…but necessary none the less.
James Wolcott condemns our insular outlook, especially as it has been shown in the wake of the terrorist attacks in London, and he makes his point well.
Technorati Tags: recommended reading
Bastille Day is a national holiday in France, the fête nationale as the Fourth of July is to us. In an eerie parallel, they call it the Fourteenth of July instead of Bastille Day as we term that day in the US, similar to what we call our national holiday, the Fourth of July.
We of the US should remember this day as well, but for reasons different than those of the French.
Both the Fourth of July and the Fourteenth of July celebrate revolutions, but it is rarely recalled how different are the paths that the two revolutions traveled.
The American Revolution, while marked by a war between organized armies, was remarkably violence free for a civil war, which it indeed was, with Loyalists to the British Crown present throughout the thirteen colonies that were rebelling against what was admittedly their legally constituted system of government.
There were comparatively few incidents of fratricide within the colonies, despite the true rebellion that was underway.
By contrast, the self-immolation practiced by the French in their revolution as it degenerated from the high ideals expressed in 1789 to the reckless use of the guillotine to eliminate political opponents in 1793 show the path that could have been taken in America but was avoided by a combination of incredible luck and good leadership that almost begs for a belief in divine intervention.
In a symmetry that is common in Physics but rare in human history, the American Revolution was financed by the ancien régime in France, and the cost in no small part helped in prompting the calling of the Estates-General of 1789, which resulted in a self-declared National Assembly, the first step of defiance of absolute monarchy that was the foundation of the French Revolution.
For better or worse, whether we like it or not, the history of modern France and the United States are intertwined in ways that resonate starting in the late 18th century and continue down to the present.
And a clue for those who like to cry about how Christians are discriminated against in the United States now, examine the history of DeChristianization that was an official policy in the French Revolution. I saw some of the results of this policy when I toured the Palais de Papes in Avignon, where priceless artwork was destroyed in the heat of anti-Christian revolutionary fervor.
When was the last time the US Congress passed a law saying that all Christian clergy were subordinate to the US Government?
Yes, cries of oppression that have no foundation, especially when compared with the real persecution present in the world, are a peeve of mine…
Regardless, there are many lessons that we Americans can learn from the divergent paths of the French and American Revolutions, and we forget at our peril the excesses of political passions that we managed to avoid, as evidenced by our own, fratricidal Civil War.
It is not inevitable that history repeats, only if we are willfully blind to the lessons we can draw, which we all too often are.
Technorati Tags: commentary, history, letters from Europe
Technical presentations tend to all follow a similar format, with a brief overview of the object of study, a description of the experiments performed, a presentation of the data, a discussion of the implications of the data, and conclusions along with directions for future work.
One oddity I encounter in dealing with the different cultures and languages that are part and parcel of my job is how this format is subtly altered by word choices made under the influence of the culture and language of the authors.
One example of this is how my French colleagues title as “Perspectives” the section of a presentation that is typically labeled by a native English speaker as “Conclusions and Future Work”.
Rarely do native English speakers discuss or even acknowledge “perspectives” in technical or scientific matters.
Yet perspective influences everything, from how data is interpreted, to political views, to how we interact with other people, even to how we love.
Some trap themselves inside their own perspective and cannot see beyond it.
Some see many perspectives but are unable to choose between them.
Some try with varying success to balance perspectives and make a conscious choice of viewpoint.
Some lose perspective and say things that are beyond the pale.
My recent two-week vacation from everything, including blogging, was in no small part to enable me to regain some perspective on many things.
Taking a step away can provide good insight upon returning. For me, however, I gained some unexpected perspective during my travels.
I was stuck in an airport due to a three hour delay in my flight, so I went to the only bar in the terminal I could get to without having to leave the security area. I sat down at the only seat available at the bar, next to a man in fatigues who was drinking a beer and having a casual conversation with a few folks next to him.
It only took a few brief moments for me to realize the bartender was far from competent, so instead of ordering my preferred drink when traveling, a bloody mary, I asked for a double Glenfiddich, since that was the only single malt Scotch available. With no mixing required, consequences arising from the lack of skill evident in the bartender would be avoided.
I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation of the Sergeant on the barstool next to me as he spoke with a father and son in the adjacent seats. I heard the same feelings expressed by the civilians, even to the same sentences used, that I have heard countless times in my travels since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq started, the “what’s it like there”, the “I hope you stay safe”, culminating in the “thank you” that although heartfelt has become a platitude.
The father and son left to catch their flight, and as I ordered my second drink, the Sergeant turned to me and said, “So that’s what I’ve been smelling next to me for the past few minutes.”
After a brief discussion on the merits of various drinks, I asked him if he was regular Army, coming or going, and where he had been. He was regular Army, on his way to a two-week leave in the US, coming in from Iraq, where he was stationed north of Baghdad.
The inevitable question from me followed. I asked how bad was it really there, after telling him that the news I get is that in France, not the US, and may not be the same perspective he is accustomed to encountering from civilians who have no first-hand source in the war zones.
He said it is not as bad as it seems when listening to the news in any country, but he said he still had a big problem with what is happening. He stated it flat out, “Why am I there? That’s what I want to know. There were no weapons of mass destruction, and I have yet to hear why I’m there. I just want that explained to me, and I haven’t heard any explanation, just bullshit.”
I was speechless for a moment, and before I could reply, he continued, “I need to go catch my flight, and I need to leave behind this beer, but after all the others I’ve had today that may be for the best.”
I murmured goodbyes and platitudes as he walked unsteadily away.
Later, when I was on my delayed flight, I overheard another conversation. This one was between two pilots in the row behind me; apparently, they worked for the airline and were going from one city to another because of some foul up in how the pilots were distributed. They had just met, and I heard their mutual self-introductions during the time I couldn’t use my headphones during take-off.
One of the pilots apparently is in the reserves, and he was talking with his colleague about his stint, his recent assignment in Iraq, and how he wanted to get out of the reserves. He said, “Rumsfeld is ruining the Army. The generals told him that to occupy Iraq we needed more troops there, and he ignored them before the war, and he’s kept ignoring them. I don’t mind being in a war, but when you fuck up and then keep on fucking up, I’m not going to be killed because of this jerk’s incompetence.”
Two anecdotes do not constitute a trend, but from these conversations, I received a view of perspectives unexpected to me.
These viewpoints do illustrate that despite the ranting and raging of how the “biased media” is distorting perspectives, not all is sweetness and light either.
Perspectives, it must be written in the plural, because there is far more than one on any matter, regardless of how small.
The majority of weblogs I read lean opposite to my preferred politics; I choose to read them to ensure I do not trap myself in an self-reinforcing resonance of my own perspectives.
Much has happened in the last two weeks to generate a lot of heat but little light in blogworld; the echo chambers have been ringing loud.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Conner announced her retirement, the Tour de France started, in the Gulf of Mexico tropical storms and hurricanes reminded those who forgot the power of nature, and in London terrorists reminded those who forgot the power of hate.
It is the power of hate that is the most troubling, but not the hate expressed by the terrorists. That hate is obvious, the origins are visible to those willing to take a step outside of their own point of view into a larger world, and defeating that hate is achievable if not easy, but victory over that hate is only possible if we ourselves reject that hate.
Unfortunately, we do not.
Instead, we revel in our hate. We hate the terrorists, we hate Muslims, we hate creationists, we hate scientists, we hate Republicans, we hate Democrats, we hate conservatives, we hate liberals, we hate moderates.
We hate.
We embrace a perspective of hatred and reject all other viewpoints.
We enjoy our hate.
If we did not then why do we resort to it so easily and so quickly?
Hate is easy to find. Just read any politically oriented weblog and you will find it, often in both the comments and the posts themselves.
Instead of writing what they are for, what they believe in, people write about how evil the “other side” is, even if that other side consists of fellow citizens who also want what is best for our country.
We are trapping ourselves in prison of our perspective, unwilling to see outside one point of view and acknowledge a larger world.
Our enemies trapped themselves in a prison of their perspective, a perspective of hatred they use to justify atrocities upon “the enemy”.
Beware when fighting your enemy that you do not become him.
Technorati Tags: commentary, opinion, some thoughts, weblogs
In catching up on things upon my return from my travels, I encounter a tale that Harry Boswell at The Kudzu Files pointed to, a story of a personal turning point that throws in stark relief how shallow the daily politics that flood blogworld really are when we are confronted with the reality of suffering and death, consequences arising not from violence but from poor choices.
Technorati Tags: recommended reading
The majority of the Munuvian blogs have been inaccessible to me for the past few days. I’ve noticed they on occasion go offline for an hour or two but then come back quickly. This time, however, they’re missing for days.
Is comment spam finally reaching the point where it overwhelms servers that have a lot of weblogs? I noticed a LOT of comment spam built up here while I was on hiatus, it took me a couple of days to clean it all up.
Whatever the problem is, I hope it is corrected soon. Many of the blogs I enjoy reading the most are on Munivia.
Technorati Tags: weblogs
…a simple statement of priorities that explains the decisions made on what to publish and report, if you’re willing think about it instead of simply rant and rage:
For most folks, no news is good news; for the press, good news is not news.
-Gloria Borger
Technorati Tags: quotes
Natural laws have no pity.
—Lazarus Long
