Jack's Razor: Truth = Facts + Conjecture / Perception

This sad commentary on our times came to me after watching "Backstabbing for Beginners" (available on Amazon Prime Video). Recommended!

The philosophical razor (See Title) at the top of this post was an amalgam of quotes from the dialogue of the movie; mostly uttered by the character played by Ben Kingsley. The movie is based on the factual events surrounding the aftermath of the first Gulf War and the massive corruption within the U.N. Oil for Food Programme. The movie was developed from the memoir by Michael Soussan, the real-life U.N. official who exposed the scam.

Quotes from the movie upon which I based the above razor are listed below. I find they have meaning in our analysis of our current history. I think they are all accurate as I paused the movie and read them into a voice to text app on my phone.

"It's not a lie, it's an opportunity to reach a wrong conclusion."
"You don't lie, you choose the truths with the utmost care."
"In diplomacy the truth is not a matter of fact, it is a matter of consensus."
"The truth isn't about the lies we told each other, it's about the lies we told ourselves."

Party Loyalty in the Modern Age; At What Cost Our Ideals?

The Republican Party of my youth (1950’s) is gone.  The Democratic Party with which I identified in my formative years, no longer exists.  Neither party today has what could be described as a preponderance of honest, hard-working individuals with a better America as its goal.  Political morality is now an oxymoron.  Even when either party expresses what sounds like a meaningful plank for its platform, they don’t back those ideals with deeds.  Politicians on both sides of the aisle have developed the art of doublespeak, which combines the Orwellian concepts of doublethink and newspeak.

“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”

― George Orwell, 1984 ―

I consider myself to be a political agnostic.  Living in the State of Florida means I am forced to join either the Democratic or the Republican parties if I want to have a choice when I vote.  Registering as an independent vacates much of my ability to have an influence on our political structure.  I registered many years ago as a Democrat because that’s what my parents had done.  That decision wasn’t absolute as both of my parents voted for Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Republican.  I too have jumped ship and voted for Republicans on occasions when I thought they were the better candidate.  I find that I am more traditionally aligned with Democratic principles than with Republican ideology, but I am open in my opinion on many fronts.  Many Republicans have expressed ideas that I hold true and likewise Democrats have expressed opinions that differ from my own.

"It was a bright cold day in April, and all the clocks were striking thirteen."

 -George Orwell, 1984-

I have many learned friends who are Republicans.  I want to understand their positions, especially today.  It is easy to comprehend the political motivations of a farmer who is very dependent on the future of soybean, or corn production.  It is likewise simple to understand why an unemployed blue-collar worker might grasp at some hope of new jobs or a rebirth of manufacturing or mining endeavors in their communities.  Those motivations are simple.  Most of my friends however, are financially comfortable and better educated than much of the Middle America I see blindly supporting our president at his rallies.  I would like to better understand my Republican friends and have some dialogue that makes their positions clear.  I respect their opinions as much as I do the opinions of my Democratic friends.  I will however, challenge either who accept contradictory positions within their philosophies.

“No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?” 

-George Orwell, Animal Farm- 

Politicians today toss around such feel-good terms as “Restoring the American Dream,” “Government Reform,” “Rebirth of Constitutional Government,” and “America Resurgent,” without so much as a clue as to what, why, and how these things will be brought to fruition.  They sound warm and fuzzy and you can find supportive bullet points ad nauseam within their online publications, but what does it all mean.  To quote Macbeth, “..it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

We are a long way from the idealism of Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart) from “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”  We seem to be closer to the dystopian reality of “1984,” thirty-four years late.  For any of us to blindly follow our respective parties is pure folly.  Each politician needs to be separately challenged on his or her own merits and not judged by the ideals expressed in some parroted phrasing of party ideology.  If party loyalists universally support someone because of some narrow personal objective, and ignore all other acts of greed, corruption, moral turpitude, and malfeasance, such support is grossly misguided.

"I see what is right and approve, but I do what is wrong." 

-Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange-

If you are pro-life and abhor abortion, fine.  Fight for your cause.  Just don’t use that cause myopically while abandoning all of the other ideals you hold dear.  Be consistent in your beliefs; thoroughly understand your position as it relates to other legislative and social topics.  I’m sure you can understand others questioning your pro-life stance if you support those who would murder doctors who might work in a women’s clinic.  People might also question your beliefs if they are based on religious ideology and you choose to ignore many of the other teachings of that religion.  Where do you stand on the death penalty, sex education in schools, birth control, and similar topics?  This article is not specifically about any of these items but it is about consistency when it is time to support a position or candidate.  You can’t in good conscience, fully support an individual or party who holds to your singular belief, but regularly violates other areas of that same conscience.

We can all agree that something like fair trade with our trading partners is a laudable objective, but we might still disagree on how we achieve that objective.  That’s where frank discussion and compromise are tools, which may be used to find a way forward.  The best among us should analyze the possibilities, develop a strategy, and bring forth a plan to resolve the problem.  In a representative democracy, our leaders should work for their constituencies and the country as a whole.  They should not work for their own financial or political gain.

Our elected leaders should be well educated and of sound mind.  I follow a laissez faire attitude when it comes to the personal lives of any politician.  Your legal personal choices and lifestyle won’t enter into my decisions of support or lack thereof.  Our leaders should not however, have outside financial interests that could affect their unbiased decisions.  Before a politician takes any elected job, they should be forced to fully disclose all financial ties and obligations.  If a politician has taken any monies from an industry or business, they should be forced to recuse themselves from any decisions that could benefit that entity. 

The financial disclosures of all elected officials should be in the public domain and regularly reviewed.  You shouldn’t be able to come to office with a net worth of ten million dollars, have a historic annual investment or business income of one million dollars, earn a congressional salary of $174,000 each year for four years, and end your first term with fifty million dollars in the bank.  Both parties should fully support comprehensive mandatory financial disclosures of all elected officials and their immediate family members.

Border Collies tending their flock

As a member of either of our two political parties, you should regularly challenge your leaders as to their adherence to those ideals you hold in high regard.  You should not accept aberrant behavior in your politicians to attain some singular benefit.  Be the Border Collie that guides the herd, not one of the sheep that merely runs in all directions with the rest of your wooly partners in life.

Be the Border Collie

All Roads Lead to Trump

It seems that no matter what I do these days something, somehow, leads me to the fact that everything is Trump related.  There I was, minding my own business, watching a season two episode of the witty Australian drama, Rake, and it happened again.  This series, available on Amazon Prime Video, involves the escapades of the rascal barrister, Cleaver Greene.  In this particular episode, two very bright young girls plan and commit a murder just for the thrill of the act and the fact that they believe they can get away with it.

Great Australian Comedy Drama

During some of the dialogue, a reference is made to the Hitchcock thriller Rope, which was based on the play of the same name.  Both of these fictional accounts are in turn, based on the real life drama from 1924, which involved Leopold and Loeb.  If you are not familiar with the case and trial, wherein Clarence Darrow delivered an impassioned plea supporting his clients and attacking the death penalty, it is worth researching or following the link above.  This was the start of my research and the cause of my consternation.

Leopold (l) and Loeb (r)

In this episode of Rake, there is also mention of Nietzsche's doctrines as they related to the Leopold and Loeb case.  It was Nietzsche who proposed the possibility that there were Übermenschen, or supermen who, because of their superior intellects and abilities, were above man’s laws.  Such individuals were not bound by society’s ethics and rules, and were subsequently not liable for anything they might do.

If you have been awake and living in a civilized country for the past couple of years, some individual may come to mind at this point.  I’ll give you a minute on this one.  Well, those of you up on Greek mythology might think of Narcissus who gazed upon his own reflection in a pool of water and fell in love.  In the Greek myth, Narcissus was unable to leave the beauty of his own image, lost the will to live, and in typical Greek fashion, died.

Those of you who thought immediately of Narcissus get two points for having stayed awake in high school.  Our discussion here however deals with NPD, or Narcissistic personality disorder, named after our Greek son of the river god Cephissus.  Affected individuals have exaggerated feelings of self-importance and a continued need for admiration.  They are fixated with achieving power and success.  They tend to exaggerate their skills and accomplishments as well as their level of intimacy with people they consider high-status.  They want to monopolize conversations.  They are intolerant of others’ views and often devalue, denigrate, insult and blame others when they feel threatened.  They do not tolerate criticism and will respond with hostility and anger.

Narcissus Gazing at His Own Reflection

I’ll bet you have someone in mind now who meets these criteria.  If you don’t, take off your red MAGA hat and read the list below to see if this sounds familiar.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders lists the following as NPD’s telltale signs:

1. Grandiosity with expectations of superior treatment from other people
2. Fixated on fantasies of power, success, intelligence, attractiveness, etc.
3. Self-perception of being unique, superior, and associated with high-status people and institutions
4. Needing continual admiration from others
5. Sense of entitlement to special treatment and to obedience from others
6. Exploitative of others to achieve personal gain
7. Unwilling to empathize with the feelings, wishes, and needs of other people
8. Intensely envious of others, and the belief that others are equally envious of them
9. Pompous and arrogant demeanor

Yes, OMT, Our Man Trump seems to tick off all the boxes here.  He dominates the news cycle and, even when I’m trying to watch a simple comedy-drama he invades my privacy.  Do we really have to keep this up for two more years?  Your guess is as good as mine.  Perhaps at some point in the future NPD will be renamed TPD.

Hey, It's Me, Look at Me

Thirteen Is A Manageable Number

Football is currently dominating the world stage.  While much of the globe is watching the World Cup play in Russia, perhaps the most famous football team around is the Wild Boars.  They are playing the game of their lives, 7,065 km southeast of Moscow.  (Translation for the U.S., football = soccer, and that’s about 4,390 miles)

As this is being written on Sunday, July 8, 2018, rescuers are bringing out the first of the twelve Thai football players, and hopefully their coach, from 4 km deep inside the Tham Luang cave.  I guess the mere thought of being buried alive brings out the claustrophobia in all of us.  Ever since Lassie ran across the fields to the farmhouse to alert the residents that Timmy (or Jeff if you are a bit older) had fallen down the old well, our fears of deep damp spaces has been buried in our psyches.  We can only hope that all thirteen people will be rescued.

All the world watches the rescue efforts

My point here is not one of the rescue and its dangers (one diver has already lost his life), but of how a small group of children and their coach could so quickly garner so much attention.  Even Elon Musk dipped into his 20 billion dollar portfolio to offer his engineers and hastily constructed kid-sized submarines to help in the rescue effort.  Master showman and media manipulator Donald Trump was even nudged out of the spotlight on occasion.   How is this possible?

My only explanation lies in the more manageable number, thirteen.  I think here of the perhaps 100,000 people at risk of starvation and death in South Sudan. Yemen too, has millions at risk of dying from starvation.  In the U.S., over 37,000 will die each year on our nation's highways.  Air pollution will kill an estimated 5.5 million people around the globe each year.  These numbers are staggering and perhaps they are beyond our grasp to either comprehend or feel like we could make a difference.  Yes, thirteen is indeed a figure we can contemplate.  We can more easily root for a small group of young children and one adult than we can attempt to address the plight of hundreds of thousands of people in other situations.

Deaths due to starvation, air pollution, and highway accidents are all addressable problems with higher potential rewards.  They do not however represent a profile where the media can roll out their Breaking News banners or where workable solutions are not more complex.  

I just heard on the news from our bedroom that the first couple of children have been taken out alive from the cave.  We can only wish them all well.