Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Flash Crash
I was just reading about what they call mini-flash-crashes in the stock market. Some random action triggers an unexpected response from a stock trading algorithm. Thousands of stock trading computers operating at the speed of light simultaneously execute huge orders to sell the stock of some big corporation at any price. The company's market capitalization disappears in seconds. For a couple of minutes, before the circuit breakers kick in, a fifth grader could buy the whole company with his allowance. Now, there's an idea for a movie.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Relationships
Relationships.
1. Be yourself.
2. Be honest.
3. If (s)he doesn't love you the way you are (s)he doesn't love you.
4. Nobody changes.
5. Keep showing up.
6. Support your partner's self esteem
Comments:
1. Be yourself.
This is very common advise and very obvious. It is also incredibly important and rarely followed. I don't suppose that anyone gets into a relationship with the intention of projecting a false image as a basic part of the arrangement. I think that people procrastinate. They start off putting their best foot forward and just keep putting off dropping the mask. Maximum disclosure of one's own true self very early in the relationship is critical. It is much more difficult to let the other person in when things have been going on for a while. It is also important to be ruthless about never ever yielding to the temptation to paper over a personal problem or conceal a defect of character.
One good reason to be very open, disclosing and honest with the other is the effect it has on oneself. Two of the most important reasons for being in intimate relationships are acceptance and affirmation. If I am hiding from my loved one I can not enjoy being accepted and affirmed for myself because I am not sharing myself. The message I am giving to myself is that I can not be loved as and for myself. This undermines my self esteem and makes it all the more difficult to be disclosing tomorrow. Actually, there is something to love and like in everyone and someone who will find anyone lovable. I don't need to put on an act.
Another good reason to be oneself in relationships is to get rid of people who really can not accept me. If a person does not like me that says more about them than about me. I need to know as soon as possible and certainly before I have gotten myself in over my head. It hurts more to be abandoned after a long relationship than after a short one. It hurts even more to cling to a relationship by hiding one's true self.
The best reason to be oneself in a relationship is that it is a prerequisite to intimacy and intimacy is what it is all about. The best part is coming to know the loved one and being known oneself. That is what all the fuss is about.
Being oneself is not easy. It is easy to slide into protecting oneself and trying to manage impressions even in a long term relationship. The key is to be absolutely ruthless about it.
2. Be honest.
I mean this to be a little different than being oneself. Basically I mean to avoid deception, secrets and trying to control the other through information management. It is also tricky since literal, constant reporting of everything and totally factual responses to every question can be foolish and unkind. If I happen to notice that her nose is too big, no purpose is served by my blurting that out. With some people and in perfectly wonderful relationships, questions about one's sexual history might not call for totally accurate recall. I like to use language from the A.A. ninth step, "except when to do so would be harmful to them or others." On the other hand a long term deception on a major issue is lethal. Why stay in a relationship with someone you need to lie to? When in doubt it is usually a good idea to tell the plain, unvarnished truth.
3. If (s)he doesn't love you the way you are (s)he doesn't love you.
Everyone is lovable to someone. From mother's love of a newborn to someone's passion for a serial killer on death row there is someone out there who can and will love you just as you are. For all the pain and nuisance which exists in the fact that we have to relate to other human beings one saving grace is that the supply is virtually unlimited. As much as it may be difficult to believe sometimes, potential lovers are not in short supply and we do not have to settle for someone who doesn't really like us. People do it all the time.
No matter who we are or what we are like there are some people who will find us lovable and some who will not (and a bunch more who can't love anybody). Being loved has nothing to do with some abstract quality of being lovable in the absolute. Somebody loved Henry Lee Lucas, a stupid, vicious, unsanitary, serial killer. Some people can't stand Mother Theresa. Love isn't something you deserve, earn or achieve. It is a quality of a relationship which has to do with the needs and personalities of the participants. One's potential lovers are as human, fallible and irrational as oneself and as stubborn, self- destructive and confused. All of which leads to the conclusion that we can not "get" someone to love us no matter how hard we try.
It is a total waste of time and effort to twist ourselves into pretzels trying to become "good enough" or bad enough or whatever someone seems to want us to be. It won't help and it hurts us. The worst thing that can happen is that we deceive a potential lover into believing we are something other than we in fact are. What good is that? We want to be loved, but have nothing if all we have achieved it to get someone to love a false facade. It probably isn't possible anyway.
After a certain period of cautious self disclosure the dye is cast. He or she either loves us or does not and there is nothing we can do about it. If (s)he does love us we have the difficult task of being in a love relationship. If not we need to cut our losses and become available for another effort. On no account do we abandon ourselves in an effort to be what we are not.
4. Nobody changes.
This is the other side of the last rule and a guide for behavior, not a fact. People do change, sometimes profoundly. They do not change to meet the specifications of a lover and pressure to change is usually counter-productive. One of the most common and most self destructive mistakes that one can make in a relationship is to "keep wishing and hoping he'll change." Clear evidence of such a relationship is the presence of "fonlys" and "I wishes." The worst are the fonlys as in "Fonly, he'd stop drinking." Relating to someone based on that someone being different than he or she is now is a sure prescription for misery and futility. Always assume that the other will never change. Chose someone whom you can accept now, completely and exactly as is.
5. Keep showing up.
"90% of success is showing up." This wisdom was, perhaps, first articulated by Woody Allen and the depth and significance of it is beyond measure. In any situation it is very difficult to predict what is going to happen but one thing is certain, if you don't show up you won't be there when it happens. In relationships this is about courage, respect and persistence. We are often asked to do frightening things and things we have never done before and things we have done before with painful results. Most of the time we need to do them and the biggest part of doing them is making oneself physically present. In a relationship almost everything is forgivable except failing to show up. In the endless daily conflicts between the desire to avoid the difficult and scary and the need to participate in life we need a guidepost and a tool. For me it is the simple motto that 90% of everything is showing up. It is the difference between avoiding life and embracing life.
Practical examples of showing up:
Meeting someone's parents
Inviting a conversation when she is in a bad mood
Keeping a social engagement when tired
Apologizing after a fight
Explaining why I won't apologize
Listening to something I don't want to hear
Medical or dental treatment
Balancing a checkbook
It is impossible to predict or imagine the circumstances when showing up will be necessary and important. When in doubt or indecision think of the solution as "showing up" and there is a good chance you will know what that will be. If you really want to be a success and a hero show up on time.
6. Support your partner's self esteem.
We want to support our partners self esteem not because they will like it but because we will like being in a relationship with a person with healthy self esteem. An intimate relationship is an aspect of life in which our self esteem can be supported and improved or steadily ground down. An amazing number of people seem to feel that a steady diet of criticism and negativity will improve their partner. This probably becomes a habit when all we are doing is trying to help the other become a better person. Trust me on this; if you want to help your loved one become a better person the tools to use are positive reinforcement and support.
This is hard and this is rare. The rewards are enormous, especially for the relationship. The temptation to criticize, to respond to negativity with negativity and to try to cut our partner down to size is almost impossible to resist. To the extent we are able to resist this temptation we are the winner. Every nasty crack and critical gesture drains the relationship; every supportive comment and appreciative response strengthens it. We want and need the relationship to be a place our partner comes for support, never a place to avoid for fear of feeling diminished.
People who feel good about themselves are a joy to spend time with. Beaten down, defeated people are a burden to be around. People who feel loved, appreciated and approved have a much easier time giving of themselves and making themselves available to others. People who feel inferior tend to conceal themselves and behave defensively.
We often underestimate our power in our relationships. On a day to day basis we can set a tone of criticism and negativity almost unconsciously and this wears away at our partner in ways we very much do not want to happen. If we make the effort to be positive and supportive, that too can become a habit and we will reap the rewards. In many ways this is the harder way. But it is worth it.
1. Be yourself.
2. Be honest.
3. If (s)he doesn't love you the way you are (s)he doesn't love you.
4. Nobody changes.
5. Keep showing up.
6. Support your partner's self esteem
Comments:
1. Be yourself.
This is very common advise and very obvious. It is also incredibly important and rarely followed. I don't suppose that anyone gets into a relationship with the intention of projecting a false image as a basic part of the arrangement. I think that people procrastinate. They start off putting their best foot forward and just keep putting off dropping the mask. Maximum disclosure of one's own true self very early in the relationship is critical. It is much more difficult to let the other person in when things have been going on for a while. It is also important to be ruthless about never ever yielding to the temptation to paper over a personal problem or conceal a defect of character.
One good reason to be very open, disclosing and honest with the other is the effect it has on oneself. Two of the most important reasons for being in intimate relationships are acceptance and affirmation. If I am hiding from my loved one I can not enjoy being accepted and affirmed for myself because I am not sharing myself. The message I am giving to myself is that I can not be loved as and for myself. This undermines my self esteem and makes it all the more difficult to be disclosing tomorrow. Actually, there is something to love and like in everyone and someone who will find anyone lovable. I don't need to put on an act.
Another good reason to be oneself in relationships is to get rid of people who really can not accept me. If a person does not like me that says more about them than about me. I need to know as soon as possible and certainly before I have gotten myself in over my head. It hurts more to be abandoned after a long relationship than after a short one. It hurts even more to cling to a relationship by hiding one's true self.
The best reason to be oneself in a relationship is that it is a prerequisite to intimacy and intimacy is what it is all about. The best part is coming to know the loved one and being known oneself. That is what all the fuss is about.
Being oneself is not easy. It is easy to slide into protecting oneself and trying to manage impressions even in a long term relationship. The key is to be absolutely ruthless about it.
2. Be honest.
I mean this to be a little different than being oneself. Basically I mean to avoid deception, secrets and trying to control the other through information management. It is also tricky since literal, constant reporting of everything and totally factual responses to every question can be foolish and unkind. If I happen to notice that her nose is too big, no purpose is served by my blurting that out. With some people and in perfectly wonderful relationships, questions about one's sexual history might not call for totally accurate recall. I like to use language from the A.A. ninth step, "except when to do so would be harmful to them or others." On the other hand a long term deception on a major issue is lethal. Why stay in a relationship with someone you need to lie to? When in doubt it is usually a good idea to tell the plain, unvarnished truth.
3. If (s)he doesn't love you the way you are (s)he doesn't love you.
Everyone is lovable to someone. From mother's love of a newborn to someone's passion for a serial killer on death row there is someone out there who can and will love you just as you are. For all the pain and nuisance which exists in the fact that we have to relate to other human beings one saving grace is that the supply is virtually unlimited. As much as it may be difficult to believe sometimes, potential lovers are not in short supply and we do not have to settle for someone who doesn't really like us. People do it all the time.
No matter who we are or what we are like there are some people who will find us lovable and some who will not (and a bunch more who can't love anybody). Being loved has nothing to do with some abstract quality of being lovable in the absolute. Somebody loved Henry Lee Lucas, a stupid, vicious, unsanitary, serial killer. Some people can't stand Mother Theresa. Love isn't something you deserve, earn or achieve. It is a quality of a relationship which has to do with the needs and personalities of the participants. One's potential lovers are as human, fallible and irrational as oneself and as stubborn, self- destructive and confused. All of which leads to the conclusion that we can not "get" someone to love us no matter how hard we try.
It is a total waste of time and effort to twist ourselves into pretzels trying to become "good enough" or bad enough or whatever someone seems to want us to be. It won't help and it hurts us. The worst thing that can happen is that we deceive a potential lover into believing we are something other than we in fact are. What good is that? We want to be loved, but have nothing if all we have achieved it to get someone to love a false facade. It probably isn't possible anyway.
After a certain period of cautious self disclosure the dye is cast. He or she either loves us or does not and there is nothing we can do about it. If (s)he does love us we have the difficult task of being in a love relationship. If not we need to cut our losses and become available for another effort. On no account do we abandon ourselves in an effort to be what we are not.
4. Nobody changes.
This is the other side of the last rule and a guide for behavior, not a fact. People do change, sometimes profoundly. They do not change to meet the specifications of a lover and pressure to change is usually counter-productive. One of the most common and most self destructive mistakes that one can make in a relationship is to "keep wishing and hoping he'll change." Clear evidence of such a relationship is the presence of "fonlys" and "I wishes." The worst are the fonlys as in "Fonly, he'd stop drinking." Relating to someone based on that someone being different than he or she is now is a sure prescription for misery and futility. Always assume that the other will never change. Chose someone whom you can accept now, completely and exactly as is.
5. Keep showing up.
"90% of success is showing up." This wisdom was, perhaps, first articulated by Woody Allen and the depth and significance of it is beyond measure. In any situation it is very difficult to predict what is going to happen but one thing is certain, if you don't show up you won't be there when it happens. In relationships this is about courage, respect and persistence. We are often asked to do frightening things and things we have never done before and things we have done before with painful results. Most of the time we need to do them and the biggest part of doing them is making oneself physically present. In a relationship almost everything is forgivable except failing to show up. In the endless daily conflicts between the desire to avoid the difficult and scary and the need to participate in life we need a guidepost and a tool. For me it is the simple motto that 90% of everything is showing up. It is the difference between avoiding life and embracing life.
Practical examples of showing up:
Meeting someone's parents
Inviting a conversation when she is in a bad mood
Keeping a social engagement when tired
Apologizing after a fight
Explaining why I won't apologize
Listening to something I don't want to hear
Medical or dental treatment
Balancing a checkbook
It is impossible to predict or imagine the circumstances when showing up will be necessary and important. When in doubt or indecision think of the solution as "showing up" and there is a good chance you will know what that will be. If you really want to be a success and a hero show up on time.
6. Support your partner's self esteem.
We want to support our partners self esteem not because they will like it but because we will like being in a relationship with a person with healthy self esteem. An intimate relationship is an aspect of life in which our self esteem can be supported and improved or steadily ground down. An amazing number of people seem to feel that a steady diet of criticism and negativity will improve their partner. This probably becomes a habit when all we are doing is trying to help the other become a better person. Trust me on this; if you want to help your loved one become a better person the tools to use are positive reinforcement and support.
This is hard and this is rare. The rewards are enormous, especially for the relationship. The temptation to criticize, to respond to negativity with negativity and to try to cut our partner down to size is almost impossible to resist. To the extent we are able to resist this temptation we are the winner. Every nasty crack and critical gesture drains the relationship; every supportive comment and appreciative response strengthens it. We want and need the relationship to be a place our partner comes for support, never a place to avoid for fear of feeling diminished.
People who feel good about themselves are a joy to spend time with. Beaten down, defeated people are a burden to be around. People who feel loved, appreciated and approved have a much easier time giving of themselves and making themselves available to others. People who feel inferior tend to conceal themselves and behave defensively.
We often underestimate our power in our relationships. On a day to day basis we can set a tone of criticism and negativity almost unconsciously and this wears away at our partner in ways we very much do not want to happen. If we make the effort to be positive and supportive, that too can become a habit and we will reap the rewards. In many ways this is the harder way. But it is worth it.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
TV Review - The Glades
It's time for Walter's kiss of death television review. Year after year I find a TV series which I really like and it disappears as if weighted with concrete and thrown into the ocean. My taste clearly runs counter to the vast TV audience which, come to think of it, is the story of my life. Past doomed favs include Hack, The Others, Moonlight and about one series per year which no one will remember.
This years "winner" is The Glades. As far as I am concerned A&E has captured lightening in a bottle. It is, I guess, a police procedural set in south Florida. But, all comparisons to CSI Miami or any other cop shows set in beautiful places end there. First, the cast in excellent and perfect for the tone and flavor of the show. Matt Passmore is a natural as a laid back displaced detective with hidden depths. Kiele Sanchez is his love interest and both the woman and the complex relationship are perfect. Passmore and Sanchez are two of the most attractive people in acting playing two of the most attractive characters to surface in a long time. By attractive I don't mean pretty in a movie or TV sense, I mean people you like, would like to know and can't help but care about.
The scripts are consistently intelligent and funny. The humor is not "jokes" or "sitcom situations." The humor grows naturally out of the characters and the action. The location is wonderful. It is not a beautiful vacation spot inhabited by privileged people. It is a regular place inhabited by real seeming people; more blue collar than classy. Still, you can accept and believe that Jim and Callie can find a spanish treasure buried in a mangrove swamp. And the best thing about the treasure is not the riches or beauty, but Callie's epiphany about her relationship with Jim.
The characters seem like real people showing up for real jobs. But if your loved one was murdered you'd want Jim Longworth on the case and if your loved one was only injured you'd want nurse Callie Cargill taking care of her. Even the kid is real and someone you'd like to know.
So, big cheers for The Glades. Sorry guys.
This years "winner" is The Glades. As far as I am concerned A&E has captured lightening in a bottle. It is, I guess, a police procedural set in south Florida. But, all comparisons to CSI Miami or any other cop shows set in beautiful places end there. First, the cast in excellent and perfect for the tone and flavor of the show. Matt Passmore is a natural as a laid back displaced detective with hidden depths. Kiele Sanchez is his love interest and both the woman and the complex relationship are perfect. Passmore and Sanchez are two of the most attractive people in acting playing two of the most attractive characters to surface in a long time. By attractive I don't mean pretty in a movie or TV sense, I mean people you like, would like to know and can't help but care about.
The scripts are consistently intelligent and funny. The humor is not "jokes" or "sitcom situations." The humor grows naturally out of the characters and the action. The location is wonderful. It is not a beautiful vacation spot inhabited by privileged people. It is a regular place inhabited by real seeming people; more blue collar than classy. Still, you can accept and believe that Jim and Callie can find a spanish treasure buried in a mangrove swamp. And the best thing about the treasure is not the riches or beauty, but Callie's epiphany about her relationship with Jim.
The characters seem like real people showing up for real jobs. But if your loved one was murdered you'd want Jim Longworth on the case and if your loved one was only injured you'd want nurse Callie Cargill taking care of her. Even the kid is real and someone you'd like to know.
So, big cheers for The Glades. Sorry guys.
Weather Inflation
Weather inflation has reached tornadoes. Not long ago a TORNADO WARNING meant that an actual tornado had been sighted, run for the basement. Now it only means that conditions are right for a tornado to develop, which is most of the time in the summer in the Great Lakes region. What this means is that everyone is going to learn that a Tornado Warning doesn't mean squat and will start ignoring them. I've been in two tornadoes in my life and they are about as serious as weather gets, they will kill you. This chicken little school of weather forecasting desensitizes people which is a real shame.
We also now have something called a WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY. The TV and radio will tell you that a WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY is in effect from 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday until... You would expect a WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY to remain in effect until Spring. But no... The WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY expires on Wednesday. Does this mean that we won't have winter weather any more after one day? I've taken to issuing my own advisories. WALTER'S WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY will go into effect on Noon of December 1 and remain in effect until Spring. Be advised. Listeners are advised to man up or move to a warmer climate.
I've been driving in winter for 50 years now and the same thing happens every year. All the people who got used to driving in snow and ice last year moved out and everyone out there during the first showfall every year is seeing snow for the first time. Come on folks, it happens every year (so far, at least). Scrape your windows and proceed to your destinations.
Why tornadoes are better than hurricanes
No evacuations (not enough notice and too unpredictable)
Damage is localized. Can usually walk out of the affected zone in ½ hour
No point in boarding up house
No such thing as a tornado preparedness kit
Covered by homeowner's insurance
Time from warning to it's over is so short it can usually be covered between commercials
You don't get really scared until you hear it and by then its too late.
Suggestions welcome.
We also now have something called a WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY. The TV and radio will tell you that a WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY is in effect from 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday until... You would expect a WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY to remain in effect until Spring. But no... The WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY expires on Wednesday. Does this mean that we won't have winter weather any more after one day? I've taken to issuing my own advisories. WALTER'S WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY will go into effect on Noon of December 1 and remain in effect until Spring. Be advised. Listeners are advised to man up or move to a warmer climate.
I've been driving in winter for 50 years now and the same thing happens every year. All the people who got used to driving in snow and ice last year moved out and everyone out there during the first showfall every year is seeing snow for the first time. Come on folks, it happens every year (so far, at least). Scrape your windows and proceed to your destinations.
Why tornadoes are better than hurricanes
No evacuations (not enough notice and too unpredictable)
Damage is localized. Can usually walk out of the affected zone in ½ hour
No point in boarding up house
No such thing as a tornado preparedness kit
Covered by homeowner's insurance
Time from warning to it's over is so short it can usually be covered between commercials
You don't get really scared until you hear it and by then its too late.
Suggestions welcome.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Opera Review
Dialogues of the Carmelites
an opera in three very long acts by Francis Poulenc
Reviewed by Walter
This opera is in the french language but the basic plot is easily understood even by those of us who do not speak French. There is a group of nuns, the Carmelites, who have taken up the practice of recitativ which is a largely successful undertaking by the human voice to blend the sound of fingernails scraping across a chalkboard with that of pigs being slaughtered.
In the first act their friends and the general populace plead with them to stop, but to no avail. Pleas are made to the government to put a stop to the recitativ. The government does not respond, so the populace rises up and overthrows the government. This is the cause of the French Revolution.
The second act consists of various well meaning attempts by several officials of the revolutionary government to abate the nuisance, without effect. This leads to the third act where the Carmelites are taken one by one to the guillotine and beheaded. When the last nun is beheaded the racket stops and the audience bursts into applause.
This is a production of historical significance as a demonstration of opera as it existed before composers of opera began using music. Poulenc makes an impressive argument for participatory democracy and the death penalty - both important themes of his era. The old regime is tolerant of the oppression of the people, but a revolutionary government deals with the worst abuses by direct action.
The opera is seldom performed since the adoption of the Geneva Conventions.
an opera in three very long acts by Francis Poulenc
Reviewed by Walter
This opera is in the french language but the basic plot is easily understood even by those of us who do not speak French. There is a group of nuns, the Carmelites, who have taken up the practice of recitativ which is a largely successful undertaking by the human voice to blend the sound of fingernails scraping across a chalkboard with that of pigs being slaughtered.
In the first act their friends and the general populace plead with them to stop, but to no avail. Pleas are made to the government to put a stop to the recitativ. The government does not respond, so the populace rises up and overthrows the government. This is the cause of the French Revolution.
The second act consists of various well meaning attempts by several officials of the revolutionary government to abate the nuisance, without effect. This leads to the third act where the Carmelites are taken one by one to the guillotine and beheaded. When the last nun is beheaded the racket stops and the audience bursts into applause.
This is a production of historical significance as a demonstration of opera as it existed before composers of opera began using music. Poulenc makes an impressive argument for participatory democracy and the death penalty - both important themes of his era. The old regime is tolerant of the oppression of the people, but a revolutionary government deals with the worst abuses by direct action.
The opera is seldom performed since the adoption of the Geneva Conventions.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Race
I wish I could somehow communicate what I know about racism. The discussion in public forums seems to fall so far short of reality that I really fear that Americans are blind to something they really need so see.
I grew up in a very racist home with a very racist family and a racist culture. No one who has not seen it close up, actually from the inside, can really appreciate how toxic it can be.
My mother was a virulent racist. She hated black people with an amazing intensity, just because they were black. Mom was an intense and angry person generally and capable of holding frightening prejudices about just about anyone, but people of color held a special place in her pantheon of evils. She knew to an absolute certainty that every black person was completely worthless and wanted only to bring down their superiors, white people. She would not trust or accept a person who was not white in any role. She would rather die than consult a black doctor and would keep an agonizing toothache in preference to treatment by a black dentist or dental assistant. I grew up with a person who would and did cheerfully contemplate genocide and would have been happy to participate in it.
My father was also firmly convinced that white people were superior to any other race and that black people were stupid, lazy and untrustworthy. He was in most respects very much a left wing socialist, but the benefits of his world would never be extended to black people. In his case he was actually in a position to do something about it and he did. He was a labor organizer and a union official and considered it an important part of his job in labor to keep "the trades" all white. All of his comrades seemed to agree wholeheartedly.
Everyone in the extended family seemed to hate black people and all of the people in my parents' social circle. It was an article of faith and part of what made them a community.
It was pretty obvious that all of the intense emotion was rooted in fear. These were people who profoundly believed that their place in the world and their security was dependent on racial privilege. Their community, economic status, personal safety and everything of value to them was at stake. Racial cohesion and the oppression of other races were the support structure of their entire lives.
I'm not speaking of these people with hatred or contempt, they were my family and loved ones. I am just realistic about what I saw and heard. I'm 65 years old and that stuff is far from my most important memory, though it may be the most tragic part of my heritage.
When a black man was elected President I could see what was going to happen as clearly as if it was written out for me. For me the Tea Party movement was like coming home. (Not something I would ever want to do.) I know exactly who these people are and what they mean by their code words and frantic fears. I know why they are eager to "believe" all manner of ridiculous things about the black President - a muslim, a socialist, a terrorist sympathizer, foreign born, trying to destroy America and take revenge on whites for all that hatred and oppression. They don't really believe this nonsense. It is a code for what they really do believe, that he is black and world is upside down.
Sane people don't seem really to believe how poisonous and compelling racial hatred and fears are for a certain subset of the population. People raised in a sane world where their family and loved ones talked and behaved in a half way sane fashion are just not able to see this terrible reality. By the way it is terrible for all of us. For the people who face this insane hatred because of their race. For anyone who is trying to make reasonably sane public policy. For people who are trying to live decent lives in a decent world and most of all for the poor deluded fools who feel that their lives and everything they care about are going to be crushed by a tide of racial inferiors moving into greater and greater positions of power. This crap is a real test of democracy and I am very unhappy about the tepid response to the challenge. These people are more than ready to destroy everything which makes America a place of hope and decency out of insane panic. Their whole approach to public life is infantile. Where are the adults?
I grew up in a very racist home with a very racist family and a racist culture. No one who has not seen it close up, actually from the inside, can really appreciate how toxic it can be.
My mother was a virulent racist. She hated black people with an amazing intensity, just because they were black. Mom was an intense and angry person generally and capable of holding frightening prejudices about just about anyone, but people of color held a special place in her pantheon of evils. She knew to an absolute certainty that every black person was completely worthless and wanted only to bring down their superiors, white people. She would not trust or accept a person who was not white in any role. She would rather die than consult a black doctor and would keep an agonizing toothache in preference to treatment by a black dentist or dental assistant. I grew up with a person who would and did cheerfully contemplate genocide and would have been happy to participate in it.
My father was also firmly convinced that white people were superior to any other race and that black people were stupid, lazy and untrustworthy. He was in most respects very much a left wing socialist, but the benefits of his world would never be extended to black people. In his case he was actually in a position to do something about it and he did. He was a labor organizer and a union official and considered it an important part of his job in labor to keep "the trades" all white. All of his comrades seemed to agree wholeheartedly.
Everyone in the extended family seemed to hate black people and all of the people in my parents' social circle. It was an article of faith and part of what made them a community.
It was pretty obvious that all of the intense emotion was rooted in fear. These were people who profoundly believed that their place in the world and their security was dependent on racial privilege. Their community, economic status, personal safety and everything of value to them was at stake. Racial cohesion and the oppression of other races were the support structure of their entire lives.
I'm not speaking of these people with hatred or contempt, they were my family and loved ones. I am just realistic about what I saw and heard. I'm 65 years old and that stuff is far from my most important memory, though it may be the most tragic part of my heritage.
When a black man was elected President I could see what was going to happen as clearly as if it was written out for me. For me the Tea Party movement was like coming home. (Not something I would ever want to do.) I know exactly who these people are and what they mean by their code words and frantic fears. I know why they are eager to "believe" all manner of ridiculous things about the black President - a muslim, a socialist, a terrorist sympathizer, foreign born, trying to destroy America and take revenge on whites for all that hatred and oppression. They don't really believe this nonsense. It is a code for what they really do believe, that he is black and world is upside down.
Sane people don't seem really to believe how poisonous and compelling racial hatred and fears are for a certain subset of the population. People raised in a sane world where their family and loved ones talked and behaved in a half way sane fashion are just not able to see this terrible reality. By the way it is terrible for all of us. For the people who face this insane hatred because of their race. For anyone who is trying to make reasonably sane public policy. For people who are trying to live decent lives in a decent world and most of all for the poor deluded fools who feel that their lives and everything they care about are going to be crushed by a tide of racial inferiors moving into greater and greater positions of power. This crap is a real test of democracy and I am very unhappy about the tepid response to the challenge. These people are more than ready to destroy everything which makes America a place of hope and decency out of insane panic. Their whole approach to public life is infantile. Where are the adults?
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Toyota's Problems
Here's an old observation which is probably pretty typical:
In at least one sense Toyota is hoist on its own petard. In the 1950s and 60s, at least in Flint among the people who drove crappy cars, unintended acceleration was literally not considered worth mentioning. Toyota was a big player in the development of a motoring public who expect automobiles to be reliable and perform predictably and then became dependant on them.
I am not exaggerating about the lack of concern for unintended acceleration. The car my parents referred to as "the old Dodge" would start racing its engine and surging forward several times a week. My mother would throw the car in neutral and fiddle with the gas pedel until it settled down. Not only would she not pull over, she wouldn't even interrupt the flow of conversation. I never heard her mention it to anyone. The thing that people would complained about was unintended lack of acceleration. Eagerness in a car was considered a virtue. It happened once when my father was driving and lighting a cigarette from a match. He dealt with it without putting out the match and then finished lighting his cigarette.
Of course, I was a little kid riding in the front seat without a seat belt behind the steel dashoard breathing sidestream smoke. It is possible that one or more of the cheap cars I owned when I was young would accelerate unpredictably. I wouldn't have considered it memorable, so I don't remember.
There is a controversy whether accidents are caused by unintended acceleration or driver error. In Michigan in the 60s, failure to deal with unintended acceleration would have been considered driver error. Engines surging, tires blowing out, ball joints failing, wipers failing, lights failing, steering abnormalities, parts falling off, etc. were all considered part of driving. Now a driver is excused from having his car under control when the throttle surges open, the car is on ice and a front tire blows out. It is all Toyota's fault; American car companies had drivers trained to deal with their crappy product.
In at least one sense Toyota is hoist on its own petard. In the 1950s and 60s, at least in Flint among the people who drove crappy cars, unintended acceleration was literally not considered worth mentioning. Toyota was a big player in the development of a motoring public who expect automobiles to be reliable and perform predictably and then became dependant on them.
I am not exaggerating about the lack of concern for unintended acceleration. The car my parents referred to as "the old Dodge" would start racing its engine and surging forward several times a week. My mother would throw the car in neutral and fiddle with the gas pedel until it settled down. Not only would she not pull over, she wouldn't even interrupt the flow of conversation. I never heard her mention it to anyone. The thing that people would complained about was unintended lack of acceleration. Eagerness in a car was considered a virtue. It happened once when my father was driving and lighting a cigarette from a match. He dealt with it without putting out the match and then finished lighting his cigarette.
Of course, I was a little kid riding in the front seat without a seat belt behind the steel dashoard breathing sidestream smoke. It is possible that one or more of the cheap cars I owned when I was young would accelerate unpredictably. I wouldn't have considered it memorable, so I don't remember.
There is a controversy whether accidents are caused by unintended acceleration or driver error. In Michigan in the 60s, failure to deal with unintended acceleration would have been considered driver error. Engines surging, tires blowing out, ball joints failing, wipers failing, lights failing, steering abnormalities, parts falling off, etc. were all considered part of driving. Now a driver is excused from having his car under control when the throttle surges open, the car is on ice and a front tire blows out. It is all Toyota's fault; American car companies had drivers trained to deal with their crappy product.
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