I write this the day after the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the same day that Donald J. Trump started as the most powerful man in the world with the ability to literally (actually) destroy the civilization of human beings. He soared into the air on an airplane, the one with the encapsulation of human achievement that allowed this single individual, by pressing a series of buttons, to initiate the destruction of humanity. Most Americans believe that this destruction of humanity has happened before, none more so than the man who represents Trump's antithesis, who now has control of this magic plane with the doomsday button.
Martin's Poem:
Life on a roller coaster, oscillating from hither to yon, no respite for the iconoclast, wandering from dusk to dawn. Conjuring strange thoughts foreign and twice forbidden, like Prometheus unbound, this Nobelist climbs in vain to Andean peaks, seeking what most would proclaim insane.
Why, he ponders, are there no answers to protean questions when others thinking cleanly and simply with Occam’s sharp razor proclaim what seems obvious given the beam of their unerring laser. Nature, happily unfettered with philosophy, or with cunning, or with intent moves relentlessly onward or even backward with energy unspent while we mortals test and probe with twinkling machines blinking precisely at each movement, striving to unravel its irresolute randomness, its fathomless, unlimited, meaningless rush into spiraling chaos, oblivious of its multitudinous trials & errors which we pontifically believe must be unerring truth & resolution.
With the above paragraph I bid farewell to most readers, those who out of curiosity may have read this far lured by the title, or maybe even know me. We are now a species, more so in the USA, who demand immediate gratification, the pleasure of belonging to something encompassing that defines common beliefs-- including who we revere and who we hate.
In my lifetime of eight decades, the transformation of technology, that which underlies Airforce One, now allows a single individual with the title of POTUS to initiate events that can destroy civilization. Trump could have done it yesterday, and Biden can do it today.
The same process of random evolution has enabled one person of one sub-species of primates, this writer, to connect with what we call "intellectuals." It has allowed me to be the intermediary between opposites, Noam Chomsky and Charles Murray, whose views on cognitive differences in sub-species of homo sapiens are so opposed that they refuse to speak to each other.
Chomsky is the intellectual leader of Liberals, and Murray of Conservatives. (Note: hyperlinks allow readers to reference Wikipedia articles that elaborate on this essay) The two, now retired, overlapped as professors at MIT, probably eating at the same cafeterias and lecturing to the same students. Yet now there is mutual hatred between these two elderly men. Neither of them call it "hatred," rather both see the other as hopelessly unreasonable. It's a bit of an accident that I connected with Chomsky a decade ago, my trying to find moral support countering a distortion of a N.Y. Times article. He emailed me a brief note that he often got the same brush off from this newspaper, leading to the beginning of our extended conversation.
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Martin's Poem, cited above is part of the Nobel Prize Award of 1994 to Martin Rodbell (my second cousin), He was married to Barbara Lederman Rodbell, whose life in Amsterdam as part of the resistance is explored in this three part oral history. It is almost three hours of candid incisive retelling of her personal experience, beginning with her being part of a group of children that included Anne Frank.
We did connect once, and she gave me the greatest complement I'll ever receive, that my analysis of her husband's motivations was a perspective she had never realized previously. And thanked me for it. Barbara survived to live a full enriched life, while most, such as Anne Frank, were cut short with unimaginable suffering. This transformative technology of the internet facilitated the group hatred that came close to destroying this nation, and in my view, the same weaponized discourse will put us in the same perilous position again, except the other side will hold the world hostage.
It's probably too much to expect those who despise Trump to shift to an objective analysis such as this. I was lucky to have the personal conversations with those described, that I want to be the approach to this discussion. If this takes I will connect with both Chomsky and Murray to try to get their participation.
ReplyDeleteI am sadden by your constant negative beliefs. I on the other hand feel more positive in my beliefs for the future. I suggest that you watch the Youth poet laureate, Amanda Gorman, recite her poem from the inauguration. It is better to watch her instead of read what she wrote.
ReplyDeleteI certainly do not want to judge Biden with only a half day on the job.
I like most of his stated goals but like many things it will take Congress to approve many of them.
Ken,
DeleteI was transfixed by the momentousness of this inauguration watching it all.
I judge Biden, not on his few hours of Presidency, but a mantra of religiosity that he has equated with patriotism for his entire campaign. He never includes a phrase, "...and those of no belief" that is appended by some in political life.
Trump faked his religiosity, something his acolytes accepted. Biden's expresses his genuine beliefs, which makes him a more potent threat to those of us who are non- believers.
Thanks for your comment