The GIMOO/GMI Myth
Apr 16th, 2008 by Micah Tillman | 6 Comments |
I’ll have some things to say about the Compassion Forum soon, but for the moment I’d like to talk about something which the Forum got me thinking about.
There are two ideas — or myths — with which many people function. They are so interconnected that it’s really difficult to separate them. But I think they explain a lot of what happened at the Forum.
The first is what I call the “Government Is My Only Organ” (GIMOO) myth. It shows up in the following situations:
A: “Shouldn’t we do x?”
B: “Sure.”
A: “Then government has to do it.”
The second is the “Government-Me Identity” (GMI) myth. This shows up in the same situations, but also whenever people use the first person plural to describe their government.
The two are essentially inseparable, so I call them the “GIMOO/GMI” (pronounced “Jimoo gimme!”) myth. More on them later.
I am looking forward to your exposition on the GIMOO/GMI Myth.
:)
I can’t wait.
[...] And if she means we should be paying more taxes (if she thinks the government is a charity we should be funding more, so that we can tell ourselves “we” are doing more) then she’s suffering from the GMI Myth. [...]
[...] is, evidently, a devotee of the GIMOO/GMI Myth. But once you realize that the government is not your only organ, and that you and government are [...]
[...] Amazing. If government were limited, “great social needs” would be “unmet.” Because government is our only organ. [...]
[...] since we all believe the GIMOO/GMI Myth, the fact that “we’re all in this together” will obviously lead us to let [...]