December 1st, 2024
Timely and in-depth assessment of the political terrain.
The huge positive aspect of this book is the detailed and honest account of success in modern autocracies. There are archetypes of successful non-democratic governance: efficiency, infrastructure, education, modern technology, and a ruthless judicial system weeding out corruption.
However, the book still defends democracy as a well-tested method albeit chaotic and (currently) below-par. The book calls for a revision and re-emphasis on democratic values, recognizing human capital, the value of diversity, and providing scholarship and funding for undergraduate and graduate training, especially in technology.
I reread this novel for the fourth time after a long hiatus. I remember the previous times it flew seamlessly and I liked the fluent narration with a tang of indifferent air. However, on second thought, I felt there were more glitches in the analytical view of the plot and the protagonist's character. This was especially more curious since the author has the kingpin status in 20th-century existentialism. I found it very paradoxical and inconsistent if you want to take notes in existential terms:
The existentialism philosophy seems to redefine human existence with an emphasis on individual responsibility and excluding the metaphysical approach to human problem. The caricaturesque protagonist in The Stranger is anything but an accountable persona who shows awareness or anxiety of those in existential limbo. In other words, this is not a philosophical indifference distilled through soul-searching and spiritual endeavors. Meursault's stance regarding love, family, faith, death, daily life, job, food, sex, hobbies, and even climate (he loves and eventually misses the Mediterranean climate), all picture a plainly simple mindset devoid of perspective. The plot pictures a series of random spontaneous actions that are devoid of meaning from the protagonist's point of view. That is not the existential disdain following epistemic labor routes.
Meursault decides to give false testimony in support of a corrupt neighbor, passively accepts a marriage offer, and finally commits a murder in a confused haze with no clear intention. All events in the story are lined up with zero conviction.
In flashbacks and in his mother's words, Meausault is described as a child/adolescent who was able to create happiness for himself, so he is not unhappy. He suffers from an existential anomy but a lazy type of anomy. Philosophy, ethics, faith, social or individual issues are not of interest to him as far as we learn. He is not bound to the truth as well. So it's basically downright flattened spirit as far as character study goes.
When questioned about his motives for killing the victim, he seriously mentions "the heat/the sun" caused him toward this crime. This is a masterpiece in absurdism but a preload to the existentialism line of thought, Camus pursues in the successive work "The Myth of Sisyphus". The Stranger as a stand-alone work, is a short story of a lost soul in a confused chorea of meaningless actions. Hard to say it is anything but a sad portrait of confused pointless state of affairs in human life, or at least this is what the author wants to say.
1- Gap instinct:
A tendency to divide things, and ideas, into two distinct groups with sharp contrast: for example, a word divided into super-rich and extremely poor, stuck in poverty. This is false and data support an income distribution with the majority in the middle-range.
2- Negativity instinct:
A tendency to emphasize the negative aspect of each event, experience, etc.
3- Single instinct:
A cognitive bias can be described as a simplified approach to a complex problem. When someone tries to analyze a multifaceted problem by studying a single parameter.
4- Fear instinct:
Paying more attention to frightening things. This dominance overrides rational decision-making. The antidote is rational analysis and problem-solving to understand risks and opportunities.
5- Size instinct:
A cognitive bias that associates the importance or significance of a phenomenon with its size.
6- Generalization instinct:
The inclination for dividing the subjects into two categories. The underlying cause is our preference for simplicity and efficiency in analyzing complex matters.
7- Destiny instinct:
A cognitive bias that leads the individual to believe the outcomes are predetermined and decided by fate and are totally out of one's control. This can predictably be a huge obstacle to becoming responsible and proactive in tackling life matters.
8- Single-perspective instinct:
The tendency to observe and appreciate a problem from a single viewpoint. This approach may limit our ability to see the big picture and deprive us of reaching out and using others' expertise.
9- Blame instinct:
The Blame Instinct is a cognitive bias that leads us to assign blame or responsibility for a situation or problem to a single individual or group. This instinct can be seen in various aspects of our lives, from our personal relationships to our professional and political spheres.
10- Urgency instinct:
This cognitive bias forces us to act immediately in response to a challenge, even when unnecessary. This cognitive blind spot has deep roots in our evolutionary history. Our ancestors acquired a predilection to react swiftly on the face of potential threats. This bias does not translate to a well-rounded logical method in problem-solving in the human race now.
Pedram July 2024
Image from gapminder.org
Fear was the driving force behind Donald Trump's rise to power. This is a take on the 2016 elections that shook many pundits, commentators, philosophers, and casual observers. A body of publications attempted to analyze this choice and focused on specific demographic and social classes supporting Trump in stronghold states for Republicans. However, Nussbaum applies another approach that cuts deeper into the matter by investigating the cause and effect behind this election. This is a philosophical approach to the pertinent subject with heavy connections with social psychology. The toxic brew of misogyny, envy, and fearful anger threatens democracy and its related values.
The major hurdle in this philosopher's job is to recognize the unruly emotions and bring them into the fold. The book studies the interconnected emotions of anger, envy, hatred, disgust, sexism, and misogyny and their ramifications on current social affairs in the US. The book describes globalization as one factor bringing about a sense of helplessness and marginalization to a group of citizens. This negative feeling of abandonment eventually transforms into resentment and blame.
One aspect of this book is the idea of us "human beings" as a species being vulnerable in our existential terrain, which causes fear as an inherent emotion. If left unattended, this primal feeling can develop into a corrosive agent with monarchial traits controlling various domains of our behavior. Society tends to scapegoat those who are unpopular. In her own words "monarchs feed on fear" "Fearful people run for protection and care, they turn to strong absolute rulers, ... in democracy by contrast we must look one another in the eye, as equals". This horizontal trust is the firm foundation of democracy.
Amidst disturbing news and divisive rhetoric readily heard and widespread rapidly, reading "Monarchy of Fear" provides a soothing perspective, a timely respite in an onslaught of tribalism and hateful polarization. The ideas of building secluded empires, and hostile policies toward outsiders are alarmingly gaining traction. These may be symptoms of a world marching to a different beat than what Nussbaum describes as our healthy social construct. A lot of the "us versus them" mentality has been propagated by those claiming to be progressive and abiding by human rights. A large portion of stigma is generated by apathy and lack of feeling of any association.
Aligned with the unwavering idealism in the book, the proposed solutions look unfashionable and far-fetched: an obligatory three-year service for the American youth and integration of the public school system.
Now, at the cusp of a new Cold War era, this anthology on fear is relevant more than ever. The omnipresent vibe of hope and optimism is felt throughout the book with the author vigilantly addressing the issue but not consigning to the doom-and-gloom siege mentality ruled by fear. Quite the opposite, she manages to stay balanced and fair-minded.
The repertoire consisted of:
Arvo Pärt's Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major K. 488
and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92
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The representation of private interests ... abolishes all natural and spiritual distinctions by enthroning in their stead the immoral, irrational and soulless abstraction of a particular material object and a particular consciousness which is slavishly subordinated to this object."
Marx, On the Thefts of Wood, in Rheinische Zeitung (1842)
This movie is not an easy watch but a necessary one if you wish to understand the perils of unbalanced economic growth.
Youth (Spring) is a 220-minute mammoth documentary filmed between 2014 and 2019. Separate substories show various workshops in Zhili City, China, the center of the textile industry. You see immigrant youth coming from nearby rural areas searching for jobs in these workshops under poor and unhygienic conditions. The dorms where these laborers work are dingy, rather dark, and depressingly dilapidated. The location is ironically named Happiness Street.
In the first story, we see a couple of lovers (19-20 years of age) having fun and joking about the speed of sewing the clothes and showboating their skill sets in an innocent childish way. Immediately after the intro, you're thrown into the real business which takes place downstairs (some similar structure in all the workshops: the boss's office is downstairs). The mother of the girl is negotiating time off for the abortion of her unwanted grandchild (the child of the jubilant girl upstairs). The boss's objection is business-oriented. Money-oriented. Religious values, Pro-life, and other philosophical/ideological concerns are distant and irrelevant in this material-oriented discourse. This is the heart of the textile industry in the aphotic heart of the Marxist world. They want the order to be prepared ASAP and they cannot offer the luxury of a day off.
The other story depicts a verbal argument between two young men (around 18 years old), The angry boy tries to attack with a scissor only to be stopped by the interference of ladies particularly a mother figure in the workshop, cutting his hand during the process.
In one story, we have a protest from a group of workers as they express their discontent over their salary to the "bosses" downstairs. Here a couple in their 50s are in charge. The gentleman undermines the protestors and threatens the workers to be fired and replaced easily. Considering the mechanical nature of the job, one can hardly argue on that point. This is another sequence that implies how much violence is hidden behind the rudimentaries of Happiness Street!
Even rare off hours in the movie do not change the gloomy mood. In one of the scenes, we see young siblings in a dark internet cafe discussing and you see the exhausted girl fall asleep in the cafe.
Each story segues into another without a link except for identical environments across workshops. There is no sustained narrative as the director probably intended to provide collages of various substories.
Youth is about a world reduced to paper bills, soulless transactions, and undignified souls walking their way through trash-strewn alleys (as a side note, you see abundant use of plastic in the environment!). This is a real picture of an industry with a revenue of 330 billion dollars per year. However, in Happiness Street, the youth are slavishly subordinated to objects and to nondescript bosses who ruthlessly upbraid them. Marx did predict this but not for a Communist-ruled terrain!
Youth (Spring) is directed by Wang Bing.
Pedram, 4/22/24
Sonett in der Emigration
Die glattgeschliffenen durch den Tritt der Hoffnungslosen!
Schon gehend, weiss ich jetzt noch nicht: zu wem?
Wohin ich komme, hör ich: Spell your name!
Ach, dieser „name“ gehörte zu den großen!
Ich muss noch froh sein, wenn sie ihn nicht kennen
Wie einer, hinter dem ein Steckbrief läuft
Sie würden kaum auf meine Dienste brennen.
Ich hatte zu tun mit solchen schon wie ihnen
Wohl möglich, daß sich der Verdacht da häuft
Ich mocht auch sie nicht allzu gut bedienen.
Bertolt Brecht, 1941-1947
English translation:
Sonnet in Emigration
I envision myself, driven out of my country
Now I must see
How I can open a new shop
Where I can sell what I think
I have to go the old ways again
Those downtrodden by the tread of the hopeless!
Already on my way, yet I don't know: to whom?
Everywhere I go I hear: Spell your name!
Oh, this “name” was one of the great ones!
I still have to be happy if they don't know him
Like someone with a wanted poster behind him
They would hardly be eager for my services.
I've had to deal with people like you
It's quite possible that suspicion will increase
I didn't like serving them too well either.
I didn't like serving them too well either.
The theme of my symphony is the making of a man. I saw Man with all his experiences in the center of the composition, which is lyrical in form from beginning to end. The finale is the optimistic solution of the tragically tense moments of the first movement.
Shostakovich on Symphony No. 5
This epitomizes the composer's wry sense of humor pointing at his critics. It is a scherzo with a goofy vibe, a spoof on waltzes. The movement is also a hommage to Gustav Mahler (one of Shostakcich's favorites) with solos played by the first violin and flute or clarinet generating the dance imagery accompanying it.
Starts with many march-like themes, slowly gaining pace as the movement progresses. This parade-like vibe broadly resembles Mahler's tradition (again!) in composing finales. As one expects, the symphony needed an upbeat and cheerful ending. At first glance, this seems to be a forced prosaic ending for an otherwise masterfully written symphony. But the master is at work again conjuring up layers of subtle textures. A slow march pays homage to the opera Boris Gudonov where masses praise the tsar. However, this one is bleak and a slow march. In the more upbeat part, Shostakovich deliberately altered a note again and completely changed the mood of the music. This time an alteration from B natural to B ♭ does the magic! It may look bizarre in the context of happy-ending tunes, but this is deliberately executed by the composer. The whole new minor tone foreshadows the preceding upbeat part of the movement.
Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony is a prime example of artistic resilliance and defiance in the face of calamity and censorship. Where individuality had to be sacrificed in the name of patriotic nationalist aesthetic. Shostakovich to me epitomizes working under impossible conditions and having the cutting-edge prowess to please both sides: he includes the cosmetics to satisfy the harsh criteria of an oppressive regime, Meanwhile, he manages to insert the subtle elements to keep the music authentic. The fifth symphony fakes glory and buys him some time to breathe with standard glorious movements placed in it. But the music hints at a tragic underlying story with multiple tunes and tricks inserted masterfully in it.
Socially conscious artists reflect on society and its afflictions. They give tongue to those who were silent or were made silent. They picture an era for those who could not witness or closed their eyes on it. Similarly, Shostakovich's music mirrors his era; living under constant threats and brave masks that people were forced to wear. We are lucky that a genius lived and dared to work under immense pressure and duress. He worked and left a body of work which are quite diverse and influenced by various inspirations. From his chamber music, trios, and string quartets to symphonies to his experiments with jazz music following his trip to the US, this massive body of work shares one characteristic of social awareness. Symphony number five is an emotionally charged and complex masterpiece with hidden layers of meaning.
"Not for Profit, Why Democracy Needs the Humanities" is a short book by Martha Nussbaum. This is a critical view of the education system from elementary and secondary levels through high academic ranks. The worrisome pattern with emphasis on profit-generating has come at the cost of humanities and liberal arts. The signs are the decline of critical thinking toward authorities, compromised problem-solving skills over complex global matters, and a lack of sympathy for underprivileged and marginalized subpopulations.
Democracy needs competent democratic citizens and to reach this goal a balanced and comprehensive education is key. A balanced pedagogical method should include humanities in the curriculum to broaden the students' viewpoints and help them cultivate empathy. This will serve as a preemptive measure to solve the pathologic social insouciance. The recent waves of execrating diversity and various tribalist sycophants spreading hatred as the new real political wisdom, maybe a reflection of this oversight in the upbringing of the children. Whether these are wangs of a temporary philosophical spasm or a profound drawback in the evolution of education, is yet to be seen. Nevertheless, they require immediate attention.
The book explains the history of the endeavors to include humanities in the framework by philosophers and educational reformers from Johann Pestalozzi (1746-1827) to John Dewey (1859-1952).
Pestolazzi believed in the incorporation of arts and actual emotional responses in tandem with a child's gradual emotional development. Highly influenced by Rousseau's Emile, he mainly focused on participatory creative activities.
Dewey's works in particular underline the importance of transferring living-oriented knowledge to students. He believed education is a regulatory process to oversee social norms and consciousness. Dewey believed in the involvement of the students to go deep and the proper educational method should provide information aligned with their prior life experiences.
In "Not for Profit", Nussbaum raises concern regarding the profit-oriented incentive in public and private schools. The resurgence of technology and the prediction of marketable occupations penetrated the social psyche and now parents are mostly supportive of this direction to secure their children's future. With a new economic and technological milieu looming at large, the need to renege on fundamental principles of comprehensive education is felt, more desperately than ever.
The idea of gentle commerce as a platform which puts a premium on empathy is explained in Steven Pinker's "the Better Angels of our Nature". Herein I refer to a paragraph cited in the book explaining the phenomenon and its impacts on social/political construct.
Commerce attaches [people] to one another through mutual utility...
Through commerce, man learns to deliberate, to be honest, to acquire manners, to be prudent and reserved in both talk and action. Sensing the necessity to be wise and honest in order to succeed, he flees vice, or at least his demeanor exhibits decency and seriousness so as not to arouse any adverse judgement on the part of present and future acquaintances.
Samuel Ricard (1704)
I am the fright of millions,
the delight of a few.
I am the dearth, ploughing the earth,
A fragile frame, amassing thrones!
Flouted on earth, bedeviled by the sky.
I am the joyous stream,
evaporated!
I am the hope,
on the ropes!
Pedram, 2/4/24
Franz Schubert, Violin Sonata No 2 in A Minor, D. 385
Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano Trio No 2 in E minor, Op. 67
Featured musicians:
Alexi Kenney, violin
Dimitri Papadimitriou, piano
Anne Martindale Williams, cello
The program included the following four pieces:
Biyan by Raven Chacon
Toque by Tania Leon
Backlight by Meredith Monk
Try by Andrew Norman
Thomas Hobbes underlines three axes that define human quarrels:
So that in the nature of man, we find principal causes of quarrel. First, competition; secondly, diffidence; thirdly, glory. The first market men invade for gain; the second, for safety; and the third, for reputation. The first use violence, to make themselves masters of other men's persons, wives, children, and cattle; the second, to defend them; the third, for trifles, as a word, a smile, a different opinion, and any other sign of undervalue, wither direct in their persons or by reflection in their kindred, their friends, their nation, their profession, or their name.
The diffidence which can be better translated to fear is the root cause of what is known as the Hobbesian trap or security dilemma in political terminology and in the arena of international relations.
Thursday night's event was a tribute to jazz legend Wayne Shorter, by Pittsburgh Jazz bassist and educator, Paul Thompson.
The performance was focused on acoustic works of Wayne Shorter's discography. Pieces such as Children of the Night, Virgo, Yes or No, Witchhunt, Both Sides Now, and Joy Ryder were played. Beautiful music and masterfully organized, as always!
Featured Musicians:
Paul Thompson: bass
Scott Boni: sax
Joe Sheehan: piano
George Heid III: drums
1/25/2024
It is impossible to understand so destructive a policy without recognizing that Nazi ideology was, for the most part, not only irrational-but antirational. It cherished the pagan, pre-Christian past of the German nation, adapted romantic ideas of a return to nature and a more "organic" existence, and nurtured an apocalyptic expectation of an end of days, whence the eternal struggle between the races would be resolved... The contempt for rationalism and its association with the despised Enlightenment stood at the core of Nazi thought; the movement's ideologues emphasized the contradiction between weltanschauung ("worldview"), the natural and direct experience of the world, and -welt-an-denken ("thinking about the world"), the "destructive" intellectual activity that breaks reality down through conceptualization, calculation, and theorization. Against the "degenerate" liberal bourgeois' worship of reason, the Nazis championed the idea of a vital, spontaneous life, unhindered and undimmed by compromises of dilemmas.
