One of the reasons I left the church (for the second time) in 2016 was that the vote for Trump confirmed all of the cruelty I had witnessed from the Church and had done my best to set aside. These days, when I see Americans cheering on the dismantling of USAID, celebrating ICE raids of LA, Austin, Portland, etc., I am reminded of that same cruelty that comes from a devotion to the status quo. I’m still speechless, or rather, every time I speak, I feel like I’m hitting the wrong pitch, or I’m that 17 year old, returning to the US for college and realizing just how much I do not belong here.
wonderful take. I feel similarly about Uncle Joe both offering stability and calm and empathy and also the terrible decision to seek reelection. I still believe his accomplishments warranted a second term. Sadly, he wasn’t a good candidate.
‘All of us want the world to be less complicated. All of us want more linear stories and clearer categories and more sympathetic protagonists. Our brains are literally wired for it, so we won’t drown in stimuli. We make a delicate order out of unrelenting chaos, draw tenuous and sometimes dubious connections, and end up filtering out informative noise.’
Let me see if I have this straight.you wanted linearity in a chaotic world. Linearity works to approximate short term solutions.some of us—just a few—have recognized and accepted complexity for most of our lives. So let me say this, I was at a no kings rally. I witnessed the people and how good they felt. I saw how tolerant they were of the man in the MAGA hat going from corner to corner waving a huge MAGA flag in their faces.
The physicist/philosopher Karl Popper, an escapee from the Nazi takeover of Germany said “you do not tolerate those who want to kill you.”
Biden handed over the keys to government to Trump after the election. Why? Probably same reason the keys were handed over to George W Bush, respecting the constitution and ‘law and order.’ Problem is that type of thinking is handcuffs when the other side does not play by the same rules.
If I am understanding you correctly--I agree that our current time provides more moral clarity than is perhaps typical. That's one of the gifts of it, honestly. There's an energy and a purpose I feel now that's different. But I still think it's important not to fall into cognitive traps, to which we are all vulnerable, and to keep our wits about us lest we become what we are fighting against. I agree that some people, and definitely some cultures/groups, are far better at processing complexity. But critical thinking is not our brains' natural state, cognitive bias is. Critical thinking must be cultivated, learned, practiced, intentionally maintained.
Not sure I've understood your point, but to the extent that I did, that is what I would say.
Thanks for this. I also appreciated your post on Joy Schaverien. You are right that boarding schools are always problematic. I call them orphanages... some extremely toxic (like Mamou) others less so. I am now 75 and realize that I have been processing the trauma all my life. So thankful for the book you have written. I never imagined that someone would write a book like this. Bravo.
This is a remarkable and excellent commentary, Holly, and I thank you. I lived through - and was permanently changed by - Vietnam times, and as a result I have not had the beliefs that things were going to be all right, or that the dreams we once had could ever be reality in our lifetimes. We are in a particularly horrible time now, but we have been leading up to this for a long time. Faith in the goodness, insightfulness and intelligence of our fellow Americans to never bring a monster or a clown into the White House, and then bring him back again after one failed Presidency and January 6th - I lost that faith long ago.
From my far away point in the world, i can only say that for many of us in Israel, although not as many as i would like us to be, Joe Biden will be remembered positively for being there for us in our lowest point, when our government that we had already zero trust with disappeared and left many of us here to practically die.
For that, and the many good things i think he have done during his 4 years in office, i hope history will remember him positively and not in the way it seems now.
I only wish we could be more nuanced about our leaders and their administrations sometimes. Though I was (and still am) a supporter, seems to me President Biden was not willing to recognize his blinders when it came to Netanyahu. Like despot in the USA (I do not write or say his name since he does that enough for all of us for all time), Bibi just wants to stay in office and out of jail. He is also a puppet who has to bow to those who are keeping him in office. It is so obvious that neither of them care anything about their people or peace. I am glad you felt supported by President Biden. From a USA citizen's viewpoint, I wish he could have supported the Jewish people without supporting Netanyahu's decimation of Gaza. Not being a world diplomat myself, I don't know how that could have been accomplished, but it doesn't seem bombing and starving Gazans was the answer. It still isn't. And now he's adding Iran to his attacks, trying to pull the USA into his wars.
If it means anything, i can say that many of us here dont support what's happening in Gaza. We think its an extreme religious racist right that took over our country and wants to make everyone there go away (who knows where) or just die, so they can take over the land. We are protesting against it every week for 2 years but nothing we can do until there are elections.
Lior - I have a close friend who lives in TelAviv, so I do know the people of Israel are not in support of their racist government, same as most of us in the USA are not in support of our racist government - which was my point. Hopefully we will be able to have elections that are not rigged by the current administration's IT hackers, like the last one apparently was. Hopefully these crazy war-mongers won't get us all blown up before we can get them out of office. I'm constantly worried about my friend in TelAviv. Take care and keep speaking up when you are able!
Holly, I share your sadness at the cruel treatment of Biden in his last days--while also admitting his mistakes. Life doesn't always imitate art, and as we push back against the wannabe dictator, we discover our strength. Yes, we carry one another, just as the One who is Love carries us through every terrible thing life throws at us. We had 10,000 protest in my little college town of about 250k. That's not trivial. A friend who went to the No Kings in Phoenix held a homemade sign that said: If I were a paid protester, I'd have a better sign." Keep carrying each other, and keep letting love carry the day. ~Linda Clare at The Deep End
One of the reasons I left the church (for the second time) in 2016 was that the vote for Trump confirmed all of the cruelty I had witnessed from the Church and had done my best to set aside. These days, when I see Americans cheering on the dismantling of USAID, celebrating ICE raids of LA, Austin, Portland, etc., I am reminded of that same cruelty that comes from a devotion to the status quo. I’m still speechless, or rather, every time I speak, I feel like I’m hitting the wrong pitch, or I’m that 17 year old, returning to the US for college and realizing just how much I do not belong here.
I hear you, I hear all of this and share what you feel.
Thank you, Holly. Warts and all, we have to do this together the best we can.
wonderful take. I feel similarly about Uncle Joe both offering stability and calm and empathy and also the terrible decision to seek reelection. I still believe his accomplishments warranted a second term. Sadly, he wasn’t a good candidate.
“Mainly by thinking so many of my fellow Americans aren’t fools.” Oh yes. Such a painful betrayal.
‘All of us want the world to be less complicated. All of us want more linear stories and clearer categories and more sympathetic protagonists. Our brains are literally wired for it, so we won’t drown in stimuli. We make a delicate order out of unrelenting chaos, draw tenuous and sometimes dubious connections, and end up filtering out informative noise.’
Let me see if I have this straight.you wanted linearity in a chaotic world. Linearity works to approximate short term solutions.some of us—just a few—have recognized and accepted complexity for most of our lives. So let me say this, I was at a no kings rally. I witnessed the people and how good they felt. I saw how tolerant they were of the man in the MAGA hat going from corner to corner waving a huge MAGA flag in their faces.
The physicist/philosopher Karl Popper, an escapee from the Nazi takeover of Germany said “you do not tolerate those who want to kill you.”
Biden handed over the keys to government to Trump after the election. Why? Probably same reason the keys were handed over to George W Bush, respecting the constitution and ‘law and order.’ Problem is that type of thinking is handcuffs when the other side does not play by the same rules.
If I am understanding you correctly--I agree that our current time provides more moral clarity than is perhaps typical. That's one of the gifts of it, honestly. There's an energy and a purpose I feel now that's different. But I still think it's important not to fall into cognitive traps, to which we are all vulnerable, and to keep our wits about us lest we become what we are fighting against. I agree that some people, and definitely some cultures/groups, are far better at processing complexity. But critical thinking is not our brains' natural state, cognitive bias is. Critical thinking must be cultivated, learned, practiced, intentionally maintained.
Not sure I've understood your point, but to the extent that I did, that is what I would say.
Thanks for responding.
Thanks for this. I also appreciated your post on Joy Schaverien. You are right that boarding schools are always problematic. I call them orphanages... some extremely toxic (like Mamou) others less so. I am now 75 and realize that I have been processing the trauma all my life. So thankful for the book you have written. I never imagined that someone would write a book like this. Bravo.
I have had all of these same thoughts! Thank you!
This is a remarkable and excellent commentary, Holly, and I thank you. I lived through - and was permanently changed by - Vietnam times, and as a result I have not had the beliefs that things were going to be all right, or that the dreams we once had could ever be reality in our lifetimes. We are in a particularly horrible time now, but we have been leading up to this for a long time. Faith in the goodness, insightfulness and intelligence of our fellow Americans to never bring a monster or a clown into the White House, and then bring him back again after one failed Presidency and January 6th - I lost that faith long ago.
Thank you for this, Holly. My soul needed these words today.
From my far away point in the world, i can only say that for many of us in Israel, although not as many as i would like us to be, Joe Biden will be remembered positively for being there for us in our lowest point, when our government that we had already zero trust with disappeared and left many of us here to practically die.
For that, and the many good things i think he have done during his 4 years in office, i hope history will remember him positively and not in the way it seems now.
I only wish we could be more nuanced about our leaders and their administrations sometimes. Though I was (and still am) a supporter, seems to me President Biden was not willing to recognize his blinders when it came to Netanyahu. Like despot in the USA (I do not write or say his name since he does that enough for all of us for all time), Bibi just wants to stay in office and out of jail. He is also a puppet who has to bow to those who are keeping him in office. It is so obvious that neither of them care anything about their people or peace. I am glad you felt supported by President Biden. From a USA citizen's viewpoint, I wish he could have supported the Jewish people without supporting Netanyahu's decimation of Gaza. Not being a world diplomat myself, I don't know how that could have been accomplished, but it doesn't seem bombing and starving Gazans was the answer. It still isn't. And now he's adding Iran to his attacks, trying to pull the USA into his wars.
If it means anything, i can say that many of us here dont support what's happening in Gaza. We think its an extreme religious racist right that took over our country and wants to make everyone there go away (who knows where) or just die, so they can take over the land. We are protesting against it every week for 2 years but nothing we can do until there are elections.
Lior - I have a close friend who lives in TelAviv, so I do know the people of Israel are not in support of their racist government, same as most of us in the USA are not in support of our racist government - which was my point. Hopefully we will be able to have elections that are not rigged by the current administration's IT hackers, like the last one apparently was. Hopefully these crazy war-mongers won't get us all blown up before we can get them out of office. I'm constantly worried about my friend in TelAviv. Take care and keep speaking up when you are able!
Holly, I share your sadness at the cruel treatment of Biden in his last days--while also admitting his mistakes. Life doesn't always imitate art, and as we push back against the wannabe dictator, we discover our strength. Yes, we carry one another, just as the One who is Love carries us through every terrible thing life throws at us. We had 10,000 protest in my little college town of about 250k. That's not trivial. A friend who went to the No Kings in Phoenix held a homemade sign that said: If I were a paid protester, I'd have a better sign." Keep carrying each other, and keep letting love carry the day. ~Linda Clare at The Deep End
The protest that I attended in my town was the same. Great atmosphere, fun, non-cultist.
People determined in standing up to the clown king.
Yes Joe Biden is a good man; in direct opposition to who we have now. No comparison.
Well said Holly! Thank you for writing this. Safe to say you speak for so many of us.
Thank you Holly!
Just beautiful. Thank you!