react culture - privileged reactions

Privileging anything less than properly resolving needs

React culture consists of any social or cultural norm privileging anything less than properly resolving needs.

React culture provides “rational” and “legal” cover for not fully or promptly resolving needs. Which excuses not restoring wellbeing. And rationalizes any resulting pain. It consists of many “privileged reactions”, including the ones listed below.

React culture stands in stark contrast to a response path (or responsive path), which is any legitimate means to resolve needs. Each entry below concludes with a corrective response path to redress that privileged reaction.

Of course, there are far more ways to not properly resolve a need than to properly resolve that need. But we trust you will find the discipline well worth it.

Privileged reactions

Anankelogy identifies a list of barriers to properly resolving needs. Called a defunction, these hinder resolution of needs, results in compromised wellness and prompts pain.

Anankelogy recognizes the objective fact of

1. recurring needs,

2. fluctuating wellness, and

3. occurring emotions alerting you to your evoked needs.

One type of defunction is a privileged reaction that occurs at a sociocultural level. Any flexible social or cultural norm that sanctions reacting instead of resolving an inflexible need exists as a privileged reaction.

Many of these work in concert with another type of defunction: the power problem. These get baked into our society to the point we no longer see the danger.

Fortunately, each defunction be countered with a “refunction”. And each reaction can be corrected by a proper response.

Responsive path

Any legitimate means to resolving needs restores wellness and removes or reduces cause for pain. Need-response paves a disciplined path to

1. resolve needs,

2. restore wellness, and

3. remove pain.

Which involves identifying the many barriers of react culture, and countering each barrier with a specific responsive path to resolve needs to restore wellbeing and remove pain.

Refunctions correcting defunctions

Anankelogy, the study of need, identifies anything that limits resolving a need and reduces your capacity to function as a “defunction”. Anything that enables resolving a need and raising wellness (i.e., capacity to function) is called a “refunction”. Almost every defunction can be corrected by a refunction, but not always within one’s individual control.

First, let’s revisit the character refunctions, or universal principles recognized by every world religion and frequently applied in almost every spiritual tradition. This can lead to less defensiveness and more humble honesty of our imperfections. We’re all imperfect, so let’s embrace

• honesty,

• humility,

• empathy,

• forgiveness,

• mercy,

• tolerance, and

• understanding…among other applicable universal principles.

Need-response addresses defunctions beyond the individual’s control with various services still under development. Central to such wellness compromisers is something called toxic legalism with its privileged reactions dragging us all into a sick society.

Toxic legalism reactions

Imagine you get pulled over by a police officer while driving home from the store. She issues you a traffic ticket for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign a few minutes ago.

You ask how she knows for sure you didn’t come to full stop, since she was nowhere around at the time. She tells you she has an image from a surveillance camera to prove it.

You wonder aloud if this violates your constitutional right to confront your accuser. She invites you to ask the traffic court magistrate, if you choose to schedule a hearing and take time off from work to contest it.

She suggests it would be easier to admit fault and simply pay the fine online. Thar’s the law. She points out that you agreed to abide by the rules when getting your driver’s license.

If it’s the law, then that must be a good response. Right? Well, not so fast.

Not every situation calls for mindless obedience to the rules or to authority. If a police officer lies about you being a witness to a homicide and threatens to arrest you if you refuse to sign a witness account he himself wrote, do you comply?

It is a myth that no one is literally above the law. Right? That oft-quoted TR statement more specifically declares that “no one’s impactful actions sit outside the scope of legal standards proven to lead to more resolved needs and sustainable wellness”.

Passive compliance to a damaging law or authority is no excuse. Not for the Nazi’s accused of war crimes in the late 1940s. And not for us now.

If ignorance of the law is no excuse, which are flexible social constructs relative to inflexible needs, then ignorance of affected needs is far less of an excuse. Everyone’s person is above the law, since human life existed before human laws.

While no one sits above the law, no law sits above the needs it exists to serve. Laws are flexible. Natural needs are not.

Excessive reliance on laws, to the point of causing damage, gets labelled as toxic legalism. Many privileged reactions stem from this prioritization of norms over needs. Anankelogy identifies five key elements of this coerced compliance to norms over resolving needs. Click the button to dive deeper into each one.

1. Psychosocial imbalance

Atomization culture

Do you ever react by asserting your individuality over the crowd? We all do at times. Western culture privileges individualism over the collectivism of a cohesive society.

When left to slide into extremes, this favoring of the individual over the group tends to slip into hyper-individualism. Social norms then objectify individuals as law abiding citizens, devoid of complicating social contexts.

We enforce norms to make sure individuals make good personal choices. Less attention on the social realm assumes each individual has an array of good options from which to choose.

Dive deeper into atomization culture below.

You can react atomistically or respond holistically.

• React: You either react by emphasizing personal responsibility to the neglect of real-world contexts that limit personal options from which to choose. Which correlates with resolving fewer needs, compromising wellness and suffering more pain.

• Respond: Or you respond by balancing both internal biopsychological factors and external socioenvironmental factors. Which correlates with resolving more needs, restoring more wellness and removing more pain.

Psychosocial orientation (PO): individualism or collectivism

Your life has a steady approach to resolving self-needs and social needs. You either resolve your self-needs more than your social needs or resolve your social needs more than your self-needs. And this predisposes your political views.

Refunction: psychosocial balance path

Shift from a self-over-social focus or social-over-self focus to self and social equal focus. Moreover, to cultivate a holistic approach that removes incentive to enforce social norms that errantly reinforce hyper-individualism.

2. Hyperrationality

Hyperrationality culture

Do you ever react by self-censoring your emotional responses? Do you posit a socially viable reason for your actions? We all do at times.

Sociology calls this impression management. To avoid rejection, we present a socially acceptable front. One that sounds more reasonable, less emotionally biased.

Ironically, this itself is a bias. Our biases prioritize what we need. By properly resolving our needs with emotional honestly, we get passed the disturbing distortions of our cognitive biases.

Dive deeper into hyperrationality culture below.

You can react hyper-rationally or respond integrally.

• React: You either react by sounding more reasonable that others, which has the appearance of being more disciplined but actually evades rich emotional content for better understanding each other’s affected needs. Which correlates with fewer needs resolved, wellness compromised and more pain suffered.

• Respond: Or you respond by integrating your intuition, with its quick insights gleaned from your enriched emotions, and your reasoning process disciplined by your critical thinking skills. Which correlates with resolving more needs, restoring more wellness and removing more pain.

Authenticity orientation (AO): emotional suppression or honesty

Your life has a predictable approach toward dealing with intense emotions conveying needs. You either try to control emotions with rational arguments or you process emotions to deflate their compulsive nature.

Refunction: authenticity path

Shift from an emotional suppression or repression to emotional humble honesty. To let go of social norms relying on disingenuous rationalizations and replace with norms incentivizing authenticity that integrates impassionate and passionate cognitive content.

3. Overgeneralizing

Hyperbole culture

Do you ever rely on hyperbole to make your point? Do you then sometimes react by exaggerating just to keep things simple? We all do at times.

You keep things simple to compete for attention. You’re tempted to oversimplify some stuff to hold your mark in our fleeting attention economy.

Others may accuse you of deliberating ignoring vital details. Perhaps you acknowledge those details, which prompts others to bring up counterfactuals. Now it gets complicated.

Dive deeper into hyperbole culture below.

You can react vaguely or respond specifically.

• React: You either react by relying on generalizations that avoid uncomfortable detail. Which correlates with resolving fewer needs, compromising wellness and suffering more pain.

• Respond: Or you respond by exploring relevant nuance of vital details. Which correlates with resolving more needs, restoring more wellness and removing more pain.

Relational orientation (RO): generalize or specific

Your life has a stable approach for relating to matters outside of yourself. You either relate to things in more general terms or you relate to them in more specific terms. You either take hyperbole literally or explore any relevant nuance.

Refunction: relevant nuance path

Shift from social norms permitting dangerous exaggerations to social norms incentivizing exploration of relevant nuance. To accountably deal with vital details necessary to properly resolve needs.

4. Discomfort avoidance

Avoidance culture

Do you ever evade something simply because you can. Do you react to avoiding something uncomfortable? We all do at times.

If chasing the junk value of extrinsic happiness, you’re likely tempted to avoid all kinds of pain at any cost. But ignored pain eventually catches up to ruin your day.

If always chasing after pleasure, and not resolving needs, you likely find yourself on a desperate treadmill. All privileged by social norms others chase just as religiously.

Dive deeper into avoidance culture below.

You can react evasively or respond engagingly.

• React: You either react by staying alienated from uncomfortable content. Which correlates with fewer needs resolved, compromised and suffering more pain.

• Respond: Or you respond by enduring or even embracing discomfort, to identify the threats your painful feelings prompt you to remove. Which correlates with resolving more needs, restoring more wellness and removing more pain.

Easement orientation (EO): relieve pain or remove pain

Your life has a stable approach toward life’s many discomforts. You either habitually pursue relief to avoid pain or you embrace discomfort to identify and remove the threat causing such pain. Including the options to remove yourself from the situation.

Refunction: engagement path

Shift from a discomfort avoidance to discomfort embrace. Instead of instantly reacting to pain, move toward it. Find out what that pain is trying to warn you about. Recognize how pain is not the problem as much as the threats that pain exists to warn you about..

5. Dehumanizing adversarialism

Oppo culture

Do you ever react by taking a defensive stance against others? We all do at times. Ever wonder if there was a better way to resolve such conflicts?

Opposing another’s need does not extinguish moral conflict but enflames it. Social norms around struggling with others risk keeping you locked down in perpetual conflicts.

No one can change what they inflexibly need to get along with you. Nor can you change for them. You can either break free from such debilitating norms or remain stuck in pain.

Dive deeper into oppo culture below.

You can react defensively or respond approachably.

• React: You either react by taking an oppositional stance, which triggers mutual defensiveness shutting down needed awareness. Which correlates with resolving fewer needs, compromising wellness and suffering more pain.

• Respond: Or you respond by staying open amidst the conflict, to learn what you can from the others to develop a mutually satisfying solution. Which correlates with resolving more needs, restoring more wellness and removing more pain.

Conflict orientation (CO): guarded or open

Your life has a stable approach toward dealing with conflict. You either routinely get defensive and stay closed or you remain open to learn what’s going on. You either become instantly adversarial or you seek mutual respect to resolve conflict..

Refunction: mutuality process

Shift from a closed-and-guarded to open-to-learning. From passively triggering mutual defensiveness to cultivating mutual understanding. From hostile apathy to generous empathy, even as they persist in opposing you. Set the standard for them to follow. Model the responsive path toward properly resolving the needs underlying the conflict.

Drift into react culture

Anankelogy has a word to describe this culturally normalized gradual slide into lowered levels of functioning. It refers to this normalized diminishing wellness as “drift”.

6) Accountability aversion

accountability aversion

Accountability aversion speaks to privileged evasion from being held responsible for the impact of one's public actions.

7) Ascribed illegitimacy

ascribed legitimacy

Ascribed illegitimacy refers to trust in authority grounded primarily or exclusively in perception, with little if any empirical measurements of the authority's actual impact on the inflexible needs of the populace. This exists as the current status quo form of authority, widely accepted and adopted, in contrast to need-responsive earned legitimacy.

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privileged reaction

Summary definition of this privileged reaction with a hint of its impact upon one’s functionality level or capacity.

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privileged reaction

Summary definition of this privileged reaction with a hint of its impact upon one’s functionality level or capacity.

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privileged reaction

Summary definition of this privileged reaction with a hint of its impact upon one’s functionality level or capacity.

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privileged reaction

Summary definition of this privileged reaction with a hint of its impact upon one’s functionality level or capacity.

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privileged reaction

Summary definition of this privileged reaction with a hint of its impact upon one’s functionality level or capacity.

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privileged reaction

Summary definition of this privileged reaction with a hint of its impact upon one’s functionality level or capacity.

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privileged reaction

Summary definition of this privileged reaction with a hint of its impact upon one’s functionality level or capacity.