Category: HUMANITY

WORLD COMITY

John Sedgwick gives a glimmer of hope for world comity in his history of American Southwest railroad construction. It may be just a matter of time as long as humans do not destroy the world.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

From the River to the Sea (The Untold Story of the Railroad War That Made the West )

Author: John Sedgwick

Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd

John Sedgwick (Author, American writer and historian who died at the age of 72 in 2o26.)

John Sedgwick’s history of the growth of railroads in America is well written and entertaining. The impact of his history reminds one of the advances of A.I. in America and around the world. His history recounts the movers and shakers of the 19th century that created a rail system that transported physical goods and connected American citizens of the Southwest to the United States.

General Willima Jacson Palmer
William Barstow Strong
Jay Gould

General William Jackson Palmer, William Barstow Strong, and Jay Gould built railroad empires. Palmer built the railroad through the Rockies into the Southwest. Strong built the Santa Fe Railway that moved the rails westward from Kansas. Later, the wealth of Jay Gould raises the stakes and competition between Palmer and Strong. In effect, these men became nation builders who integrated the Southwest into the United States. They shaped rail routes that connected and integrated the Southwest to the economy of America.

Michael Wooldridge, in his Brief History of A.I., explains A.I. also had a roller-coaster history of highs and lows with new highs in this century.

Today, it is not railroads but A.I. and the internet that is connecting not only Americans but the entire world’s citizens, both economically and socially. A.I. and the internet spread ideas and information rather than physical goods, but the end result is economic and societal change. A.I.’s effect is to connect citizens of the world, like railroad rails connected citizens of the Southwest to the United States with product availability, cultural understanding, and sadly, many differences and misunderstandings that are evident throughout the world today.

A.I. and the internet.

Business models grew from singular entrepreneurs’ prerogative to build railroads to improve trade opportunities among America’s States. Just as entrepreneurs of the railroad industry created connections and trade in America’s early history, companies like Amazon in America, and the Alibaba Group in China have created connections and trade in the world. As A.I. and the internet grows–world markets, human knowledge, and decision-making became a possibility for the world in the same way railroad growth connects the Southwest to the United States.

The railroad expansion noted by Sedgwick shows how railroad construction hubs might be compared to today’s scramble for A.I. data centers.

The fiber networks of today are like railroad construction hubs sought by entrepreneurs of the 19th century. For China there is China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom. For America, there is AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and others. These internet models resemble the hubs of early railroad conglomerates. The similarities of rail construction that changed America is like today’s internet that is connecting the world.

Railroads unified American States in a similar way that a worldwide web connects cultures of the world.

Specialization, science research, and coordination of new discoveries have greater potential with the interconnectedness of A.I. systems in ways that remind one of railroad connections of 19th century Southwestern American States. Interconnectedness is shown by Sedgwick’s history of railroads to have hugely benefited American society. The growth of railroads in America is not a perfect story of progress because of the grasping nature of human beings which reminds one of the leaders of all nations that seek power and influence. All of the movers and shakers of the railroad business pass into history but their legacy remains.

One hopes world interconnectedness from A.I. and the worldwide web will, like America’s rail expansion, become the seeds for worldwide improvement.

Sedgwick’s excellent history of railroads in Southwestern America offers insight to technology’s potential for world comity and greater economic prosperity for citizens of the world. The story of railroad construction as the glue that makes the Southwest part of America suggests A.I. and the world wide web may have a long way to go but world unity is at least conceivable if not guaranteed.

John Sedgwick shows how human nature gets in the way of national unity, let alone, international unity. Sedgwick gives a glimmer of hope for world comity in his history of American Southwest railroad construction. It may be just a matter of time as long as humans do not destroy the world.

TECH FASCISM

The rise of Artificial Intelligence is a concern of both politicians and the “Nerd…” generation. One doubts the American government will endorse or succumb to a “Nerd Reich” despite the threat of AI in the wrong hands.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Nerd Reich (Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy)

Author: Gil Duran

Narrated by: Vincent Price & 1 more

Gil Duran (Author, American journalist based in San Francisco.)

Duran has written a provocative book suggesting there is a cabal of tech entrepreneurs like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and others who are engineering a potential master control system that will influence and eventually dominate society. He argues this system of control and influence is creating a “…Nerd Reich” in the sense of Hitler’s Third Reich that initiated WWII.

Leaders of a “Nerd Reich”?

The weakness of Duran’s argument is that most, if not all, human beings have self-interests that are different in ways that are great and small. Theil has strong opinions about what society gets wrong and seeks tech solutions to change societal belief. In contrast, Musk focuses on specific goals, like exploration of space, rocketry, and driverless cars. On the other hand, both show a desire to control humanity’s future like the biblical belief in God’s infallibility. Thiel pursues independent human thought by entrepreneurs not constrained by formal education. Musk pursues civilization-scale engineering based on technological education of the work force. The point is that these two entrepreneurs, like every human being, looks at life differently and emphasizes their personal biases in achieving their goals. Thiel looks for ways to change society by creating entrepreneurs while Musk looks to build things that do not exist with public/private education of workers. The point is that there is no entrepreneurial Tech cabal. There are Tech individuals looking for ways to change the world but in different ways.

Einstein is among a select group of extraordinary human beings.

Brilliant minds do not pursue the same goals. Revelation comes from different pursuits by those interested in different things. Some look for universal truths of science like Einstein while others look for truth about morality like Friedrich Nietzsche. Technologists will pursue both fields of study. They may agree on one avenue of exploration and not the other. There is no single cabal of interest by technologists, there are many different interest groups. Science and philosophical revelation generally come from an individual, not a consortium of people whether technologists, or scientists, or one person. Franklin Roosevelt and Adolph Hitler were leaders with immense power, but their power came from the people they led. The same is as true today as in the times of Roosevelt and Hitler. It is up to society to decide which path, which leader, we will follow.

Peter Thiel and Elon Musk.

The “Nerd Reich” is an exaggerated view of human revelation, discovery, creation, and execution. It does not give a complete picture but only a sliver of life, a period of temporary societal success or temporary failure. There will be and surely are tech cabals today, but that is and always will be the nature of human association or what is called society. Human beings associate with each other because of common interests and pursuits. Revelation always comes from the individual with hangers on that may have played a role in new discoveries, but social change comes from the “many”; not the “one”.

“Reich” is a harsh word to use in respect to people who have a common interest in technology.

Technology is a widely held interest of millions of citizens of every country in the world. However, it is only one discipline among many. Tech association within society is not a singular controller of action or outcome.

Truth or truthiness?

General human judgments are often based on “confirmation bias”. The nature of thought and belief of human beings is often based on evidence that others say is true without personally investigating the basis for their judgement. In addition, we tend to understand information based on things that are compatible with views we already believe. We also have selective memory and tend to forget contradictory evidence. We often fail to consider alternative explanations because of preconceived beliefs that comport with what is being stated as fact or fiction. Further, many are not willing to clearly look at the evidence that supports or denies drawn conclusions.

Reviewing the “Nerd Reich”, one must ask themselves what they have seen that suggests there is a “Nerd Reich”. Does Musk’s actions as an American government employee who fires Department heads and employees at the general direction of President Trump make him a member of the “Nerd Reich”. I think not, in view of his position of Trump’s Presidential appointment and Trump’s ordered direction. President Trump is not, by any stretch of imagination, a “Nerd…”. Trump is simply an autocrat who has risen to the level of his incompetence.

The world will have driverless cars, robotically produced merchandise, and cultures based on A.I.’ service to others in the future.

The rise of Artificial Intelligence is a concern of both politicians and the “Nerd…” generation. One doubts the American government will endorse or succumb to a “Nerd Reich” despite the threat of AI in the wrong hands. At least to those of us who believe AI is a tool of humanity, not a superior form of intelligence.

HUMAN RELATIONS

Celibacy, marriage, infidelity, and the experiences of education, financial security, and life make human relationships unpredictable. Watson’s story shows how unpredictable life can be.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Before I Go to Sleep (A Novel)

By: S. J. Watson

Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy

S. J. Watson (English author, writer, audiologist.)

“Before I Go to Sleep” is a terrifying novel about human relationship. On the one hand, it is a story about memory and identity, trust and deception, power and control. On the other, it is about the immense harm that may come from a psychotic episode of one who has lost control of their temper and behavior. Watson writes a story about a wife, Christine, who is married to Ben. They go through a rough patch in their marriage and Christine has an affair with a man named Mike whom she meets at a coffee pub. Through several meetings and conversations, Christine is seduced and chooses to have an affair with Mike.

Relationship building.

Christine chooses to end the affair, but Mike reacts to her rejection by beating her into unconsciousness. She loses her memory from the brutalization, and in a mysterious way, Christine reconnects with Mike who takes care of her during a long and extended recovery. Her husband, Ben, seems both absent and present during Catherine’s recovery. Mike assumes the role of Ben as Christine’s husband when Ben is not present. Because of Christine’s lack of memory, she remembers neither the faces nor behaviors of what are essentially caregivers in her life. Mike takes Ben’s place by living with and caring for Christine when the real Ben is not present. Mike chooses to become Ben and changes the story of Christine’s brutalization from his attack to an automobile accident as the cause of her injuries. Mike purposefully misleads Catherine about events in her life. He re-establishes an intimate relationship with Catherine as her husband named Ben.

Threats to relationships in life.

Mike’s deception becomes threatened when an interested psychiatrist named Nash wishes to help her recover her memory. Dr. Nash is interested because of the unusual nature of Christine’s memory loss. In one sense, this heightens the mysteriousness of the author’s story because a reader/listener wonders why Nash involves himself in Christine’s life. Presumably, Nash knows something about what really happened to Christine and advises her not to say anything to Mike about his aid because he believes she is not being told the truth about what happened to her. He advises Christine to keep a secret journal of everything that happens in her life to aid recovery of her memory.

Violence against women.

Violence against women by men is a tragic truth that is magnified in patriarchal societies. Of course, women can also be violent, but their history is less often physical, and more often verbal and/or psychological abuse. The author creates a story that draws one into an engrossing thriller about male physical assault that makes a listener/reader want to find out how Christine recovers her memory of what really happened. Christine is lovingly cared for by the man who had brutalized her. This imaginative social relationship gives a tension to the writing that keeps one engrossed in Watson’s story.

Human nature.

What Watson reminds reader/listeners of is the nature and development of human beings. Relationships between people who care for each other are complicated by genetic inheritance, learned experiences, physical characteristics, and emotional stability. Celibacy, marriage, infidelity, and the experiences of education, financial security, and life make human relationships unpredictable. Watson’s story shows how unpredictable life can be.

Patriarchs/Matriarchs

Men and women are different just as races and cultures are different. The key to human progress is equality of opportunity, regardless of gender, race, or culture.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Patriarchs (The Origins of Inequality)

By: Angela Saini

Narrated by: Sohm Sohm Kapila

Angela Saini (Author, British science journalist, reporter for the BBC, written articles for The Guardian, New Scientist, and Wired UK.)

Angela Saini’s book challenges while clarifying the argument that male dominance is grounded in the history of human society. She illustrates how cultures varied in their belief and practice of sexual hierarchy but generally were more patriarchal than matriarchal. Archeological evidence suggests gender relations varied. The fact that such evidence is based on fragmentary archeological evidence and the vagueness of interpretation weaken arguments of either sexes’ superiority. Nevertheless, Saini’s research shows most societies have patriarchal tendencies rather than either equal or matriarchal societies. Her history is well documented, but it is a bit tiresome. Because of her research, and the length of her book, one gets the feeling she narrows her thinking to evidence that only supports a preconceived opinion.

Male or female superiority is not the issue. Equality of opportunity is the gold standard of an equitable human society.

Saini notes cultures in northeast India, an area of China, and the North American’ Iroquois and Shoshone seem to show patriarchy takes a backseat to women’s preeminent role in society. She also notes evidence of bonobo primates that are female that show dominance of their species despite strength differences between the genders. This is credible research that suggests gender strength is not the determinate factor in superiority.

Saini goes on to show strength differences between the sexes is growingly less important with the advance of society.

Women were found as capable of tending to the farm as men during the agricultural revolution; particularly as mechanization became the hallmark of production. In general, Saini’s book fails to recognize belief in superiority is not the cause of gender discrimination. Power structures in communities and nations whether capitalist or communist are not determined by gender differences. Male or female superiority is not a matter of gender equality, but opportunity inequality. Even though male superiority is obviously false, opportunity inequality shows most societies make it appear true.

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

Male and female are complementary sexes that are different in their own ways. Both sexes have the capability of being either workers or leaders or whatever a nation needs as long as each has an equal opportunity to be what they choose to be.

Equality of opportunity, whether it is about race or gender, is the gold standard of human equality and achievement. Historians who identify the ills of society based on gender miss the fundamental point of life which is, as the U.S. Army’ slogan once said, “Be All That You Can Be”. Social organizations that get in the way of that goal diminishes human value and interferes with human progress. Men and women are different just as races and cultures are different. The key to human progress is equality of opportunity, regardless of gender, race, or culture.

MORALITY

“The Road” is a brilliant story about educating society about caring for others.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Road

By: Cormac McCarthy

Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte

Cormac McCarthy (American author.)

There is never any explanation of the cause for an apocalypse in the chilling story by Cormac McCarthy’s in “The Road”. The apocalypse could have been anything from a nuclear war to a cataclysmic event that turns the world environment into a perpetual winter or, in today’s concern, a boiling planet. Either from human action or ignorance human morality, spirit, and society may collapse.

Despite our current American president’s reversal of environmental regulations, global warming is a clear and present danger to the world.

Today’s concerns are global warming, fear of nuclear war, and now–Artificial Intelligence which is capable of creating a technological or medical virus that could destroy humanity. “The Road” is an intimate portrait of a wasteland where the only trust that exists is between a father and his son. Their peripatetic wandering is through an environmental wasteland in search of food and warmth to sustain their fragile lives. The only bond they have is to each other and it is nearing an end. The age and deteriorating health of the father is advancing as Cormac’s story evolves.

A father’s love for a son.

What makes Cormac’s story compelling is the intimate relationship of a father’s love for his son. It is the meticulous building of that relationship that mesmerizes a reader/listener; keeping them in the story. The dire condition of humanity is balanced against the love of a father trying to educate his son about what is important about living a moral life even in the face of societal despair and certain death.

Living a moral life.

One gathers from Cormac’s story that in the face of calamity, whether it is world environmental collapse or the loss of the most important person in your life, the only hope for human beings is to remind oneself of the lessons they learn about being moral and acting morally. The only chance for humanities survival, when civilization is at risk, is for human goodness to survive. The young boy’s father focuses on teaching his son how to be a good and decent human being. Without caring for others and oneself, society will not survive. The foundation of society is in how humans treat each other.

Something more than religion.

Some may argue this is simply a Christian belief, but Cormac is showing it goes beyond religion and is based on human-to-human relationship. Of course, Cormac’s story is about the relationship of father to son, but the fundamental lesson is that every person is related to others as a member of the human race. We are all responsible to and for each other. “The Road” is a brilliant story about educating society about caring for others.

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.

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.

HUMAN FLAW

“Gilead” is a difficult story to listen to or read because one begins with attachment to its main character but ends with recognition that we are all human which by definition makes us flawed.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Gilead (A Novel)

Author: Marilynne Robinson

Narration by: Jim Jerome

Marilynne Robinson (Author, born in 1943, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005. Time magazine lists her among 100 of the most influential people in America.)

As one grows older, Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead reflects on what it is like to be nearer the end than the beginning of life. Some thought is obviously given to Robinson’s title for her book. Considering the fame of Robinson’s writing, one might look up the word Gilead and find it has a biblical meaning as a place of healing and a place of iniquity. Robinson’s point seems that we live in a world of profound moral wrongdoing that is always in the process of healing. One looks back on life and presumes they know Robinson’s reason for writing “Gilead” as a picture of one who tries to be a healer of humanity for our imperfect, sin-burdened lives.

Being a preacher who is also a father, husband, and fellow human being.

“Gilead” is a story of an older husband and father who is heir to generations of preachers in a small mid-western town. The author’s subject is a preacher who is nearing the end of his life. It is about a preacher who lives among people who live in a town populated with educated atheists and deeply serious believers in God and heaven. Putting aside its argument about the value of belief in existence beyond death, it is an entertaining story of a preacher in his 70s. Whether one believes in God or not, Robinson’s story of old age is a reminder of our imperfect lives.

In a marriage, one wonders how any husband and wife might respond in a crisis. Who would take command and who would follow in a crisis?

The preacher falls in love twice in his life. His first wife dies in childbirth. The preacher marries a second time, and his new wife bares a son. He loves his life and hopes to raise a son who he hopes will carry on the tradition of a preachers’ life. However, his son seems disinterested in becoming a preacher. The pains of an older life are detailed and show how even a believer in God and good will toward others does not protect one from the faults of human judgement and society.

There are heroes and villains in America’s Civil War. 

At this point in the story, one sees the preacher as a good man with a family history that shows his grandfather served in the civil war as a union soldier that fought for the freedom of enslaved Americans. In returning to civilian life, he is guardedly received by his adult son (also a preacher) for his role in the war. One actively served in the Union army while his son polished his credentials as a town preacher. This town preacher appears to disagree with his Preacher father’s decision to fight for racial justice; presumably because of reservations about killing fellow Americans for the cause of racial justice. A tension between the son and the returning father is evident in the way the town preacher buries his father’s gun and disposes of his father’s presumed clothing from the Union army. The town preacher shows a level of judgementalism that hints at unspoken prejudice and an emotional reserve that hides a human flaw; i.e. namely, disbelief in the equality of all human beings.

The remainder of “Gilead” addresses the town preacher’s son who becomes a preacher and is the main character of the book.

The catalyst of the story is a returning son of the preacher’s closest friend of 40 years who is also a preacher in this small Iowa town. The prodigal son is viewed as a “good for nothing” highly intelligent young man who broke many rules in his life in Gilead. He left town in disgrace for having impregnated a local girl without marrying her. In his life away from Iowa, he has a son from an interracial relationship that is revealed to the primary preacher of the author’s story. The prodigal son asks the preacher for his blessing. At first the preacher seems reluctant but eventually offers God’s blessing to the now 40 something man who is leaving town. His initial reservation of offering a blessing shows the limits of the preacher’s character. In the end, the preacher shows the boundlessness of his belief in God and heaven with his compassion for what he seems to view as a lost “boy-man”.

“Gilead” is a difficult story to listen to or read because one begins with attachment to its main character but ends with recognition that we are all human which by definition makes us flawed.