July 29, 2019--Zwerling's Law

Because I invoked Godwin's Law occasionally during the 2016 campaign when friends would compare Trump with Hitler, the Nazis, and fascists such as Mussolini--the Law states that as a discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving the Nazis or Hitler approaches--they accused me of helping to elect Trump because I "normalized" him. As a result, more than two years later, some are still not talking to me.

I contend now and told them then I was just taking Trump seriously, not boosting him, and if we didn't try to understand his appeal, the worst could occur. And, while many liberals tried to ignore or mock him, look what happened.

Now, of my own, here's a very different law--

Zwerling's Law states that for people older than 60, unless there is something urgent, one is not allowed to bring up medical issues until at least three other topics have been discussed.

I have been noticing that as we age together, with friends, barely after exchanging greetings, we are talking about our latest medical test results, Mohs surgery, blood-thinner side-effects, diverticulitis, cataracts,  and of course colonoscopies. Frequently we begin with colonoscopies.

It is only then that we turn to the latest Trump outrage, what we have been reading or seeing in the movies, or how Joe Biden's poll numbers are looking.

Even after not having seen Mary and Al for three weeks and beginning by talking about the sultry weather, almost immediately, violating my own law, I got us to switch to medical talk when I reported about a recent visit with my neurologist.

I should have invoked Zwerling's Law on myself.

It makes existential sense for folks my age to be most concerned about how our hearts, lungs, and bowels are holding up; but it doesn't necessarily make for snappy conversation.

April 3, 2018--"How Democracies Die"

In a powerful book of that name, distinguished Harvard professors of government, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, worry that the election of Donald Trump is unleashing his and America's totalitarian impulses.

They set their analysis in a comparative context with considerable attention paid to the decline and at times death of democracies in, among other countries, Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany, Peron's Argentina  Chavez's Venezuela,  Pinochet's Chile, Erdogan's Turkey, and Marcos's Philippines.

But the central focus is on the history of threats to democracy in the United States--the Civil War; the post-Reconstruction, Jim Crow era of institutionalized racism; the McCarthy threat; and now Trumpian times.

About America their analysis includes the gathering number of ways Trump is challenging the very notion of democracy itself and how he is systematically undermining it further by exploiting people's fears of the "other" and the internal and external dangers that they see around them, including a rigged electoral system, a corrupt judiciary, an unfettered press, a compromised legislative process, a debasement of our culture, and the political opposition treasonous. 

The book, though comfortably readable, includes a great deal of data to advance its arguments, including some that are unusual, even quirky but metaphorically illuminate the nature of the problem and its near total reach.

From the chapter, "The Unraveling," about our growing polarization--

Consider this extraordinary finding: In 1960, political scientists asked Americans how they would feel if their children married someone who identified with another political party. Four percent of Democrats and five percent of Republicans reported they would be "displeased."  

In 2010, by contrast, 33 percent of Democrats and 49 percent of Republicans reported feeling "somewhat or very unhappy" at the prospect of inter-party marriage. 

Being a Democrat or a Republican has become not just a partisan affiliation but an identity. 

(Iyengar, Sood, and Lelkes, "Affect, Not Ideology: A Social Identity Perspective on Polarization")

None of this will help one sleep at night, but we need to be warned and find ways to resist.

June 8, 2016--Donald trump Is A Jerk

He's not Mussolini; he's not Hitler. He is more mundane than that--he is merely a jerk and not fit to be president of our country.

His overt racism is evident in the way in which he has repeatedly slandered the esteemed judge of Mexican descent who is hearing the class action suit being brought against so-called Trump University.

Judge Gonzalo Curiel is as legally "American" as Trump's sister, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry. Both are decedents of immigrants. He Mexican. She German.

Even Republicans who have reluctantly endorsed him--against their better instincts--about this one are saying no mas. (Spanish intended.)

And I say that too.

I continue to feel it is essential to understand fully the discontents and anger raging in America which have fueled Trump's candidacy. If we ignore these forces, before long we may experience catastrophic culture-changing consequences.

Having said that, he is a despicable person with few saving graces and should be soundly denounced and defeated.

More about this on subsequent days. But today is Rona's almost-big birthday and we plan to spend the whole day having fun.

March 1, 2016--Godwin's Law

Do you know Godwin's Law?

More formally it is Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies and was coined in 1990 by Mike Godwin, former general counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation.

It states that "as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches."

That is, if any discussion, regardless of topic or scope, goes on long enough, sooner or later someone will compare someone or something to Nazism.

Godwin's Law, when invoked, effectively shuts down the possibility of two or more parties continuing a discussion, even one that started out fairly benignly.

These days, Godwin's Law is working overtime during an increasingly contentious political season. We have candidates--exclusively Republicans--casually accusing each other of Nazi-like ideas and proposals.

Just last week, the reenergized Ted Cruz said that Donald Trump's preposterous promise to deport 11 or 12 million illegal immigrants was the equivalent of sending troops in "hobnailed boots" to round them up.

And I must say that in more and more of my attempts to engage in civil discourse with friends who have been critical of my paying serious attention to the campaign of Donald Trump--not endorsing him but seeing what can be learned about the current state of America from his disquieting run--that after two or three e-mail exchanges, the conversation gets shut down by friends comparing Trump to Hitler or more frequently Mussolini, to whom he does bear some physical resemblance. (Just as Ted Cruz looks so much like Senator Joseph McCarthy.)

I have attempted to push back against this use of Godwin's Law, but unsuccessfully. And as a result we stop talking about politics and agree to chat about the upcoming baseball season, which is fine.

But then, over the weekend, Donald Trump may have really stepped in it and as a result may have disqualified himself from any longer being considered a feasible candidate for the presidency.

When pressed by Jake Tapper on CNN to disavow white-supremisisit Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke's support, Trump, who two days earlier had done so, hemmed and hawed, finally saying, actually lying, that he had no idea who Duke is and did not want to disavow anyone or any group until he knew for certain what they were about.

That latter point is not unreasonable except for one thing--anyone older than 50, anyone who knows anything at all about American social or racial history knows about David Duke. He is not some obscure figure living under a rock (though he probably does) but someone of great prominence who even ran for president back in 1988.

So, Trump was either lying and pandering to white-supremisist voters (unacceptable enough) or he really never heard of Duke--his ignorance is also beyond disturbing as is his craven attempt to blame his equivocation on a faulty ear piece--that he couldn't hear the question.

Beyond terrible.

But as bad as he is, he is no Fascist , no Nazi.