h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A little belated self introductory material.

How I came to h2g2:

I was reading a BBC article on the different kinds of Giraffes and naturally wanted to see if there were anything new on the Okapi. The BBC search engine referred me to an h2g2 entry.

On myself, in the early stages of a retirement and self-reinvention process to be spread over the next four years or so. I've gotten many offers to write professionally over the years which I had either no inclination or no time to pursue at the the time. Now it is something I want to do. h2g2 provides an ideal milieu for developing my skills.

Hello

Well, I'm not sure how long you've been here, but in any case, it bears repeating - Welcome. Your comments on the Madison entry were intelligently and interestingly done, though they were not quite in the direction I wanted to go with that entry.

H2G2 has been a big help in developing my writing skills. I'm happy to say that I cringe when I look over old entries of mine. I've been here since late 2002, and I think I've made some big strides in learning to write. I've written an absolutely obscene amount of material for the Guide, but I'm more proud of the few entries I've produced which so obviously outshine the rest.

If you're interested in American history, I'd love to work with you to produce an entry.

I've been here just under six months, mostly on the conversational threads, squeezing in a little time when I can. Still stuggling with GuideMl, have enlisted some highly capable advice and will be giving that another go this weekend, when I can put a full day on it. I've been having a grand time but need to move to some serious writing (themes in the works) for PR soon.

You suggested a possibility of a collaboration. I'd be delighted. A possible theme: psychohistory.

Psychohistory sounds interesting, but I would have no idea where to start with that.

In terms of actual histories, the age of the social eugenicists of the interlude between world wars is an excellent place to start. In the immediate aftermath of the debates on science and religion, many people, finding that their religious pretexts were no longer going over well to justify forcing their ideals on the larger community hit upon the newly emerging social sciences as alternative vehicle for their exercises of missionary zeal.

A worst case of the twentieth century, during the earliest phase of the holocaust, the Nazis took the rhetoric of their psychological critics from the period of their rise to power and used it to justify the destruction of those critics in the first Nazi concentration camps, dedicated to the destruction of German dissidents. The phenomenon of antisocial projective accusation is a commonplace of antisocial disorder, though it is unusual to see it with a demographic scope of application.

Next worst case, the Lysenkoists under Josef Stalin.

Current worst case, the North Koreans. The North Korean national average for personality development is at the schizotypal level.

That really sounds very interesting, and I'd love to read about it, but it's definitely not something I have studied. If you write something on that, I'd be happy to help you with GuideML or formatting. I'm fairly fluent in GuideML after all these years.

I'll be sure and drop you a note when and if I do a posting.

More on current affairs in the genre, the Bush administration especially (and also the Tony Blair organization) are currently under scrutiny for alleged abuses suggestive of a resurgence of the values of that bygone era.

Its a difficult proposition with great potential for confusion and histrionic reaction, not least on the point of the long standing disparity of standards of usage between the lay community using the psych jargon colloquially and the standards of usage in the official literature.

Colloquial usages like "antisocial" for "shy", "avoidant" or "reclusive"; or "paranoid" for "frightened and/or apprehensive" are a commonplace. Actually "antisocial" should only be used when one means a "conscienceless con artist". "Sycophant" is also a good synonym for antisocial. "Paranoia" actually has to do with inability to change one's mind even given incontrovertible proof that one is wrong. "Multiple personality disorder" is often used expressively when it actually denotes an extreme and aggravated form of "borderline" personality conditioned by the same kind of stresses and traumas.

The potential for hysteria in the topic is founded in fear of the unknown, a point that has frequently been exploited by demagogues.

Careful definition in context by reference to a standard dictionary or encyclopedia of psychology or psychiatry can help allay histrionic potential. The technical standard is to be preferred, remembering that with for example "Webster" it takes only five misusages of a term in print to make it official by Webster. They often tempt me to play tricks on them. One has an opposite standard with the French language, definition established by act of the French Parliament. Official usages in the psych genres are established by convention within the psychological community. Many low level workers in the field are very lax themselves, though.