Who Got Liberated Yesterday?

I spent yesterday working until almost 2 PM. Not so sure I am cut out for working any longer. 

I piddled the evening away. We had had high winds all day, but it looked like the really bad weather would pass us by. Nope. The thunder and lightning started around 7, if memory serves, and kept going until around 10. The siren went off twice, warning us of a tornado. I tuck my head out of the door to see the wind swirling the rain down the street. I caught up with Star Trek Discovery on YouTube. A complete waste of my time, if I had had any energy.

Some items to consider for Trump's Liberation Day:

The Rubber Is Meeting The Road – Sheila Kennedy

Well, the drafts are now almost all published, and it is time to get ready for work.

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And it was a good day

 Tuesday went well enough that I can only worry that today will all go wrong.

The wind outside is howling. Yesterday was chilly but sunny.

I managed to work on some posts before I left on my errands: Social Security, the bank, the property management company to pay rent, and Payless of groceries. Turns out the reason I did not know about the change of the date my Social Security gets paid is that I did not change my address. I need to go back tomorrow to pay the balance of my rent.

Here, I got the kitchen and bathroom in order. I fixed a dinner of mushrooms, peppers, eggplant, and onions. It turned out very well.

The bedroom and my table/desk need working on today.

I talked to KH briefly and my sister a bit longer. More calls need to be made today.

The email is almost back under control.

I need to write up a piece on what I have been watching on Netflix.

Some items from yesterday:

April Hates U - by Patrick Nathan - Entertainment, Weakly - I learned more about Eliot's The Wasteland than I ever knew before, but I would never read it once a year.

Two pieces on Europe's history that point to its difficulties. Trump may have done more to unify Europe than Napoleon. However, it will not be good for us.

Europe's reckoning with history - Engelsberg ideas

Europe needs a grand strategy - Engelsberg ideas

This morning's news; Dems won in Wisconsin and Val Kilmer, 'Top Gun' and 'Batman Forever' star, dies at 65 | AP News

I did get an email off that might get the political bug out of me for a while.

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Philosophy: Judging The Truth

 Let me begin by stating with epistemology I side with the pragmatists.

Pragmatic theories of truth are usually associated either with C.S. Peirce’s proposal that true beliefs will be accepted “at the end of inquiry” or with William James’ proposal that truth be defined in terms of utility. More broadly, however, pragmatic theories of truth focus on the connection between truth and epistemic practices, notably practices of inquiry and assertion. Depending on the particular pragmatic theory, true statements might be those that are useful to believe, that are the result of inquiry, that have withstood ongoing examination, that meet a standard of warranted assertibility, or that represent norms of assertoric discourse. Like other theories of truth (e.g., coherence and deflationary theories) pragmatic theories of truth are often put forward as an alternative to correspondence theories of truth. Unlike correspondence theories, which tend to see truth as a static relation between a truth-bearer and a truth-maker, pragmatic theories of truth tend to view truth as a function of the practices people engage in, and the commitments people make, when they solve problems, make assertions, or conduct scientific inquiry. More broadly, pragmatic theories tend to emphasize the significant role the concept of truth plays across a range of disciplines and discourses: not just scientific and fact-stating discourse but also ethical, legal, and political discourse as well.

Pragmatic theories of truth have the effect of shifting attention away from what makes a statement true and toward what people mean or do in describing a statement as true. While sharing many of the impulses behind deflationary theories of truth (in particular, the idea that truth is not a substantial property), pragmatic theories also tend to view truth as more than just a useful tool for making generalizations. Pragmatic theories of truth thus emphasize the broader practical and performative dimensions of truth-talk, stressing the role truth plays in shaping certain kinds of discourse. These practical dimensions, according to pragmatic theories, are essential to understanding the concept of truth.

Whatever qualms I have with Big Think's The “Nietzsche Thesis”: Why we don’t really care about truth probably have more to do with the distance between its headline and its text.

...Epistemic vigilance is the argument that we possess an arsenal of tools to identify and call out lies. In a seminal paper on the topic, Sperber et al. argued that “humans have a suite of cognitive mechanisms for epistemic vigilance, targeted at the risk of being misinformed by others.” We have a built-in lie detector.

 Epistemic vigilance's problems are described as:

The philosopher Joseph Shieber thinks that something’s wrong here. He does not dispute the fact that we are vigilant — the evidence seems to point that way — but he does dispute calling this epistemic vigilance.

How the Nietzsche reference applies is:

For that, Shieber coined the expression “The Nietzsche Thesis.” He argues that “our goal in conversation is not primarily to acquire truthful information… [but] self-presentation.” In other words, we accept or reject statements based on utilitarian goals, not on their truthfulness. In Nietzsche’s words, we will accept and look for truth only when it has “pleasant, life-preserving consequences.” Conversely, we are hostile “to potentially harmful and destructive truths.” We do not have epistemic vigilance, but a Machiavellian one.

There is one important observation about modern society that might lend credence to Shiber’s ideas: the popularity of conspiracy theories and echo-chamber nonsense. If epistemic vigilance were true, we would all be fact-checking and dismissing conspiracists all the time. But we don’t. When a charismatic or compelling speaker delivers a statement, we accept it much more often based on Machiavellian lines. I will nod along if others nod along. I will accept it if it preserves my social status.

Which brings me back to William James and the Pragmatists - I do not see the difference. I have an unread paper on the computer tying James and Nietzsche together, which I think backs a theory I have had for over 30 years - that there is an overlap between the epistemology of the two philosophers.

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Sightseeing Anderson

 Two weeks it has taken to start writing this piece.

I can blame it on work and the weariness the back pain brings on. Then there were other things that seemed more important to write about. There was getting ready for a court date that got continued. 

Here I am with an hour before work starts, and let us see what I can do with the time.

March 16 was drizzly and chilly. I stopped by ex-wife's place and left a message with her doorbell. I was not certain her absence was not a good thing.

I had come in on 38th Street, gawking like a fool of a tourist. The Little Caesar's that had been around the corner from where I used to live with the wife and her kids was good, a barren concrete slap. The Mexican grocery was still in its place; looking rather prosperous.

The ex lives in Meadowbrook, it did look a little seedier than it did when I was young, but far from being a disaster area.

From there I went out to the cemetery. I could not find my first step-father, but my uncle and grandfather were easier to find. My cousin Ron is buried there, too. I said my prayers and made my apologies.

Then I went in search of JB. I was not sure what would be her response when I showed up on her doorstep. It was a close thing, finding her. My memory had her off of 53d Street. I had to call K to get straightened out. There was one very surprised Mexican I woke up that afternoon. JB and I had a very long, rather charming, and very enlightening conversation. I did leave even more confused about my ex. Then I came home.

Monday, March 17.

I thought the Knights of Columbus would still have its St Patrick's Day celebration. They did not. So much for buying K and her new beau lunch. K and I did get to speak for a few minutes before she had to off to work. She gave me a number to call the ex, at the request of the ex.

I ate by myself at Yosaku Hibachi Express, an Asian restaurant that used to be Rax Roast Beef. It could be that I slipped up on my Lenten fast, but I sure did splash myself with soy sauce and wasabi. The crowd looked like the sort that make a career out of all-you-can-eat buffets. I saw no one I knew

It was still cool enough that I did not want to walk about - I should have brought a jacket. However, I did get lucky in finding a parking spot close to the courthouse. For the first time, I noticed Flashback's restaurant was gone. Where do they get food for juries now? 

While in the courthouse, I ran into three attorneys I used to know. They all seemed happy to see me and concerned about my well-being. I left two books in MW's courthouse mailbox before stepping into Circuit One. I noticed a few things - Dennis Carroll was on the bench as special judge, the lighting was brighter than it used to be, and I smelled of soy sauce. I decided I needed to be away from any crowds.

I made a stop at the convenience story at 14th and Jackson to clean up my shirt. From there, I called my ex. I got her voicemail, and left my apology to her on that. It would be Wednesday before I found out that there was a response, of sorts. I headed back to the cemetery to find my first stepfather.

Him, I found alone and a little crowded. I doubt anyone has visited his grave until now. I said my prayers and my apologies for the past.

I thought to find one other person, but in that I failed. However, I did get to drive up Scatterfield. I noticed that Anderson has a Qdoba's and a Jimmy Johns, and an Art's Pizza is now on Scatterfield. Office Depot is gone, but two law offices have moved out there. I had that idea back in 2008, but I let myself get talked out of it. 

Two car dealerships occupy part of the space where Delco-Remy factories once crowded together. Across the street, Delco's engineering building, an old-fashioned glass-and-steel tower has broken windows, and an air of despondent neglect. 

Why no one mentioned the Purdue University building next to the railroad surprises me. Impressive in design, modernity amidst the relics of a decayed industrialism. 

The Mark Motor Inn is gone but the Wing On Inn, with its Princess Chicken, persists.

Then I came to the old Mounds Mall. Once a vibrant business center, the first indoor mall in Indiana (if memory serves me right), now looks like an open sore on the land. I drove around. Its surrounding businesses are gone, leaving the sense of being in a dead zone. Some church has taken over the old Mounds Mall Cinema I and II, but that is detached to the far north of the Mall property. Otherwise, the area is as deserted as if the Mall were a leper.

I came home then. 

Other than an abundance of vape shops, Dollar General and Family Dollar stores, and pawn shops, I did not see quite the desolation I was warned of back in 2021. Neither did I notice the kind of efforts I see in Muncie to improve its future.

And for the coda: I did get a text from A, my ex, but I did not find until March 19. In this text, she stated she did not want to get back together. That was surprising and good news, since all I meant to do was to apologize, and she would never have been on a list of exes I would want back in my life.

The one thing I realize about life in Muncie compared to Anderson, it is far less crazy here.

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Doing What I Can: Naps, Resistance, Rejecting Psychotic Ape, Books, Euripides

I must be getting old, too old. I keep fighting this napping thing, only to fail - I lack the will power to resist. Yesterday, we worked until 12:14, I got the 12:30 bus home, piddled with the email until two, and then slept until 6 pm. Then I tried to clean out the email that has built up over the past two weeks and work on this post. The only other thing I managed was a trip to the convenience store.

Today must be different - I need to go to Social Security, the landlord, Walmart (my only good belt broke yesterday while at work). I have 50 minutes until I must catch the bus downtown.

A rejection came in the email: 

 Thank you for your submission, "The Psychotic Ape." While we were glad to have the chance to read your work, we do not have a place for it at this time.

We wish you all the best with your writing.

Sincerely,

The Editors

Solstice:  A Magazine of Diverse Voices

Here is all I could do yesterday: 

A Lost Bit of the Story of Merlin and Arthur Has Been Found at Cambridge (Reactor) - what can I say, I am a fan of the Arthurian legend.

Mann Men (Los Angeles Review of Books). I love Michael Mann movies. When a date complained about Heat being too long, I wrote her off.

Considering the days we have coming towards us, I had to take a look at Dissidence and Resistance also from the Los Angeles Review of Books.

The Aesthetics of Resistance is a novel—and I’ll refer to it in the singular, not the plural, even though it was published in separate volumes—that demands much of its reader. The three volumes recount the activities of a group of characters, all of them leftist workers, as they resist Nazism and fascism in Germany, Spain, France, Sweden, and Czechoslovakia. It’s a novel of political engagement and choices. But it is also, as its title indicates, about art and its role in society; about the messages art communicates; and, perhaps most importantly, about how viewers and readers should learn to become active readers of those messages. It is a novel and a philosophical tome, a history of Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, and a rich treatise on art history. It’s not really appropriate or informative to say, “This is a novel about …” Ideas, not plot, are central to it. The Aesthetics of Resistance proves a claim Weiss makes in the first volume: “[T]here was no distinction between social and political materializations and the essence of art.” The Aesthetics of Resistance is an expression of the possibility of a revolutionary aesthetic.

That made it even more interesting, and the following made me wonder if we lost something:

The question of what is portrayed in art, and who gets the opportunity to enjoy it and participate in it, is central to Weiss’s purpose. He lays out his foundational thesis in the first volume: “[F]rom Wilhelm Meister to Buddenbrooks the world that set the tone in literature was seen through the eyes of those who owned it.” This was not only the case when it came to literature; the novel’s characters examine classical works of art in order to understand the ways the oppression of the masses has been revealed or hidden by those who created them. Class is, in an aesthetics of resistance, integral to art; so, too, are the often-ignored signs of resistance to class oppression.

Every work the novel’s art-loving characters encounter is described in detail—the gestures, the colors used in the painting, the nature of the figures in the sculptures. The art, though, is read twice: first as the simple object of the spectator’s gaze, and then as an expression of the history from which it grew, the classes it presents, and the struggles it represents, consciously or not. In the battle scene in Angkor Wat, “the hallowed despots had overcome death from the very first, [while] the countless masses, whose fists were clenched around the grips of their swords, the shafts of their lances, stood before death in searing physicality.” Viewing the frieze on the altar at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, the art-loving young communists see in the battle between the Giants and the Greek gods how “the sons and daughters of the Earth rise up against the ruling powers who were always trying to rob them of the hard-won fruits of their struggle.” Viewing art does not mean taking a break from resisting fascism; it is an integral part of that struggle.

 I would also point out a bit of history we should not forget about ideological political parties - the ideology looms larger than the ethics of its politics.

However important becoming a writer is to the book’s anonymous main character, the struggle against fascism and for socialism is what matters most. The communist movement was the most important revolutionary force during this period, and the members of communist parties everywhere were faced with the twists and turns of the Soviet line. This required them to engage in feats of political tergiversation in an effort to stay not only on the right side of the party line but also among the living, for though activism could lead to death at the hands of the fascist authorities, dissent could lead to death at the hands of one’s comrades. The historic case of Willi Münzenberg, a faithful communist propagandist who met his death at Stalin’s hands when he began to doubt the correctness of the Soviet line, hovers over the pages of the novel, the mystery of his death a constant reminder of the dangers of being a communist....

And about this country's future:

There are historians who have not been kind to resistance groups, asserting that their effectiveness was more symbolic than real. Weiss will have none of that. Resistance is its own justification:

[F]or all their faults […] they had still been stronger than those who had done nothing. […] The enemy, who was busy plotting a new life in the coming peace, was already at work on diminishing, distorting, and deriding everything that could be passed on about them, branding it a trivial side note in the struggle between the great powers. […] They died doing what had to be done.

The Aesthetics of Resistance is a monument to their lives and sacrifices, to the possibilities of art and its role in resisting evil. 

Art on the Run - by Patrick Nathan  (Entertainment, Weakly). I meant to do a full post based on this essay, ran out of time, and it fits nicely with this book review. Americans think poorly of art, but it is art that makes humans special, and there is no culture without it. MAGA nuts, fascists, tyrants care not about art as the highest aspiration of the human spirit, only as propaganda for their diminution of the human to the tyrant's power.

Fighting Back: A Citizen’s Guide to Resistance (The New Republic)

‘You're not listening to us’: Hoosiers air frustrations as public officials face access scrutiny (Indiana Capital Chronicle)

W.G. Sebald and the Politics of Melancholy (The New Republic)

Through his reading of the writers who influenced him, these early writings make plain the ethical principle that guided Sebald’s great works: Melancholy, far from being defeatist, is itself a kind of political resistance, a way of pushing back against the machinations of fascism by preserving the past against erasure.

That melancholy might have such a power will take some thinking on my part. It pulls on my sympathy to agree with it, but I live in a country that lives in fantasy rather than with history. 

I am not sure what to make of the books reviewed in Gatsby by Jane Crowther; The Gatsby Gambit by Claire Anderson-Wheeler – Jay’s eternal hold (The Guardian ). The review makes them sound well-executed without discussing the reason for their appropriating Gatsby. It feels like the reason we have so many sequel and reboots in American film - marketing, rather than creativity.

I read Euripides when I was young (Medea), and I have read more since I came home, but Making Sense of Euripides’ Orestes (Antigone) is about a play I have not read. It may also do more than anything I have read to explain Euripides.

So what on earth is going on? Is this parody? And if so, of what? Perhaps self-parody? Euripides has created an ultra-dramatic, innovative, bold opera of a tragedy and pushed dramatic conventions to their edge. Cue clever metatheatrical references to and dramatic appropriations of the constraints of the Athenian theatre: Electra will keep her gloomy expression so Hermione doesn’t realise what is going on – or is that because the expression on her mask cannot change throughout the play?

***

Perhaps, in the end, Euripides just wants to peel away the glitter and show us that the old heroic legends are nothing but stories of criminals, angry old men, and pathetic kings. Apollo’s finale would thus be so intentionally incredible as to make us revolt against the whole mythological paradigm itself. Or else merely a theatrical device, bringing back the story more or less to traditional lines simply because that was what convention demanded, but doing so as outrageously as possible.

And in that last paragraph, I begin to see what I missed reading Euripides last year.

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Not A Joke: A New Form of American Imperialism!

 I suppose this another form of Trump's tariffs, but my reaction to Le Monde's French companies shocked by letter from US embassy in Paris demanding they respect Trump's anti-diversity policy was WTF.

The letter was signed by Stanislas Parmentier, the general services officer at the US embassy in Paris, according to the US State Department directory. Under normal circumstances, it would have remained under the radar, but this is the age of Donald Trump. Revealed by French economic daily Les Echos on Friday, March 28, the letter – Le Monde also obtained a copy of it – instructed the French companies to which it was addressed to respect the rules laid down by Trump, which ban all positive discrimination in favor of diversity and gender parity (DEI, for Diversity Equity Inclusion). "We inform you that Executive Order 14173, ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunities, signed by President Trump, applies to all suppliers and service providers for the US government, regardless of their nationality or the country in which they operate," wrote the embassy employee, who asked respondents to sign "within five days (...) a form for compliance with the US anti-discrimination law."

Others reporting on this:

US tells European companies to comply with Donald Trump’s anti-diversity order

Trump administration warns European companies to comply with anti-DEI order

Trump crackdown on anti-discrimination law hits French firms, sparking backlash

French Firms Handed DEI Compliance Letter By U.S.

Trump administration asks French companies to comply with DEI ban 

Sorry, it is about power and therefore imperialism.

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Okay, So Denmark Is Not So Perfect

Capitalism promotes corruption. We have it here in America - no, we are going through an orgy of Trump-led corruption with Elon Musk as messenger boy. Even in Denmark, money corrupts.

The real Scandi noir: how a filmmaker and a crooked lawyer shattered Denmark’s self-image (The Guardian)

In her office, Smajic’s visitors bragged about dodging tax, bribing officials or exploiting the bankruptcy code. She offered them coffee and coaxed forth their confidences. Six cameras and three microphones, secreted in power sockets, captured it all – footage that was turned into a documentary called The Black Swan. In its surreptitious method and breathtaking drama, The Black Swan bore all the fingerprints of its director, Mads Brügger, a provocateur who has spent his career searching for bombshells to drop but who had never quite managed it as well as he did here. Denmark’s national bird is the Cygnus olor, a swan as white as virtue. The Black Swan, in showing such easy, unbridled formulations of crime, blew up Denmark’s idea of itself.

Since airing last May as a five-part series on TV2, Denmark’s biggest television network, The Black Swan has sent the country into convulsions. One out of every two Danes has seen the documentary. After its release, a biker-gang member and his accountant were charged with financial crimes and taken into custody; others, including a municipal official, are under investigation. The Danish Bar and Law Society formally apologised to the minister of justice for the conduct of two lawyers caught on camera; they have been either fired or disbarred. A new money-laundering law was introduced to give banks more oversight over “client accounts” – the kind of accounts in which lawyers pool the funds of several clients and transact on their behalf, and that featured in many of the machinations in Smajic’s office. In her New Year’s speech, Denmark’s prime minister suggested biker-gang criminals ought to be stripped of their pension rights – a detail so specific it was surely inspired by The Black Swan.

***

“We’re taught from a young age that cheating the system is not something you do, because you end up pissing on everybody,” Ane Cortzen, a television presenter and Brügger’s sister, told me. “Cheating on taxes is one of the most serious crimes you can commit.” Kalle Johannes Rose, an associate professor at Copenhagen Business School, observed: “Most Danish scandals have to do with the state – public healthcare, public banks, public something or the other. People want to know their high taxes are being spent correctly. If they don’t trust the system, they don’t pay their taxes, and then the house of cards falls down.” The Black Swan thus invited viewers to dwell on their worst nightmare: a shattering of the trust that underpins not just the smooth functioning of their beloved welfare state but the essence of what makes Danes proud to be Danes.

The legal system exists to regulate the harm done to individuals by the economic system.

Five takeaways as Trump’s clash with the legal world intensifies (The Hil)

The political system exists to regulate the harm done to society by the economic system.

U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz takes tough questions at Westfield town hall

I meant to go to the Muncie meeting, only I got started writing blog posts and ran out of time.

I suspect Denmark will do just fine.

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