THE WORLD AS SEEN, READ ABOUT, LISTENED TO, AND INTERPRETED
Author: chet8757
Graduate Oregon State University and Northern Illinois University,
Former City Manager, Corporate Vice President, General Contractor, Non-Profit Project Manager, occasional free lance writer and photographer for the Las Vegas Review Journal.
Malala Yousafzai may be narrowly identified as a symbol of women’s rights. That categorization is certainly earned but one is left wondering what will become of this young woman.
Malala lives the life of an old soul–advocating for equal rights at eleven years old and being nearly murdered at 15. Malala will be 23 years old this July, 2020.
As most know, Malala is shot in the head by two young Taliban who attacked her school bus in the Swat Valley of Pakistan. We know they were Taliban because they acknowledged responsibility soon after the attack.
Miraculously, the bullet did not penetrate Malala’s brain but bone fragments from the shock of impact severed a facial nerve and temporarily paralyzed most of her motor functions.
Dr. John J. Medina explains how unbelievably versatile the human brain is by recounting experiences of people who have been severely injured.
Some recover many of the functions formally managed by parts of the brain that have been damaged. John Medina notes that eyes do not see; i.e. the brain is the functional source of sight. He explains the miraculous feats of the brain that manipulate the scenes of life.
Malala is rushed to a hospital in Pakistan and is saved from immediate danger by a competent Pakistani neurosurgeon. The world is apprised of the attempted assassination and sends messages of support for Malala’s recovery. In “I Am Malala”, a listener finds that after-care in Pakistan nearly ends Malala’s chance for survival.
MALALA (SHOT AND HOSPITALIZED)
Somewhat ironically, Great Britain comes to Malala’s aid. The irony is in the long history of Great Britain’s colonization of Malala’s homeland. There is historical justification for India/Pakistani’ ambivalence toward the West. “I Am Malala” touches on that ambivalence. However, Malala recognizes how important Great Britain’s assistance was in saving her life.
Malala reminds listeners of the lost lives of her countryman from American drone strikes and the invasion of Pakistani air space; including military action to kill Osama bin Laden.
On the one hand, Malala shows embarrassment over bin Laden’s successful sanctuary in Pakistan; on the other, she implies America should have worked with the Pakistani government to capture the world’s most notorious terrorist. There is a whiff of resentment in Malala’s depiction of the West’s treatment of her country but it is ameliorated by her principled stand for education, equal opportunity, and Pakistan’ sovereignty.
MALALA YOUSAFZAI (NOBEL PRIZE, SAKHAROVE PRIZE, SIMONE de BEAUVOIR PRIZE, NATIONAL YOUTH PRIZE WINNER)
“I Am Malala” shows a young girl with great resilience and ambition. One is left with the impression that Malala will return to Pakistan. She will attempt to become a leader in her home country.
The message one gets from her book is that Pakistan is a great and beautiful country that can be a partner with the West as an independent and Islamic nation. Malala is a politician in waiting. One hopes for her success.
Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street
Written by: Sheelah Kolhatkar
Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
SHEELAH KOLHATKAR (Author,Staff writter at The New Yorker, covers Wall Street, Silcon Valley, and politics)
In “Black Edge” Sheelah Kolhatkar masterfully recounts the dark side of capitalism. The American stock market is a tremendous source of energy (private money) for entrepreneurial capitalism. At the same time, a poorly regulated stock market pollutes the capitalist ideal.
An obvious example is the stock market Ponzi scheme (a false enterprise offering high returns that really come from later investors) built by Bernard Madoff. He victimizes thousands of people around the world.
After many years of high living, Madoff is caught and presently serves a 150 year prison sentence.
Kolhatkar explains the meaning of black edge information. She shows how the American stock market becomes a breeding ground for greed. In the stock market, black edge information is personal notice to private investors of events that effect stock prices. The information is proprietary and unknown to the public. The private investor chooses to buy or sell stock before the public knows of an event that will affect stock prices.
STEVEN A. COHEN (AMERICAN INVESTOR, HEDGE FUND MANAGER, BILLIONAIRE)
Steven A. Cohen develops an organization, SAC Capital, that revolves around gathering proprietary information before it is known by the public. Cohen becomes one of the richest men in the world by using that information. He parleyed that wealth to purchase the New York Mets baseball franchise.
In one sense, this seems a “no harm, no foul” entrepreneurial benefit in capitalist society. What Kolhatkar infers is that there is harm, and it is foul. It breeds an organizational philosophy of abuse. Cohen creates a “dog eat dog” organization that hires and fires people based on revenue made or lost on investment. Individual traders are compelled to violate the law because they fear losing their high paying jobs. They see their chance of preserving their employment by soliciting black edge information that is not available to the public. The only criteria for success is money; not family, not friendship, and not society.
One may argue, so what? Cohen becomes a rich man and is known as a benefactor to charities of his choice based on his accumulated wealth. Similar arguments can be made for the Koch brothers and their charitable contributions.
Where is the harm? Where is the foul?
The harm is somewhat inchoate in Kolhatkar’s story of Cohen’s view of life, but lack of care for others seems a part of the harm.
Capitalism is an economic and political system for trade and industry that allows individuals rather than a collective determine one’s future. The capitalist ideal’s upside is that people have more freedom. The downside is unrestricted human nature becomes brutish and unfair. Some form of governance is needed to provide rule-of-law. Without rule-of-law, society devolves into an anarchy of individual interests.
THE KOCH BROTHERS DAVID (NOW DECEASED) ON THE LEFT AND CHARLES ON THE RIGHT ARE CORPORATE LEADERS WHO SUPPORT THE PRINCIPLE OF LESS GOVERNMENT REGULATION.
Capitalism is not the problem in America. It is the failure of government agencies, the President, and congress to protect the Health, Education, and Welfare of the people. The simple argument of less government is not the answer.
Lives were ruined by Cohen; i.e. some of his closest associates are abandoned, traders operating as information gophers break the law. Cohen focuses on making money because it offers power and prestige. The gap between rich and poor widens because of Cohen’s philosophy of life. In the end, Cohen is not found guilty of insider trading, but many of his employees lives are ruined.
The story of Steven Cohen is the story of a Trump presidency in the United States. America loses its way when capitalism is only seen through the prism of wealth. The “Get out of my way” philosophy of Cohen and Trump are cut from the same cloth. The difference is–one is more financially successful than the other.
The purpose of the American government is to protect the public through rule-of-law.
Every day, we see a President denying immigrants the chance for becoming a part of an American Dream that made America great. We see an Education Secretary intent on dismantling our public education system. We see a congressional and departmental effort to dismantle health care and welfare. We see Americans being discriminated against because of their sex, race, and religion.
Human nature is not self-regulating.
Unregulated human nature is brutish. The checks and balances of the American government are founded on that truth. When the American government fails to exercise its mandate for the health, education, and welfare of the nation, it diminishes capitalism. It diminishes a way of life cherished by most Americans. People like Steven Cohen and Donald Trump are guilty of being human and unruled.
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
Written by: Ashlee Vance
Narrated by: Fred Sanders
ASHLEE VANCE (AUTHOR, JOURNALIST)
Ashlee Vance writes about launching dragons in a biography of Elon Musk. Like the mythical fire breathing beast that destroys civilizations, Musk’s fire-breathing ambition levels two of the most powerful organizations in the world; e.g. the auto industry and government bureaucracy.
TESLA AND SOLAR CITY (ELON MUSK)
Tesla Motors is the first automobile manufacturer to receive a unanimous vote as the best car of the year. SpaceX is the first private rocket manufacturer to successfully transport satellites and cargo into space. The principal behind these extraordinary feats is Elon Musk, a combination of the fictional Tony Stark and a real Thomas Edison. Not since the 1920s has anyone successfully launched a new automobile manufacturer. Never in history has a private company launched rockets into space to service the international space station.
TESLA’S SpaceX RE-LAUNCH ROCKET
Vance shows that Musk has an optimistic vision of the future of America and the world. His willingness to risk everything for alternative energy sources, and reduction of carbon-based energy consumption are astounding in the recurrent era of capitalist greed. Musk’s focus is on transition from traditional industrial methods of production to technological innovation. His methodology is a combination of traditional cost-based negotiation, vertical business integration, and hard work. The methods are not new but Musk’s extraordinary intelligence and his personal commitment are reminiscent of great inventor/innovators in history.
ELON MUSK ROLLS THE DICE AGAIN BY PURCHASING SOLAR CITY, THE LARGEST SOLAR CONVERSION COMPANY IN THE U.S.
Vance clearly illustrates that Musk is not perfect but his story will eventually, if not now, be recorded as historically important. Musk exposes the lie of Trump’s vilification of immigrants. Musk is born as a South African who comes to America through Canada. He becomes an American job producer and manufacturer when both are sorely needed to revivify the, largely mythical, American dream. Musk gives America hope.
Musk faces many obstacles in his life; just as all humans do. One advantage for Musk is in being white; oh, and being blessed with a prodigious memory, extraordinary cognitive ability, and an immense drive to succeed. Musk relentlessly pursues what he believes in. Fortunately, Musk’s natural advantages work toward the best interests of humanity; i.e. a cleaner environment and exploration for colonization of other worlds.
Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords is reminiscent of ignorant industrial luddites. Innovators like Musk pursue an opportune future while Trump and others pursue the mythology of the past. Both Musk’s and Trump’s errors are human, but their consequences are hugely different. Vance’s biography of Musk shows releasing dragons can benefit society. Trump’s dragons are only likely to harm society. In history, Musk will be remembered fondly; Trump will be recalled sadly.
Time is a mystery. Alan Burdick speculates on a definition of time in “Why Time Flies”. In some respects, Burdick’s story is enlightening; in others, time escapes his and an audience’s understanding.
Time appears to be a construct of mind and consciousness, both of which are equally mysterious. No one really knows what mind and consciousness are but recent experiments suggest they are a state of being that offers versions of reality; i.e. not objective truth but subjective understanding. Experiments show that the mind deconstructs what we see and reassembles it to have meaning in an individual’s consciousness.
MIND DECONSTRUCTION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF EVENTS
TIME SEEMS TO SLOW DOWN IN A CAR CRASH
Burdick shows, through recounted experiments, that time does not slow down when we experience traumatic events like a car crash or a bungee jump. What our mind does is reconstruct an accident or bungee jump through a consciousness that makes it seem time slows down. Our consciousness remembers or manufactures events as though they occurred in slow motion; i.e. we remember seeing our car flipping over, the top being crushed, and our effort to use a seat belt to steady our movements. All of this happens within a minute but we remember it in detail as though a slow-motion camera records the accident.
TIME FLOWS IN ONE DIRECTION (You cannot un-break an egg.)
Burdick notes that time only flows in one direction. As common experience tells us, we cannot un-break an egg. Life begins young and grows older. Through manipulation of images, we can reverse time but we know it is an illusion.
Various experiments show that time can be slowed down as speculated by Einstein, and later proved by others. The slowing of time is due to the speed of objects in relation to the unchanging and constant speed of light. Because a human in space is traveling at a faster speed ( in relation to the unchanging speed of light), he/she ages less than a person on earth. But even in Einstein’s theory, time is never shown to go backward. That is why time travel to the past is considered impossible.
Burdick notes that time is always now. It has no past. It has no future. Time is “in the moment”. Burdick’s recognition is not helpful in understanding time. Time is never clearly identifiable because it is either becoming a history or a future. How does one define a moment? It seems to be something between history and future but what is time’s physical marker? Maybe its consciousness but no one knows what consciousness is and every person’s consciousness is personal and subjective; not universal.
At best, Burdick’s story only deepens the mystery of time.
French’s “The Trespasser” offers a glimpse of what it must be like to be a woman in a man’s world.
TANA FRENCH (NOVELIST, ACTRESS BORN IN VERMONT, LIVING IN DUBLIN)
Tana French shows that evidence is the fundamental proof of guilt or innocence. French’s “The Trespasser” offers a glimpse of what it must be like to be a woman in a man’s world. To be a female detective on a murder squad is a perfect venue for exploring the perfidy of men in power positions.
French’s story shows how power distorts the relationship between the sexes. In a culture that reinforces male dominance, women use the same tools as men to acquire power; however, with a substantive difference. Intellect, sex, and prejudice demean women while men reap reward and praise for the same qualities.
BRAGGING ABOUT SEXUAL ASSAULT
BILL COSBY TRIAL
In modern times, the currency of society’s male domination is apparent in the trial of Bill Cosby. Regardless of the accuracy of Cosby’s only eligible accuser, 40 other women have independently accused him of sexual impropriety. Though testimony of these 40 women is not admissible as evidence, their testimony strongly smells of Cosby’s guilt. If guilty, Cosby represents the guilt of society. An innocent verdict is no absolution for Cosby but it is a measure of American society’s acceptance of a President’s locker room talk on a bus and behavior in a women’s dressing room.
FEMALE POLICE DETECTIVE (In French’s story Conway presumes every male in her squad, and at one point even Moran, plot against her success. This presumption is reinforced by Conway’s experience as a police officer and detective.)
French creates a mystery solved by Detective Antoinette Conway with the help of her partner, Stephen Moran. Conway presumes every male in her squad, and at one point even Moran, plot against her success. This presumption is reinforced by Conway’s experience as a police officer and detective. Her gathered prejudice against all men (or at least those in her squad) nearly derails her dogged search for the murderer of a young woman. French reveals how Conway overcomes her personal prejudice by accepting the truth that men and women are equally good and bad.
A father abandons his wife and daughter. The abandoned wife seeks answers to the whereabouts of her husband. The Missing-Persons’ department of the police is asked to investigate. The father is reported as having died, after living many years with another woman. The mother dies. The daughter is obsessed with the investigating officer of the Missing Persons’ department because of his ambiguous relationship with her mother. The daughter plans an elaborate ruse to meet the investigating officer and find out more about her father. The daughter becomes entangled in a web of relationships; i.e. the Missing-Persons’ officer (who is now the head of a murder department), a close female friend, and a possible new boyfriend. The daughter is murdered. Conway’s task is to find the murderer.
In French’s story, the search for suspects, and resolution of the case, are introduced to Conway’s investigation of the murder. The substance of the story shows women as intellectually strong, and mentally tough as men. Of course, history, as well as this fictional story, shows many women are as intellectually strong and mentally tough as men; e.g. Cleopatra, Sojourner Truth, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Benazir Bhutto, Malala Yousafzai, and others.
FAMOUS WOMEN IN HISTORY (History, as well as this fictional story, shows many women are as intellectually strong and mentally tough as men; e.g. Cleopatra, Sojourner Truth, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Benazir Bhutto, Malala Yousafzai, and others.
French’s story brings the inequality of human life into the day-to-day life of today’s women. Conway is characterized as an intelligent, determined, and independent murder detective. Conway is not perfect. She carries her own prejudices, but she focuses on evidence to prove her murder cases.
Jack Holland (Irish writer, Born 1947, Died 2004.)
This quarters’ “Foreign Affairs” argues misogyny is rising in the world with newly elected autocrats. It cites rising misogyny in Brazil, India, Poland, Honduras, Mexico, Turkey, and the U.S. in a lean toward authoritarian and antidemocratic policies. “Foreign Affairs” leading article suggests “…women’s political and economic empowerment is now stalling or declining around the world”.
Undoubtedly, sexual depredation began before recorded time, but misogyny became institutionalized with the written word.
The mystery is what has taken so long for American misogyny to be recognized. The mystery is explained in Jack Holland’s “Misogyny, The World’s Oldest Prejudice”. Misogyny appears when history is first recorded. Misogyny is perpetuated by religion, society, and government.
From men who are Presidents to business moguls to famous newscasters, misogyny grows like a cancer.
(Past accusers of President Trump.)
E. Jean Carroll–Latest accuser of President Trump’s past behavior.
A woman’s rights have been a moving target since the beginning of time; or at least since the beginning of recorded “history”. Jack Holland tracks “The World’s Oldest Prejudice”, misogyny.
Holland’s conflation of Nazism with societal misogyny seems misplaced except in comparison to Nazism’s institutionalization of discrimination. The evidence and truth of women’s domination, abuse, and murder by men is solid. Holland recounts government practices, religious doctrines, philosophical treatises, science errors, and corroborated historical events that confirm institutionalization of misogyny.
Misogyny is in the news today with accusations against Presidents, several newscasters, aspiring and existing politicians, film producers, and business leaders.
(COMBO): This combination of pictures created on October 13, 2017 shows US producer Harvey Weinstein (L) taken on March 10, 2015; (1st row from L) US actress Rose McGowan taken on April 3, 2016, US actress Angelina Jolie taken on September 13, 2017 in New York City, Italian actress Asia Argento taken on May 17, 2017, US actress Gwyneth Paltrow taken on May 6, 2017, US actress Ashley Judd taken on July 25, 2017, (2nd row fromL) French actress Lea Seydoux taken on May 19, 2016, US actress Mira Sorvino taken on December 7, 2015, US actress Rosanna Arquette taken on February 25, 2017, US actress Louisette Geiss taken on October 10, 2017, British actress Kate Beckinsale taken on on August 7, 2017, (3rd row fromL) Television reporter Lauren Sivan taken on July 26, 2014, US actress Jessica Barth taken on June 21, 2012, US producer Elizabeth Karlsen taken on January 4, 2016, French actress Emma De Caunes taken on October 17, 2016, and French actress Judith Godreche taken on October 19, 2015. An avalanche of claims of sexual harassment, assault and rape by hugely influential Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein have surfaced since the publication last week of an explosive New York Times report alleging a history of abusive behavior dating back decades. / AFP PHOTO / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA AND AFP PHOTO / STAFF
As far back as the oldest laws of government written by a Sumerian King in 2,050 BC, women have been singled out with human rights’ violations. An example is the King’s law that particularly applies to women who speak insolently. They are to have their mouths scoured with salt; i.e. a law applying only to women slaves. Of course the law begs the question of why women are slaves.
All major religions are patriarchal. Each has a history of misogyny that lives through to today.
Beginning with the book of Genesis in the Christian Bible, women come from man; not as a singular human being but as an adjunct of man, a mere rib. In Genesis 3:16, women are burdened and subservient to men from the beginning. “Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee”.
In the Ten Commandments, wives are treated as property to men. Holland cites Apostle Paul as a harbinger of doom for women. His doctrinal preaching perpetuates misogyny. Apostle Paul implies women are seductresses because of men’s earthly desires.
Men are advised to focus on the spiritual to avoid sin and assure their passage to heaven. By separating humanity and spirituality, Holland argues Apostle Paul implies women and bodily pleasure are a principal source of sin. Female genital mutilation is condoned in this view of human sin.
FEMALE GENITAL CUTTING IN MODERN TIMES
Holland notes that in the Torah (Jewish doctrine), women are unclean twice as long for birthing daughters rather than sons. Further, the Torah explains that women who are raped in the city should be stoned to death, and if raped in the country, required to marry their rapist. The fault for being raped is assigned to women rather than men. Some conservative Jewish sects pray to God that they are not given daughters; additionally, they thank God for not being born a woman.
THE TORAH
(Exodus 21:3-4 Says that if a male slave is given a wife by his master (regardless of how long they are wed, how much they love each other or if they have kids) he can not leave servanthood with his wife or children. The woman and children are merely property of the master and their personal happiness or sanctity of family doesn’t matter.)
In the Qur’an (Islam’s holy book), women are less valuable and inferior to men. In paragraph 4:34 “Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other.” In Islam’s Sharia law, women are generally guilty of their own rape and are to be stoned to death or immolated. There are exceptions but proof is an onerous exercise in futility. As witnesses to rape, Holland notes a victim must find 4 men to corroborate a woman’s testimony or she is considered untruthful, guilty, and subject to punishment or death.
THE QURAN
Holland argues that Sharia law denies women the right to an education. (Islamic scholars disagree.) If true, just as the American south feared education of slaves, the Islamic religion fears the education of women. With education, women are bound to seek a better life with more freedom and less domination.
Holland reaches back to ancient Greek philosophers to note that both Plato and Aristotle believe women are afflicted with natural defectiveness. To Plato, that defect is implied in “The Republic” when children are to be taken from their mothers to be educated by the state; independent of a mother’s influence. To Aristotle, women’s defect is in his concept of forms. Women either have no soul or essence that allows for perfect form. Women are mere vessels for the birth of children that come from an essence provided by the sperm of men. Aristotle argues women are subject to men and are, at best, “deformed males”.
ARTHUR SCHOEPENHAUER (1788-1860 DIED AT 72)
Holland notes later philosophers like Schopenhauer and Nietzsche carry misogyny forward. Schopenhauer argues that women have meager reasoning ability. To Schopenhauer, women’s lack of reason and abundant sensuality cause chaos and disruption. Nietzsche has a similar view of women. Nietzsche views women as vixens that need to be controlled; not helpmates, independent humans, or equals to men.
SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939)
Science luminaries also feed the misogynist credo. Darwin suggests women are not as fully evolved as men. Freud creates myths of penis envy and mental dysfunction from normal female physiological conditions. Holland also addresses the misconception of the “blank slate” in science as noted by Stephen Pinker, a modern-day psychologist.
As Pinker notes, fifty percent of who we are, male or female, is determined by genetics. We are not blank slates. There are common genetic inheritances that interact with the environment as we mature. However, each human reacts to incidents in the world in their own unique way. Human beings, whether male or female, react differently to the same incidents based, in part, on their genetic inheritance.
Women and men are different but equal based on a combination of nature and nurture. A truth in science is that the energy producers of life (mitochondrial DNA) come solely from mothers, not fathers. This is quite a contrast to Aristotle’s theory of women as mere vessels of birth. It is a surprise that there are not more misandrists than misogynists.
WITCH BURNED AT THE STAKE
Holland recounts several horrific misogynistic events from history and modern times. A major event in the 15th to 18th century were the witch trials. Tens of thousands of accused witches were tortured and burned at the stake in Europe. The most famous in America were the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. An estimated 80 women were tried in New England with 20 executed and 5 who die in prison.
A NYT’s headline on 3.17.21 shows a Turkish woman battered by her husband. Misogyny is not unique to any country, culture, or religion. Misogyny is a world-wide heart rending tragedy.
Though witch trials and executions are in the past, modern-day Middle East and Eastern countries have trials for women that are raped, tortured, and mutilated for failing to follow religious and cultural norms established by male dominated governments.
SHARIA LAW VIOLATORS’ PUNISHMENT
Holland delves into the rise of Nazism and suggests the idea of the super race are contributors to misogynist beliefs. To some extent that may be true but Hitler’s primary objective is to create a straw man for the ills of Germany. The straw man became the Jews; i.e. the alleged source of all that is wrong with the world. Nazism had much less to do with belief that women are the inferior of men. As Holland points out, Hitler was widely supported by German women.
Hitler’s asexual revolution had little to do with the degradation of women but more to do with the myth of the “other” that is meant to roil and consolidate the masses in defense of a new order. Sexual allure and male domination of women is the least of Hitler’s interests. Experiments on women in concentration camps is a predilection of demented interests of Nazi doctors; not because of belief in misogyny, but belief in a final solution that will create a super race.
WWII KZ SACHSENHAUSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP
Hitler’s relevance to the subject of misogyny is in the creation of an “other”. To a misogynist, the “other” is women for men who succumb to the fiction of male superiority. To the misogynist, women become the source of men’s problems rather than their helpmates or equals.
Misogyny is a cancer in the world’s body politic. Regulated freedom and equal opportunity are its cure. The diversity of human life demands equal opportunity for all. This does not mean everyone is equal but that each should be able to achieve what they are capable of achieving. Regulated freedom is a necessity because all human beings are motivated by money, power, and prestige; each of which can lead to greed, corruption, and hubris. All human beings are subject to the same vices. All men and women should have an equal right to say yes or no to greed, corruption, and hubris. Holland’s point is that women do not have the same rights as men because of centuries of cultural bias.
John A. Farell (Author, former White House correspondent and Washington editor for The Boston Globe.).
“So different and so alike” is what comes to mind in listening to John Farrell’s biography of Richard Nixon. President Nixon is characterized as thin-skinned, vindictive, and dissembling; a description echoed by today’s President. Both make comments reflecting ethnic racism with reprehensible private comments. Both attack news publishers; particularly the Washington Post and New York Times.
However, Farrell shows Nixon to be clearly unlike Trump. Nixon understands political reality while Trump clings to a skewed personal reality.
Nixon and Trump appear both misogynistic, and anti-intellectual. Both viscerally react to perceived slights. Both have morally corrupt views of society.
One uses the FBI and former CIA spies to discredit political’ opposition; the other demands loyalty more than truth from national security agencies.
Nixon avoids unfavorable publicity while Trump manufactures it. Nixon exemplifies international, geo-political, and professional foreign policy while Trump follows an amateurish parochial isolationist foreign policy. Nixon operates from a perspective of power-hungry self-interest, while Trump operates from a “monied” self-interest.
Trump bullies the President of Montenegro.
Nixon is surreptitiously thuggish, while Trump is outwardly thuggish.
Farrell recounts Nixon’s early years of overt and benign support of McCarthyism. Nixon justifies his penchant for exposing communist sympathizers with his successful prosecution of Alger Hiss. (Ironically, Hiss is convicted for a cover-up rather than espionage; just as Nixon is impeached for a cover-up rather than a burglary.)
HENRY KISSINGER (FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE & NAT. SECURITY ADVISER FOR NIXON AND FORD, WINNER OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE)
Nixon and Trump have little respect for experts. Nixon demeans Henry Kissinger, a Harvard educated intellectual, who became Nixon’s Secretary of State and a principal in the negotiation for the first SALT agreement with Russia and the opening of Communist China.
Nixon fires a special prosecutor investigating the Watergate burglary. Trump, according to the Mueller report, orders the same action regarding Robert Mueller.
The only difference appears to have been–members of Trump’s administration refuse to follow orders.
Front page of the Mueller report-text following:
Trump demeans the scientific community by denying global warming and removing America from the Paris Climate Accord.
On balance, Nixon is shown by Farrell to be much more presidential than Trump but the perspective of history weighs heavily on that assessment.
Ending Vietnam at the expense of South Vietnamese is a mixed blessing but Nixon stopped the carnage. Opening China to the world is a great American accomplishment which history fairly attributes to Nixon and Kissinger.
Nixon, like all human beings, is flawed. He is not the first President to lie. He is not the first President to kill innocents. Only time will tell if Trump is more than what he seems.
NATHAN HILL (AUTHOR, AUSTRALIAN ACTOR, PRODUCER, AND DIRECTOR)
Nathan Hill models the mythology of tricksters in his latest novel, “The Nix”. In Hill’s story, “The Nix” is everyone’s companion; sometimes acknowledged—sometimes not, but always there. It plagues life with uncertainty. As an amoral spirit and seer, it carries the experience of generations. It carries the past; interferes with the present, and manipulates the future.
The purpose of “The Nix” in one’s life is to manipulate the future. “The Nix” plays with human lives that hurt those who are closest to them. Hill pictures “The Nix” as a ghost that follows a Norwegian immigrant to America. The Norwegian marries, finds work at a napalm producing corporation, and parents a daughter who becomes the Nix’s new human plaything. The Norwegian father loves his daughter but fails to express his love constructively. He is hyper-critical of his daughter’s accomplishments.
The father frightens his daughter with a story of “The Nix” who lived with him in Norway, traveled with him to America, and now lives in the basement of their mid-west home. He explains how one may inadvertently anger “The Nix” by spilling water that trickles down into the basement.
The father frightens his daughter with a story of “The Nix” who lived with him in Norway, traveled with him to America, and now lives in the basement of their mid-west home.
The daughter constantly struggles to impress her father. She fails to live up to her own expectations. She becomes psychologically paralyzed by concern for what her father thinks. To add to her woes, she presumes she has offended “The Nix”. She acquires a melancholy and romantic view of life that ruins her future marriage and scars her only son.
Hill captures the trials of three generations; i.e. millennials, the “Greatest Generation”, and the “baby-boom generation”. Hill describes interests, obsessions, and consequences of living in the age of technology, WWII, and Vietnam. He ties each generation to the luck and circumstance of life with the presence of everyone’s “…Nix”. He shows how history does not repeat but shows how it rhymes (as Mark Twain noted). We become like our parents because we carry their genetic markers and habits; sometimes we inherit a trickster, a ghostly companion called “The Nix”.
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION 1968
Hill’s story begins with an abandoned eleven-year-old boy and his father. A young mother and wife leaves her young son and husband to re-invent herself. She is a part of the “baby boom” generation. Though she loves her son, she feels driven to return to the most tumultuous time of her life. It is the time of the Democratic Convention in Chicago; i.e. when Hubert Humphrey is nominated by the Democrats for President of the United States. She becomes embroiled in the youth movement that disrupts the nominating convention in Chicago with marches against America’s role in Vietnam.
The daughter is arrested by a troubled and angry police officer. She is thrown into jail. She prays to her God to release her from her predicament.
Her experience in Chicago illustrates the presence of “The Nix” in her life. She is arrested by a troubled and angry police officer. She is thrown into jail. She prays to her God to release her from her predicament. In her dreams, she is visited by “The Nix”. She makes a bargain with “The Nix” to return to her father’s home in the Midwest, and marry her hometown boyfriend if she is released from jail. “The Nix” bargains with her in a way that determines her future; i.e. the abandonment of her son and husband, and a search for her father’s past in Norway.
Her deliverance from jail comes from a fellow protester. She falls in lust, if not love, with the protester
Her deliverance from jail comes from a fellow protestor. She falls in lust, if not love, with the protester. The trauma of police brutality, and her bargain with “The Nix” compel this mother-to-be to return to her mid-western roots; but, with a romantic remembrance that stays with her; even when she marries a man she thinks she does not love. Though her future husband is not aware of her pregnancy, the proximate time of her marriage makes the boy’s birth seem like her hometown boyfriend’s offspring.
Hill cleverly reaches back and forth in history to show the son growing into an adult; becoming a college professor, and by luck and circumstance, becoming re-acquainted with his mother after her thirty-year absence. In this re-acquaintance, the theme of Hill’s story is crystallized. Along the way, listener/readers are introduced to the millennial generation. One is struck by the millennial generation’s grasp of technology and what becomes a perception of the moral and ethical behavior of this new generation. Obsession with gaming, self-imposed isolation, and entitlement are characterized as endemic characteristics of this new population cohort.
THE GREATEST GENERATION
The author ventures back in history to reveal a mystery that surrounds the abandoning mother’s father and what he did when he lived in Norway. His life experience is a reflection on the “Greatest Generation”; i.e., those who lived through WWII. The secrets of his life in Norway are revealed toward the end of Hill’s story. It speaks to what some of the “Greatest Generation” did not do to give them such an exalted title and reputation.
This is a story that exposes weaknesses in every generation. There is plenty of immoral and unethical behavior to go around. Hill implies it is because of the presence of “The Nix” in everyone’s life. Good and evil are two faces of “The Nix”. It inhabits everyone’s life. Humans have free which will turn to either good and/or evil (as noted in Kierkegaard’s “Either, Or”).
With some criticism of the author’s use of too many clichés, “The Nix” is a clever and thoughtful reflection on mythology, history, and human behavior. One of Hill’s clever analogies about “History” is the example of the Chicago Democratic Convention in 1968. He describes the historical event as a drip of water, in a bucket of water, dropped into Lake Michigan. The 1968 convention is like every event in history. One historical event is a part of a vast picture so big it cannot be seen whole; let alone, understood.
The context of history is too big for any human being to understand. The idea of the “…Nix” encompasses a much larger picture than one historical event. “The Nix” implies every historical event is subjective. In other words, history never repeats, but it does rhyme. Today, the “…Nix” appears on Putin’s shoulder directing an unwinnable war.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
Written by: Trevor Noah
Narrated by: Trevor Noah
TREVOR NOAH (AUTHOR AND HOST OF “THE DAILY SHOW”
Trevor Noah’s “Born a Crime” is no joke.
Remembering when Trevor Noah took over the “Daily Show”, thoughts of a South African replacing an American, places one in two minds. One mind thinks how could a person not born in America understand the politics and culture of a country satirized by a TV show? Another mind thinks the “Daily Show” will become more culturally relevant with a commentator that satirizes more than just American culture.
JON STEWART (COMEDIAN AND FORMER HOST OF “THE DAILY SHOW.)
The answer to the first mind’s question is answered by the second mind’s conclusion. Personally, it is sad to have witnessed the loss of Jon Stewart’s insightful American commentary. However, Noah offers a perspective that is equally insightful; admittedly cringe worthy at times, but more universal.
TREVOR NOAH AND HIS FATHER
“Born a Crime” is testament to Noah’s cultural diversity and universal insight.
When Noah is born, he is “Born a Crime” because South African Apartheid made mixed conjugal relations a criminal offence. Noah’s father is a white Swiss entrepreneur and his mother is a black South African. They choose to have a son, though they never marry. Noah’s mother names her son Trevor because the name gives him the distinction of being neither African black, nor white but a citizen of the world.
Noah is a challenging son. He shows himself to be a hyperactive, non-violent, trouble-maker in his youth. He is born into poverty but raised by a mother who believes in a moral code of unshakable faith. In his youth, Noah defies most of his mother’s inner direction and strict, sometimes physically punishing, discipline. Retrospectively, Noah acknowledges how much his mother loved him, and how her fortitude presumably made him mentally tough, independent, and irreverently objective.
Noah’s story is a tribute to his mother. She inspires a listener to understand the importance of family, respect, love, and faith.
As a youth, Noah steals, becomes a black-market maven, and juvenile delinquent.
His intelligence is used to organize a group of delinquents to make a living in a South African ghetto. He rationalizes his thievery as a game to outwit the local police and fellow miscreants in a dysfunctional culture born of the remnants of apartheid. He broadens rationalization of criminality by believing there is no harm; no foul for theft because of insurance company reimbursement of societies’ wealthy, the unfairness of Apartheid, and the reality of poverty and hunger.
Noah explains how black-markets develop and how it is difficult for poor people to escape its allure. It is the same circumstance that feeds drug cartels. Theft, like drugs, is a way of making a living in the ghetto. Both industries recruit the unemployed by offering jobs, potential wealth, and identity.
Noah notes that ghetto gangs are more in touch, supportive, and caring of the poor than the government. Gangs take care of their neighborhoods by being more involved, more considerate, and helpful when it comes to the needs of the poor. However, Noah fails to fully assess how the poor are victimized by gangs that prey on the same people they purportedly help. It is a blindness repeated in a vignette about a boy named Hitler.
An example of a “cringe worthy” observation by Noah is his explanation of his lead dancer in one of his schemes to make money in the ghetto. His little group of non-violent delinquents are hired to provide entertainment at a Jewish school in South Africa. Noah is the disc jockey. His star dance performer is a young black African named Hitler.
Noah implies that he is ignorant of Hitler’s atrocities in WWII. This is somewhat incredulous considering Noah’s intelligence.
In any case, Noah’s music heightens the excitement of his audience and he calls on Hitler to dance to the music; with a dance that includes a Hitlerian salute. Naturally, the room goes silent.
Noah gets into an argument with the person who hired his group. Noah suggests his ignorance led to a misunderstanding. He writes that when one considers the millions of black people murdered through Apartheid and slavery, Hitler is just a name given to the dancer by his mother. Black genocide and slavery is an ugly “cringe-worthy” excuse to justify Hitler’s murderous antisemitism. Putting the Hitler vignette aside, Noah’s story is a condemnation of discrimination in all forms.
Noah returns to the subject of his mother’s life with an explanation of her marriage to a black South African (Abel Shingange) who Noah describes as unconventionally handsome with a penchant for violence. He marries Noah’s mother and they have two children together. Noah is in grade school. Their life as a family lasts for over 17 tumultuous years.
The story of Noah’s mother reflects on global discrimination against women. His stepfather is shown to have been raised in a patriarchal family that emphasizes the superiority of men over women.
Women, in Abel Shingange’s life, are expected to bear children, be silent, cook and clean house, be dependent on their husbands, and respect males in all circumstances of life. Noah’s stepfather insists on that relationship in his newly formed family.
Noah’s mother comes from a completely different perspective. She is an independent soul who chose to have a child “Born a Crime” and who believed the only God is God and not man. Noah’s stepfather interprets her opinion and attitude as disrespect for his role as husband.
Noah’s mother is shot three times by his stepfather. Noah’s stepfather fired a bullet in her buttocks, her leg, and the back of her head. The government, presumably run by men, decides that the needs of two boys who remain in the home need the support of their father. Ironically, Noah notes that his stepfather rarely supported the children or family, and drank the profits of his labor. His mother had been the primary financial support of the family.
Noah’s stepfather is walking the streets of South Africa as a free man today. Surprisingly, Noah’s mother is alive. Through a miracle of circumstance or God, the bullet to the back of her head missed her brain.
Noah knows what it is to be poor. Undoubtedly, Noah now knows what it is like to be rich. More importantly, it seems Noah has adopted his mother’s independence and, from his life experience, a superior perception of reality. “Born a Crime” is no joke.
DANIEL N. ROBINSON (DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF PHILOSOPHY AT GEORGETWON UNIVERSITY)
A conclusion that might be drawn from Professor Robinson’s history of philosophy is–Amy Coney Barrett’s religion cannot be a basis for dismissal from U.S. Supreme court nomination. To Robinson, a judge’s deliberation is based on living life in a world where science and religion are compatible.
God is not dead in Professor Daniel N. Robinson’s erudite and entertaining survey of “The Great Ideas of Philosophy”. Robinson’s choice and interpretation of philosophical ideas infers there is no contradiction of science in religion except in ignorant interpretation of one or the other.
In Robinson’s “Great Courses”, science and religion represent a marriage of necessity. Atheists, religious scholars, skeptics, and scientists may be appalled but Robinson implies nothing in religion or science contradicts creation, evolution, free will, or an omniscient and omnipresent God. Robinson concludes that it is beyond the ken of the human mind to approach an experimentally provable explanation of a prime mover; i.e. a source from which something came from nothing.
Robinson reviews the course of philosophy from the ancient Greeks to selected present-day philosophical ideas. He argues that science and religion explicate and complement knowledge of existence. Early heroes of philosophy range from Homer to Hippocrates to Aristotle. With storytelling and explanations of Stoic and Epicurean ideological movements, Robinson lays the foundation for philosophy’s growth.
Robinson recounts Homer’s tragic and triumphant stories of ancient wars, the medical philosophy of Hippocrates, and the testaments of Plato’s politics and Aristotle’s science. He credibly and creatively builds the foundation of philosophy. These great intellects pursue explanations for the unknown origin and nature of things and beings. Each pillar rising from the foundation reveals more questions than answers but inevitably point toward life’s purpose and understanding. Robinson argues that Aristotle is the first to develop a concept of scientific investigation through experimentation.
Aristotle owes some of the idea of science to Plato’s conceptualization of human nature in an idealization of a perfect city-state, or polis. One of “The Great Ideas of Philosophy” begins with Plato’s “Republic”. The scientific principle of Plato’s “Republic” is in investigating something bigger (the polis in this instance) to understand the nature of individual beings. It is a method of science for understanding the details of nature’s order by investigating a singular life within a social framework of something bigger. A city-state, the polis, is defined and idealized in Plato’s book.
Plato explains some citizens are born as warriors, as builders, as merchants, as slaves, and a few as philosopher Kings; each contributes to the well-being of a city-state. The whole is greater than its parts but each part is benefited by the whole. Every individual in a city-state, like every organ in the body, has a purpose based on what he/she does best. Plato’s “Republic” categorizes members of the Polis into functional groups based on virtue. Virtue is defined as being the best at what one does in their category of birth.
Robinson notes that the Socratic method of investigation comes from stories written by Plato. These stories are a precursor to Stoic philosophical development. Plato’s story of Socrates’ choice of death and his idealization of government in “The Republic” remove passion from decision-making. Virtue comes from dispassionately assessing the human condition and responding with a wisdom based on belief in justice, rule-of-law, and temperance. Aristotle expands on these ideas in the “Nicomachean Ethics”.
PRINCIPLES OF THE NICOMACHEAN ETHICS
Plato’s parable of the cave in which humankind is chained; facing a wall and seeing only shadows of reality, exemplifies the difficulty of clearly knowing the truth of nature. Only in removing those chains can one begin to see and understand reality. As Plato’s story goes, those who see the truth are unable to convince those who remain in the cave. It is a story that is repeated in history as science progresses with fits and starts because of resistance from those who remain chained. Science progresses as experimental proof removes the doubts of the cave dwellers. However, Robinson notes that even when the truth is experimentally proven, doubt remains. He notes Karl Popper’s observation that infinite experimentation is impossible; therefore truth, at best, is a probability; not a certainty.
Robinson explains that the Stoic movement provides a bridge for religion to enter the secular life of the Roman Empire. The principles of Christianity provide a foundation for law within the Roman Empire. In offering a philosophical basis for dispassionate adjudication, Christianity becomes an essential part of Roman hegemonic influence.
The discipline of religion and law leads to the creation of the university, a citadel of teaching. The great religions of the world gravitate to this form of political and educational influence. Inquiring minds are stimulated in this environment.
The principles of scientific investigation reappear with a stoic influence that moves humanity to a more secular view of life and its purpose. Soon, the so-called Renaissance displaces the so-called Dark Ages. Robinson takes issue with these categories of history because he finds growth of human understanding in both eras. He also finds violation of human rights in both eras.
CHARLEMAGNE IMAGE (REIGN 12.15.800 TO 1.28.814, BORN 768, DIED 814)
The Frankish Emperor Charlemagne is noted as a prominent leader during the “Dark Ages”. He sets the stage for a modern Europe. The Magna Carta is created to reduce the monopolistic power of European monarchs.
Robinson suggests the seeds for Enlightenment are sewn during the “Dark Ages”. Influential monks like Benedict of Nursia became a model for most Western monasteries that dictated the lives of congregations. Giant strides in science and math were made in the Islamic world during the “Dark Ages”. Art and literature flourish during the rule of Charlemagne. The Agricultural Age and the development of community settlements is born in the “Dark Ages”.
The brutality of the “Dark Ages” does not disappear in the Renaissance. Though the Renaissance is characterized by great leaps in knowledge from men like Francis Bacon, Machiavelli, Galileo, Bruno, Montaigne, Hobbes, and others; witches were burned at the stake for being agents of the devil.
WITCH BURNED AT THE STAKE
Witch hunting and condemnation aside, these early Renaissance men set the stage for Descartes, Newton, Locke, Hume, Voltaire, Thomas Reid and others. Many of these Renaissance men are deeply religious; however, they explain the world and human nature in scientific terms.
The mysteries of life explained by religious fiat are systematically replaced by “I Think; Therefor I Am”, “We build too many walls and not enough bridges”, “The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom”, or “There is no greater impediment to the advancement of knowledge than the ambiguity of words.”
Robinson suggests that the American Constitution is a document created from the progress of Philosophy that began with the Greeks and evolved through social experimentation; founded on religion and science.
He particularly refers to the Federalist Papers and the participation of Madison, Hamilton, and to a lesser extent, Jay in writing the Papers to convince the American public of the need for democratic government.
Washington’s and Jefferson’s contribution to the establishment of an American government is founded on the tenants of religion and science. Religion inculcated morality and ethics for equality and justice for all. Science inculcated past social experiments to create a government of checks and balances.
Robinson offers more contemporary philosophical change wrought by Kant, Hegel, William James, Wittgenstein, and Turing but all revolve around two essential philosophical ideas. One, know thyself, and two, recognize we are chained to a cave wall; with little hope of finding truth accepted by all.
These lectures are biased toward western civilization but they offer insightful commentary on where western progress came from; what it is, who shaped it, and where it may go.
Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords is reminiscent of ignorant industrial luddites. Innovators like Musk pursue an opportune future while Trump and others pursue the mythology of the past. Both Musk’s and Trump’s errors are human, but their consequences are hugely different. Vance’s biography of Musk shows releasing dragons can benefit society. Trump’s dragons are only likely to harm society. In history, Musk will be remembered fondly; Trump will be recalled sadly.
Hill captures the trials of three generations; i.e. millennials, the “Greatest Generation”, and the “baby-boom generation”. Hill describes interests, obsessions, and consequences of living in the age of technology, WWII, and Vietnam. He ties each generation to the luck and circumstance of life with the presence of everyone’s “…Nix”. He shows how history does not repeat but shows how it rhymes (as Mark Twain noted). We become like our parents because we carry their genetic markers and habits; sometimes we inherit a trickster, a ghostly companion called “The Nix”.
Hill cleverly reaches back and forth in history to show the son growing into an adult; becoming a college professor, and by luck and circumstance, becoming re-acquainted with his mother after her thirty-year absence. In this re-acquaintance, the theme of Hill’s story is crystallized. Along the way, listener/readers are introduced to the millennial generation. One is struck by the millennial generation’s grasp of technology and what becomes a perception of the moral and ethical behavior of this new generation. Obsession with gaming, self-imposed isolation, and entitlement are characterized as endemic characteristics of this new population cohort.
This is a story that exposes weaknesses in every generation. There is plenty of immoral and unethical behavior to go around. Hill implies it is because of the presence of “The Nix” in everyone’s life. Good and evil are two faces of “The Nix”. It inhabits everyone’s life. Humans have free which will turn to either good and/or evil (as noted in Kierkegaard’s “Either, Or”).
LAS VEGAS REVIEWS AND VIEWS 