Left, Right, Muddle
If the far left is like the id, and the far right is the superego, then the middle is the negotiating factor, the ego.
Since the 60s there has been an increasing polarization between the two extremes.
The left is the eternal child of the 60s: tye-died t-shirt, smoking drugs, saying yes to sex with perfect strangers, and now eating too much and getting fat. The ability to say no was almost considered a personality defect in the sixties. The inner child pushed out the inner parent.
On the far right we see the opposite problem: saying no to every kind of pleasure, and seeming almost uninhabited. Unable to move at the hip, lifeless. And yet the preachers of the far right will occasionally be swept off their feet by a sudden upsurge of pure id, and get caught in a sex scandal.
At Lutheran Surrealism we believe that the toppling of the superego was wrong. The far left hatred of the police, the army, and any source of authority in exchange for eternal license was a bad idea. I grew up in the seventies and the hatred of parents was palpable. Don't trust anyone over 30, etc.
The right has been barely visible in cinematic terms, or on campuses, but they remain a lively and powerful phenomenon in America. I don't know anybody who's actually far right. Occasionally I see someone like Jerry Falwell on television. Television is a medium of the ID, in which we see wild fantasies come to life so people like Falwell rarely appear in that medium. When they do appear it's on their own channels, and I feel like I'm watching a Science Fiction film. But then when I watch the goofballs of the far left I feel the same way.
But William F. Buckley does still exist even if we rarely see him. Who was he? Is he? And with him organizations such as Young Americans for Freedom, who brought Goldwater to the Republican nomination in the mid-60s, and lost, and later resurged with the Reagan presidency, we rarely see them unless they are caught in a scandal of some kind.
As a parent, I am not against the police. I rather like the army, too. As a teacher I too must police students: make sure the reading is done, that there is no cheating on tests, and I must protect the standards of a course to ensure its quality. As a parent, I must police my children. I must make sure they get exercise, do their homework, are clean, and don't break any laws either inside or especially outside the house. The creation of citizens is an important job.
As a centrist I think the id must have some say, as must the superego. The superego is traditionally seen as the symbolic father, the authority figure. Pictured as God, or as Law. I am for the Law. But I am also for FUN. The ego must negotiate between these two. It must be able to say no, but it must also be able to say yes.
Judgement therefore is necessary.
Even in poetry if the id has too much say, the result is gibberish. If the superego has too much say then the result is stiff and lifeless.
I'm a centrist there, too. I want a form, and I want something clearly said, and I want it to have a moral quality. But I also want it to be lively, engaging and odd.
We have seen in our films and other cultural media since the sixties the right trying to wipe out the left. We see it for instance in Easy Rider, in which three goofballs riding motorcycles visit a whore house in New Orleans while running drugs. They are blown away by some rednecks as they drive north.
Good riddance!
But we also see the left trying to get rid of the right. There has been laughter at the expense of almost every standard, and especially in regards to the police officers who maintain those standards. (Pigs, they have been called! Hey, what's wrong with pigs? Don't we believe in animal rights?)
Lutheran surrealism in its very name asks for a return of the orders. But not merely as static entities run by monsters without human feeling. We like a little moisture, a little goofiness.
But not total goofiness.
Total sanity is as insane as total insanity. We don't want the Marx brothers for president, and we don't want Karl Marx.
We want Lutheran Surrealism.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
I like to read. Many do. But we have different priorities in reading.
My priorities:
a. is it really funny
b. does it help me to understand a principle I'm working to clarify?
c. is it surrealist in terms of convulsive beauty?
d. is it Lutheran?
My reverse priorities:
a. is it emotionally overwrought such that principles are submerged under an ocean of pathos, bathos, etc.
b. is it stupid
c. was it written with a dogmatic belligerence in which the writer's mind is closed from the git-go
d. is it in some sense precious, such that the style is supposedly more important than the content?
Given those priorities, for instance, I found that I was able to get right through the Wikipedia article on Animal Rights. It is unsigned, but appears to me at least to be a fairly balanced appreciation of the various thinkers on this question. It ends however with an amazing paragraph that throws the values of the Animal Rights contingent into highly dubious perspective:
"Robert Bidinotto, a writer on environmental issues, said in a 1992 speech to the Northeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies: 'Strict observance of animal rights forbids even direct protection of people and their values against nature's many predators. Losses to people are acceptable ... losses to animals are not. Logically then, beavers may change the flow of streams, but Man must not. Locusts may denude hundreds of miles of plant life... but Man must not. Cougars may eat sheep and chickens, but Man must not."
Interlude by Lutheran Surrealism: Therefore is it not true that we are forbidden to slap mosquitoes, but must accept the sucking of our blood? Is it not true then that we are forbidden to smite disease caused by viruses, but must accept contagion, and even endemic misery caused by any given pathogen?
The article closes with an even more extreme set of statements:
"Chris DeRose, Director of Last Chance for Animals, stated: "If the death of one rat cured all disease, it wouldn't make any difference to me." When given the choice between rescuing a human baby or a dog after a lifeboat capsized, Susan Rich, PETA Outreach Coordinator, answered, "I wouldn't know for sure... I might choose the human baby or I might choose the dog." Tom Regan, animal rights philosopher, answered, 'If it were a retarded baby and a bright dog, I'd save the dog.'"
Interlude by Lutheran Surrealism: We'd save the retarded baby. No question. This kind of hypothetical, I believe, puts our values into clarity. I can't even imagine saving the dog. I hate dogs. Poodles suck up to humans in exchange for vittles, but then turn around and bite children. 8000 dogs bit human children last year alone. I see no need for their survival. I don't know how many of these dogs were poodles, but there seems to me no genre dog more worthy of extermination than poodles. But even if it were a whale singing Lutheran Surrealist Hymns, I would still save the retarded baby. I would always save the retarded baby, but I would use the politically correct term, the mentally challenged baby. And I would kiss and comfort the baby. I love human babies. Babies exist under the law of Jesus. The law of humanity. I don't remember Jesus ever standing up for animal rights, or the rights of bacteria. In fact he would sometimes cure people (he never cured an animal), which means he took the side of humanity over bacteria. In fact, he appeared as a human being. Had he been on the side of bacteria he would have appeared as an oversized germ.
In fact, I believe that Jesus ate animals. I don't know precisely what the Last Supper consisted of, but I will hazard the guess that it wasn't vegetarian.
My priorities:
a. is it really funny
b. does it help me to understand a principle I'm working to clarify?
c. is it surrealist in terms of convulsive beauty?
d. is it Lutheran?
My reverse priorities:
a. is it emotionally overwrought such that principles are submerged under an ocean of pathos, bathos, etc.
b. is it stupid
c. was it written with a dogmatic belligerence in which the writer's mind is closed from the git-go
d. is it in some sense precious, such that the style is supposedly more important than the content?
Given those priorities, for instance, I found that I was able to get right through the Wikipedia article on Animal Rights. It is unsigned, but appears to me at least to be a fairly balanced appreciation of the various thinkers on this question. It ends however with an amazing paragraph that throws the values of the Animal Rights contingent into highly dubious perspective:
"Robert Bidinotto, a writer on environmental issues, said in a 1992 speech to the Northeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies: 'Strict observance of animal rights forbids even direct protection of people and their values against nature's many predators. Losses to people are acceptable ... losses to animals are not. Logically then, beavers may change the flow of streams, but Man must not. Locusts may denude hundreds of miles of plant life... but Man must not. Cougars may eat sheep and chickens, but Man must not."
Interlude by Lutheran Surrealism: Therefore is it not true that we are forbidden to slap mosquitoes, but must accept the sucking of our blood? Is it not true then that we are forbidden to smite disease caused by viruses, but must accept contagion, and even endemic misery caused by any given pathogen?
The article closes with an even more extreme set of statements:
"Chris DeRose, Director of Last Chance for Animals, stated: "If the death of one rat cured all disease, it wouldn't make any difference to me." When given the choice between rescuing a human baby or a dog after a lifeboat capsized, Susan Rich, PETA Outreach Coordinator, answered, "I wouldn't know for sure... I might choose the human baby or I might choose the dog." Tom Regan, animal rights philosopher, answered, 'If it were a retarded baby and a bright dog, I'd save the dog.'"
Interlude by Lutheran Surrealism: We'd save the retarded baby. No question. This kind of hypothetical, I believe, puts our values into clarity. I can't even imagine saving the dog. I hate dogs. Poodles suck up to humans in exchange for vittles, but then turn around and bite children. 8000 dogs bit human children last year alone. I see no need for their survival. I don't know how many of these dogs were poodles, but there seems to me no genre dog more worthy of extermination than poodles. But even if it were a whale singing Lutheran Surrealist Hymns, I would still save the retarded baby. I would always save the retarded baby, but I would use the politically correct term, the mentally challenged baby. And I would kiss and comfort the baby. I love human babies. Babies exist under the law of Jesus. The law of humanity. I don't remember Jesus ever standing up for animal rights, or the rights of bacteria. In fact he would sometimes cure people (he never cured an animal), which means he took the side of humanity over bacteria. In fact, he appeared as a human being. Had he been on the side of bacteria he would have appeared as an oversized germ.
In fact, I believe that Jesus ate animals. I don't know precisely what the Last Supper consisted of, but I will hazard the guess that it wasn't vegetarian.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Luther levelled theologically but not politically: in the kingdom on the left there are legitimate hierarchies called Orders.
Revolutionaries attempt to topple those Orders, and to level politically as well.
One should see that there are legitimate aesthetic hierarchies, too. We have to protect Shakespeare, for instance, from the levellers.
It's true that we are all equal in spirit, but we are not all equal as poets, pianists, painters, pastors, mayors, humorists.
We can still JUDGE -- judgment IS necessary. Jesus was judgemental.
Revolutionaries attempt to topple those Orders, and to level politically as well.
One should see that there are legitimate aesthetic hierarchies, too. We have to protect Shakespeare, for instance, from the levellers.
It's true that we are all equal in spirit, but we are not all equal as poets, pianists, painters, pastors, mayors, humorists.
We can still JUDGE -- judgment IS necessary. Jesus was judgemental.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
I have a friend who wished to turn my novel Temping into an overnight sensation. He's talking about SPAMMING the internet, about something called PodCasts, about increasing my leverage. The guy amazes me.
It reminds me of a remark made by Philippe Soupault about the Spanish novelist Ramon Gomez de la Serna who was introduced into Paris via elephant at a circus, and was thrown at the public "like a new brand of toothepaste," Soupault said.
Ramon Gomez de la Serna is unjustly forgotten by most.
And let's not forget the surrealists themselves made a huge noise in Paris in the early 1920s. They constantly attacked celebrities, and thus became celebrities themselves. They were not shy about publicity.
But there was always content to their demonstrations. I think that the literary polity would soon grow tired of noise without quality, although there has certainly been something like that with writers such as Tama Janawitz, Jay McInerney, and others whose careers were launched from New York City. It's hard to say to what extent literary success is a supply side aesthetic where those who have seized the means of distribution are those who are eventually hailed as the important writers.
But I resist it.
Luther of course sent out thousands of pamphlets and used the new medium of print as a powerful tool. But think of the quality. Almost every sentence can bring one to tears with its power and its thunderous emotion.
Breton was an important artist, and a good critic of others. He sent out signals from every possible source but they were signals that pointed humanity toward new aspects of the convulsively beautiful.
Jesus appeared to only a few -- the twelve disciples, and a few others in a provincial neighborhood, and was born in a barn as his debut.
And yet, Paul wasn't shy about getting the message.
So you may see some SPAM yet about Milhouse Moot. You may receive fliers. There may be some skywriting. I may even appear on an elephant on TV brandishing copies, and shouting my name from a foghorn leghorn.
It reminds me of a remark made by Philippe Soupault about the Spanish novelist Ramon Gomez de la Serna who was introduced into Paris via elephant at a circus, and was thrown at the public "like a new brand of toothepaste," Soupault said.
Ramon Gomez de la Serna is unjustly forgotten by most.
And let's not forget the surrealists themselves made a huge noise in Paris in the early 1920s. They constantly attacked celebrities, and thus became celebrities themselves. They were not shy about publicity.
But there was always content to their demonstrations. I think that the literary polity would soon grow tired of noise without quality, although there has certainly been something like that with writers such as Tama Janawitz, Jay McInerney, and others whose careers were launched from New York City. It's hard to say to what extent literary success is a supply side aesthetic where those who have seized the means of distribution are those who are eventually hailed as the important writers.
But I resist it.
Luther of course sent out thousands of pamphlets and used the new medium of print as a powerful tool. But think of the quality. Almost every sentence can bring one to tears with its power and its thunderous emotion.
Breton was an important artist, and a good critic of others. He sent out signals from every possible source but they were signals that pointed humanity toward new aspects of the convulsively beautiful.
Jesus appeared to only a few -- the twelve disciples, and a few others in a provincial neighborhood, and was born in a barn as his debut.
And yet, Paul wasn't shy about getting the message.
So you may see some SPAM yet about Milhouse Moot. You may receive fliers. There may be some skywriting. I may even appear on an elephant on TV brandishing copies, and shouting my name from a foghorn leghorn.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Zinedine and the Head Butt and Free Will
Now it appears that Zinedine Zidane the brilliant soccer player who led the French team into the finals is Algerian. And he believes in Islam. He said that Allah wanted him to head butt the other player, or else it wouldn't have happened.
From this I infer that in the Islamic faith there is no sense of free will.
In Marxism too the notion of free will is bizarre. We are historically determined. Every move we make, every breath we take, was foreordained by History. And when we do act we act as members of vast classes.
The Lutheran notion is that we do have free will. But then how does God remain omniscient? According to Augustine God lives in a timeless realm where our individual actions don't make sense (I've never understood this, but keep trying), and so we have free will, but then he already knows what we're going to do.
So in a sense even my typing this is foreordained. And yet as I type it, each finger reaching out for a letter, I feel as if it's my free will.
To somehow have a Creator that is capable of omniscience but yet to bring out free will so that there is a sense of individual responsibility, is to create a massive theology in and of itself, one that doesn't err too much on the side of determinism (Manicheanism in the Augustine world) or too much on the side of free will (Pelagianism) where just everything can be fixed by man's reasonableness.
I do think that Zidane should do time for the head butt. How much? On the day it happened I wanted ten years in solitary confinement, because for me at least it wrecked the whole match, and made me never want to watch soccer again. Today I'm feeling more lenient. Perhaps two months.
But the bigger question of free will remains to be answered. Now in many realms one has the idea that when we act we act as members of our socio-economic group. Thus there is no free will. We are what we own. Or in some cases now under multiculturalism we are our skin color, or we are our genetic background. Marx thought that our circumstances predetermined our actions.
Hegel (Lutheran) said that this was like believing in phrenology, and anyone who believed in phrenology deserved a bump on the head. In other words, Hegel believed that our consciousness (is this the same as our soul?) determined our actions. Our circumstances, or our bodies, were irrelevant. Marx reversed this and argued that our material circumstances determines our consciousness. I'm with Hegel.
I also believe in personal and therefore INDIVIDUAL responsibility. I don't think anything else makes much sense. Therefore Zidane is responsible for the head butt. And since it was an illegal action, he should do time for it. Just because you are on a soccer pitch or on a basketball court shouldn't mean that the laws of a society don't pertain. Zidane should be charged just as if he had head butted someone on the streets of Paris, or in a German beer hall. He acted like a soccer hooligan, and should be charged as such.
And in terms of determinists, I head butt them all, collectively, in the name of free will.
Now it appears that Zinedine Zidane the brilliant soccer player who led the French team into the finals is Algerian. And he believes in Islam. He said that Allah wanted him to head butt the other player, or else it wouldn't have happened.
From this I infer that in the Islamic faith there is no sense of free will.
In Marxism too the notion of free will is bizarre. We are historically determined. Every move we make, every breath we take, was foreordained by History. And when we do act we act as members of vast classes.
The Lutheran notion is that we do have free will. But then how does God remain omniscient? According to Augustine God lives in a timeless realm where our individual actions don't make sense (I've never understood this, but keep trying), and so we have free will, but then he already knows what we're going to do.
So in a sense even my typing this is foreordained. And yet as I type it, each finger reaching out for a letter, I feel as if it's my free will.
To somehow have a Creator that is capable of omniscience but yet to bring out free will so that there is a sense of individual responsibility, is to create a massive theology in and of itself, one that doesn't err too much on the side of determinism (Manicheanism in the Augustine world) or too much on the side of free will (Pelagianism) where just everything can be fixed by man's reasonableness.
I do think that Zidane should do time for the head butt. How much? On the day it happened I wanted ten years in solitary confinement, because for me at least it wrecked the whole match, and made me never want to watch soccer again. Today I'm feeling more lenient. Perhaps two months.
But the bigger question of free will remains to be answered. Now in many realms one has the idea that when we act we act as members of our socio-economic group. Thus there is no free will. We are what we own. Or in some cases now under multiculturalism we are our skin color, or we are our genetic background. Marx thought that our circumstances predetermined our actions.
Hegel (Lutheran) said that this was like believing in phrenology, and anyone who believed in phrenology deserved a bump on the head. In other words, Hegel believed that our consciousness (is this the same as our soul?) determined our actions. Our circumstances, or our bodies, were irrelevant. Marx reversed this and argued that our material circumstances determines our consciousness. I'm with Hegel.
I also believe in personal and therefore INDIVIDUAL responsibility. I don't think anything else makes much sense. Therefore Zidane is responsible for the head butt. And since it was an illegal action, he should do time for it. Just because you are on a soccer pitch or on a basketball court shouldn't mean that the laws of a society don't pertain. Zidane should be charged just as if he had head butted someone on the streets of Paris, or in a German beer hall. He acted like a soccer hooligan, and should be charged as such.
And in terms of determinists, I head butt them all, collectively, in the name of free will.
Friday, July 14, 2006
It seems that friendship and community require different kinds of coinage.
In my community in which the stores are open 24/7 for instance I can always buy cheese, flatbread, mustard, gingerale, and waltz to the checkout counter and saunter home at 5 am if I like.
Friendships are much more complex, and require different coinage, and aren't open 24/7. You have to call in advance, and then arrange to meet, and then you have to try to meet the other person half-way.
Stores are the essence of the community.
Conversation is the essence of friendships.
I think they require different coinage. And even inside of that distinction there's a further one. My Lutheran friends for instance require a different kind of conversation than my art friends. Different language games altogether. Sometimes I try to mix them.
My five-year-old son asked me the other day Dad what if you were sitting at work when someone came and knocked you off your chair, and said, It's time for football!
Or what if you were boxing with someone and then they said to you, hey, I was just trying to go swimming, do you mind?
What if you were playing soccer, but the referee was judging you as if it was water ballet?
What if you were playing basketball, but the referee said no, this is football, and blew the whistle.
In my community in which the stores are open 24/7 for instance I can always buy cheese, flatbread, mustard, gingerale, and waltz to the checkout counter and saunter home at 5 am if I like.
Friendships are much more complex, and require different coinage, and aren't open 24/7. You have to call in advance, and then arrange to meet, and then you have to try to meet the other person half-way.
Stores are the essence of the community.
Conversation is the essence of friendships.
I think they require different coinage. And even inside of that distinction there's a further one. My Lutheran friends for instance require a different kind of conversation than my art friends. Different language games altogether. Sometimes I try to mix them.
My five-year-old son asked me the other day Dad what if you were sitting at work when someone came and knocked you off your chair, and said, It's time for football!
Or what if you were boxing with someone and then they said to you, hey, I was just trying to go swimming, do you mind?
What if you were playing soccer, but the referee was judging you as if it was water ballet?
What if you were playing basketball, but the referee said no, this is football, and blew the whistle.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
I was watching the Terminator again the other evening. I like the explosions and the pseudo-terror of this Luddite fantasy in which machines come to life and take over civilization.
I guess I enjoy it because I laugh at the terror. I have no more terror of machines than I have of a screwdriver coming to life and driving itself through my hand as revenge for all the hard work I put it to.
I believe in souls, and the struggle within those with souls between good and evil.
Insofar as machines don't have souls, they are of no concern to me, and it's amazing to watch the Luddites who believe that people are machines and machines are people and the way they squirm over Terminator, and the revenge of the machines.
Machines aren't capable of revenge but you see them coming to life quite a bit in horror fantasies. Christine.... Another film I laughed all the way through.
Now Hitchcock's film The Birds really did scare me. Birds must have something like souls. When they die, you can't fix them, because the life has gone out of them.
Some people even think that birds will come back to life in the afterlife after the Rapture.
Does anyone believe that the Toaster will come back to life? Does anybody believe this anywhere in the world?
I guess I enjoy it because I laugh at the terror. I have no more terror of machines than I have of a screwdriver coming to life and driving itself through my hand as revenge for all the hard work I put it to.
I believe in souls, and the struggle within those with souls between good and evil.
Insofar as machines don't have souls, they are of no concern to me, and it's amazing to watch the Luddites who believe that people are machines and machines are people and the way they squirm over Terminator, and the revenge of the machines.
Machines aren't capable of revenge but you see them coming to life quite a bit in horror fantasies. Christine.... Another film I laughed all the way through.
Now Hitchcock's film The Birds really did scare me. Birds must have something like souls. When they die, you can't fix them, because the life has gone out of them.
Some people even think that birds will come back to life in the afterlife after the Rapture.
Does anyone believe that the Toaster will come back to life? Does anybody believe this anywhere in the world?
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
After putting together my chapbook the editor Phil Primeau has now invited me to put together a real whole book with spine. So we're going through poems, and trying to put them into a book twice as long. Some times I am not sure if they are holding together right. Other times I'm sure.
Here's one that I wasn't sure if I needed the last line or not. Wife says yes. What do you think?
WAITING
Today is the annual department meeting
Sitting in the driveway on a white plastic chair
8:28 AM
Various birds
I can heard the caw of a crow
I can hear the tweet and trill of others
Crickets
A lawn mower down on County Route 10
Still, overcast
A bee drills past
Where's my ride?
August 19, 2005
Here's one that I wasn't sure if I needed the last line or not. Wife says yes. What do you think?
WAITING
Today is the annual department meeting
Sitting in the driveway on a white plastic chair
8:28 AM
Various birds
I can heard the caw of a crow
I can hear the tweet and trill of others
Crickets
A lawn mower down on County Route 10
Still, overcast
A bee drills past
Where's my ride?
August 19, 2005
Sunday, July 09, 2006
In high school I played varsity soccer for three years. I still sometimes dream of the conference final which we tied 0-0 and then lost on a coin toss. In my dreams I line drive in a goal from forty yards out, or poke one in to the corner from close range.
I am still interested in soccer, and just finished viewing the World Cup match between Italy and France. In the last period the French mid-fielder Zidane head-butted an Italian player. Zidane was sent off with a red card.
I felt that that he should be sent directly to Devil's Island to spend the rest of his days there. His head-butt reminded me of the assault on the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbor by French secret services.
Perhaps in two days I'll heal somewhat but right now I can only say this lack of lawfulness and civilized restraint on the pitch made me wish I had not wasted the last two hours on a sport that draws such bums as Zidane to its highest level.
Devil's Island, solitary, ten years.
I am still interested in soccer, and just finished viewing the World Cup match between Italy and France. In the last period the French mid-fielder Zidane head-butted an Italian player. Zidane was sent off with a red card.
I felt that that he should be sent directly to Devil's Island to spend the rest of his days there. His head-butt reminded me of the assault on the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbor by French secret services.
Perhaps in two days I'll heal somewhat but right now I can only say this lack of lawfulness and civilized restraint on the pitch made me wish I had not wasted the last two hours on a sport that draws such bums as Zidane to its highest level.
Devil's Island, solitary, ten years.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
The ban on the county's roads was lifted yesterday and so we went down to the Paramus IKEA in New Jersey to get a few pieces of furniture to fit into the wife's grand scheme. The most striking thing as we travelled south was the way in which the flood had ripped out the sides of the roads, cutting canyons eight or more feet deep in some places as the raging water swept away loose gravel and dirt. Emergency vehicles from throughout this area of New York were still busy dumping dirt into the chasms and tamping it down. Roscoe New York was largely intact. I couldn't see any sign of the eight foot flood that had inundated the area last week except for the residue of mud.
Walton, NY still had piles of rotted wood standing around waiting for dump trucks, and I've heard that many houses were lost. Our secretary lives there, and she said that the water rose in her basement to six feet, but the sink and shower drains never plugged in the basement and this kept the water from reaching their first floor.
In Paramus NJ after the trip and just before IKEA I ran into a Barnes & Noble that had an immense used section with many books for as little as one dollar. I picked up a book entitled The Office of Assertion: An Art of Rhetoric for the Academic Essay, by Scott F. Crider (ISI Books, 2005). I went right through it, pleased by it clarity and logic. In it, he talks a lot about the uses of logic by Jefferson and Madison. In Madison's famous tenth letter in the Federalist Papers, he summarizes Madison thus:
"What causes 'faction'? Two causes: liberty and intellectual diversity" (33).
The pith of this statement floored me. Exactly! This is what the communists lacked, and continue to lack. Terrified of faction and wanting unity at the price of the dismissal of liberty, their system results in terror. Republicanism on the other hand invites faction, and creates a system completely aware of the fact that there will always be competing factions in a system in which liberty resides.
Analyzing Jefferson, he writes of the famous phrase, "all men are created equal," that "Historically, the principles of American politics are categorical, and therefore, universal, even if their execution has been selective, and therefore, elitist. Jefferson founded an inconsistent nation even as he fashioned a consistent argument. The inherent contradiction within American slavery was both a shame and a promise; after all, only a nation committed to equality would be logically and morally compelled to abolish the institution of slavery. And that commitment turns out to be an assumption about government, that the essential end of government is the security of rights. A government IS one, in fact, only when it fulfills that teleological goal; otherwise, it falls into another category, the category of tyranny" (25).
I also picked up a journal on the way out the door, called Civil War Times. In it, I read an article about how at Gettysburg about 15% of the monuments are there to memorialize the Confederate troops that fell at the hands of the victorious Union. I was surprised to see that such a thing would be allowed. Isn't this a lot like allowing the Nazis to have memorials to their dead in Normandy, or in Berlin, or in Prague? Or wouldn't it be like putting up statues to the Hessian troops that won a major battle against General Washington in Brooklyn? Sure, they were people, too, but since their cause was so aberrant, so malicious, so perverse, I would think that rather than celebrate the bravery of their soldiers in pursuit of such a disgusting litany of badly framed ideals that they would better be forgotten or left to hang their heads in ignominious silence.
It is this inundation of rewritten history, of cultural relativism in which the south, the Nazis, the Hessians, and just about everybody are to be celebrated, that worries me more than the flooding of the Delaware River, and the consequence of black mold that we are now warned will plague our children unless we go at it with sponges and chlorine and wipe it from our foundations.
Walton, NY still had piles of rotted wood standing around waiting for dump trucks, and I've heard that many houses were lost. Our secretary lives there, and she said that the water rose in her basement to six feet, but the sink and shower drains never plugged in the basement and this kept the water from reaching their first floor.
In Paramus NJ after the trip and just before IKEA I ran into a Barnes & Noble that had an immense used section with many books for as little as one dollar. I picked up a book entitled The Office of Assertion: An Art of Rhetoric for the Academic Essay, by Scott F. Crider (ISI Books, 2005). I went right through it, pleased by it clarity and logic. In it, he talks a lot about the uses of logic by Jefferson and Madison. In Madison's famous tenth letter in the Federalist Papers, he summarizes Madison thus:
"What causes 'faction'? Two causes: liberty and intellectual diversity" (33).
The pith of this statement floored me. Exactly! This is what the communists lacked, and continue to lack. Terrified of faction and wanting unity at the price of the dismissal of liberty, their system results in terror. Republicanism on the other hand invites faction, and creates a system completely aware of the fact that there will always be competing factions in a system in which liberty resides.
Analyzing Jefferson, he writes of the famous phrase, "all men are created equal," that "Historically, the principles of American politics are categorical, and therefore, universal, even if their execution has been selective, and therefore, elitist. Jefferson founded an inconsistent nation even as he fashioned a consistent argument. The inherent contradiction within American slavery was both a shame and a promise; after all, only a nation committed to equality would be logically and morally compelled to abolish the institution of slavery. And that commitment turns out to be an assumption about government, that the essential end of government is the security of rights. A government IS one, in fact, only when it fulfills that teleological goal; otherwise, it falls into another category, the category of tyranny" (25).
I also picked up a journal on the way out the door, called Civil War Times. In it, I read an article about how at Gettysburg about 15% of the monuments are there to memorialize the Confederate troops that fell at the hands of the victorious Union. I was surprised to see that such a thing would be allowed. Isn't this a lot like allowing the Nazis to have memorials to their dead in Normandy, or in Berlin, or in Prague? Or wouldn't it be like putting up statues to the Hessian troops that won a major battle against General Washington in Brooklyn? Sure, they were people, too, but since their cause was so aberrant, so malicious, so perverse, I would think that rather than celebrate the bravery of their soldiers in pursuit of such a disgusting litany of badly framed ideals that they would better be forgotten or left to hang their heads in ignominious silence.
It is this inundation of rewritten history, of cultural relativism in which the south, the Nazis, the Hessians, and just about everybody are to be celebrated, that worries me more than the flooding of the Delaware River, and the consequence of black mold that we are now warned will plague our children unless we go at it with sponges and chlorine and wipe it from our foundations.
Monday, July 03, 2006
WANTED: LUTHERAN POETS!
SIMUL –Lutheran Voices in Poetry, Attn: Mark Odland, poetry editor, 6244 Twin Oaks Drive, #2205, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, e-mail: simulanthology@hotmail.com
Publication Needs: SIMUL is a publication of poetry that gladly accepts submissions from all those who identify themselves with the Lutheran faith tradition. The name of this anthology reflects Martin Luther’s observation that as children of God we are both fully saints and sinners simultaneously. It is the goal of SIMUL to reflect this paradox, and explore the complexity, beauty, and messiness of the human condition. Poems submitted need not be “religious,” but they must be honest. Laughter and tears, faith and doubt, hope and despair all have their place in this unique publication. The cost of the upcoming SIMUL anthology is $10.99 plus $3.00 shipping and handling.
How to Submit: Submit up to 5 poems at a time. Line length for each poem is 32 lines maximum (spaces between stanzas count as lines). No previously published poems. Simultaneous submissions are okay, as long as you notify SIMUL immediately upon acceptance elsewhere. Name, address, phone number, and e-mail should appear as header on top right of each page submitted. Poems should be flush left, single-spaced, with double spacing between stanzas. Poem titles should appear in all caps or initial caps about 6 lines underneath contact information. Include cover letter containing contact information, short bio, and previous publications if any. Reading period is year around, but for your poetry to be considered for the upcoming publication, we must receive your submissions no later than August 1, 2006. Generally, responses are sent within 3 months. However, if poems are being strongly considered for publication, it may take longer. Often, the editor will comment on rejections. SIMUL acquires first North American serial rights. This gives SIMUL the right to publish a poem for the first time in any anthology, but all other rights remain with the author. Must include (SASE) “self addressed stamped envelope” for response when you mail in your submission. Please address all submissions to the editor, Mark Odland.
Mark Odland, editor
6244 Twin Oaks Drive, #2205
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
E-mail: simulanthology@hotmail.com
SIMUL –Lutheran Voices in Poetry, Attn: Mark Odland, poetry editor, 6244 Twin Oaks Drive, #2205, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, e-mail: simulanthology@hotmail.com
Publication Needs: SIMUL is a publication of poetry that gladly accepts submissions from all those who identify themselves with the Lutheran faith tradition. The name of this anthology reflects Martin Luther’s observation that as children of God we are both fully saints and sinners simultaneously. It is the goal of SIMUL to reflect this paradox, and explore the complexity, beauty, and messiness of the human condition. Poems submitted need not be “religious,” but they must be honest. Laughter and tears, faith and doubt, hope and despair all have their place in this unique publication. The cost of the upcoming SIMUL anthology is $10.99 plus $3.00 shipping and handling.
How to Submit: Submit up to 5 poems at a time. Line length for each poem is 32 lines maximum (spaces between stanzas count as lines). No previously published poems. Simultaneous submissions are okay, as long as you notify SIMUL immediately upon acceptance elsewhere. Name, address, phone number, and e-mail should appear as header on top right of each page submitted. Poems should be flush left, single-spaced, with double spacing between stanzas. Poem titles should appear in all caps or initial caps about 6 lines underneath contact information. Include cover letter containing contact information, short bio, and previous publications if any. Reading period is year around, but for your poetry to be considered for the upcoming publication, we must receive your submissions no later than August 1, 2006. Generally, responses are sent within 3 months. However, if poems are being strongly considered for publication, it may take longer. Often, the editor will comment on rejections. SIMUL acquires first North American serial rights. This gives SIMUL the right to publish a poem for the first time in any anthology, but all other rights remain with the author. Must include (SASE) “self addressed stamped envelope” for response when you mail in your submission. Please address all submissions to the editor, Mark Odland.
Mark Odland, editor
6244 Twin Oaks Drive, #2205
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
E-mail: simulanthology@hotmail.com
Sunday, July 02, 2006
The Episcopalian church is suffering from a huge rift over the homosexuality issue. The issue first came to the fore with the election of a gay man to the title of Bishop. African congregations expressed the need to censure this move, and to wish to be out of communion with the American Episcopalians over the issue. The Bishop of Canterbury, an intelligent man who has written a good book on Christian aesthetics, has to somehow hold the world-wide Anglican communion together. Frank Griswold, who is the head of the American Episcopalian church (membership of about 2-3 million) said on NPR the other day that the church has always faced division.
In fact the Episcopalians were the leadership of the southern slave-states during the American Civil War. They were then the leading conservatives of the time.
Today the issue is somewhat but not entirely reversed. They are the leading liberals, but they are suffering from an intense schism within their ranks.
Meanwhile, the African Episcopalians (Anglicans) number some 60 million members, some thirty times more than the American Episcopalians.
Conservatives cite the OT especially Leviticus on the issue of homosexuality. Liberals cite the Sermon on the Mount, and the need to love one another.
The middle is muddled and not very visible. An article in the NYT this morning suggested that the middle is still there -- a large, silent majority that just doesn't care one way or the other. It's not a huge issue.
In most matters I fall into that category. I'm a member of the muddled middle. The middle is the most radical position to take today or so it seems as it's increasingly rare to try to find a point of compromise or shall we say synthesis.
Red gets redder in the face, and blue gets more blue in the face. And a TV documentary the other evening argued that people try to move to towns where their side is predominant, and so ranks continue to close.
Lutheran Surrealism is an attempt to think with the best of the avant-garde and the best of the orthodoxy.
Another reason we spent last week rereading Marianne Moore, who managed this trick with a finesse that is mind-boggling. She managed to be friends with young Allen Ginsberg, and old Ezra Pound, and conservative naval ministers (her brother was one), and members of her own congregation with whom she prayed. She was a friend of WH Auden (gay, but orthodox in his religious views), and T.S. Eliot (also from St. Louis, but Episcopalian, and royalist).
And why not?
The worst thing in my opinion would be to live in a world where everybody believed the same things and there was nothing left to argue about. So I see the crisis in the Episcopalian church as a moment of fun for their community. A chance to see what they really believe, and to try to settle important issues.
In fact the Episcopalians were the leadership of the southern slave-states during the American Civil War. They were then the leading conservatives of the time.
Today the issue is somewhat but not entirely reversed. They are the leading liberals, but they are suffering from an intense schism within their ranks.
Meanwhile, the African Episcopalians (Anglicans) number some 60 million members, some thirty times more than the American Episcopalians.
Conservatives cite the OT especially Leviticus on the issue of homosexuality. Liberals cite the Sermon on the Mount, and the need to love one another.
The middle is muddled and not very visible. An article in the NYT this morning suggested that the middle is still there -- a large, silent majority that just doesn't care one way or the other. It's not a huge issue.
In most matters I fall into that category. I'm a member of the muddled middle. The middle is the most radical position to take today or so it seems as it's increasingly rare to try to find a point of compromise or shall we say synthesis.
Red gets redder in the face, and blue gets more blue in the face. And a TV documentary the other evening argued that people try to move to towns where their side is predominant, and so ranks continue to close.
Lutheran Surrealism is an attempt to think with the best of the avant-garde and the best of the orthodoxy.
Another reason we spent last week rereading Marianne Moore, who managed this trick with a finesse that is mind-boggling. She managed to be friends with young Allen Ginsberg, and old Ezra Pound, and conservative naval ministers (her brother was one), and members of her own congregation with whom she prayed. She was a friend of WH Auden (gay, but orthodox in his religious views), and T.S. Eliot (also from St. Louis, but Episcopalian, and royalist).
And why not?
The worst thing in my opinion would be to live in a world where everybody believed the same things and there was nothing left to argue about. So I see the crisis in the Episcopalian church as a moment of fun for their community. A chance to see what they really believe, and to try to settle important issues.
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