Janusian moments

[HS Thomas]

Janus was an ancient Roman deity associated with the month of January(the eleventh Roman month), the creation of a new year having destroyed the old..
Janus is the Roman god of gates and doors (ianua), beginnings and endings, and hence represented with a double-faced head, each looking in opposite directions. He was worshipped at the beginning of the harvest time, planting, marriage, birth, and other types of beginnings, especially the beginnings of important events in a person's life. Janus also represents the transition between primitive life and civilization, between the countryside and the city, peace and war, and the growing-up of young people.
A Janusian moment : Free agentry has moved from the world of sports to the world of work.
Any experiences of such moments ?
[ January 30, 2004: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]

[HS Thomas]

For instance in politics this (pinching one of Thomas Paul's quotes)

The innocence of youth! Castro, for those who aren't old enough to remember, tried to export revolution across Central and South America. His second in command, Che Gueverra, was killed trying to lead a revolution in Bolivia. Castro's army invaded Angola in the mid 70's.

could have been thought by many to be a Janusian moment. But obviously it wasn't as it didn't quite work out that way. Why on earth did Castro think he could improve on Russia exporting a revolution ?
Similarly what the world of sport did extremely well , will it work at work ? If you see what is meant...

[SJ Adnams]

I think what your getting at is altering context to form alternative associations.
e.g.
Ask someone in the world of work how to be 'better'. They might say work harder, longer, faster... Carrot & stick motivation..
A sportsman taken into a work context might concentrate more on team working and instilling belief in themselves and their cause.
Ask a sportsman what the point of being a 100m runner is, he might answer that he enjoys it, feels he attains something when a PB has been beaten. Ask a worker and he might suggest getting a motorbike if he wants to go faster..
As for politicians, I think they are born (unless you can think of any that have taken the Janusian route)?

[Jeroen Wenting]

Originally posted by HS Thomas:
could have been thought by many to be a Janusian moment. But obviously it wasn't as it didn't quite work out that way. Why on earth did Castro think he could improve on Russia exporting a revolution ?

Castro like many 2nd and 3rd generation communist leaders doubted the commitment of the USSR towards the goal of communist world domination when the USSR didn't try to expand after WW2.
They considered themselves superior communists to the Soviets because of their own hot devotion to the cause therefore believing it their godgiven duty (and I use the term godgiven deliberately here, to them Marx and Lenin (and often Stalin) were/are gods) to spread communism whereever possible.
Cuba, after the debacles in South America, chose Africa (the PRC was active in Asia, you have to give them the honour of dividing spheres of influence).
Of course the logistical operations were humongous.
A small island, Cuba had hardly a fleet of aircraft and longrange transports large and capable enough to support their foreign operations (soldiers can be drafted, ships and aircraft have to be bought...).
Little know, the USSR supplied much of the required transport capacity (of course the Cubans will downplay this involvement) in part by direct intervention (supplying ships and aircraft complete with crews for extended periods) and by delivering equipment at very low prices, to be paid in sugarcane and other agricultural products (rather than the hard currency they required from less dedicated partners).

[Frank Silbermann]

The innocence of youth! Castro, for those who aren't old enough to remember, tried to export revolution across Central and South America. His second in command, Che Gueverra, was killed trying to lead a revolution in Bolivia. Castro's army invaded Angola in the mid 70's.

See: One Cuban's assessment of Che Gueverra:
From the minute he entered Havana Che's Stalinist goons started rounding up "counterevolutionaries", mostly Cuban army officers. They were labeled "Batistiano war criminals" en masse and the firing squads got busy.
"Viva Cuba Libre!" they yelled defiantly at their Red executioners. "Viva Christo Rey" ..yelled others. And "FUEGO!" yelled still others, refusing the blindfold and insisting on giving the "Fire!" order themselves.
What men! my friends. Cuba's finest! The ones who got out in time picked up arms and went right back at the Bay of Pigs. "No Dunkirk Here!" Barked their valiant commander Erneido Oliva ( a black Cuban Ms Waters and Mr Rangel) into his radio when Kennedy offered to evacuate them from the doomed beachhead � doomed by his own treachery, that is.
Yet these gallant men were labeled "War criminals" by Che, Castro � and naturally � the New York Times. But what "war" were they "criminals" in, most Cubans asked?
Oh sure, the New York Times had an unwitting comedian on it's staff named Herbert Mathews who reported from the middle of "massive battles" in the Cuban countryside with "thousands of casulaties."
Well, the (non-Castroite) elements of the the U.S embassy in Cuba conducted an independent investigation in 1960 and found that casuaties in these 2 years of "war" totalled 182 � on both sides! Hell man! New Orleans has an anuual murder rate almost double that!
Yet Che's firing squads riddled thousands of "War criminals" in a few months time. No matter. Trying to reason with the NYTimes is like trying to reason with my wife's friends. To the New York Times, as to Che and Fidel, anyone who protested the mass murder was a "Batistinao war criminal himself" � just like anyone who questioned the NYT's version of the Katyn Massacre was a "fascist."
Che knew what he was doing. He was a Stalinist to the core. He'd been a communist operative in Guatemala when the Red Jacobo Arbenz was overthrown by the Guatemalan army. And all you pinko professors please stifle the crap about Arbenz being a "leftist" or "nationalist' or "democratic socialist," okay? After the coup in 1956 Arbenz fled to Czechoslovakia, not Sweden.
Anyway, Che wasn't about to let it happen again in Cuba. So he decapitated the Cuban Military with his firing squads the minute he took power. Che was hell on smiting his enemies alright, but only when these enemies were bound and gagged. In actual battles he was consistently routed, stomped and humiliated.
"Don't shoot!" yelled the gallant Che when they cornered him in Bolivia. "I'm Che! I'm worth more to you alive than dead!'
Compare that to the brave defiant yells of his thousands of victims.

[HS Thomas]

Originally posted by SJ Ponsardin:

A sportsman taken into a work context might concentrate more on team working and instilling belief in themselves and their cause.
Ask a sportsman what the point of being a 100m runner is, he might answer that he enjoys it, feels he attains something when a PB has been beaten. Ask a worker and he might suggest getting a motorbike if he wants to go faster..
As for politicians, I think they are born (unless you can think of any that have taken the Janusian route)?

I think you have something there wrt the sporting world and the world at work.
A Janusian politician - Abraham Lincoln without a doubt.I think Tony Blair has a Janusian moment now and then. Unfortunately, the Hutton Report seems to be a heavy indictment of one of those moments.
[ January 30, 2004: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]

[HS Thomas]

Originally posted by Jeroen Wenting:

They considered themselves superior communists to the Soviets because of their own hot devotion to the cause therefore believing it their godgiven duty (and I use the term godgiven deliberately here, to them Marx and Lenin (and often Stalin) were/are gods) to spread communism whereever possible.

Ah! Instilling belief in themselves and their cause, again, being able/allowed to dream in something.
William Wilberforce attended St John's College at Cambridge, but largely wasted his time while there. However, upon reaching maturity he won a prominent seat in Parliament, even becoming a close friend and advisor to William Pitt, who was Prime Minister.
While taking a holiday on the continent he began reading a book, "The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul." From this book he began his spiritual journey with an intellectual assent to the Bible, followed by a deep inner conviction. He knew that his new commitment might cost him friends and influence but he was determined to stand for what he now believed.
His old friend, John Newton, persuaded him that his political life could be used for the service of God. He began to be concerned to reform the morals of the socially elite. He wrote a book calling on the upper classes to regain true Christian values in their lives. The book sold widely for over forty years.
His greatest political efforts were for those caught in the vice of slavery. British ships were carrying black slaves from Africa to the West Indies as goods to be bought and sold. Wilberforce began his campaign to abolish the slave trade in 1798. Through his efforts, along with members of the "Clapham Sect," the slave trade was abolished after eighteen years of hard work.
[ February 01, 2004: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]