Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Monday, October 28, 2019
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Make Love Not War was not emergent
There are those who think the 'Make Love, Not War' movement emerged from nowhere. It seems like a very rational worldview from a generation that grew into childhood and adolescence in a world seemingly always at war somewhere; and bombarded by images suggesting the next war could mean the end of all life on the planet. There had to be some ideology to counter the endless warmongering and brinksmanship in the evening news.
If nothing else, 'Make Love, Not War' was an anti-ideology that borrowed a lot from those who wrapped themselves in anticipation of the next world war. It's been asked often: How would we appreciate life if we did not die? A question that should have been asked in the Garden of Eden when warning Adam and Eve about those trees. Told if they ate from a particular tree they would die, how would the immortal Adam or Eve have understood the term?
Biophiliac and necrophiliac positions are not exclusive. One does not exist without the other. It's what I came to call a dichotomy many years ago: biophiliac-necrophiliac. These dichotomies are how we define relationships with others. We categorize, pigeon-hole, and label but often without realizing we are more defining the opposites of these ideas by applying them judgmentally to others.
People form both types of relationships with others, commonly as a reaction to the perceived position of the other person through another dichotomy: acceptance-rejection of any idea. It's called tribalism or black-n-white thinking or just plain pig headed-ness.
Less common, due to western cultural influences, is acceptance. It's much easier to reject, although the position often is forced to ameliorate. Human relationships do not rationally form Nash equilibria. Our rational mind is too dependent upon propositional logic.
Aristotle suggested an important caveat though: "natural" propositional logic is composed from incomplete syllogisms, or enthymemes.
If nothing else, 'Make Love, Not War' was an anti-ideology that borrowed a lot from those who wrapped themselves in anticipation of the next world war. It's been asked often: How would we appreciate life if we did not die? A question that should have been asked in the Garden of Eden when warning Adam and Eve about those trees. Told if they ate from a particular tree they would die, how would the immortal Adam or Eve have understood the term?
Biophiliac and necrophiliac positions are not exclusive. One does not exist without the other. It's what I came to call a dichotomy many years ago: biophiliac-necrophiliac. These dichotomies are how we define relationships with others. We categorize, pigeon-hole, and label but often without realizing we are more defining the opposites of these ideas by applying them judgmentally to others.
People form both types of relationships with others, commonly as a reaction to the perceived position of the other person through another dichotomy: acceptance-rejection of any idea. It's called tribalism or black-n-white thinking or just plain pig headed-ness.
Less common, due to western cultural influences, is acceptance. It's much easier to reject, although the position often is forced to ameliorate. Human relationships do not rationally form Nash equilibria. Our rational mind is too dependent upon propositional logic.
Aristotle suggested an important caveat though: "natural" propositional logic is composed from incomplete syllogisms, or enthymemes.
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Forever Young (Joan Baez) just asked too much of us
Listening to Joan Baez sing 'Forever Young' made me sad. It's a wonderful, loving wish for a life, every word. One of the anthems of a generation. Even its words forget those who never were young.
A real Boomer though will tell you it's the old souls she's singing to, not those who couldn't feel the energy of that generation. The dawning of the Age of Aquarius is really a few hundred years yet.
The cutting edge, first adopters, those who thought the world had not changed enough to catch up with their shared vision, were only a small slice of that generation. The oldest Boomers are in their 70s now, and many still have the Cold War etched into their bones.
The poetic words at the end -- sounding very much like an Irish farewell -- may have asked too much of anyone.
May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.
The generation that set out to change the world succeeded. It didn't change itself so much though. The idealism of the Boomers is more broadly reflected in the Gen Ys. The Boomers became first neoliberals then neoconservatives, inexorably failing Baez' prayer to "always be courageous" to always be defensive by sliding to the right, losing much of the intrinsic joy along the way.
Politics became personal and then too personal, as one very human contradiction after conflict stumbled over one another in chaotic competition as technology continued its trajectory far ahead of the social and psychological.
A real Boomer though will tell you it's the old souls she's singing to, not those who couldn't feel the energy of that generation. The dawning of the Age of Aquarius is really a few hundred years yet.
The cutting edge, first adopters, those who thought the world had not changed enough to catch up with their shared vision, were only a small slice of that generation. The oldest Boomers are in their 70s now, and many still have the Cold War etched into their bones.
The poetic words at the end -- sounding very much like an Irish farewell -- may have asked too much of anyone.
May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.
The generation that set out to change the world succeeded. It didn't change itself so much though. The idealism of the Boomers is more broadly reflected in the Gen Ys. The Boomers became first neoliberals then neoconservatives, inexorably failing Baez' prayer to "always be courageous" to always be defensive by sliding to the right, losing much of the intrinsic joy along the way.
Politics became personal and then too personal, as one very human contradiction after conflict stumbled over one another in chaotic competition as technology continued its trajectory far ahead of the social and psychological.
Wildfire still runs in the Carmel Valley
I turned 60 a little while ago. It came as a surprise for many reasons. Somehow I thought some idiot would have blown me and the rest of the world up long ago. I never thought I'd see 60 years old It never even occurred to me. Or, maybe, I thought I'd be too busy to even notice.
One way or the other, I noticed. I noticed the day growing nearer, and couldn't help becoming a little nostalgic.
A few years ago, I decided to let my beard grow out. I was shocked. There was no rich brown mass with swirling blond highlights. It looked all white at first. Then, as the stiff hairs filled in, salt and pepper: a lot more salt than pepper, to be sure. I suppose that should have been a warning...
Even a few years ago, my hair only had a few grey tinges around the edges. It was curly and unruly as ever. Now, at 60, it's a lot straighter, with grey streaks running from front to back. -- It just seems too soon somehow...
About the same time I let my beard grow out I was in love, and happened across one of my old, now ancient, favorite songs on YouTube: "The Battle of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton. Listening and singing along, I started remembering other songs that had stuck in my head for one reason or another through the years.
I have to admit some songs touched my heart. Some so tenderly, there was a lump in my throat that forced a few tears.
Funny how you attach moments in your life to songs and places. This post, for example, was inspired by "Wildfire" by Michael Martin Murphey. Wildfire is a song I connect to a beautiful northern California valley, full or art and wonder. The greatest wonder of all though was the woman I loved then.
I've listened to about 50 old (ancient) songs now. Some, not all, I connect to one love or another.
"By the dark of the moon I hunted
But there came an early snow
There's been a hoot-owl howling by my window now
For six nights in a row
She's coming for me, I know
And on Wildfire we're both gonna go..."
One way or the other, I noticed. I noticed the day growing nearer, and couldn't help becoming a little nostalgic.
A few years ago, I decided to let my beard grow out. I was shocked. There was no rich brown mass with swirling blond highlights. It looked all white at first. Then, as the stiff hairs filled in, salt and pepper: a lot more salt than pepper, to be sure. I suppose that should have been a warning...
Even a few years ago, my hair only had a few grey tinges around the edges. It was curly and unruly as ever. Now, at 60, it's a lot straighter, with grey streaks running from front to back. -- It just seems too soon somehow...
About the same time I let my beard grow out I was in love, and happened across one of my old, now ancient, favorite songs on YouTube: "The Battle of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton. Listening and singing along, I started remembering other songs that had stuck in my head for one reason or another through the years.
I have to admit some songs touched my heart. Some so tenderly, there was a lump in my throat that forced a few tears.
Funny how you attach moments in your life to songs and places. This post, for example, was inspired by "Wildfire" by Michael Martin Murphey. Wildfire is a song I connect to a beautiful northern California valley, full or art and wonder. The greatest wonder of all though was the woman I loved then.
I've listened to about 50 old (ancient) songs now. Some, not all, I connect to one love or another.
"By the dark of the moon I hunted
But there came an early snow
There's been a hoot-owl howling by my window now
For six nights in a row
She's coming for me, I know
And on Wildfire we're both gonna go..."
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Kulturkampf or win? pt 1
If the people of the country focus on the election, we allow the politicians - especially the neocon/right - to choose the battleground. In a real sense, we allow them to choose the weapons to be used by each side, too. Do you think pitchforks can stand against modern tanks?
Vietnam
Gen Westmoreland commanded one of the most powerful military forces on Earth in Vietnam. Arguably, the US forces won every battle. But they failed to capture the hearts and minds of the people of the country.
The US was especially effective against the North Vietnamese Regulars.
Remember the embassy evacuation? American journalists were running around frantic to go to the sounds of battle. They wanted to cover the battle for Saigon. There just wasn't much noise anywhere. There was almost no heavy weapons fire. Why?
Because the South Vietnamese Army weren't fighting. They surrendered the city. The South Vietnamese Army and the city police were as glad to be rid of the Americans as the Viet Cong and NVA.
America won all the battles and lost the country. If we focus on the election, we lose the chance to influence the hearts and minds of the country, and can win or lose the election - this battle - but lose much more.
Obama Administration
Vietnam
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| Bismarck and the Pope |
The US was especially effective against the North Vietnamese Regulars.
Remember the embassy evacuation? American journalists were running around frantic to go to the sounds of battle. They wanted to cover the battle for Saigon. There just wasn't much noise anywhere. There was almost no heavy weapons fire. Why?
Because the South Vietnamese Army weren't fighting. They surrendered the city. The South Vietnamese Army and the city police were as glad to be rid of the Americans as the Viet Cong and NVA.
America won all the battles and lost the country. If we focus on the election, we lose the chance to influence the hearts and minds of the country, and can win or lose the election - this battle - but lose much more.
Obama Administration
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But when they got in, they found someone had taken the handles off the doors. The only doors left with handles led to gaping chasms with sand and political minefields. Cheney had hand picked industry representatives in every department of the Executive Branch and at all levels. And the Cheney shadow government, still well funded and organized, was still in place just down the street to support the Cheney appointees.
- The country was facing a financial crisis that could have been worse than the Great Depression, and the only 'solution' was set to plunge the currency into an inflationary spiral that could have made early 1930s Germany look like a cake walk.
- They had to bring the enormous off budget debt for the Iraq and Afghan wars on budget. That made their first budgets show enormous debt spikes, along with the TARP debacle.
True, 85% or so of the Cheney appointees resigned after the first year. They did their job before they left though. They opposed on the governance level any attempts at transparency and change. And when they left, they left gaping holes in the departments. The new administration didn't have hundreds of on-side names to recommend to fill the positions. There was no precedent to even allow them to be prepared for that.Because the new President insisted on it, the TARP funds had to be repaid somehow. The loans were too huge to look right, but at least they could be collected with interest. Nothing was going to make the government taking equity positions look good.
There was no time or energy left to put all the handles back, much less build the bridges and highways. They must feel lucky the whole country didn't just fall apart. They won the election, but lost the governance - the hearts and minds of government.
And the Obama administration has spent the last 3+ years trying to dig themselves out of the hole. Arguably, they haven't yet.
I can't help but wonder if the Obama people are going to try to win the cultural war again, or have they been too badly burnt? It's really not up to government to change national culture though. That's something people and citizens have to do.