1.
In Solitary Witness by Gordan Zahn
2.
The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton,
John Jay and James Madison
3.
The Anti-Federalist Papers by Patrick
Henry and others
4.
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo
5.
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
6.
Night and Fog – a documentary video for
the one intended audience of these notes who prefers not to read but who will
have to read the translated notes
|
Source |
Quotation/Paraphrase |
Elaboration/Question |
|
Roger Schank |
All learning is failure driven. |
Why are some so unforgiving of a child failing but
look the other way when an adult leader fails? |
|
Anders Ericsson |
Sustained reflective practice leads to the
development of expertise. |
What happens when someone is incapable of self-reflection? |
|
Oets Kolk Bouwsma |
Surely your life will show what you think of
yourself. |
Where can I hide from others? |
|
Leviticus (Hebrew Bible) |
Love your neighbor as yourself. |
All neighbors, near and far, those like you and
those unlike you. |
|
Friedrich Nietzsche |
The surest way youth is to teach them to hold in
higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. |
Respecting and trying to understand those with whom
one disagrees is an attribute unique to humankind, but not found in all
persons. |
|
Socrates |
The unexamined life is not worth living. |
An examination implies admission of ignorance and a
search for understanding. |
|
Confucius |
The man who says he can and the man who says he
cannot are both correct. |
Becoming is a harder challenge than being. |
|
Buddha |
Those who are free from resentful thoughts surely
find peace. |
Probably also true for those who speak ill of
others. |
|
Quran |
Speak to all people good words. |
When they are here or not. |
|
Moses |
I have been a stranger in a strange land. |
Welcome to America. |
|
Lincoln |
You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by
evading today. |
For those who like to refer to Lincoln … |
|
Ruth to Naomi |
Where you shall go, I shall go. |
Friendship and loyalty are real treasures. |
I voted by mail in Texas last week. I did not vote for someone who has lied more than 20,000 times in the last four years. I did not vote for someone who continues to separate families at the border. I did not vote for someone who disparages women and people of color and anyone who happens to disagree or challenge him. I did not vote for someone who pays less income tax than I do. I did not vote for someone who infected others with a deadly virus. I did not vote for someone who wants to take away affordable health care from millions of people during a pandemic. I did not vote for someone who is packing the supreme court during an election. But I did vote. By mail. Without risking exposure or risk exposing others. In Texas. I voted in a state in the midst of active vote and voter suppression by the governor. I voted. Could this be the third time I voted for someone who wins the popular vote but is not elected President? To paraphrase Charles Dickens, it is the best of times (for too few probably) … it is the worst of time (for too many probably) … should I escape to Canada or move to Bali where differences are respected and embraced? "do I dare disturb the universe?" (thanks to T. S. Eliot). Do I dare? I am most certainly disturbed.
Here is a standard definition of
hypocrisy: "the practice of
claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does
not conform; pretense." Here is another definition of hypocrisy: "Hypocrisy
is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one
criticizes another. In moral psychology, it is the failure to follow one's own
expressed moral rules and principles."
Are there no limits to the hypocrisy of current political leaders? Apparently not. Are there no limits to a person remaining a believer in the words of Abraham Lincoln in 1858 that "A house divided against itself cannot stand"? Apparently not. We are losing the opportunity to form "a more perfect union" and realize "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind." We are losing and we have lost a clarion voice for the civil rights of all Americans, rich and poor, male and female, young and old, black or brown, red or white or blue. Such a sad day, week, and year ... more than 200,000 lost lives to protect the ego of one person. So sad ... the loss of a dream.
I was quoted by a doctoral student saying that “things change.” What I have said on multiple occasions is that technologies change … technologies change what people do … what people can do … what people will want to do.” It is Heraclitus, an ancient Greek philosopher, who argued that things change. What he actually said, according to other early Greeks familiar with Heraclitus’ lost book, was panta rhei – variously translated as everything flows or everything is in flux. Thinking of the essence of everything flowing like a river, Plato writes in the Cratylus that one cannot step into the same river twice since the water is continuously changing, and Plutarch takes it further noting that one cannot step into the same river once as the concept of sameness is then lost both for the river and for the individual. People are continuously changing and evolving along with everything else, according to Heraclitus’s philosophy.
While there are problems and inconsistencies in Heraclitus’ philosophy
as it has come down to us over the ages (see https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heraclitus/),
and Heraclitus clearly influenced subsequent thinkers, what is notable is the
early form of humanism found in Heraclitus as expressed in the notion that a
guardian spirit is inherent in human nature. While there is much to unpack in
that notion, the ordinary interpretation in modern English would seem to lead one
to deny that notion.
Nonetheless, thinking about this reminds me of a note in one of
Bouwsma’s (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oets_Kolk_Bouwsma)
unpublished notebooks – namely that one’s life must show what one thinks of oneself.
One cannot judge one’s own life, a rare mistake that Nietzsche attributes to
Socrates, as others will judge one based on what one is doing and has done and those
things accumulate over time. Each choice or decision that one takes makes one more
like one kind of person and less like another kind of person. The unanswerable question
that one should be asking is what kind of person one is becoming.
Perhaps that is the unique trait of being human – the ability
to ask unanswerable questions. Unfortunately, some people claim to have those
answers about themselves.
I took the following oath as a cadet at USAFA: " I will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate anyone who does.' I left that Air Force as a young intelligence officer due to the many lies being told by the intelligence community about the conflict in Vietnam.
Talking to myself
In the several months I have been working at home and have
been mostly alone due to COVID-19, I have developed the habit of having
conversations with myself. It is so important to have someone with whom to
discuss issues and ask questions. As my students can attest, I am mostly
inclined to ask questions, so it has been good to have someone here to answer
those questions. These conversations with myself have led me to identify a
number of hypocrisies which are the focus of these remarks. I only recently
realized how hypocritical I have become, so I have my interlocutor to
thank for that realization.
Q: If one really supports the first amendment and free
speech, and, how can one protest speeches on a campus which conflict with one’s
beliefs, such as opposing the rights of the KKK to come to campus and give a
talk on white supremacy (see http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/education/all_amendments_usconst.htm)?
A: Let them talk and avoid any confrontations
with those people while they are on campus. Then, schedule a talk by others about
the many contributions to society and the country made by non-white citizens
(see https://www.nortonlifelock.com/blogs/diversity-inclusion/black-innovators-who-made-huge-impact-technology_/
and https://www.times-news.com/african-americans-have-made-valuable-contributions/article_cea03a6a-c58b-5918-905b-b71d851bca7c.html).
Q: How can one protest wearing a mask when out
and about during COVID-19 on the basis of freedom of choice, but gladly
acknowledge the importance of having everyone wear seat belts in cars?
A: One cannot reconcile such dissonant beliefs,
nor can two, but one might initiate a conversation about the social contract
that is the foundation of all democracies (see https://iep.utm.edu/soc-cont/).
Q: How can a person who claims the right not to
wear a mask on the basis of freedom of choice, deny freedom of choice to a
woman wishing to have an abortion?
A: Mind your own business, and think about the
possibility of you harming others by not wearing a mask (see https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0714-americans-to-wear-masks.html).
Q; How can a person reconcile a belief in
minimizing the role of the national government and the budget for the national
government with the significant increase in the national government’s budget
and intrusion into the everyday affairs of citizens?
Q: How can #45 ban TicTok from the Internet but
let consumers continue going to AMC theaters?
A: See https://www.axios.com/working-for-china-1515542281-d4bc0ab4-bed6-4085-a26e-c5d7c66be74c.html
and start thinking for yourself.
Okay, I will try to start thinking for myself,
which is what my students often advise me to do (and they referred me to #276
in Nietzsche's "The Gay Science" - https://web.stanford.edu/~jsabol/existentialism/materials/nietzsche-gay-science-hurry.pdf00).
J.
Michael Spector, 1 Aug 2020
Random
Quotations/Thoughts for the Conscience of America Who Lies in State in
Washington, DC (credits
on the right)
“Do not go gentle into
that good night” (Dylan
Thomas)
He left behind
“footprints in the sands of time” (H.
W. Longfellow)
He dared “to disturb the
universe” (T.
S. Eliot)\
He is still waiting for
a” rebirth of wonder” (Lawrence
Ferlinghetti)
He said what “people did
not want to hear” (Friedrich
Nietzschd)
His “life showed what he
thought of himself” (Oets
Kolk Bouwsma)
He asked “if I am only
for myself, what am I?” (Rabbi
Hillel)
He showed us that “beauty
is in one’s heart” (Kahlil
Gibran)
He would rather prevent
poverty than give charity (Maimonides)
His wisdom emanated from
how little he understood (Socrates)
He respected himself and
his beliefs, as did others (Confucius)
He did his best to bring
out the best in others (Rabbi
Spector)
He did not mistake
paradise for fame of fortune (Bob
Dylan)
J. Michael Spector
July 27, 2020
