Dropping the Ball

By all accounts, it was a festive time in New York’s Times Square last night. People from all over the world were standing shoulder to shoulder to celebrate the coming of the new year. Nothing bad happened. The police was quite up to the task. The weather was as warm as it’s ever been at this time of year.

Despite other New Year’s celebrations in major cities around the globe, this one is the big one. If time were to suddenly stop just before midnight - even after Paris, Delhi, and Christ Church had already slipped over - we would see ourselves as stuck in the old year forever.

In fact, New York represents the world in a nutshell - an amalgam of people of every persuasion existing side by side like odd sticks of furniture in a comfortable room. When something gets upset in this room, all people come together and grieve. That’s why the ruins of the World Trade towers have been among the most visited sites in this city - more popular than Angkor Watt.

By all accounts, yesterday’s Times Square New Year’s celebration was a huge success. By global standards New York’s New Years Eve countdown is a relatively modest affair. There are no huge fireworks displays; no god-like rulers making pronouncements. Instead, second or third-rate actors are given a stage to shine. This is the people’s party. They often come from far away just for the once-in-a-lifetime experience of having been a part of it. It’s bigger than Stonehenge.

Last night, the people attending were happy to have made it through yet another year - even with the obvious shift of political power and money to the nation’s (unindicted) capital well underway; even with the slight irony of all the world’s eyes watching America drop the ball.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Bubba

One of the hallmarks of totalitarianism is that there is no longer any way to ascertain the truth. Truth is simply what someone says it is. We talk endlessly about the new norm. Joblessness is what it is. Promises are meaningless in that there are no longer any standards by which to measure progress. Words are just words that mean nothing beyond vague intention. It all is simply accepted. There is no debate; no new ideas; no argument.

We see this in the clip above. Jared Bernstein does not seem entirely comfortable with what he’s saying even though he appears to be talking to a wall. As such, he still retains some semblance of a reality in which words count for something. He clearly does not believe that the examples he enumerates are valid. He has been fated only to rise to the level of hack.

POTUS says essentially the same things. But he says them with conviction and aplomb. He either believes what he says or he is a reasonably good actor reading from a script.

We here, in America, have come to simply accept an awful lot of rubbish. We accept high tax rates. We accept corruption. We accept onerous regulation; intrusive searches. It is what it is; it can’t be helped. We accept joblessness; outsourcing; speed limits; fees; etc.

The other day I found myself in Times Square. A bunch of people were gathered under a huge multi-story screen that showed live video of the street below. People were excitedly pointing to themselves on this screen and taking pictures. Surveillance was celebrated as a kind of game. People were waving their arms and pointing to themselves. They were being watched and they felt important.

All this goes beyond Times Square - the Great White Way, as it‘s called. We accept Iran’s nuclear weapon’s program by which, we have every indication, they plan to wipe Israel off the map. As such, we accept genocide. We accept Iran’s mistreatment of women. We accept lashing, stoning, hanging, genital mutilation, abortion. We accept pornography; mosques built on Christian cemeteries; illegals crossing our borders. We accept repeat offenders; DWI killers, suicide plotters, voter intimidators.

We refuse any standards by which to separate good from evil, right from wrong. “It’s all good“, we say. “Whatever.” We need do nothing but clear our minds, think happy thoughts and submit. No standards; no critical thinking ; no logic; no plan. We wear our pants low to make it easier for cellmate Bubba to have his way with us.