I'm coming off a "cluster reunion" this past weekend at my alma mater, dear old Macalester College in St. Paul. And quite a cluster it was! Three different class years all put together in the same place. And quite a group of very "accomplished" people! Yikes--I felt like a total schlub. One of my classmates has given $2 million to the college. Another was governor of Wisconsin a few years ago. Another owns a portion of the horse that placed 3rd in this year's Kentucky Derby. Another (my first debate partner in college) is a high-profile D.C. lobbyist who just gave $2500 to the college and spreads thousands of other dollars around for various political causes and campaigns. Suffice it to say that I wasn't in line for any "Most Likely to Succeed" awards!
At times like these, we are forced to examine our own life and take in some basic principles of Buddhist philosophy. Fight off the envy, my man! Be at peace with what you have! Do not find contentment in material goods! Strive for inner goodness! And, find SOMEBODY who you feel at least a little superior to! (There were a couple such people at this event, but it would be pointless and tacky to say anything more.) But, best of all, appreciate that you are still around to attend these events; I regret to say that I can think of several people out of that era who didn't even live close to long enough to celebrate such a milestone.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Yahtzee and one's legacy
As my thousands--nay, tens of thousands--of loyal readers may know, one of the first things I read each day in the Star Tribune is the obituary column. Yes, I start the day by finding out who has died. Why, you ask? For two main reasons. First, there is a chance that someone I know has died, and from time to time, that truly is the case, and so I need to know. The second reason is a bit more odd, perhaps, and vaguely "philosophical." But it comes down to this: reading the obituaries is my way of celebrating that I am alive for at least another day. It's a recognition that life is transitory, that shit happens, that my shit is waiting as well, but that for now, I need to appreciate that I am still among the living. Any psychologist ought to have a field day with that!
While reading the obits, I also sometimes glance at or pay some attention to the details of some stranger's life. The other day I was reading the notice for a woman named "Patty"--a very nice woman, I'm sure, and her photo revealed a winning smile. But in terms of her existence, the best they could seem to come up with--besides the fact that she "cared for her family, her animals, and the garden"--was that "she enjoyed playing Yahtzee and Scrabble, gardening, decorating, and attending garage sales."
Now, I should tread carefully. One can live a very full and happy life without doing anything "amazing." And one's family, animals, and garden can be a meaningful focal point for a very deep and satisfying existence. Still, I for one would hope that my legacy does not come down to Yahtzee, Scrabble, and garage sales. There's gotta be more to life than that. Although I have many mundane activities that comprise the daily rituals of my life, if anyone is writing a notice for me, please leave out some of the silliest ones! For whatever reason, I don't want to be remembered as "the meanest Scrabble player in town." But then, I can vibrate my uvula, I once memorized the Gettysburg Address, and I enjoy doing the Cryptoquip in the paper each day! Lacking a Nobel Peace Prize, I guess I'll have to live with a smaller legacy. It's just too bad that I'm not an avid Bingo player.
While reading the obits, I also sometimes glance at or pay some attention to the details of some stranger's life. The other day I was reading the notice for a woman named "Patty"--a very nice woman, I'm sure, and her photo revealed a winning smile. But in terms of her existence, the best they could seem to come up with--besides the fact that she "cared for her family, her animals, and the garden"--was that "she enjoyed playing Yahtzee and Scrabble, gardening, decorating, and attending garage sales."
Now, I should tread carefully. One can live a very full and happy life without doing anything "amazing." And one's family, animals, and garden can be a meaningful focal point for a very deep and satisfying existence. Still, I for one would hope that my legacy does not come down to Yahtzee, Scrabble, and garage sales. There's gotta be more to life than that. Although I have many mundane activities that comprise the daily rituals of my life, if anyone is writing a notice for me, please leave out some of the silliest ones! For whatever reason, I don't want to be remembered as "the meanest Scrabble player in town." But then, I can vibrate my uvula, I once memorized the Gettysburg Address, and I enjoy doing the Cryptoquip in the paper each day! Lacking a Nobel Peace Prize, I guess I'll have to live with a smaller legacy. It's just too bad that I'm not an avid Bingo player.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Heil Obama?
As mentioned in some previous posts, I have corresponded quite frequently with a high school friend I have referred to as "Kyle." And Kyle, as you thousands of loyal readers know, is about as far to the political "right" as anyone I know. He's a "birther" who believes that we should eliminate the minimum wage, sees Obamacare as a "power grab" by the feds, and believes that global warming is more than a myth--it's a conspiracy among liberal scientists to obscure the truth. So it should come as no surprise that a fair number of Kyle's posts to me have included references to Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany in the same sentence as Barack Obama. The implicit (and sometimes explicit) claim is that Obama and Hitler and the Nazis have something in common.
I have told Kyle repeatedly that this linkage of Obama to Nazism is at once inaccurate, incorrect, inflammatory, and an exercise in demagoguery. Still, he continues to make such claims, including a tu quoque fallacy--i.e., that those "liberals" have called certain Republicans Nazis, which I guess in his mind makes it OK for him as well to return the favor.
Recent developments make the Nazi analogy even more annoying. Mr. Obama has just announced that he is nominating a Jew for the Supreme Court of the United States--gosh, that's a sure sign of another Hitler! Meanwhile, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that our true-blue, all-American governor, Tim Pawlenty, violated the law by deciding on his own to cut various state budgets--something called "unallotment." And indeed, unallotment is the closest thing we have in this nation to a "dictatorship"; what this move involved was for Pawlenty to flat-out ignore what legislation had been passed by elected representatives, and to trim the budgets based on his own whims as a chief executive. So much for democracy.
Anyway, I ended up telling Kyle that I'm done with such rants. I simply won't read anything else he sends along because it is so offensive that it ceases to be civil discourse. Now I haven't heard from Kyle at all in more than a week since I started trashing his messages. And, it's been very liberating--damn, it just feels good to keep toxic waste off of my screen. Until such time as gay people are forced to wear pink triangles and Jews are shipped off to concentration camps, I think that Kyle should stop playing the "Nazi card," which is nothing like a trump card in my deck. It's more like the Joker. Or maybe not even a card at all. It's just stupid.
I have told Kyle repeatedly that this linkage of Obama to Nazism is at once inaccurate, incorrect, inflammatory, and an exercise in demagoguery. Still, he continues to make such claims, including a tu quoque fallacy--i.e., that those "liberals" have called certain Republicans Nazis, which I guess in his mind makes it OK for him as well to return the favor.
Recent developments make the Nazi analogy even more annoying. Mr. Obama has just announced that he is nominating a Jew for the Supreme Court of the United States--gosh, that's a sure sign of another Hitler! Meanwhile, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that our true-blue, all-American governor, Tim Pawlenty, violated the law by deciding on his own to cut various state budgets--something called "unallotment." And indeed, unallotment is the closest thing we have in this nation to a "dictatorship"; what this move involved was for Pawlenty to flat-out ignore what legislation had been passed by elected representatives, and to trim the budgets based on his own whims as a chief executive. So much for democracy.
Anyway, I ended up telling Kyle that I'm done with such rants. I simply won't read anything else he sends along because it is so offensive that it ceases to be civil discourse. Now I haven't heard from Kyle at all in more than a week since I started trashing his messages. And, it's been very liberating--damn, it just feels good to keep toxic waste off of my screen. Until such time as gay people are forced to wear pink triangles and Jews are shipped off to concentration camps, I think that Kyle should stop playing the "Nazi card," which is nothing like a trump card in my deck. It's more like the Joker. Or maybe not even a card at all. It's just stupid.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Rot at the top
"Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery on society, which increases earthquakes."
- Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedinghi, an Iranian Muslim cleric, blaming women for a spate of recent temblors around the globe
"(T)he feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."
– Pat Robertson
I think that we are all conditioned to believe that people in positions of authority and leadership know what they are doing. The world has to make some sense, doesn't it? Surely these people--whoever they are--must be intelligent and reasonable; after all, they are in a prominent position! Well, that ain't necessarily so, as these two quotations demonstrate--those are a couple of steel-trap minds! (Robertson is especially annoying, if only because I see his mug so often when I'm channel-surfing--how does he get so darn much exposure?)
The latest and rather interesting case: Christopher Hitchens, writing in the current Newsweek, makes the argument--and a rather strong one at that--for bringing up the Pope on criminal charges, given the protection which pedophiles have gotten within the Catholic Church, in some cases with the direct involvement of the Pope himself. Even yours truly, a skeptical heathen type, was surprised to encounter this point of view and to seriously entertain it for the first time. I mean, he's the Pope! How could a Pope be arrested for anything? The Pope sent off to prison for obstruction of justice? It's almost incomprehensible--that is, until you consider the utter humanity that we all share. The Pope is a guy named Joseph Ratzinger--call him "Joe" if you want, because he is in the end just an Ordinary Joe. He puts on his pants the same way you and I do. He trots into the bathroom in the morning to do the same things that you and I do (we share the same throne!). He gets spinach stuck between his teeth. And, like Misters Sedinghi and Robertson, cited above, he is no smarter than you or I; at times like these, notions of "papal inerrancy" seem particularly ridiculous.
There is rot at the top, my friends--and sometimes in the middle or at the bottom! Please help us avoid legitimized insanity in any way that you can.
- Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedinghi, an Iranian Muslim cleric, blaming women for a spate of recent temblors around the globe
"(T)he feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."
– Pat Robertson
I think that we are all conditioned to believe that people in positions of authority and leadership know what they are doing. The world has to make some sense, doesn't it? Surely these people--whoever they are--must be intelligent and reasonable; after all, they are in a prominent position! Well, that ain't necessarily so, as these two quotations demonstrate--those are a couple of steel-trap minds! (Robertson is especially annoying, if only because I see his mug so often when I'm channel-surfing--how does he get so darn much exposure?)
The latest and rather interesting case: Christopher Hitchens, writing in the current Newsweek, makes the argument--and a rather strong one at that--for bringing up the Pope on criminal charges, given the protection which pedophiles have gotten within the Catholic Church, in some cases with the direct involvement of the Pope himself. Even yours truly, a skeptical heathen type, was surprised to encounter this point of view and to seriously entertain it for the first time. I mean, he's the Pope! How could a Pope be arrested for anything? The Pope sent off to prison for obstruction of justice? It's almost incomprehensible--that is, until you consider the utter humanity that we all share. The Pope is a guy named Joseph Ratzinger--call him "Joe" if you want, because he is in the end just an Ordinary Joe. He puts on his pants the same way you and I do. He trots into the bathroom in the morning to do the same things that you and I do (we share the same throne!). He gets spinach stuck between his teeth. And, like Misters Sedinghi and Robertson, cited above, he is no smarter than you or I; at times like these, notions of "papal inerrancy" seem particularly ridiculous.
There is rot at the top, my friends--and sometimes in the middle or at the bottom! Please help us avoid legitimized insanity in any way that you can.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Embracing the absurd
Ever in touch with the absurd, I am reminded again of how at any waking moment--at this very moment--there are billions of different realities. As we in the U.S. herald the launching of the iPad into our cyber-environment, as we get into our hybrid cars and watch our plasma TVs, there are the people of the Omo Valley in Ethiopia, profiled in last month's issue of National Geographic (arguably my favorite magazine of all).
The tribes which populate the Omo Valley (the Kara, the Banna, the Bashada, the Hamar, and several others) all lead lives that are in stark contrast to the 21st century vibe in the U.S. The Mursi women still wear ornamental clay lip plates, making their mouths look like small frisbees. The Suri tie on armor made of goat hide and fight each other with long poles. There is still the Hamar ritual in which women demand to be whipped until they bleed, and there's the cattle-jumping initiation rite, in which boys run along the backs of cattle to prove they are ready for manhood. And they do most of these things--in classic National Geographic picture form--buck naked, without an ounce of self-consciousness or embarrassment. And I think to myself, what a strange and wonderful world! (Intentional song reference here.)
It goes deeper, though. The differences transcend mere clothing or artifacts. In this part of the world, mingi is a kind of very bad luck. In southern Ethiopia, many tribes believe it is a bad omen if children are born deformed, if their top teeth erupt before their bottom teeth, or if they are born out of wedlock. Tradition dictates that such children must be killed before mingi spreads. The writer of this article (Neil Shea) notes, "I met a Kara woman who gave birth to 12 children before she was able to be married; she said she killed all of them. Parents do not necessarily want to obey, but communal pressure is strong. Sometimes the child is abandoned in the bush, its mouth filled with earth; sometimes it is hurled into the river."
Reading National Geographic is more than a trip through a time machine. It's traveling to another planet--although in this case it turns out to be the other side of our own planet. But, Happy Easter! And because you are where you are--reading this off of a laptop somewhere--put on some clothes, dammit!
The tribes which populate the Omo Valley (the Kara, the Banna, the Bashada, the Hamar, and several others) all lead lives that are in stark contrast to the 21st century vibe in the U.S. The Mursi women still wear ornamental clay lip plates, making their mouths look like small frisbees. The Suri tie on armor made of goat hide and fight each other with long poles. There is still the Hamar ritual in which women demand to be whipped until they bleed, and there's the cattle-jumping initiation rite, in which boys run along the backs of cattle to prove they are ready for manhood. And they do most of these things--in classic National Geographic picture form--buck naked, without an ounce of self-consciousness or embarrassment. And I think to myself, what a strange and wonderful world! (Intentional song reference here.)
It goes deeper, though. The differences transcend mere clothing or artifacts. In this part of the world, mingi is a kind of very bad luck. In southern Ethiopia, many tribes believe it is a bad omen if children are born deformed, if their top teeth erupt before their bottom teeth, or if they are born out of wedlock. Tradition dictates that such children must be killed before mingi spreads. The writer of this article (Neil Shea) notes, "I met a Kara woman who gave birth to 12 children before she was able to be married; she said she killed all of them. Parents do not necessarily want to obey, but communal pressure is strong. Sometimes the child is abandoned in the bush, its mouth filled with earth; sometimes it is hurled into the river."
Reading National Geographic is more than a trip through a time machine. It's traveling to another planet--although in this case it turns out to be the other side of our own planet. But, Happy Easter! And because you are where you are--reading this off of a laptop somewhere--put on some clothes, dammit!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Insanity on a global scale
I like to think that I am an optimist. But when I look around the world, much of what I see is insanity, plain and simple. (Well, insanity may be a little imprecise, and a little too hyperbolic, but suffice it to say that billions of people on this planet--billions of them--lack what I would call good critical thinking skills.)
A significant part of my professional mission is to enable people to think better. But despite my best efforts, there's a tsunami of dogma and ignorance out there that's formidable, and I don't see us overcoming it in the next several decades--maybe the next couple of centuries.
Clearly the most formidable of all those forces is organized religion, which takes dubious thinking to new heights. Because virtually all religions regard their beliefs, and the things that underlie these beliefs, as immutable and inerrant, critical thinking goes right out the window. We're dealing with "Truth" with a capital "T," and no matter how ridiculous the notion (virgin births, 72 virgins in heaven, reincarnation of souls, etc. etc.) it has to be "true" because it's the Word of God. Well, that's just plain rubbish, and anyone with the proper education, including theology students, knows better. But most of the world just follows along as some guy in a funny outfit tells them that if they have impure thoughts, they're going to hell.
I realize that my posture is almost inherently "elitist." But it's really hard not to see the major belief systems of the world as arbitrary and illogical--and yes, even ignorant and stupid. And until we do, I just don't know how we bridge the gaps between people--all we do is perpetuate a bizarre world that is bisected into the "faithful" and the "unfaithful," the true believers and the infidels, the good and the bad.
When Christopher Hitchens says that "religion poisons everything," I regret to say that I think he's basically right. If only religion could be based on uncertainty--if it could, we could all, together, embrace the universe and its many mysteries.
A significant part of my professional mission is to enable people to think better. But despite my best efforts, there's a tsunami of dogma and ignorance out there that's formidable, and I don't see us overcoming it in the next several decades--maybe the next couple of centuries.
Clearly the most formidable of all those forces is organized religion, which takes dubious thinking to new heights. Because virtually all religions regard their beliefs, and the things that underlie these beliefs, as immutable and inerrant, critical thinking goes right out the window. We're dealing with "Truth" with a capital "T," and no matter how ridiculous the notion (virgin births, 72 virgins in heaven, reincarnation of souls, etc. etc.) it has to be "true" because it's the Word of God. Well, that's just plain rubbish, and anyone with the proper education, including theology students, knows better. But most of the world just follows along as some guy in a funny outfit tells them that if they have impure thoughts, they're going to hell.
I realize that my posture is almost inherently "elitist." But it's really hard not to see the major belief systems of the world as arbitrary and illogical--and yes, even ignorant and stupid. And until we do, I just don't know how we bridge the gaps between people--all we do is perpetuate a bizarre world that is bisected into the "faithful" and the "unfaithful," the true believers and the infidels, the good and the bad.
When Christopher Hitchens says that "religion poisons everything," I regret to say that I think he's basically right. If only religion could be based on uncertainty--if it could, we could all, together, embrace the universe and its many mysteries.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Those "elitists" on the left
As I follow the general buzz going on in politics, and when I correspond with my friend "Kyle" (see previous posts), I have been struck of late by how often the word "elite" or "elitist" is attached to either "liberals" or "intellectuals," or anyone with whom the right wing disagrees. Apparently, conservatives and/or Republicans are guided by "common sense" and down-to-earth notions of right and wrong, whereas liberals (especially if they live on the East Coast--funny how that works) are "elitist" and somehow out of touch with ordinary folk, left only with their abstract and pointless theories.
To the extent that one thing which is implicit to elitism is feeling "superior" to the rest of the world, I find it ironic that conservatives should even consider using this word. If there are people who are more cock-sure of themselves and their thinking than the rest of us--i.e., elitist--it would have to be people like Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, and Coulter. Right-wing elitism is not an oxymoron or a contradiction in terms: these people make liberals and intellectuals look fair-minded and reasonable by comparison.
You wanna talk elitism? Bring it on! Liberals and academics may have their opinions, but they also have a better measure of doubt, perspective, and humility. And yes, once in a while (such as when Ms. Palin cannot explain why there are two Koreas or believes that Saddam Hussein was the mastermind of 9/11), the Contentious Introvert can indeed feel a little smug. Maybe even elitist. But for better reasons, I think!
To the extent that one thing which is implicit to elitism is feeling "superior" to the rest of the world, I find it ironic that conservatives should even consider using this word. If there are people who are more cock-sure of themselves and their thinking than the rest of us--i.e., elitist--it would have to be people like Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, and Coulter. Right-wing elitism is not an oxymoron or a contradiction in terms: these people make liberals and intellectuals look fair-minded and reasonable by comparison.
You wanna talk elitism? Bring it on! Liberals and academics may have their opinions, but they also have a better measure of doubt, perspective, and humility. And yes, once in a while (such as when Ms. Palin cannot explain why there are two Koreas or believes that Saddam Hussein was the mastermind of 9/11), the Contentious Introvert can indeed feel a little smug. Maybe even elitist. But for better reasons, I think!
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