SEXUAL IDENTITY

Simone de Beauvoir’s argument for women’s equality may be broadened to argue that every human being should have an equal opportunity to achieve social equality and economic independence.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“The Second Sex”

Author: Simone de Beauvoir & 2 more

Narration by: Ellen Archer & 1 more

Simone de Beauvoir (French existential philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist.)

Because “The Second Sex” is a translation, there are two translators who interpret the writing of this brilliant French author. Simone de Beauvoir’s social, cultural, and historical analysis of women’s societal inequality forcibly reinforces the need for human equality in the world. Despite that truth, women and minorities throughout history have been treated unequally.

It is absurd to think that 49.7% of the world population may be treated less equally than men.

Simone de Beauvoir’s history shows women are not afforded the equal opportunity of men despite baring children who sustain the human race. In the early days of human existence de Beauvoir notes difference in strength between men and women may have led to a mistaken belief that the sexes are unequal. As the centuries pass, de Beauvoir argues strength difference undoubtedly influenced the perceived role of women in the world. In the industrial age, with the advance of machine power, strength became less and less a distinction between the sexes. Machine power should have led to a better understanding of human equality. However, de Beauvoir suggests experience and history of past lives seems to have set a societal belief in sexual inequality that is, at best, only slowly being reversed.

Sweden begins to rectify inequality in the early 20th century but even it fails to change entrenched belief in sexual inequality.

The rise of communism in 1917 became a frontline movement for sexual equality. The role of women in Russia changes in both war and peace with women assuming roles of combatant, worker, as well as child bearer. Ms. de Beauvoir believes neither communism nor Sweden’s policies eliminate sexual inequality. Socialism and communism helped but patriarchy is not eliminated by equal economic opportunity or alleged women’s liberation. Despite Sweden’s formalization of legal equalization of the sexes, the cultural expectations about femininity, motherhood, and men’s domination have been accepted in most, if not all, nations of the world. Neither socialism nor communism fully remove the learned behaviors of human history. Simone de Beauvoir’s point is that laws and economic systems have not erased generations of human history but rather assumed or endorsed sexual discrimination.

The conclusion de Beauvoir has is that no form of government by itself has successfully eliminated discrimination based on sexual identity.

The interpretation of natural bodily functions in women’s lives like menstruation is noted by de Beauvoir as interpreted by men and accepted by society as a biological “otherness” that is (at least in 1949) viewed as impure and pathological. Menstruation is viewed as a symptom of women that makes them less than fully human. This natural cleansing of a female reproductive system is viewed as a time of emotional instability that makes women unclean and an example of their being less equal to men. Menstruation is something that identifies women as the “other” rather than the equal of human beings. (The truth only changes beliefs slowly.)

Simone de Beauvoir’s argument for women’s equality is expandable in that every human being should have an equal opportunity to achieve social equality and economic independence. The designers of the American Constitution understood this principle but, like the rest of the world’s population, fail to practice it. Social inequality remains a problem for democracy and all known forms of government.

Simone de Beauvoir explains women’s natural reproductive system differences are interpreted by society as a measure of human inequality.

One listens to de Beauvoir’s book and realizes what she has written about sexual inequality as a person who has experienced it. Inequality has diminished in 21st century America with increases in women’s opportunities without marrying or committing to a relationship with a male. Though de Beauvoir published her book in 1949, the difference today is in degree because economic independence remains a greater struggle for women than men in America. Too many young women are working for wages that require help from a relationship with men to meet their cost-of-living for a decent life. Being able to make a decent living is true of all poor Americans, but it is more widely experienced by women because they are half the human race.

Because the author’s focus is on women, she argues every woman should have control over their reproductive rights, be treated equally in the culture in which they live and be able to transform false beliefs of inferiority based on accomplishment, not on false societal beliefs. In some ways, today’s America is regressing as is evidenced by 21st century policies on reproductive rights. Simone de Beauvoir goes on to give many examples of how differences between men and women reinforce the false belief of sexual inequality.

GUILT

Boyne writes an enlightening story about human judgement and feelings and how one may respond to memories of horrific events in one’s life.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“All the Broken Places” (A Novel)

Author:John Boyne

Narration by: Kristin Atherton & 1 more

John Boyne (Irish novelist and writer.)

“All the Broken Places” is a creative story about guilt, memory, responsibility, and redemption. It jumps back and forth in time with too many characters. However, it reflects on the terrible consequences of WWII and its survivors who are victims of Nazi Germany’s holocaust. It is about one woman’s long life who is a child when her father is a German Commandant and a mother, who is aware, if not complicit, of holocaust’ crimes at Auschwitz.

Photo of victims taken in a 2024 trip to Auschwitz.

There seems an injustice to punishing a 12-year old’s growth to adulthood for the crimes of her father, despite his horrific acts as a commandant at Auschwitz. The pain of those who lost their loved ones from WWII and the atrocities of Germany in death camps is unimaginable to most who are alive in the 21st century. The injustice of the main character’s punishment from those who lost loved ones is equally unimaginable, but John Boyne writes a fictional story of Gretel who is a young girl punished by WWII allied survivors when she and her mother move to Paris.

Teenager on the cusp of sexual awakening.

Gretel is at the age of development that has enough understanding of guilt to feel it for what her father did during the war. She is also at the age of sexual awakening. The story is about Gretel from the age of 12 to 91 when she is living in London near the end of her life. At the age of 12, she is aware of her father’s role as a commandant at Auschwitz. A reader/listener is put in the position of asking oneself if that makes Gretel complicit in the horror of the holocaust? Because her mother relies on her husband for their financial well-being, is she guilty of the crimes her husband is perpetrating at the order of the Nazi government? Can one think a 12-year-old is complicit?

Can one be guilty of events for which they have no control over, or responsibility.

The life of Gretel is an exploration of one’s guilt, memory, and responsibility for the holocaust and deaths from WWII. Gretel keeps her childhood connection to Nazi Germany secret throughout her adult life. She is the older sister of Bruno, her brother, who dies as a child during the war. His death occurs at Auschwitz in circumstances that reinforce the horror of the camp. Elsa is Gretel’s mother who searches for a husband to take care of them in their move to Paris. As Gretel matures, her guilt about her father’s role in Nazi Germany rises.

As Gretel’s mother finds a match for a husband, Gretel is experiencing the teenage years of maturity where sexuality increasingly occupies her thoughts.

Gretel becomes obsessed with a handsome young boy whose father owns a small business in Paris. She puts herself forward to the boy as a possible companion for her sexual awakening. Ironically, this young boy becomes an accomplice to a punishment organized by the community to attack Gretel and her mother for being associated with the Auschwitz’ commandant. Gretel and her mother are attacked and brutally scalped by an organized mob of local residents.

Hanging post shown at Auschwitz site in Poland.

The author recounts Gretel’s years of life and travels that take her from France to Australia and a retirement home in London. She never escapes her feelings of guilt and memories of a life unhappily lived. To complicate her life, she sees one of the German officers who worked for her father when she lives in Australia. Kurt Kozel, whose name is actually Kurt Kotler, has survived the war, hidden his war identity, is married, and has a young son. What happens next draws one further into the theme of the author’s story about guilt and how it can affect one’s behavior.

Boyne writes an enlightening story about human judgement and feelings and how one may respond to memories of horrific events in one’s life.

SOCIETAL CHANGE

H.G. Well’s interesting message is that human beings may not be able to save themselves from a technologically superior foreign invasion, but established societies and culture are more enduring than technological superiority. Wells is suggesting an invasion by a technologically superior force does not eradicate a society but changes it.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“The War of the Worlds”

Author: H. G. Wells

Narration by: Christopher Hurt

H. G. Wells (1866-1946, English novelist, journalist, sociologist, and historian.)

“The War of the Worlds” is an odd book. Published in 1898 when the British Empire was near the height of its global power and prestige. It shakes the foundations of world hegemonic ambition. Listening to the book in the 21st century, it has relevance but in today’s hearing it seems too long and melodramatic. Giant fighting machines, heat rays, black smoke chemical weapons, city panic, and refugee flight are too familiar in today’s world. The shock value of a Martian invasion is lost. However, in the reality of a horrific war by Russia on the Ukrainian people, America’s bombing of Iran’s citizens, and Iran’s brutalization and torture of its people make “The War of the Worlds” as important and relevant today as when it was written.

H.G. Well’s Martian Invasion

Most of Wells’ book appears to say an invasion by technologically superior Martians will dominate the earth. What Wells shows is that technological superiority is not enough to conquer the world. As the British army and its weaponry fail to defeat the Martians, Earth’s natural pathogens and environment is shown to seriously challenge Martian’ survival. Technological superiority is not enough to win a war. A combination of nature’s pathogens and human resistance are challenges that suggest, despite technological superiority, singular societies ultimately prevail. History shows that eternal domination of an independent distinct society is unlikely to prevail. A distinct society may change from the influence of an invasion, but it does not disappear, it adapts. Glasnost is evidence of that truth when the former nations that were part of the U.S.S.R. reestablish themselves as independent societies that do not entirely abandon the influence of Russian domination. Native tribes that lived in what became the United States retain much of their social identity despite America’s English occupiers.

H.G. Well’s interesting message is that human beings may not be able to save themselves from a technologically superior foreign invasion, but established societies and culture are more enduring than technological superiority. Wells is suggesting an invasion by a technologically superior force does not eradicate a society but changes it.

MANAGERS

Every human being has the potential of choosing their way of dealing with life. Whatever one’s role may be, the best one can hope for is to choose what makes them the best they can be.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“essentialism” (The Disciplined Pursuit of Less)

Author: Greg McKeown

Narration by: Greg McKeown

Greg McKeown (English author, public speaker, leadership and business strategist.)

McKeown earned an MBA from Stanford University after receiving a BA in communications and journalism at BYU. He reflects on the trials and tribulations of being a manager of events in the modern world where one is faced with psychological overload. Management is the skill of being who you are and getting things done through other people. McKeown explains how to become a more effective and productive manager. It begins with a clear understanding of what self-management is and what may get in the way of that accomplishment.

As a manager of someone else’s business, the job is simpler because the goals are determined by ownership but as a manager of one’s own time it is complicated by poor personal management skill. The idea of “essentialism” is in clearly understanding the goal to be achieved and to understand oneself well enough not to be distracted by what is to be achieved and how to organize and motivate the people who are to accomplish desired results. Once the goal is clearly understood, the end must be what ownership and oneself chooses. If the goal is to manufacture widgets, the steps of manufacturing are labor to produce a product, neither more nor less than what ownership directs. A good manager is not to focus on “more is better” but on the steps of manufacturing with an eye to trade-offs that are a consequence of labor organization and productivity.

The problem from a personal perspective is that company goals are easier to understand because they are determined by others.

Clearly understanding oneself is harder because of self-interest blind spots from being both the observer and observed; not to mention– knowing what actions are required to feel fulfilled as a human being.

The best choice in life is to be who you are, not who you wish to be.

As a manager of others to accomplish a goal, there are times when the response to a worker’s idea is no. This should never be meant to diminish the worker but to keep a worker’s eye on the goals of ownership. A good manager is respectful of a worker who offers ideas but always keeps the goal of ownership in the minds of workers to make it clear that a “no” is not to discourage a worker’s labor or idea for improvement. That which does not focus on achievement of the goal should be eliminated with a “no” but with praise and protection of those who are employed to accomplish ownership’ objectives. With clear understanding of the goal and those actions that benefit its accomplishment, a good manager offers focus to labor and reduces decision fatigue for both manager and worker.

Has capitalism lost its way in America?

There is room for criticism in McKeown’s book from the perspective of labor. As an individual working for a manager, one generally does not have the authority to decline meetings called by a manager. As a worker, one is hired to do a job or task, not to work on their own schedule, or to drop what they are doing at their own discretion. A good manager listens and learns from labor but always keeps in mind the goals of ownership. A good manager looks to labor as seeds for future managers by encouraging self-actualization and promotion but without sacrifice of ownership’s specified goals. Institutional realities cannot be ignored by laborers. McKeown implies everyone is a manager when in fact, from a business enterprise’s perspective, that is not true. Some who think they are managers, are not managers and it is important for a good manager to judge others based on achieving the goals of ownership. A good manager will rise from labor based on doing what they were hired to do, not what they think they are capable of doing. This is not to discourage labor’s advancement but to encourage it through performance in accordance with ownership goals.

Peter Drucker. (A consultant who clearly understood the role, importance, and value of competent managers.)

Peter Drucker is often quoted in this book which is a tribute to McKeown’s management judgement. McKeown also mentions Warren Buffett and the principles that made him a multimillionaire. There is a great deal of good advice in “essentialism” for those who aspire to be managers. As McKeown notes, a manager can fail when he/she becomes overloaded with workplace expectations, poor labor management, ignorance of the digital age, poor organization design, or an organizational culture that demands too much from its employees. Every human being has the potential of choosing their way of dealing with life. Whatever one’s role may be, the best one can hope for is to choose what makes them the best they can be.

DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATION

One remains skeptical of Landemore’s solution, but America and other purported democracies need to wake up to unequal representation in government rule.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Politics Without Politicians (The Case for Citizen Rule)

Author: Hélène Landemore

Narration by: Hélène Landemore

Hélène Landemore, (French professor of political science at Yale University. Received a PhD from Harvard with a thesis on the idea of collective intelligence.)

Hélène Landemore has a radical idea to replace professional politicians like those leading America, Great Britain, and her home country of France by a random selection of citizens to become their government’s legislators. Landemore is obviously an accomplished and well-educated person, but her idea of reform is a problem of scale and the faults of human nature. The complexity of managing any form of nation-state’ government requires more than inexperienced leaders whether elected or arbitrarily chosen. Her weak example is the ancient government of Athens. The size of Athen’s population was miniscule in comparison to today’s democratic countries. Athens is hardly a reasonable comparison to 21st century democracies. However, Landemore notes a fundamental truth about modern democracies.

The fundamental truth of Landemore’s political idea is better representation of the population needs to be created for democracy to survive and prosper.

Governance certainly requires more than deliberation. However, the solution cannot be arbitrary selection of representatives. There have to be fundamental qualifications for those who can represent their economic constituencies. They cannot have a criminal record, and their qualifications must conform to the characteristics of the constituency which they represent.

Capability and accountability become murkier with elected representatives that are inexperienced.

As popularly elected managers of people and bureaucracies, one’s ability to be re-elected may be the best measure of qualification for office. The length of a representative’s term would be limited based on equal representation and an age limit based on an annual mental competency assessment by a board of physicians beginning at age 65. One may argue voter representation would improve over time with popular re-election by those who continue to vote for the person they have chosen to represent their needs, subject to the age 65 competency assessments. This is a controversial issue but with the availability of social security in America, this seems a responsible way of assuring competent constituent representation.

Increasingly, Landemore argues democracies are being ruled by representatives that do not understand the reality of living in either America, Great Britain, or France.

One should keep in mind that ambition is not always bad because people like Lincoln, FDR, Mandela, and Havel were driven personalities. However, poor representative elections of the mostly financially secure and privileged undermines equal representation. Professional politicians elected by wealthy supporters encourage corruption, self-serving legislation, and detachment from the general population. But critics argue that in large societies some form of political specialization is unavoidable, just as medicine requires doctors and law requires lawyers. The question may not be whether politics can exist without politicians, but how politicians can be more representative of all; i.e., including the rich, poor and those who have chosen to be or are inadequately educated.

Presidents can be corrupt, self-serving, and detached. In theory, checks and balances by a wider swarth of Congressional representatives would counter polices of a corrupt President.

Scaling of a more representative body would be the greatest challenge to democracies like America, Great Britain, and France. Potential elected representatives who know or can learn how to assemble interested participants in governance must represent their constituency. The big “ask” of these new representatives is that they also work to gain some understanding of foreign policy, government military action, budgets, international trade, and pandemic management. Legitimacy of a constituency representative would be tied to elections that are central to the demographic interests they represent. One way for America to become more representative is to increase the size of the House of Representatives. The limit of 435 members was created in 1929 when the population was 1/3rd of what it is today.

Fairer representation of all is the preeminent goal of democratic governance. Trump is the antithesis of that goal.

One remains skeptical of Landemore’s solution, but America and other purported democracies need to wake up to unequal representation in government rule. The strongest single objection to Landemore’s political idea is in a method of election and government policy creation that offers fairer representation of all nation-states’ citizens. Her fundamental truth is that today’s professional politicians fail to represent the diversity of democracies’ citizens.

CORRUPTION

It is up to this generation to revise the checks and balances of American Democracy to assure the abuses of power by a President will not destroy the fundamental strengths of democracy.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Regime Change (Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump)

Author: Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan

Narration by: Robert Petkoff

Jonathan Swan (Australian and American investigative journalist at NYT, reporter who won the Emmy Award for Best Edited Interview for Axios.)
Maggie Haberman (American journalist, political analyst for CNN, White House correspondent for the NYT, published a best seller, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump” in 2022.)

If only a small percentage of Swan’s and Haberman’s history is objective, Trump’s presidency shows the weaknesses of American democracy. America’s president supervises executive departments, directs cabinet secretaries, orders the firing of employees, sets executive branch priorities, and issues lawful orders to federal agencies. Every American President’s power to hire executive branch employees has the ability to create a managerial ruling class that concentrates wealth and power in a like-minded group with direct reports to the President. Trump, with the character traits of a martinet, allows no disagreement and demands loyalty above all. He hires a cadre of rich Americans to lead the executive branch with total loyalty to one person’s beliefs and actions.

President? Trump.

The President of the United States has direct power over military operations with the right to deploy military force at will. Trump demonstrates that power with the bombing and intended domination of Iran. Trump’s intent is to eliminate Iran’s leadership and its nuclear bomb ambitions; i.e., objectives that fail on many levels. Congress only has the power to declare war, fund the military, and regulate armed forces. Trump did not declare war. He legally uses the military to attack an independent nation; murder alleged drug traffickers without trial and institute an American immigrant deportation policy without either American congressional or judicial endorsement just because, as President of the United States, he can.

January 6, 2021, Trump’s patriots?

The President’s power to pardon leads to the release of hundreds of Americans who had been jailed for attacking the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Over two thousand rioters attacked Capitol Police, damaged the chambers of Congress, and threatened elected officials like the House Speaker and Trump’s chosen Vice President who would not endorse Trump’s belief that his reelection had been fraudulently stolen.

“Regime Change” is a difficult book to be objective about because of a personal distaste for Donald Trump. Much of what Swan and Haberman write reinforces a view of corruption by bullying of a President who is undoubtedly as controversial to some Americans as Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and FDR were in their times. The difference is that Trump is a proven liar whose public statements are proven false by independent fact-checking organizations. An objective judge of Trump’s presidency will only be fairly revealed by historians in future years. Though “Regime Change” seems well documented, the emotion of current times and the rage of citizens who elected this scofflaw will refuse to believe the truth.

Trump’s cabinet updated April 2, 2026

With a second term control of Trump’s election, he handpicks executive department employees and cabinet secretaries principally based on loyalty. Trump proceeds to issue lawful orders to federal agencies as a part of his administrative power. The President’s power to create executive orders requires no legislative oversight. That power is only constrained by constitutional and statutory authority over which a President has no control. That constraint requires time to be enforced, and Trump chooses to do as he wishes until restrained by either congressional or judicial action, neither of which are happening because of time or Constitutional right.

Trump exposes structural weaknesses in American Democratic government.

It is up to this generation to revise the checks and balances of American Democracy to assure the abuses of power by a President will not destroy the fundamental strength of democracy.

LIFE PERSPECTIVE

Emerson simply asks, “How can I become fully myself?”

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Eckhart Tolle on Great Western Classics (Reflections on the Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Thomas a Kempis, and Plutarch)

Author: Eckhart Tolle

Narration by: Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle (Born in 1948, now 78 years old, German self-help author, counselor who draws from Zen Buddhism, Christian mysticism, Sufism, and Hinduism.)

Tolle offers an interesting perspective on living one’s life. The first chapter seems almost unintelligible because of its audio quality but draws one in because of the mystical sounding narration. Those who believe in God as supreme creator, or nature as the guide for life will find Tolle gives room for both beliefs. Those who are skeptical of belief in God will still be drawn into his history of the “…Great Western Classics”.

Montaigne suggests the appeal of his essays lies in the middle of the human population. Montaigne suggests the in-between are those who are not highly intelligent, who are abysmally ignorant; preferentially plebeian, and ordinary, i.e., a demeaning characterization of the middle class.

Tolle begins with a brief history of Plutarch (46-120 CE), a Greek philosopher, historian, and essayist. He notes Plutarch believes in self-observation and moral development more than social position or success as a measure of man. By writing of Plutarch, Tolle introduces the importance of character as opposed to vice. Plutarch believes consciousness of oneself is more important than worldly success or position.

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677, Dutch philosopher of the Enlightenment, biblical critic.)

Spinoza rejected the idea of a God creating the universe. He believed God is nature. In contrast, Schopenhauer’s God is “human will” rather than a divine creator. Additionally, Nietzsche explicitly rejects belief in God. Like Spinoza, the Stoics believe God is nature while Marcus Aurelius is open to a divine order but not the Christian idea of a personal creator. Plato obscurely argues a “Demiurge” or craftsman creates a world order out of chaos. Epictetus disagrees and believes nature created an ordered cosmos. Whether nature or God created the world, Tolle offers a brief history of the philosophers and thinkers of “The Great Western Classics”.

FREE WILL VS. DETERMINISM

Tolle’s first brief histories are of Plutarch, Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus. Tolle suggests Plutarch is a well-educated elite in Rome who believes self-observation is key to guidance for one’s life. Likewise, Aurelius, Rome’s emperor, notes how important it is to be self-aware and to be present in the moment to understand things as they are; not as we wish them to be. It is relevant to note that Plutarch and Aurelius are wealthy Roman aristocrats while Epictetus is a former slave who is given freedom by his owner. Despite their societal differences, they appear to share the philosophy of the Stoics who do not believe in a Creator God but in living in accordance with nature, reason, and virtue.

Buddhist guidance is described as “the way”  by Batchelor.

Tolle compares Aurelius and Epictetus to Buddhists, Taoists, and (in a limited sense) Christian mystics despite their dissimilar social and political status. They both follow the path of reason and ethical practice but from different social positions. Tolle suggests both men believe human beings should follow a Stoic path by living in accordance with nature, reason, and virtue. Human beings should strive to be free of their psychological weaknesses by being conscious of their own prejudices when living and communicating with others. They endorse surrender to the present, acceptance of what appears to be true, avoidance of personal ego, and being consciously present in one’s observations and conversations.

Cultural differences.

Tolle suggests that Emerson, Aurelius, Epictetus, Kepis, and Plutarch believe that character matters more than wealth or status. Each believes self-examination is essential to one’s philosophy of life. All argue virtue is more important than pleasure. However, there are major areas of disagreement. Stoics like Aurlius and Epictetus trust reason, rational self-discipline, and alignment with nature. They believe wisdom is in understanding reality. In contrast to the Stoics, Thomas Kepis believes faith, humility, devotion to Christ, and dependence upon God are the key to a good life.

Tolle succinctly outlines different philosophies of life in his brief history of “…Great Western Classics”. Where Plutarch, Aurelius, and Epictetus ask, “How can I become a virtuous person” Kepis asks, “How can I become closer to God?”.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionist, and poet.)

Emerson simply asks, “How can I become fully myself?”

America’s Drug Problem

China’s 19th century corruption and the opium war are penultimate examples of China’s golden age decline. One fears Ameica’s golden age may be in a similar decline in the 21st century.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Imperial Twilight (The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age)

Author: Stephen R. Platt

Narration by: Mark Deakins

Stephen R. Platt (Author, American historian, professor of Chinese history at the University of Massachusetts.)

As an audiobook listener and fortunate traveler of the world, books about China are an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Stephen Platt’s “Imperial Twilight” reinforces one’s understanding of how different and alike China’s strengths and weaknesses are to younger nations of the world. America is a newly born baby in comparison to China. One comes away from “Imperial Twilight” with the feeling that China is at the dawn of a new “…Golden Age” in the 21st century. Platt’s history clearly explains the fall of one of China’s earlier golden ages that is accelerated by the rise of Great Britain and “The Opium War…” of the 19th century.

Platt explains the opium trade accelerated the decline of China in the early 19th century.

The Qing dynasty arguably created a golden age in China between 1661 and 1796. Emperor Kangxi (1661-1722) consolidated Qing family rule by defeating three feuding factions in China. He manages to reach a diplomatic settlement with Russia that had been encroaching on Chinese territory. Kangxi patronized scholarship, science, and cartography during his reign. He is compared to Louis XIV and Peter the Great for the length and effectiveness of his reign. His two heirs carried on China’s golden age up to the end of the 18th century when Great Britain arguably grew into its second golden age (the Victorian Age of 1837 to 1901).

William Jardine (1784-1843, Scottish physician, merchant and opium dealer who co-founded the Hong Kong based conglomerate Jardine/Matheson & Co.)

Platt argues William Jardine and James Matheson were key Englishmen that grew wealthy from the opium trade in China in the early 19th century. Britain had a massive trade imbalance because the rest of the world coveted the tea, silk, and porcelain produced by China. Jardine and Matheson capitalized on the opium trade because it was not regulated by either Britain or China with China becoming a massive importer of the deadly drug. Belief in free trade exacerbated opium sales in the most populated countries of the world with China having the greatest number of users. The Qing dynasty attempts to quell the opium trade but were met with derision by British insistence on free trade despite the addictive and deadly effects of opium.

Lin Zexu (1785-1850, Chinese political philosopher and politician who led China during the decline of the Qing Dynasty.)

Jardine and Matheson are challenged by Lin Zexu, the Qing dynasty official who is ordered by China’s emperor to suppress the opium trade. Zexu confiscates and destroys large stocks of British opium in Canton in 1839. His campaign triggers the Opium war. Platt characterizes Zexu as an intelligent Chinese patriot with imprecise information about Britain and its concern about the opium trade. The emperor of China has contradictory reports about Britain’s concerns about the opium trade and their intent to regulate or eliminate its role in trade with China.

Sir George Thomas Staunton (At the age of 12, Staunton was left by his father in China to learn the Chinese language. He became employed by the East India Company and rose to be a member of parliament.)

Platt ponderously explains the history of important British citizens who live in Canton and learn the Chinese language. George Staunton, as a young child, is left to live in China by his father to learn Chinese to become a conduit for Britain’s trade in Canton, China. Staunton eventually becomes a member of British parliament that supports the Opium war waged on China. Despite the length of Platt’s book, it is an amazing story to find a father who essentially farms out his son to learn Chinese without much financial support. The advent of the Opium war is characterized by Platt as a tragic and avoidable conflict that marked the end of China’s last golden age.

Sir John Francis Davis (British diplomat and sinologist who became the second Governor of Hong Kong from 1844 to 1848.)

John Francis Davis also seriously studies Chinese and works for East India Companies that produce most of the opium that is traded in Canton. Davis becomes Governor of Hong Kong. Davis is shown to believe Britain should stand firm in pursuit of fair trade but questions the need for military confrontation. The war is strongly supported by men like William Jardine, undoubtedly because of his lucrative opium business, but surprisingly George Staunton, an Englishman who had a lifetime understanding of Chinese suzerainty and understood the Chinese language and culture, also endorses the war.

Government corruption.

Despite the length of Platt’s book, it is enlightening to hear of the rise and fall of China and the corruption that existed before the Qing dynasty. It reminds one of reports of Xi’s efforts to eliminated Chinese corruption in the 21st century. Whether Xi will succeed in restoring another golden age for China remains to be seen. Corruption in America today seems as appalling as the history of China in the early 19th century. President Trump seems more interested in increasing his family’s wealth and creating monuments to himself than serving the interests of the American public. America, like China in Platt’s history of the Opium war, has a drug problem.

China’s 19th century corruption and the opium war are penultimate examples of China’s golden age decline. One fears Ameica’s golden age may be in a similar decline in the 21st century.

LIFE

Eric Weiner’s book is an interesting and entertaining journey through philosophy by traveling the world and offering brief vignettes of one obscure writer, and several famous philosophers.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Socrates Express (In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers)

Author: Eric Weiner

Narration by: Eric Weiner

Eric Weiner (Author, American journalist, former NPR correspondent.)

“The Socrates Express” is an entertaining writer’s understanding of important historical philosophers. Though Weiner is not formally educated in the discipline, his wide knowledge from reading their written works is summarized in language that can be understood by anyone interested but not steeped in philosophy. His wide travel exposes him to many of the environments in which great philosophers created their known works. What makes “The Socrates Express” entertaining is Weiner’s clever writing and the countries he travels to, some of which he has lived in for a time. He travels to Athens, Kyoto, Frankfurt, Delhi, and the home of Henry David Thoreau who lived at Walden Pond in Concord, MA.

Agnes Callard notes that Socrates is an interrogator who elicits others to understand the meaning of human life.

The “Socretes Express” explains the author’s trips to Athens, his trip to Kyoto for Sei Shōnagon’s (a lesser-known philosopher), to Frankfurt for Schopenhauer, to Delhi for Mahatma Gandi, and Massachusetts for Thoreau. There are many other philosophers Wiener touches upon but these four are good examples of the span of Wiener’s understanding of their philosophies. Not being schooled in philosophy, what Wiener explains is entertaining and interesting to its listeners and readers.

A description of Socrates is given by Weiner as one of the Greeks in Athens who earned a reputation as great warrior in war and a close friend of many important Greeks of his times. He allegedly never wore shoes and walked around Athens teaching old and young citizens about the meaning of life. Many of Socrates’ opinions resonate with the philosophy of life.

As most know, Socrates never wrote his thoughts down but became a foundational philosopher revealed by writings of Plato and later teachers like Archimedes. Weiner explains the foundational philosophical beliefs of Socrates are in Plato’s stories of Socrates life and death. Those beliefs, though not precisely listed by the author, are an unexamined life is not worth living, virtue is knowledge, the soul is the true self while its care is life’s highest priority, it is better to suffer injustice than to commit it, no one is wise including Socrates self-recognition, philosophy is preparation for death, and moral order is real and knowable through reason. Though these beliefs are only summarized in “The Socrates Express”, they are revealed by Plato’s writings about Socrates imprisonment and death.

Socrates parable of the cave is detailed by Weiner. It still means as much about humanity today as when Socrates walked the streets of Athens.

Socrates is saying human beings live in a cave seeing only the shadows of life while only a few, maybe like Einstein, see the foundations of nature that are still largely unknown.

Sei Shōnagon (966-1017 or 1025, Japanese author, poet who served the Japanese Empress Teishi around the year 1000. Shōnagon wrote a book titled “The Pillow Book”.

It is interesting that Weiner chooses to include Sei Shōnagon in his list of philosophers because she is not considered a philosopher but had written a book titled “The Pillow Book” that shows a distinctive way of thinking about life experience. Though not systematic she shows a philosophical view of life, she notes how close observations of ordinary moments in life are a source of insight to the meaning of human attention, aesthetics, and social behavior. In Weiner’s trip to Kyoto, one who has visited Japan appreciates Shōnagon’s understanding of Japan’s culture. Shōnagon explains beauty has a serious social value. She sees how seasons shape daily life in Japan and shows that women, like men, have powerful intellectual voices. She notes a good life depends on paying attention to nature and human relationships.

ARTHUR SCHOEPENHAUER (1788-1860 DIED AT 72)

Weiner travels to Frankfurt and briefly summarizes the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. He notes how Schopenhauer believes most people to not really listen to their environment. He believes humans create their own suffering by always wanting something more. Like Shōnagon, Schopenhauer believes human beings need to notice and appreciate the small things in life to be happy in order to achieve some level of fulfilment in life.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948, Lawyer, Leader of India’s independence from British Rule.)

Weiner travels to India with an encomium on travel by rail. That mode of travel mirrors his journey through philosophy to give the book its title; i.e., “The Socrates Express”. With Gandhi’s brief history, we enter the philosophical belief of nonviolence as an active philosophy. Gandhi explains violence is an inadequate answer to injustice. To Gandi, knowing the truth is rarely, if ever, fully understood by human beings. Human understanding, in Gandi’s philosophy, is always limited by a human’s knowledge. The whole truth is too complicated for complete human understanding. This philosophical belief is the source of Gandi’s adherence to non-violence. Facing injustice requires moral courage; not physical force. Non-violence obviates the need for perfect knowledge while offering opportunity for human comity, self-restraint, and behavioral change.

David Henry Thoreau (1817-1862, writer, environmentalist, ecologist, philosopher.

Weiner travels to Massachusetts to visit Thoreau’s cabin site on the northern shore of Walden Pond in Concord, Ma. The original cabin no longer exists but is rediscovered in 1945. The site is marked by granite posts and memorial markers. Weiner explains Thoreau believes most people move through life half-awake and rarely notice the world deeply. He moved to Walden Pond to experience seasonal changes, the behavior of local animals, the sounds and colors of a life in the world. He defined the importance of simplicity and independence of one’s thoughts. The real currency of life is time. Thoreau is not characterized as a hermit fleeing society but as a human seeking a clearer vision of life on earth. He explores life as it is rather than as a habit of existence.

Eric Weiner’s book is an interesting and entertaining journey through philosophy by traveling the world and offering brief vignettes of one obscure writer, and several famous philosophers.

BLACK SHIELD

“The Black Shield” is a disjointed story that inexpertly reveals the truth of organizational discrimination in American society. Inequality based on sex and race is a fact of American life and most, if not all, nations of the world. Cooper’s story is not revelatory but a sad truth about human nature.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Black Shield (An American Memoir of Family and Power)

Author: Wilbert L. Cooper

Narration by: Wilbert L. Cooper

Wilbert L. Cooper (Author, graduate of Ohio University and New York University with a master’s degree in publishing.)

As a writer for national publications like The Guardian, The New York Times, and the Wall street Journal, Wilbur L. Cooper investigates a “2020 police killing” in his former hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. He profiles the president (Vincent Montague) of a Black police organization called Black Shield. Surprisingly, the leader of the Black police organization shoots a young unarmed Black man he thought would run him over. He is not charged. The shooting is ruled as justified and Montague is suspended for one-day for using poor tactics and unreasonable force. What Cooper reveals in “The Black Shield” is partly about Black discrimination despite recruitment that is presumably meant to reduce police force discrimination in Cleveland.

Police training is no joke despite it being often-represented humorously.

Cooper argues the long-standing pattern of hiring and promotion in Cleveland’s police force reinforces Black discrimination in its training and recruitment of both white and Black officers. To be promoted in the department, whether one is Black or white, is influenced by an officer’s reputation as a believer in stereotypes of people based on the color of their skin more than their character. Cooper argues it is a socio/political and acculturation feature of Cleveland’s police recruitment that undoubtedly exists in all human organizations.

Cleveland’s population is approximately 50% Black, but the police force is nearly 75% white.

Cooper notes the department fails to hire minorities based on changing demographics in Cleveland. Cleveland’s population is approximately 50% Black, but the police force is nearly 75% white. His Black father is a Sergeant in the police force who is ironically in the department of “Office of Professional Standards”. (Cooper notes his mother also sought employment in the police department but is rejected. In fairness, that could be based on something other than discrimination.)

Cooper’s point is that experience of living as a white person in America fails to understand or fairly address the socio/economic realities of being Black in America. He believes Black discrimination is embedded in the recruitment and advancement opportunities of the Cleveland police department. Cooper notes that early Black applicants to the Cleveland police had to sue to be hired or promoted in the Department. He suggests his mother’s rejection from being hired is because of her sex and color. He argues his father’s career advancement is inhibited by the management structure of the department. The story of Sergeant Victor Montague is more complicated because of his deadly force use in the death of a Black citizen.

Sergeant Victor Montague (fired by the Cleveland Division of Police in 2021 for ethical violations.)

Cooper tells the story of Victor Montague, a charismatic and outspoken Black leader in the department. He became the public face of “Black Shield” and spoke openly about racism in the department. He pushes for accountability and reform but comes up against entrenched power in the police department. Montague became a target of internal hostility and is closely supervised by his immediate superiors. His confrontational attitude and unwillingness to play politics offended the Department hierarchy. Montague set himself up for a second policy violation by putting himself in a position with a private company that offered to donate to Black Shield in return for security service for a bar owner’s business. This would have been a violation of department policy. It also appears as a potential avenue for bribery of Montague. Similar arrangements had been considered by white officers without noted consequences according to Cooper. This episode undermines leadership in “The Black Shield” organization.

A measure of race and ethnic inequality.

“The Black Shield” is a disjointed story that inexpertly reveals the truth of organizational discrimination in American society. Inequality based on sex and race is a fact of American life and most, if not all, nations of the world. Cooper’s story is not revelatory but a sad truth about human nature.