Random Acts of Questioning

Professor J,

 The Tea Party/Dallas article was fascinating. Over the weekend I had so many encounters with the same kind of thinking, always explained in vagueness or easily recognizable sound bites. Flat out quoting someone on the radio. How does one begin to explain that a talk show host is not a source? Sometimes I ask questions but often the thinking is so ingrained and the "information" so readily accepted without question that I just order another drink and wait for an opportunity to change the subject.

 I'm more comfortable with questions that I am with answers. Trusting the answers is problematic as well. But I tend to be equally suspicious of all parties. I'm perplexed at those who reject all information or ideas because of who they come from while accepting all information and ideas from those they agree with. It is frustratingly bizarre. Anyone else?

And yes of course any combination or all of those reasons for lack of change, could be true at the same time, or none of them.

The Kennedy assassination does seem to mark a clear death of innocence and trust. Followed by an unpopular war, Watergate, and recession people seemed to find comfort in continued polarization instead of unity and problem solving.

Changing gears: 
 
I was shopping in Victoria's Secret recently and noticed that the other shoppers were mostly younger than me. I walked to the next store and noticed that for the most part, women older than me were shopping for housewares and candles. It made me wonder, at what point did these women give up? The housewares/candle crowd was without style, makeup, or attitude. And smiles.

I thought about the physical, mental, and emotional connections to aging.

I suspect feeling "old" happens when you stop enjoying the use of your body. Sex goes, (or it is let go) and if you've never been active you may not even know how good a breathless, sweaty, blood pounding body can feel. (I'm talking about exercise) or at least hard physical work. Which people tend to try to avoid as they age along with simple things like taking the stairs.

With most physical pleasures gone, and pain, stiffness, and lethargy taking over, the only enjoyable physical activity often left to people seems to be eating.  I recently heard one elderly relative comment to another while visiting "It's the only thing we've got left."

At some point for many people, the body only becomes a source of aches and pains. The pleasure of it is gone. Scooters replace walking because walking is hard. In my travels I have never seen anyone riding such a thing. In Italy and France you see elderly people taking the stairs without trepidation. In Scandinavia people of all ages are out and about doing the shopping or riding bikes, in China my son witnessed women he estimated to be between 70 and 80 climbing a mountain to sell their wares to tourists. He noted that it wasn't an easy climb for him at 18 and these women did it two or three times a day. In Ireland at a street fair the grandparents, parents, and kids were all singing the same songs together.

So...is America sucking the life out of us?

Is our culture the culprit?

For all our anti-aging efforts in pharmaceuticals and cosmetic procedures, is the best chance we have to stay active and happy for the duration of life possibly to expatriate? Not that I'd need much of a push to do that at this point. Please refer to paragraph one.

And finally (how many random topics can I cover in one post?), this idea of shopping on Thanksgiving: our time starved, over stressed, ragged families don't need one more distraction. The important things we sacrifice for the trivial, the level of competition that can be dragged out for shopping and eating...I am continually baffled.

 “He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.” ~ Lao Tzu

What would happen if people, in addition to thinking of things they are thankful for, also took a few moments to just be content? To say, what I have is enough.

Wouldn't that be a happy Thanksgiving? 

 One more thing (isn't there always?): Sometimes the Universe sends a friend along just when you need them to help you find your voice. It's one of the things I'm thankful for. :)

 

Aching Voids

Madame:

The “right” does indeed bemoan much and sentiments are often similar.  While George Will correctly points out some similarities, much of what the rest of the right bemoans does not stand up to historical or factual scrutiny.

The more things stay the same...  Your laundry list is a concise but accurate one.  It would seem that those who want things to stay the same are winning…

Your questions on possible reasons for the lack of “change” are not necessarily mutually exclusive…

Yes, two years.  My, my.  Wouldn’t that be something today.  We do, actually, occasionally get those, but they are from unknown individuals who are usually quickly marginalized in an era where the press/media is expected to make money on “news”—meaning, for the established media, things mostly all become about infotainment at best.

This weekend was the 50^th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination.  The title of your post seemed perfectly appropriate given the similarities between then and now—billionaires funding hate media and political interference; radical politicians fanning hate and extreme positions; questions of healthcare; a distant war; etc.  While the Tea Party blanket might be overwide, the article by a Texas journalism professor (how sad that journalist professors are doing the work of historians who have largely abdicated the task of being modern-relevant) gives food for thought that today’s environment didn’t spring whole born from nowhere.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/tea-party-has-roots-in-the-dallas-of-1963/2013/11/20/9cb59b4c-3cf4-11e3-b6a9-da62c264f40e_story.html

Something he doesn’t bring up is that America was far more prosperous then, had a thriving middle class, and had dramatically less debt, although it did also have the diversion of the Cold War.  It was also in the midst of a youth bulge that would have transformative possibilities (and perhaps consequences!).  Comparisons are rarely perfect or complete.

But there is little dispute that American optimism, aside from moments—fleeing moments—has not been the same since.

How wrenching to realize how much that one person’s life/death, or one event, can affect a society, even a world society, for decades, even generations, and that some effects just don’t seem to go away even over long periods of  time.

The lives of those who at least seem to want to do great good affect us that way when they are cut short.  Whether those lives be named Lincoln, Gandhi, Kennedy, Malcolm, King…  

The More Things Change...

Professor J,

As I watched the Kearns/Stewart clip I thought about how we hear the exact same sentiment from the right. Everyone drones on about how we aren't the country we use to be, things are getting worse, and we are headed for disaster. I chuckle to myself when I remember listening to Glenn Beck on the radio in the fall of 2008 claiming he had an "inside source" and that "we won't even recognize this country in two years."

Hmmm...still have the Patriot Act, war, spying on American citizens, corrupt politicians, corporations calling the shots, polarization, misinformation, and sound bite thinking.

Looks pretty recognizable 5 years later. 

The reality turned out to be that this president is more of the same than anyone anticipated. On the right or left. (I know you hate these trite left/right descriptions and plenty of people are all over the spectrum about various issues, but I'm trying to be concise.) Conservatives long for the 1950s which they view, as people generally do about the past, as better than it was. We often hear talk show hosts, pundits, or friends talk about how much worse things are in our country now.

I often ask "worse for who?"

Women? African Americans? Our gay friends? Children? Employees? A young woman who wants to be a doctor or lawyer?

And yes. I'm noticing how liberal that sounds. ;)

On the "left" I think part of the seeming depression is just profound disappointment. People who were true believers in Obama (by this I mean they expected more than just another politician) are having to deal with things like revelations of domestic surveillance, the use of drones, and things like healthcare and being slow to move on other promises. His supporters believed his promise about transparency and it hurts to find out one politician is just very much like another. And the reasons for that are uncomfortable to think about. Does power just corrupt so quickly, were people fooled all along, or did a man with good intentions get elected to find out he really isn't going to be allowed to do much by the people with the real power?

Frustrating, isn't it, that we will likely never know the real answer.

And so much seems out of our control. I think people feel increasingly powerless, no matter what their political leanings and it leads to that escapism and diverted attention. In the course of busy lives and trying to make ends meet people wonder why they should get so upset about things they don't feel like they can change. I have a feeling it's like that saying about books: You don't have ban them if people don't bother to read them. Likewise, no elected official has to bring about real change or solve problems if people aren't asking the hard questions or expecting things to be different.

And as Kearns pointed out in the aforementioned interview, much of that is the job of the press. Were you as shocked as I was to hear her say that journalists were given 2 years (!) to work on a story? Now a Twitter post qualifies as news.

I find it impossible to predict what the biggest stories or trends might be next year. Some days the world seems to be changing by the moment and other times I look at Gibbon on the shelf and think nothing much has changed at all.

In Search of Real and Meaningful Good Trends

Madame,

Disconnected, over-individualized societies feel more anxious and less safe, and are more prone to fear-mongering.

You may have figured out part of the reason that the French can be known for fattening food, yet aren’t generally fat.  You rarely need an excuse to travel (nor do I!), but you’ve given yourself an enticing one though! :)

Madame, and our readers, already know my position on excessive corporate dominance, and yes, it, along with plutocrat co-dominance and and a self-diverted, meagerly informed, and apathetic public, probably constitute our main problem that drives most others.

How timely you might find Hedges’ latest article on Truthdig, “The Revolutionaries in Our Midst.” (http://www.truthdig.com/report/page3/the_revolutionaries_in_our_midst_20131110) Here’s an excerpt, where a present prisoner of of conscience in America gives some thoughts:

“He insisted he did not see himself as different from prisoners, especially poor prisoners of color, who are in for common crimes, especially drug-related crimes. He said most inmates are political prisoners, caged unjustly by a system of totalitarian capitalism that has snuffed out basic opportunities for democratic dissent and economic survival.”

“’The majority of people in prison did what they had to do to survive,’” he said. ‘Most were poor. They got caught up in the war on drugs, which is how you make money if you are poor. The real reason they get locked in prison for so long is so corporations can continue to make big profits. It is not about justice. I do not draw distinctions between us.’”

Even historians with the long view and political comedians are having a hard time not being down.  On the November 11, 2013 Daily Show, both Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jon Stewart were visibly depressed and discouraged talking about the absence of investigative journalism, the uncaring, uninformed,and  diverted public, the absence of fierce crusading by public officials for what’s right, and how negative emotion is whipped into a voter turnout to punish those few who do do what’s right.

One may hope that this period we are living in is just a negative interlude to positive action, or at least to some resolution.  Doesn’t somebody want to prove Hedges wrong?

Okay, new topic:  Besides the mid-term elections, what do you think will dominate the headlines of 2014?  Or is that idea just quaint anymore, with our constant evolving news cycle and our inability to focus on anything for very long?

There ARE good trends and good news about significant things out there.  The question becomes, are they significant enough?  Perhaps Madame has the superior perspective!

And maybe I’ll find that I should have waited until morning to post. LOL

We Have Some Nasty Symptoms

Professor J,

Wellbeing is a much more descriptive label. Plus it doesn't bring up memories of boorish coaches, so you know, that's great too. :)

The personal experience of the ACA here has been that in our packet about choosing our healthcare plan for the next year, we were able to stay with the same plan. The packet also included a letter explaining that money had been set aside by the government to be paid to corporations to help offset the cost ("if your company chooses to do so"). And apparently in our case that will happen, but there seem to be lots of glitches, so we'll see. 

Yesterday I had a chance to catch up with a British friend I hadn't seen for several months. We chatted about our recent travels and I commented on how friendly I found the Scots and Irish while abroad. Our discussion touched on travel to other countries and how upon returning to the States (home) we felt less safe, not more. She described her experience of being in a "car park" in England and feeling very wary and defensive as a man came walking briskly toward her. "I suddenly thought 'Oh, wait a moment, I'm not in America.' He turned out to be the most congenial Swede who was on holiday and simply needed directions"

She's interested in many of the same things I am so we talked a while about how this underlying fear wears on people and whether or not it's even a real thing or something created out of thin air by the media. The same way that people are terrified for their children when the statistics clearly show this is the safest time in history to be a child, in Western countries anyway. We wondered as well about the psychological impact of habits like watching the late news just before bed.

On the food front I read recently that French children aren't allowed to snack and that it wouldn't even occur to them to "eat at the wrong time." I wonder how many American kids would even grasp the concept of not being able to eat all the time. Oh, and French parents apparently spank right on the street if they think little Jaques needs it. No snacking at school either it seems, not bringing food from school, and vending machines are banned.

I am simply going to have to make a research trip to France to learn more about this. ;)

I can't help but wonder--is the corporate dominance of our American culture from food to media to healthcare the main problem we have? We seem so out of sorts compared to all the other grown up countries.

Unhealthy Squares

Madame,

Yes, although I believed she took a fall prior doing something she greatly enjoyed (an unfortunately—a fall, not enjoyment—common contributor to “premature” demise in the age advanced).  Many credible tales also exist of kung fu masters well into their 70s and 80s  and beyond whose physical conditioning and exploits have made those decades younger blush in shame.  And your heading above your intersecting circles was “Loma Linda.” I was reminded of Loma Linda native Hilda Crooks, who was still climbing miles high mountains into her 90s (although she did require help in her later years).

The predilection of human beings to respond to the attraction of pleasure and the avoidance of pain is magnified greatly when the pleasure can be made immediate (smoking and eating) and the pain delayed (put out of mind, or even rationalized by the “my friend’s uncle did all the wrong things and still lived to be 90” mentality where they think—their first hand evidence is vague—someone won the health lottery and they will too).

Not sure that “Health” is necessarily a poor label, but if you wanted to use “Wellbeing” that could work too!

On the big front (I mean that in many senses of the word), we are seeing endless political maneuvering between people who are not all that interested in either our health or our lives.  Health insurance companies have done little but be deceitful (raising premiums or cancelling coverages and implying that the people have to just take it, when, in fact, they can go to the exchanges) and deflect blame from themselves onto the hapless Obama administration, which has taken much criticism, some well justified, some not.  Congressional Republicans have been disingenuous, criticizing the health.gov website after not funding the needed amounts for the Health and Human Service Dept for the last 3 years.  It seems part of a disingenuous pattern of first breaking government, and then screaming government doesn’t work.  It would be, to borrow an analogy, like a mechanic breaking your car and then claiming that cars don’t work, or crashing the car into a wall and claiming cars in general don’t work.

Obama has been misquoted (but see below!), his words deliberately twisted out of context, and a press only too glad to go along—after all, controversy is what sells, and it’s a business now, the news (and the truth) be damned.  For instance, his quote about you could keep your coverage was true as far as it went originally—he was speaking primarily about group insurance—but even where it applied just to individuals, the law covers only unchanged policies for grandfathering.  Nearly all of these effectively fraudulent policies that ACA is now forcing the replacing of—and that Republicans such as Sen. Charles Grassley said just a few years ago criminal investigations should be opened up on—are delusional money stealers that provided no real coverage in the fine print, and were just cheap deceptions to entice the poor and unwary. The famous case of the woman carted out by Fox News is worse than a red herring: basic journalism uncovered within a few hours that although her insurance company was raising her rates, she could get much better coverage for a whole lot less if she would just go to the exchanges.

Most of the pricing and coverage “problems” are occurring in the 5% of Americans who were those oddities—not covered by employer or group insurance of any kind. One would never know that from the media coverage, nor would one know that a much higher percentage is getting coverage for the first time.  Nor would one know that a vast majority of Americans are unaffected by the ACA. 

Getting an upgraded policy that covers certain minimum things is part and parcel of ACA.  Is ACA parsing enough in its application, either through law or regulations?  No, and it creates irritating excesses on both individuals and the system.  Something of this size is going to have to go through changes and regulatory adjustments to make sure common sense isn’t lost.  But is it how it is painted by the blind-hate-of-Obama crowd, particularly those who try to pick a single anecdotal case and extrapolate it wildly incorrectly on the whole?  No.  I don’t particularly like Obama or many of his policies, and they have botched much of the rollout, but my dislike is parsed, not wholescale. Criticisms should be valid, not based on sheer emotional vitriol that is ready to attach itself to any good sounding lie or misleading half-truth.  Of course, reasoned discernment is perhaps too much to expect in this age where substance is irrelevant and momentary partisan advantage and image to the low-informed nearly everything.

And speaking of criticisms, the heat Obama and his administration is taking over the “you can keep your insurance” remark(s) IS more than partly justified.   He and his administration cast a wide application to an initial remark, and what’s worse, not only did nothing to correct it, but repeatedly turned it into a misleading half-truth at best and a blatant deceiving lie at worst.  The Obama administration has in this and other things come up as an incompetent mixture of the hapless, the punitive, the deceiving, and the deliberately silent and ignoring, seemingly hoping it will all go away or fix itself. It doesn’t, and they end up on the defensive (admittedly, a position their opponents work hard to inflict on them), unable (if they would even be willing) to attempt to effect the “change” he was supposedly elected—twice—to push.

On a separate note (but maybe not!): The VA governor’s race only reinforced—on steroids—Hedges’ writing about how the end of a civilization (empire) sees an absence of character and surfeit of the inane.

One perhaps positive bit of health news.  The FDA says it is about to issue stringent restrictions on trans fatty acids.  We’ll see!

THE MOST Affordable Health Care Acts

Professor J,

I read this morning that an 86 year old woman who finished the New York Marathon died a day later...in her sleep. That's what people say they want, isn't it? But then most Americans live a lifestyle that says they really want to enjoy smoking, eating a wretched diet, and spending hours in front of the television. I'm constantly intrigued by the ability of humans to fail to face reality and act accordingly. And if I've learned nothing else in the last year, it is that the universe responds to action.

If we are delusional about global problems and things like hunger, poverty, environmental destruction and national problems like our increasing polarization, failing education system (compared to the rest of the world) and idiotic politicians you would imagine people would want a little control. The prudent course of action would seem to be that even if you can't solve all the really big multi-level problems you would take control over whatever is within your power and the number one thing there would be health and well being.

But we see the delusion and distraction continue on a family and personal level. People seem unable or at least unwilling to hash out a personal action plan for improvement.


I recently saw a Ted Talk and then read the book, Blue Zones. (Watch the video here.)  Living longer and healthier, staying active for your entire lifetime and dying peacefully in your sleep without a drug induced stupor is possible, even in America among a group of Seventh Day Advenists in California. All of the people living in these areas had particular things in common. They are, not surprisingly, things that Americans are less and less good at like connecting, and having a sense of purpose.

One of the things I found most interesting in all of this was the need for an Ikagai or reason to get up in the morning. How many Americans have that? You are supposed to be able to articulate it in about 20 words or less. It has overtones of a mission statement reduced to simplest terms.

I'm giving this a lot of thought.

With all the recent talk of health care and the Affordable Care Act, it seems a perfect time to be thinking about health and well being.

Plus, we'll beat everyone to the January resolution rush. ;)

I introduced a new label: Health. Unfortunately it sounds like something I remember being taught by an overweight bored coach between his smoke breaks. Have something better?

Fortress Diverica

Madame:

Yes, the Canadians seemed quite capable of civil discussion.  Even the Native American (Canadian) group that was protesting fracking—and the RCMP’s harsh
response to their previous protest—was civil in discussing.  They were obviously very animated and motivated, but there was no shout/counter-shout like here.  And the crowd was sizable and respectful.  And so were the police.

Sound bites and talking points do seem to have replaced much rational discussion here in the States.  And our society is so disconnected—that lack of a sense of responsibility toward each other, as you mentioned—that so many feel assaulted, unvalued, unlinked.  In an environment like that, how easy it is to feel like a mobile fortress constantly under attack.  Sort of a personal feudalism to go along with the corporate feudalism.  One where we seek out those who are “with” us, and seek to overcome and dominate those aren’t.  True relationships become few—and often shallow.

And the shouting, domineering,  one-upmanship matches ensue as a result.  To keenly listen and not immediately reply is viewed as a sign of weakness by many onlookers, and the persons themselves often feel so besieged in their worldviews that they must defend them constantly.  By attacking.  Preferably preventively.   Using any manner of weapon, intellectually honest or not.

Hyper-individualism and hyper-capitalism breed constant competition.  The All-Yang drives out the Yin, and we are left with polarization, balkanization, and feudal or tribal mentalities in many, and critical thinking-absent “they’re all equally at fault” reactions from those who pay attention casually and occasionally.

And self-awareness is diminished to the point where self-correction of the above is unlikely without great and sustained crisis.  And diversion—the unthinking “free time” use by we masses—unwittingly serves the goals of those who do not want the masses in sustained focus and critical thinking.

My friends are contacting me to play a card game, my television is enticing me to watch, my fantastical books are calling me to lose myself in them…this Professor is no stranger to the siren songs of diversion!  What’s more, no guilt would be had in those pleasures either, were society and civilization on an overall sensible, sustainable path.  But alas…

Perhaps that’s why most of our diversions don’t satisfy for long.