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

I thought I’d indulge in some nostalgia and use clips from a wonderful movie that I can’t say for certain I seen in it’s entirely and, by doing so, flash back to post-writing as it was in the early years of this here blog here.

That second point, the way we used to write posts? That was during the time when I would post something every single day. ‘But clark,’ you might be saying. ‘what possibly could provide interesting content in sufficient supply to fill a post every day?’

Good question.

But first our movie clip.

The Time Warp from Javier Martínez C. on Vimeo.

Almost too late. The future is eating my past. There is no clip from the Rocky Horror Picture Show that begins with Rick and Janet knocking on the door of Dr. Frank N Furter’s castle to ask to use the phone on youtub. There are tons of videos of stage plays based on the movie, clips of a movie about the movie, even some totally well-intentioned local drama club productions. But simple clips from the original? Gone like a life-giving nutrient inadvertently absorbed by a malignant tumor. The tumor grows and the host dies.

Well, that certainly puts a happy glow on the work week ahead, doesn’t it?

Anyway… the subtitle to today’s Post is from the above song. And it represents the second manifestation of nostalgia. There was a time that a song lyric or commercial on TV or even the label on a jar of pickles proved provocative enough to write a thousand words*… in the original sense of the word, of course

mid-15c., “eliciting,” from Middle French provocatif (15c.) and directly from Late Latin provocativus “calling forth,” from provocat-, past participle stem of Latin provocare (see provoke). Specifically of sexual desire from 1620s  (courtesy of our friends at the Online Etymology Dictionary)

Perhaps the point of today’s post is to remember that, just as the Doctrine would have us understand self-improvement, positive change is more a matter of will than effort.

The Wakefield Doctrine is a tool for understanding the world around us, especially as it’s applied to the people who make it up. The proper use of the Doctrine will allow a person to better understand themselves and therefore lead happier, more intentioned days.

So when you’re out there today** and you encounter people doing things that annoy or perplex you, consider:

• if the sales clerk (who’s wearing all sorts of metallic shit on her/his face) looks back at you with an evasively hopeful expression but mumbles so badly that you want to shake them by the shoulders (which would result in a funny, cartoon dust cloud with things flying out of it, at first an earring and maybe an eyebrow stud, but would quickly escalate to, like, tin cans, nails, wrenches and finally a full-sized anvil) and say, ‘speak up’ Ask yourself: “Could this be one of those clarks that the Wakefield Doctrine speaks so enthusiastically of? Maybe, in the world of the ‘Outsider’ all that crap on her/his face is not awful, but a well-intentioned and thoroughly sincere badge of honor. Too bad! All that they have to do is speak clearly and look at me!”
• your shift manager, boss, VP of HR, who always says ‘Good Morning’ or ‘Good Night’ (and follows each with a list of details describing what will follow in their lives for the day, whether they’ll be going to the gym, picking up the kids or mowing the lawn, there will be more information than you really need) has sent you an email, note, message or asked the admin to say something to you that makes you feel on the defensive, stop and ask yourself, “If this person is a roger, which given his/her deliberate choice of clothing, pronounced punctuality, giant (and sometimes mean-sounding) laughter, how the hell do I make certain this warning is about me and not the person to my right? Well, those Doctrine people seem pretty sure of themselves, and they say that this personality type is like a Member of a Herd, so whats the best way to interact with a member of a herd without causing a stampede?”
• holy shit! that guy talks fast! always fun them fun but jeez, if they slowed down just a little then their: test scores/batch quality/performance review would be a lot less stressful, maybe he/she is what they call a scott in that blog. well, only one way to find out, “Hey! How you doin!” (damn, it worked! they’re not running away and they’re not at my throat!) “I need your help on a thing.” (would you look at that! don’t know why they call this personality type a Predator…) “Listen, I know you mean well, but we have rules here and we all think it’d be best that you stop…..”
• (lol)

Enough for now. Am out to try and not let the hours slip.

*well, sure, there is so,thing to be said about the difference between writing quality versus quantity, but that’s for another post

** a totally clarklike way to express the thought