Category Archives: Current Affairs

Juan Williams, NPR, and the risk of telling the truth

Americana, Current Affairs, Psychological Musings

There is something about the public psyche of the united States – and probably every where else too – that loves an obvious, agreed upon, lie.  And punishes anybody who has the nerve – or momentary lapse of caution – to not tell it. I notice this all the time and now – unfortunately – I can't recall very many examples. Jimmy Carter saying he had lusted in his heart was one. Juan Williams saying when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried is another.

  Fulla-doll

Who doesn't.

When Michele and I flew back from Italy just after 9/11, we were waiting for the flight with a group of Orthodox Jews wearing – if that is the right word – Tefillin (Hebrew: תפילין‎) (shown here on Barbie[s]).

Tefillin_barbies

Just as they started to load the plane, the Orthodox guy next to us, dressed completely in black,    wrapped a leather strap around his arm and started praying in Hebrew while rocking back and forth. Michele leaned over and said Now, this really creeps me out. Me, too, it was very disconcerting. 

I'm not saying that either one of us was proud of our reaction but I am totally certain that we were not the only ones. And Juan Williams is far from the only one nervous when a Muslim in full regalia – or, for that matter, in mufti – gets on a plane. That is just reality. It's not logical, duh! But why do we have to pretend it isn't true?       

The New Canon.

Americana, Current Affairs, Film, Psychological Musings

Blade_runner_movie_image_joanna_cassidy

In the comments section on my post on being in the Oakland Museum  – and the New York Times – Tracy Grubbs wrote Your layout reminds me of that scene in Blade Runner. If you keep zooming in you'll find those fake snake scales on her sweater, really. About two weeks ago, an economist from the Obama Whitehouse referenced the Matrix.

Both comments sort of surprised me. And neither one should have. Blade Runner and Matrix are part of the New Canon.  They have become larger than they were when they were just movies. They are part of our culture, like Casablanca or Anne Hall. They somehow exemplify the new zeitgeist.

 

Why isn’t this photo on the front page of the papers ?

Americana, Current Affairs, Psychological Musings, Religion, ,

Prayer
 

Three weeks ago, eight prominent American imams went to Dachau to pray for and commemorate the six million Jewish dead.   It was obviously done, at least partially, for publicity – that isn't bad just like Obama making a speech at a green factory isn't bad – but almost nobody seemed to pay any attention.

One thing we hear over and over again is the meme Why don't moderate Muslims protest extremist Muslims? It turns out that they do, but it just doesn't get reported in very much.

Right after 9-11, a prominent Muslim cleric said Attacking innocent people is not courageous, it is stupid and will be punished on the day of judgment. Another one said Terrorists are not Muslims. And there has been a steady and continuous litany of Muslims condemning violence. But we don't hear much about it.

I don't think it is a conspiracy or laziness. The heading of this post is a real question. I just don't understand why.


A continuum from Stand Up to being president

Americana, Current Affairs, Politics, Psychological Musings

Last week, two guests on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart were especially illuminating. Tony Blair and Tim Kaine. Jon Stewart started out as a Stand Up comic and, from what I read, he still does Stand Up. In Stand Up, the feedback is instant. If a joke is good, he knows, instantly, if it is bad, ditto.

By doing Stand Up, Stewart knows what is happening in the world. Not so much the facts of what is happening, but people's reaction to those facts. He has a direct feel for what is going on. 

I first saw that when I worked for Shapell Homes in the 1970's. When the market crashed – I guess mini-crash would be more accurate when compared to today – the Sales People knew the first weekend. The Sales Manager who was slightly out of it saw the same facts, but didn't quite believe them; but, after two or three weeks, he got the drift. I was Director of Operations and didn't believe it for another couple of weeks but I still couldn't convince Nathan Shapell who thought it was a blip – or something other than a crash.

Our banker, who only got his information from us, was blissfully happy.

Both Tony Blair and Tim Kaine – the head of the Democratic Party – are not only out of the loop, they are  constantly surrounded by sycophants. Every day, they have people giving them good news. So, when they showed up on the Daily Show, they were shocked by Stewart asking them questions that they should have expected but was, really, out of their world view.

Stewart asked Blair something about Iraq that assumed what we all know – that they war was misguided at best, and, more realistically, an epic disaster – and Blair just didn't even get the question. He answered it as if the war had been a huge success. 

When Stewart asked Kaine how he was doing, Kaine answered Great, I'm having a lot of fun. Stewart was surprised and said something like, Really, the Democrats are getting their asses kicked. Kaine tried to brush it off as if Stewart didn't know the real story.

But, of course, Kaine and Blair don't know the real story. And, I am afraid, Obama is even worse informed. Not to the facts, maybe, but to the tenor of what is happening in the country. People are pissed, but I don't think Obama is in a position to see it. 

Democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms…Churchill

Current Affairs, Obama, Politics


Dictatorship2 


This is a picture, released by the White House, of the principal players in the Palestinian – Israeli peace talks walking out of a meeting. That is Hosni Mubarak – the "president" of Egypt – on the far left. Below is how the picture was printed in the Egyptian newspapers. After all, it would be unseemly for Mubarak to be following anybody else.

Dictatorship1