I began writing this after Charleston. After Chattanooga, I feel like it is relevant.
As predictably as clockwork, people began talking about 'mental health' immediately after the massacre at Mother Emmanuel. Before the coroner's reports on the 9 victims were complete, before the murderer was captured, people were talking about 'mentally unstable' people and their penchant for mass shootings. This assumption is telling - without knowing anything, many people had decided that a mentally ill person had killed those people.
Now we have the murderer in custody. He has confessed. But there is a catch - he has never been diagnosed with a mental illness. What we do know about him is that he dropped out of the 9th grade, may have been abusing opioids (he was caught with one). He had become reclusive and made people nervous. But this is not the same thing as him being ill.
And yet, I still see people mention 'mental health issues' and describe him as 'mentally unstable'. Most tellingly, I have heard it asserted that the simple fact that he murdered 9 people means that the killer was 'mentally unstable.' And I think that is the rub. In our discourse, it has been decided that the simple act of mass murder is itself evidence of mental illness. This is a problem.
It is a problem for a variety of reasons. First, mental illness is already a vague enough concept. It is defined by a complicated and subjective set of diagnostic criteria. But as flawed as they are, these criteria are what we have. They are defined by sets of symptoms and behaviors. While there are variety of illnesses in the DSM that include violent behavior, there is no entry in the manual that simply says 'murder 9 people' as a diagnostic criteria. Because mental illness is not defined by a single act but by -patterns- of behavior over time. Throwing that out the window in our popular discourse just makes a vague concept vaguer.
I think at it's root this imprecise pathologizing and medicalizing of evil (and that is what it is, evil) serves mostly to condemn, not to describe. When we say he is crazy we are saying the the murderer is bad and wrong and twisted. What would once have been called evil. Perhaps a lot of people today have become so uncomfortable with the word 'evil' and so search for a substitute - so we replace morality with bad medicine.
Moreover, this casual conflation of mental illness an murder only serves to further stigmatize the mentally ill. Because the conflation is aimed at -condemning- someone as broken and twisted, it reinforces the idea that all mentally ill people are broken and twisted and perhaps, dangerous. I am friends with many people with serious mental illness. And I won't sit idly by while they are lumped with murderers because my fellow citizens lack the guts to say the word 'evil'.
So call the murderer's actions evil. Call him evil. Just don't call any of it crazy.
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Appreciation is Interpretation
I have often thought of beauty as something that simply -was-. It was something out there, waiting to be experienced, that would strike my mind and my sense fully formed. This is implicit in how we speak about beauty - when we talk about something being 'striking' or 'breathtaking' we imply an immediate assault on our minds by overwhelming grandeur.
The Corollary of this is that the appreciation of beauty is antithetical to knowledge. It is not that one must be ignorant to admire beauty, but that interpretation and understanding are separate from appreciation. We can be in awe, or we can understand. We cannot do both.
I think this is wrong. Our minds do not passively receive sensory input - they process it based on what we know. If we do not know what we are looking at, we cannot distinguish one thing from another - in a very real sense, we cannot see it. In the absence of knowledge, everything we see is 'that thing there' or 'that other thing' - if we stop to examine, we may notice slight differences between two things, but we will not differentiate the objects as we take in the whole.
I was thinking about this while I was hiking on top of the Allegheny Front a bit more than a week ago. It was a beautiful hike. As I looked around I knew what those bushes were, covered in flowers, on each side of the trail - mountain laurel. And I knew that those larger shrubs, barely coming into bloom, were Rhododendrons or 'Great Laurel'. I knew which trees were birches, and could pick out the pines from the spruce. And because I knew most of what I saw, the plants I didn't know stuck out to me, and I could ask and learn that was a 'mountain ash' and the particular type of pine there was a Table Mountain Pine. Those little points of ignorance were as noticeable as all the plants I knew, because they were an exception.
If I did not know a birch from a beech, if I did not know a spruce from a pine, I do not know what I would see. I suppose I wouldn't see the trees for the forest. And I wonder if there are cases where someone 'doesn't really care for nature' where the cause is not an aesthetic insensitivity, but simply ignorance. Putting an ignorant hiker in the middle of the forest is like sitting down a music novice at the opera, or taking someone who knows nothing of painting to an art museum. If they feel nothing, perhaps it is because they can't feel without first knowing.
I think this is wrong. Our minds do not passively receive sensory input - they process it based on what we know. If we do not know what we are looking at, we cannot distinguish one thing from another - in a very real sense, we cannot see it. In the absence of knowledge, everything we see is 'that thing there' or 'that other thing' - if we stop to examine, we may notice slight differences between two things, but we will not differentiate the objects as we take in the whole.
I was thinking about this while I was hiking on top of the Allegheny Front a bit more than a week ago. It was a beautiful hike. As I looked around I knew what those bushes were, covered in flowers, on each side of the trail - mountain laurel. And I knew that those larger shrubs, barely coming into bloom, were Rhododendrons or 'Great Laurel'. I knew which trees were birches, and could pick out the pines from the spruce. And because I knew most of what I saw, the plants I didn't know stuck out to me, and I could ask and learn that was a 'mountain ash' and the particular type of pine there was a Table Mountain Pine. Those little points of ignorance were as noticeable as all the plants I knew, because they were an exception.
If I did not know a birch from a beech, if I did not know a spruce from a pine, I do not know what I would see. I suppose I wouldn't see the trees for the forest. And I wonder if there are cases where someone 'doesn't really care for nature' where the cause is not an aesthetic insensitivity, but simply ignorance. Putting an ignorant hiker in the middle of the forest is like sitting down a music novice at the opera, or taking someone who knows nothing of painting to an art museum. If they feel nothing, perhaps it is because they can't feel without first knowing.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
The History Nerd's Guide to Wolf Hall Pt 1 - Costume
Like everyone else that goes apeshit about stuff on PBS, I've been devouring Wolf Hall. Everything that's been said about it is true. It's beautifully put together, astonishingly faithful in its details, beautifully acted, all of it. It's lush and alien and fascinating and the final episode is brutally riveting.
But on another level, as a history nerd, the show is a candy store of references. It's like Wreck-it-Ralph for people that own copies of 'The Tudor Tailor' and obsess over Renaissance music and Holbein paintings.
About those paintings. It's been said that the shots are composed like paintings. And one of the main reasons for this is a number of the shots -are- paintings. A lot of the costumes for characters are just whatever that character is wearing in their portrait. What follows is me gushing about the details for several paragraphs, with a focus on costumes. In the next post I'll talk about set design.
But on another level, as a history nerd, the show is a candy store of references. It's like Wreck-it-Ralph for people that own copies of 'The Tudor Tailor' and obsess over Renaissance music and Holbein paintings.
About those paintings. It's been said that the shots are composed like paintings. And one of the main reasons for this is a number of the shots -are- paintings. A lot of the costumes for characters are just whatever that character is wearing in their portrait. What follows is me gushing about the details for several paragraphs, with a focus on costumes. In the next post I'll talk about set design.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Dragon Age Grows Up
Dragon Age: Origins came out when I was fresh out of college and living in a shitty
apartment where the heat didn't really work. I'd started a job I didn't
love to pay rent and I was thinking of life as something I was doing
until I did the next big thing. I'd play Origins late at night with a
lap blanket and still end up shivering (this was a winter when it didn't
get above 20 for 2 week on end. In Maryland of all places)
And Origins seemed right for where I was in life. It had a lot of stories about characters finding their destiny and coming to terms with their childhood. Of the 'core cast' of Leliana, Morrigan, Alistair and the Warden (most of the versions thereof), I think their average age seems well under 25. They haven't done great deeds yet, they either haven't really started or they are starting over. Their stories seemed to revolve around being a bastard, or being the traumatized and sheltered child of a a demon woman, or <insert fucked up Warden family situation here>. The oldest of the 4, Leliana, adopted an affected innocence. I mean, there was an option to have the two virgins in the group (I am assuming this about Morrigan) deflower each other. Morrigan would freak out at the prospect of falling in love in a way only a true innocent could. The games title, 'Origins' said it all. This was a game about beginnings. About starting out and where you came from.
I'm nearly 30 now. Still have a job I don't love, but I'm thinking of the life I live as an end and not just a means to what comes next. I'm married. I play Dragon Age Inquisition in my well-heated and less-shittily furnished house. I romanced Cassandra, who bears a passing resemblance (mostly "-disgusted noise-" to my wife). And when I play I meet characters who are not defined by their childhood. Characters who have done things. Cassandra is in her late-ish 30's, she's been right hand of the divine for 18 years. She's grown disillusioned with the chantry and her own order while retaining her faith; she's loved and lost. That's what defines her, not what happened to her brother when she was young. Leliana is now 10 years older, and she's not defined by what happened with Marjorlaine, but by all the ways that spying for 10 years has twisted her soul. Iron Bull is scarred by a brutal counterinsurgency and already well on his way to building a new identity for himself in Thedas. Vivienne was formerly one of the most powerful mages in Orlais, and Cullen isn't haunted by what happened when he was a kid, but by all the awful shit he's endured during the past 2 games. If Origins was a game about rather young people making their way in the world (and saving it), Inquisition is a game about people coming to terms with what they've done in the world and who they've become. It is not a story about young people anymore. It's a story about grown ups. And maybe I've changed. Maybe the games changed. I think we both have.
And this is not to say that Origins was adolescent in a negative sense. Or that stories about coming of age are bad. Dostoevsky wrote almost exclusively about the problems of young men and he is one of the greatest novelists, well, ever. But for years the games I played were about adolescents or post adolescents, and those stories are well-travelled. It's nice to see other stories being given the spotlight.
And Origins seemed right for where I was in life. It had a lot of stories about characters finding their destiny and coming to terms with their childhood. Of the 'core cast' of Leliana, Morrigan, Alistair and the Warden (most of the versions thereof), I think their average age seems well under 25. They haven't done great deeds yet, they either haven't really started or they are starting over. Their stories seemed to revolve around being a bastard, or being the traumatized and sheltered child of a a demon woman, or <insert fucked up Warden family situation here>. The oldest of the 4, Leliana, adopted an affected innocence. I mean, there was an option to have the two virgins in the group (I am assuming this about Morrigan) deflower each other. Morrigan would freak out at the prospect of falling in love in a way only a true innocent could. The games title, 'Origins' said it all. This was a game about beginnings. About starting out and where you came from.
I'm nearly 30 now. Still have a job I don't love, but I'm thinking of the life I live as an end and not just a means to what comes next. I'm married. I play Dragon Age Inquisition in my well-heated and less-shittily furnished house. I romanced Cassandra, who bears a passing resemblance (mostly "-disgusted noise-" to my wife). And when I play I meet characters who are not defined by their childhood. Characters who have done things. Cassandra is in her late-ish 30's, she's been right hand of the divine for 18 years. She's grown disillusioned with the chantry and her own order while retaining her faith; she's loved and lost. That's what defines her, not what happened to her brother when she was young. Leliana is now 10 years older, and she's not defined by what happened with Marjorlaine, but by all the ways that spying for 10 years has twisted her soul. Iron Bull is scarred by a brutal counterinsurgency and already well on his way to building a new identity for himself in Thedas. Vivienne was formerly one of the most powerful mages in Orlais, and Cullen isn't haunted by what happened when he was a kid, but by all the awful shit he's endured during the past 2 games. If Origins was a game about rather young people making their way in the world (and saving it), Inquisition is a game about people coming to terms with what they've done in the world and who they've become. It is not a story about young people anymore. It's a story about grown ups. And maybe I've changed. Maybe the games changed. I think we both have.
And this is not to say that Origins was adolescent in a negative sense. Or that stories about coming of age are bad. Dostoevsky wrote almost exclusively about the problems of young men and he is one of the greatest novelists, well, ever. But for years the games I played were about adolescents or post adolescents, and those stories are well-travelled. It's nice to see other stories being given the spotlight.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Album of the Year - 2014
Just about any year he releases an album, David Eugene Edwards puts himself in contention for the most interesting, inventive music of the year. It's what he does -- there is no one like him, not even within the lilliputian subgenre of Gothic Americana, and certainly no one who flirts with the indie rock mainstream the way he does.
But this year was special. Refactory Obdurate is some of his best work ever, and after a career like his, that's saying something. It's his probably his heaviest and darkest album - we haven't heard guitars roar like this since Secret South, and both 'Salome' and 'Obdurate Obscura' are haunting even compared to his back catalog. It's also his most hook-filled and accessible, probably. These are some catchy tunes. Terrifying, sure, but eminently hummable. The rhythm section gives the songs a punch they lacked on his earlier albums, and Edward's voice has only grown in power of the years -- here he whispers, sings, and barks like Michael Jira. Every track here is at least very, very good, from the straightforward 'My Good Shepherd'* to the atmospheric 'El-Bow' to the metal riffs of 'Hiss'. And the best tracks - 'Salome,' 'Obdurate Obscura', 'Corsicana Clip' - are transcendent.
I should have perhaps posted this earlier, in advent, because to me this is advent music. It's full of eschatological dread and hope, not unlike the words of Jesus himself. If you can follow half of the biblical allusions - to martyrdom ('only one man stood up for Stephen'), the crucifixion ('if you release this man, you are no friend to caesar') - you can get an event better sense of the depth here. This is a sinister, beautiful, sacred album.
And so it beats out a lot of other great music from other great musicians (Swans, Agalloch, At the Gates, Pallbearer, and many more) to make it the best album of the year, in my estimation.
http://deathwishinc.bandcamp.com/album/refractory-obdurate
*(which would be a Christian radio hit in a just world, but alas, the sun shines on the talented and the talentless alike)
But this year was special. Refactory Obdurate is some of his best work ever, and after a career like his, that's saying something. It's his probably his heaviest and darkest album - we haven't heard guitars roar like this since Secret South, and both 'Salome' and 'Obdurate Obscura' are haunting even compared to his back catalog. It's also his most hook-filled and accessible, probably. These are some catchy tunes. Terrifying, sure, but eminently hummable. The rhythm section gives the songs a punch they lacked on his earlier albums, and Edward's voice has only grown in power of the years -- here he whispers, sings, and barks like Michael Jira. Every track here is at least very, very good, from the straightforward 'My Good Shepherd'* to the atmospheric 'El-Bow' to the metal riffs of 'Hiss'. And the best tracks - 'Salome,' 'Obdurate Obscura', 'Corsicana Clip' - are transcendent.
I should have perhaps posted this earlier, in advent, because to me this is advent music. It's full of eschatological dread and hope, not unlike the words of Jesus himself. If you can follow half of the biblical allusions - to martyrdom ('only one man stood up for Stephen'), the crucifixion ('if you release this man, you are no friend to caesar') - you can get an event better sense of the depth here. This is a sinister, beautiful, sacred album.
And so it beats out a lot of other great music from other great musicians (Swans, Agalloch, At the Gates, Pallbearer, and many more) to make it the best album of the year, in my estimation.
http://deathwishinc.bandcamp.com/album/refractory-obdurate
*(which would be a Christian radio hit in a just world, but alas, the sun shines on the talented and the talentless alike)
Monday, October 20, 2014
Monday, October 13, 2014
Metal Monday Double Header
We have a double-header for today's metal Monday.
First up is the latest from A Pregnant Light, a one man metal/<something>core/indie band out of Grand Rapids, MI. It's probably inevitable that a guy who describes his own music as 'Purple Metal' releases a single called "Purple Pain." It's a testament to how good this is that I'm not disappointed that it's not a tremelo-picked and screamed tribute to Prince.
The songs here are nothing really new for 'Deathless Marantha', but when you have one of the most unique sounds in loud music today, that's not so bad. It's more hook-heavy, emotionally raw and generally rocking material that mashes up metal rifts, hardcore-esque vocals and some lovely post-punk guitars.
http://colloquialsoundrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/purple-pain-b-w-ultraviolet
Since today's theme is apparently emotionally gripping material from one-man bands the next song is from Dawnbringer. Even their last album was pretty deeply felt; it is probably the most emotionally gripping concept album about murdering a Urizenesque solar deity. But these songs from their latest are stripped down and powerful, like some alternate universe Jason Molina that still played heavy metal. It's great stuff.
http://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/night-of-the-hammer
First up is the latest from A Pregnant Light, a one man metal/<something>core/indie band out of Grand Rapids, MI. It's probably inevitable that a guy who describes his own music as 'Purple Metal' releases a single called "Purple Pain." It's a testament to how good this is that I'm not disappointed that it's not a tremelo-picked and screamed tribute to Prince.
The songs here are nothing really new for 'Deathless Marantha', but when you have one of the most unique sounds in loud music today, that's not so bad. It's more hook-heavy, emotionally raw and generally rocking material that mashes up metal rifts, hardcore-esque vocals and some lovely post-punk guitars.
http://colloquialsoundrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/purple-pain-b-w-ultraviolet
Since today's theme is apparently emotionally gripping material from one-man bands the next song is from Dawnbringer. Even their last album was pretty deeply felt; it is probably the most emotionally gripping concept album about murdering a Urizenesque solar deity. But these songs from their latest are stripped down and powerful, like some alternate universe Jason Molina that still played heavy metal. It's great stuff.
http://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/night-of-the-hammer
Sunday, September 14, 2014
May Her Memory be a Blessing, Part II
To follow up on my previous, I went to Mrs. Maschler's memorial service this morning. I
heard from her former colleagues and students and her daughters. And
everyone speaking worked together to paint a picture of her. She was a
woman who was incredibly blunt, and also incredibly interested in
everyone she talked to. When you talked to her, she really listened.
And when she told you that you were wrong and told you why (quite
forcefully!) she did so not because she delighted in putting you in your
place, but because she really took what you had to say seriously. She
took -you- seriously. And she would hold up your words to the same
(merciless) scrutiny that she applied to Sts Augustine and Paul or Kant.
You were in the same boat as they were. You were not just some kid,
you and your words mattered to her.
And because you mattered to her, your life mattered to her, and she would worry over it. She always thought I was not living up to my intellectual potential, working the job I did. But she said that because she really did care about me. And so it was, apparently, with everyone she knew.
I value kindness a lot. Which might be funny or hypocritical coming from me, I don't know. And I generally take little stock in people that are blunt or abrupt because they are 'being honest'. But from her, telling you that you were -wrong- sir, that was a kindness. It was a mark of respect. I will never forget that.
May her memory be blessed.
And if I may be abstract, I think my experience with Chaininah is instructive. All my life I was told I was smart and special and was awarded parts on the back for doing as well as could be expected for someone of my years. Chaininah was a rare person who did not hold me to some kind of weighted 'pretty smart for a punk kid' standard, but held me to the same standard that she held the great minds of history. And perhaps that's what we need more of in our teachers and our education -- an attempt to take students seriously, to ask them to really put their minds out there and hold themselves up to no less standard than finding the truth.
And because you mattered to her, your life mattered to her, and she would worry over it. She always thought I was not living up to my intellectual potential, working the job I did. But she said that because she really did care about me. And so it was, apparently, with everyone she knew.
I value kindness a lot. Which might be funny or hypocritical coming from me, I don't know. And I generally take little stock in people that are blunt or abrupt because they are 'being honest'. But from her, telling you that you were -wrong- sir, that was a kindness. It was a mark of respect. I will never forget that.
May her memory be blessed.
And if I may be abstract, I think my experience with Chaininah is instructive. All my life I was told I was smart and special and was awarded parts on the back for doing as well as could be expected for someone of my years. Chaininah was a rare person who did not hold me to some kind of weighted 'pretty smart for a punk kid' standard, but held me to the same standard that she held the great minds of history. And perhaps that's what we need more of in our teachers and our education -- an attempt to take students seriously, to ask them to really put their minds out there and hold themselves up to no less standard than finding the truth.
May Her Memory be a Blessing
A friend of mine (St John's tutor from way back whom I used to drive
around town) died in August. I was never that close to her, and her death
makes me sad in that general 'I will miss you' kind of way that I feel
when non-close friends or non-immediate relatives die. Since my parents
are still alive and all my closest friends are still with us, this is
all I've known of death - missing people.
Mostly I suppose I wanted to share a bit about her. Chaninah Maschler was born in the Berlin in 1931 but grew up in the Netherlands. She was Jewish. The first thing I heard her say about the war was 'I didn't go outside much', then she had been hiding with a gentile family in Utrecht, that her brother had run messages for the resistance, and that she'd survived the hunger winter of 1944-1945. I later learned that her Mother had survived Bergen-Belsen, and her brother had not.
Mostly I suppose I wanted to share a bit about her. Chaninah Maschler was born in the Berlin in 1931 but grew up in the Netherlands. She was Jewish. The first thing I heard her say about the war was 'I didn't go outside much', then she had been hiding with a gentile family in Utrecht, that her brother had run messages for the resistance, and that she'd survived the hunger winter of 1944-1945. I later learned that her Mother had survived Bergen-Belsen, and her brother had not.
She was a philosopher to the bone. Sharp like Wittgenstein or Pascal,
not jovial like Hume. She was a Pierce scholar (and general fan of
pragmatism) who studied at Princeton and had ended up at St John's
because she was friends with a faculty member there, I think it was Eva
Brann. Knew Rorty a bit, I am not sure how well. That's to say she had
a mind like a trap, and I could only just keep up.
She married an artist and art dealer who (as far as I can tell) had never gone past high school, and as far as I can tell she was happy with him until he died a couple of years before I met her. She had two twin daughters.
I last saw her two months before she died, trying and failing to solve printer problems for her. My biggest regret is that I saw her less than I ought to have when she had cancer. My last memory of her was that she was much the same as ever, but weaker and more tired. I am glad I have that.
She married an artist and art dealer who (as far as I can tell) had never gone past high school, and as far as I can tell she was happy with him until he died a couple of years before I met her. She had two twin daughters.
I last saw her two months before she died, trying and failing to solve printer problems for her. My biggest regret is that I saw her less than I ought to have when she had cancer. My last memory of her was that she was much the same as ever, but weaker and more tired. I am glad I have that.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
A Note on the Police
With Ferguson going on, a lot of people have said a lot about the cops lately. About the
militarization of the American Police and the need for journalists and
ordinary citizens to monitor the actions of the police.
When this sort of thing comes up, it is customary for someone to point out that there are a lot of good cops out there (most cops are good, nearly all cops are good, only a few of the apples are bad). This may be true. But it is beside the point.
Our republic is not built on the idea of trusting the good intentions and good judgment of those with power. It is built on constraining those in power, constraining them with the law. We subject them to the law and we subject them to the scrutiny needed to make sure that they abide by the law. Or at least, that is what we must do if we're going to keep up this whole liberal democracy thing going.
If cops were angels, we would need no rights.
When this sort of thing comes up, it is customary for someone to point out that there are a lot of good cops out there (most cops are good, nearly all cops are good, only a few of the apples are bad). This may be true. But it is beside the point.
Our republic is not built on the idea of trusting the good intentions and good judgment of those with power. It is built on constraining those in power, constraining them with the law. We subject them to the law and we subject them to the scrutiny needed to make sure that they abide by the law. Or at least, that is what we must do if we're going to keep up this whole liberal democracy thing going.
If cops were angels, we would need no rights.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Macroeconomics for Dragons
A conservative relative posted something on Facebook about the Federal Reserve recently. It said that you could understand the Federal reserve by consulting the monopoly rulebook, roughly:
'Q:What happens when the bank runs out of money?'
A: The bank cannot run out of money. If bills run out the banker will write amounts on pieces of paper and use these as money.'
Actually this is a pretty wonderfuly explanation of what the federal reserve does and why it's important: it makes sure that we have money so that we can play the game, IE buy and sell things. It would be a miserable game of monopoly indeed if money could just run out, and in the real world the results are worse -- the Great Depression is a fabulous example.
But of course, my family member did not intend the above as a compliment to Ben Bernanke's efforts to inject more money into the economy. And it makes me wonder -- what do you have to believe for this all to be a -bad- thing? What do you have to believe to think that it's wrong to make sure that there is enough money in the economy?
'Q:What happens when the bank runs out of money?'
A: The bank cannot run out of money. If bills run out the banker will write amounts on pieces of paper and use these as money.'
Actually this is a pretty wonderfuly explanation of what the federal reserve does and why it's important: it makes sure that we have money so that we can play the game, IE buy and sell things. It would be a miserable game of monopoly indeed if money could just run out, and in the real world the results are worse -- the Great Depression is a fabulous example.
But of course, my family member did not intend the above as a compliment to Ben Bernanke's efforts to inject more money into the economy. And it makes me wonder -- what do you have to believe for this all to be a -bad- thing? What do you have to believe to think that it's wrong to make sure that there is enough money in the economy?
Monday, October 7, 2013
You Should Take Responsibility So I Don't Have To
Whenever someone says 'personal responsibility' my eyes glaze over. I've heard it said too much, and heard it say too little.
This phrase has become a magical incantation. A spell people use to ward off the boogeymen -- moral relativism, people blaming society for their problems, the decline in American values. Of course, these are boogeymen, not real problems but the invented crises of moral busybodies and superstitious fanatics who are concern-trolling our nation (I'm looking at you, Douthat). The idea that invoking 'personal responsibility' does anything is laughable - young men do not turn to the corner because some NPR liberal said it wasn't their fault, and telling them that it's their fault is not going to make them stop.
But as laughable as it is, it is invoked again and again can be deployed against drug users, teen moms, teens that aren't moms, poor people on welfare, poor people not on welfare, black folks and many others. And that's the sinister part.
This phrase has become a magical incantation. A spell people use to ward off the boogeymen -- moral relativism, people blaming society for their problems, the decline in American values. Of course, these are boogeymen, not real problems but the invented crises of moral busybodies and superstitious fanatics who are concern-trolling our nation (I'm looking at you, Douthat). The idea that invoking 'personal responsibility' does anything is laughable - young men do not turn to the corner because some NPR liberal said it wasn't their fault, and telling them that it's their fault is not going to make them stop.
But as laughable as it is, it is invoked again and again can be deployed against drug users, teen moms, teens that aren't moms, poor people on welfare, poor people not on welfare, black folks and many others. And that's the sinister part.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Pride and Cruelty
The word 'cruelty' is often used as though it is synonymous with 'sadism.' As though the only cruel people in the world were those who drowned cats for fun when they were kids and then graduated to doing even worse to their fellow human beings as adults. The word cruel conjures up, for me, the lurid proceedings of police dramas (Luther is pretty good, but man, it's uncomfortable sometimes) and true crime stories; it's a word for serial killers and the psychopathic enforcers of drug gangs. Certainly it seems to imply that someone is getting pleasure from someone's pain and death.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Dystopias are for Teenagers
I recently re-read Vasily Grossman's masterpiece, Life and Fate, which is about the Great Patriotic war and the respective horrors of Nazism and Stalinism, and about the effect that those authoritarian regimes had on all they touchedt. It is a great novel, a self-conscious 20th century answer to War and Peace that can stand the comparison and not seem merely pretentious. I published a brief review earlier this year
Reading it confirmed in my mind something I've thought before -- that whatever it's virtues, dystopian fiction is not the best tool to help us understand what life is like under authoritarianism. If you want to find out about life under Stalin, read something by an actual Soviet, not by an English idealist who'd never set foot in the USSR.
Reading it confirmed in my mind something I've thought before -- that whatever it's virtues, dystopian fiction is not the best tool to help us understand what life is like under authoritarianism. If you want to find out about life under Stalin, read something by an actual Soviet, not by an English idealist who'd never set foot in the USSR.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Corporate Social Responsibility Doesn't Exist, Which is Why Government Regulation Should
This is a good summary of the problems of worker pay, wage stagnation and corporate versus societal responsibility. It pretty much sums up my feelings on corporate America, which I'd like to expand.
Beginning in with Henry Ford and continuing through the New Deal and the 50's and 60's America has had a deal with its corporations. We'd let them do what they wanted and they'd take care of their workers -- Unions would become domesticated, and even non-union workers would get nearly union-like benefits and tenure. We built healthcare around employment, we built retirement around employment, all assuming that a) people would continue working at the Ford plant for their entire lives and b) a private equity firm would not buy the Ford plant for pennies and sell it for scrap.
This grand bargain between corporate America and the public was always a bum deal -- it gave us Love Canal, among other things. But we were happy with it as long as companies held up their end of the bargain -- fairly stable employment, good benefits, high wages.
Then in the 80's the suits reneged on their half of the deal -- 'you don't really need that low deductible insurance plan, or that fixed-benefit retirment plan, do you?' And then, of course, came the real kicker 'well you know our real responsibility is to our shareholders, not to you, our employees' and then the layoffs start.
But you know what? The Corporations are right. Their job is to make money. We were the fools for ever thinking differently. It's not so simple, of course. Wall Street types will lay people off til the cows come home and then scream 'job creators' whenever you request that, since they've been making out like bandits, they give back more to the common pot. So when that happens we just need to take what they say about profits and shareholder value and run with it. They won't take care of people and they won't take care of the planet, so it's our job to do it for them (on their dime). They will take as much as they can. Our job is to stop them. This is the way it is. We are free of illusions, at least.
Beginning in with Henry Ford and continuing through the New Deal and the 50's and 60's America has had a deal with its corporations. We'd let them do what they wanted and they'd take care of their workers -- Unions would become domesticated, and even non-union workers would get nearly union-like benefits and tenure. We built healthcare around employment, we built retirement around employment, all assuming that a) people would continue working at the Ford plant for their entire lives and b) a private equity firm would not buy the Ford plant for pennies and sell it for scrap.
This grand bargain between corporate America and the public was always a bum deal -- it gave us Love Canal, among other things. But we were happy with it as long as companies held up their end of the bargain -- fairly stable employment, good benefits, high wages.
Then in the 80's the suits reneged on their half of the deal -- 'you don't really need that low deductible insurance plan, or that fixed-benefit retirment plan, do you?' And then, of course, came the real kicker 'well you know our real responsibility is to our shareholders, not to you, our employees' and then the layoffs start.
But you know what? The Corporations are right. Their job is to make money. We were the fools for ever thinking differently. It's not so simple, of course. Wall Street types will lay people off til the cows come home and then scream 'job creators' whenever you request that, since they've been making out like bandits, they give back more to the common pot. So when that happens we just need to take what they say about profits and shareholder value and run with it. They won't take care of people and they won't take care of the planet, so it's our job to do it for them (on their dime). They will take as much as they can. Our job is to stop them. This is the way it is. We are free of illusions, at least.
A note on ethics, why-do-I-bother edition
I should not comment on anything that Ross Douthat ever writes. It's not a good practice to grant page views to misogynists with delusions of Thomistic philosophical chops. But sometimes I can't help myself, because Douthat is typical of a sort of intellectual* conservative that dresses up religious dogma and prejudice in the clothing of concern about social cohesian and mores.
I nearly found myself agreeing with Douthat on the subject of almost as odious Stephen Pinker. I agree that 'science' does not dictate any moral values (is versus ought, etc). But then I thought about what Douthat had written, and I realized he was wrong (even if Pinker was as well) and that all was right with the world once again.
I nearly found myself agreeing with Douthat on the subject of almost as odious Stephen Pinker. I agree that 'science' does not dictate any moral values (is versus ought, etc). But then I thought about what Douthat had written, and I realized he was wrong (even if Pinker was as well) and that all was right with the world once again.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Segregation in My American City
There's been a bunch of maps showing the ethnic geography of America America and it's cities lately. This one is the latest. And this makes me think about my own city, and its own history of segregation.
3 weeks ago my wife and I and I bought a mattress from a lovely local place. I got to talking with the owner about living in the historic district. Back in the 90's, like 20(!) years ago, she had lived on our old street, College Avenue, on the same block I did from 2008 to 2011. I had known that at one time the many of the houses on the street had been owned by African-Americas. I learned from her that when she lived there there were still some older people (they all sounded like retirees), mostly black, living on the block. By the time I moved in the street was nothing but white folks and vacant houses (like 3 vacant properties on my block, which isn't terrible but still kind of jarring).
3 weeks ago my wife and I and I bought a mattress from a lovely local place. I got to talking with the owner about living in the historic district. Back in the 90's, like 20(!) years ago, she had lived on our old street, College Avenue, on the same block I did from 2008 to 2011. I had known that at one time the many of the houses on the street had been owned by African-Americas. I learned from her that when she lived there there were still some older people (they all sounded like retirees), mostly black, living on the block. By the time I moved in the street was nothing but white folks and vacant houses (like 3 vacant properties on my block, which isn't terrible but still kind of jarring).
Friday, August 16, 2013
A Waistcoat Manifesto Pt 1
Waistcoats* have been in and out of fashion a number of times since they were first discarded in the 1940's (much like hats). They have been brought back as a novelty, and then discarded again when the tides of fashion turn. Me, however, I am a waistcoat-wearing man. If I'm waring a tie I feel naked without one. I'll wear them whether or not they're in fashion, partly because I think following your personal sense of style is always fashionable, partly because I can't imagine doing anything else.
Being the sort of person who overthinks things, I have given a lot of thought about waistcoats. Why they are an important part of a fully dressed man's wardrobe, and how they can best be incorporated into an ensemble.
Being the sort of person who overthinks things, I have given a lot of thought about waistcoats. Why they are an important part of a fully dressed man's wardrobe, and how they can best be incorporated into an ensemble.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
What it means that doubts about Zimmerman's guilt are 'reasonable'
Like a lot of people I'm sad, angry and not entirely surprised about the verdict in the slaying of Trayvon Martin. It strikes me as a basic injustice, not on the legal level, but the human one, because George Zimmerman is the reason that Trayvon Martin is dead. George Zimmerman followed him. George Zimmerman confronted him. George Zimmerman brought deadly force with him. And it was George Zimmerman who, when it came to blows, pulled the trigger.
Beyond that I'm disgusted by the tactics of the defense, which resemble nothing so much as a defense attorney in a rape case convincing a male jury that the victim was a lying slut who asked for it.
But on a legal level I'm disturbed by what a jury* found 'reasonable.' I'm disturbed that they thought it was 'reasonable' to assume, even as a possibility, the best of George Zimmerman and the worst of Trayvon Martin. Because that says a lot about who we trust (and this is what a lot of these verdicts come down to, whether or not juries trust someone even a little bit). That jury, and thus our nation as a legal entity, has decided to simply trust George Zimmerman, and to think it 'reasonable' that Trayvon Martin died because of his own suicidal bravado and aggression. That we would think such a thing reasonable is disgusting.
*Who seem to have been of Zimmerman's peers, not Martin's.
Beyond that I'm disgusted by the tactics of the defense, which resemble nothing so much as a defense attorney in a rape case convincing a male jury that the victim was a lying slut who asked for it.
But on a legal level I'm disturbed by what a jury* found 'reasonable.' I'm disturbed that they thought it was 'reasonable' to assume, even as a possibility, the best of George Zimmerman and the worst of Trayvon Martin. Because that says a lot about who we trust (and this is what a lot of these verdicts come down to, whether or not juries trust someone even a little bit). That jury, and thus our nation as a legal entity, has decided to simply trust George Zimmerman, and to think it 'reasonable' that Trayvon Martin died because of his own suicidal bravado and aggression. That we would think such a thing reasonable is disgusting.
*Who seem to have been of Zimmerman's peers, not Martin's.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Industrial Decline as a Red Herring
David Simon had another rant quoted in the Guardian. It was mostly true -- the war on drugs as a war on black people -- but it reminded me of something that rings false in Simon and many others on the contemporary left- their bemoaning of America's industrial decline.
This is not just a left-wing phenomenon. It is found across the political spectrum -- people generally agree that American manufacturing has declined (which is true, in employment terms) and that this is the cause of the problems of the American working class.
I would dispute the last part of this conventional wisdom. To start with, there is no necessary connection between highly paid, lower-skilled jobs and the manufacturing sector. Indeed, the manufacturing jobs that remain in this country mostly either require advanced technical degrees, or pay somewhere in the vicinity of $10 an hour. Working in a factory does not magically transform the working class into the middle class, and shuttering factories does not magically transform them into the working poor.
No, the reason why factory jobs used to be so good was because of the strength of American labor, and because we were a society that had decided that working people should be able to live the American dream, even if they're not anesthesiologists. The problem is not the sort of labor that Americans are doing, but our nation's devaluation of labor in general*. The services industry is, unlike manufacturing, extremely resistant to offshoring (we need people to work in our stores, in America) -- the problem is that we have decided that it's fine that our legions of restaurant and retail employees make $8 an hour. Wringing out hands about the decline of factories does nothing to help the million or so Americans working at Wal Marts across the nation. The factories are not coming back (at least not in their previous, labor-intensive, form) but there is plenty we could do to help the American working class, by getting serious about the workers of the service industry.
*Perhaps our romanticization of blue-collar works only helps to devalue pink-collar work, as we act as though pink-collar jobs are intrinsically not valuable, unlike those begone heroes at the Ford plant.
This is not just a left-wing phenomenon. It is found across the political spectrum -- people generally agree that American manufacturing has declined (which is true, in employment terms) and that this is the cause of the problems of the American working class.
I would dispute the last part of this conventional wisdom. To start with, there is no necessary connection between highly paid, lower-skilled jobs and the manufacturing sector. Indeed, the manufacturing jobs that remain in this country mostly either require advanced technical degrees, or pay somewhere in the vicinity of $10 an hour. Working in a factory does not magically transform the working class into the middle class, and shuttering factories does not magically transform them into the working poor.
No, the reason why factory jobs used to be so good was because of the strength of American labor, and because we were a society that had decided that working people should be able to live the American dream, even if they're not anesthesiologists. The problem is not the sort of labor that Americans are doing, but our nation's devaluation of labor in general*. The services industry is, unlike manufacturing, extremely resistant to offshoring (we need people to work in our stores, in America) -- the problem is that we have decided that it's fine that our legions of restaurant and retail employees make $8 an hour. Wringing out hands about the decline of factories does nothing to help the million or so Americans working at Wal Marts across the nation. The factories are not coming back (at least not in their previous, labor-intensive, form) but there is plenty we could do to help the American working class, by getting serious about the workers of the service industry.
*Perhaps our romanticization of blue-collar works only helps to devalue pink-collar work, as we act as though pink-collar jobs are intrinsically not valuable, unlike those begone heroes at the Ford plant.
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