person at another time? wellll! that’s a whole topic in and of itself.

It’s a matter of dominance…. which, if we remember our ‘Everything Rule’ is manifested differently in the three worldview views.  For scotts, (where the matter is dealt with most simply and transparently), dominance is a function of one’s role in the pack, never a personal/qualitative matter, dominance is simply ranking. And, for a scott, dominance is not static, as is abundantly clear as we watch a scott enter a social setting, the very first thing they do is challenge everyone in the area… figuratively, (and sometimes, literally), pushing people on the shoulder to see if they push back and, if they do, how hard. As we said, simple, direct.
rogers on the other hand, function in a reality of emotion, (as opposed to the reality of action,as do scotts) and their basic group structure is that of the Herd.  Lets reflect on the immediate visuals you get with those two:

• pack of scotts  tousling and wrestling, together for the fun until the contest between two becomes too close to call and all the scotts except two, back away as these two get more serious about their contest…. pretty impressive sight and they’re not holding back, no way! Eventually, one establishes dominance over the other and, (the other), submits to the dominant one and they both go back to normal life in the pack, you know, walking to the head of the lunch line in the cafeteria, sneaking out of study hall to smoke…. the other visual you’re probably getting when you think about a pack of scotts is a single line, quickly, silently running through the night, as the scent they’re following tells of a tiring prey
• a herd of rogers… what?! there was a center over there a minute ago!  wait a minute!! that black and brown one was definitely leading the group to the side pasture…no, wait that was a different  one…. lol  sorry, having fun and the Doctrine is fun. The thing about dominance in the worldview of rogers is that, as individuals, rogers look to enhance their value to the others in the Herd. It’s not a direct, ‘Hey! I have my teeth on your throat! I am dominant!”  it’s more, “Why yes, you’ve heard my name from others, I do have connections to many, I am, at this moment, the center of the Herd!”

Hey! where’d the time go!?!? I’ll get back to you later today…. sure, ask questions! Thanks Cynthia!