[No doubt another time when I just shouldn't write, but here goes anyway...]
I belong to a certain Macintosh-oriented email list. Earlier yesterday I read about how Qwest is now offering 20 mbps DSL — the fastest available in this country — in a few selected areas. Then last night I encountered a blog post about how one can have 100 megabyte-per-second DSL in France, plus long-distance phone service and TV channels included, for about $85. Infuriated, I posted a message to my email list asking the following:
…how in the HELL does America innovate its way out of three dozen different potentially fatal fixes with a freaking stone age telecommunications infrastructure??? (Never mind that we got bridges falling down…) How do we compete with anybody? Hello??
A German list member commiserated with me. A guy in northern VA was sympathetic. And then a third person — a very dear soul who reads this blog — responded with a list of links to U.S. military photo galleries, adding that “these are not just cool (well some of them), but they have great meaning to us over on this side of the world.”
Um…
Disregarding for the moment that I live here too, we get the following:
1. Our telecommunications infrastructure sucks.
2. People in Europe can get TEN TIMES the bandwidth for less dough.
3. Yeah, but just look at these Navy fighter jets!!!
I hardly know what to say. The problem is that a similar dynamic operates in many areas of concern. Sometimes it seems as if the light just keeps getting dimmer, no matter what one does.
This morning the sadness is overwhelming. Perhaps this is partly so because of what I sometimes feel about myself, having been raised not to aim too high, not to dream too great (lest one suffer disappointment), not to believe in happiness, etc. etc. I constantly conflate the nation’s psyche with my own, of course. Probably most of us do, and it’s a trap. There’s only one reason to fear criticism, because it resonates with suppressed belief. Whether the belief is false or not is immaterial, because it never sees the light of day.
Comment by Gregory LeFever
1 April 26, 2008, 4:08 pm o'clock |
Okay, John, just to add a little fuel to your despair … your comments regarding deteriorating or half-assed infrastructure sound a lot like so many U.S. citizens on the topic of health care. I watched McCain interviewed on TV last week and he was asked about a nationalized health-care system and he answered, “Just look at Canada. Just look at England.” And he said nothing more about it. As if even the most cursory examination would prove both of those nations’ health-care systems to be flawed beyond belief. Any of us who have actually taken the time to examine those systems - and several other health-care systems around the globe - realize just how badly the American people are being “taken” by the medical, pharmaceutical and insurance industries. And all McCain or any of his ilk has to say is, ” Just look at ….” and Americans default to thinking that ours is best. Unfortunately we as a nation have sunk to pitiful lows in world standings in so very many areas. In several key aspects of quality-of-life we are inferior to most of the developed world. On the other hand, we are very good - world-class, in fact - at dumbing down our own citizenry and in building prisons. Very sad.
Comment by John H. Farr
2 April 26, 2008, 5:09 pm o'clock |
That someone like McCain can say something so cruel and false without challenge, on national TV — much less be considered a viable candidate for president — is damning beyond belief. Every time I think we have a chance, it just gets worse instead.
Before this election season, I was in a psychological/spiritual space where those things didn’t affect me in the same way, and then I got sucked in again! Damn, damn, damn. Now I have to go back and do it all over again, just so I can function.
Ultimately a good thing, however. I’ll be sure to report if I find a way out.
Comment by K.J. Webb
3 April 26, 2008, 6:46 pm o'clock |
Let’s assume that the American way of doing things in some particular field - say health care - isn’t as good as that in some other place in the world. Let’s assume that it’s a good thing to want to improve performance in that field. I’m with you there. But why is it a cause of personal despair that these improvements haven’t yet come about? Is it because America has always got to be better than everywhere else all the time and in every field? I know you don’t think this, but to me, who have lived so long outside American borders, it often sounds like it.
The present is better than the past, the future will likely be better than the present. However, nothing in this flawed world is ever going to get done quite right, and nothing is guaranteed. The Canadian health system (which I live in) is better than the American in some ways, worse in others, and the totality of goods and evils is beyond anyone’s personal experience anyhow. (One experience I do have is of seeing what Canadians do when they can’t get quick or sophisticated treatment here: they hop a plane to the U.S. I don’t see many Americans coming the other way.)
One’s attitude to such things is a matter of temperament. In a prior post I speculated that our generation is inclined to disappointment and indignation because we have unrealistically high expectations. We despair, ironically, because we haven’t endured much real suffering. Any dispassionate assessment would show a glass much more than half full compared to prior ages, but all we see is the empty part that is never going to get filled anyhow. I ask again, why is this?
Comment by Gregory LeFever
4 April 26, 2008, 7:06 pm o'clock |
K.J., you are missing the point. For whatever reason, you are evading political reality. The major problem the U.S. faces is that reform or “improvement” is nearly impossible to accomplish because of the unprecedented influence of lobbyists in Washington and the harsh reality that our politicians are bought. The pharmaceutical industry is the largest lobbying effort in Washington and a huge contributor to many legislators’ campaigns, both Republican and Democrat. Trying to find one — just one, mind you — politician to vote against pharmaceutical interests and in favor of health-care improvement is a challenge. The profit motive is running rampant. Formerly unconscionable votes occur weekly to support the steady flow of wealth to a very few, at the expense of a great many. The only way (short of revolution in the streets, of course) that reform can occur is through a huge rethinking of the electoral process; i.e., campaign reform. But when the politicians are already bought, how can you expect them to dismantle the flawed system? A few years ago when idealism was more prevalent, your words of past/present/future improvement were credible and valid. The despair of today’s world is that the pathway to improvement has been barricaded by monied interests. The evidence is everywhere.
Comment by K.J. Webb
5 April 26, 2008, 7:30 pm o'clock |
I respect your passion, Gregory, but I’m old enough to remember that this rhetoric - or, if you like, this reality - was very much the cry of the day in the late 60’s. Believe me, it’s not worse today than it was then. As you may have surmised, I don’t have much use for politicians myself. However, I think I detect in you a desire for a utopian alternative which I might like even less - not the dream but the reality that would quickly supplant the dream. No, politicians today are about what they were in 1880, 1920 or 1968 - puffed-up scalawags. Occasionally they stumble into doing something right for the same reason that enough monkeys could type up Shakespeare - given time and chance.
Comment by Gregory LeFever
6 April 26, 2008, 7:58 pm o'clock |
Dear K.J., I’m probably older than you are. Believe me, it IS worse today than it was then, for the very reasons I cited. I am not looking for a utopian alternative. This is not “Animal Farm.” I’m looking for justice and economic fairness. I’m looking for peace. You need to step out of your mindset, K.J., and take a closer look at the world that surrounds you. Look beyond the media’s platitudes. Look beyond the politicians’ speeches. Look at world health statistics. Look at world hunger statistics. Look at who owns what. Really see. Really listen. This is far more serious than something devised by “puffed-up scalawags.” Remaining in denial will do no one the least bit of good.
Comment by K.J. Webb
7 April 27, 2008, 3:29 am o'clock |
I’m enjoying our exchange, Gregory, and am sorry an early bed-time cut if off. You say I’m in denial. That’s true if what I’m denying is the possibility of large breakthroughs into justice and fairness. When has this ever happened in the history of the world? Why do you think it’s likely to happen now? But, if I read you rightly, you don’t think it’s likely to happen and that fact in itself causes you anguish and disappointment. What’s the point of despairing about things so huge and unlikely? We might as well despair about being humans. But isn’t cosmic despair - something I admit I myself feel from time to time - an inherently useless and futile gesture? As against combatting this or that evil in one’s own life or community, of doing the few good things any man can do in a life and enjoying the spectacle of the big picture about which one can do nothing.
There you have my credo in a few words. Why is this a mindset you think I need to step out of?
Comment by Gregory LeFever
8 April 27, 2008, 10:30 am o'clock |
K.J. whether you actually chose to examine your mindset is your business entirely. Reasons you might consider it, however, are embedded in your postings to this thread. One thing I want to say before I get personal, however, is that no discussion of health-care plans should ignore the personal financial aspect. You or a McCain can always cite some Canadian or Brit who flew to the U.S. for treatment, but please do not ignore the fact that the Canadian or the Brit pays far less in taxes toward health care than the average U.S. citizen must pay out-of-pocket for private health insurance. I have a good plan, but because my wife and I both are over 60 and self-employed, we pay nearly $1,000 a month for a plan with an enormous deductible. Things are no better for my children’s’ generation. Why, I ask, does the U.S. have nearly 50 million people unable to afford health insurance and therefore are living in the shadow of financial catastrophe if they become sick or injured? Tell me why. But back to your mindset: You say the present is better than the past and the future will likely be better than the present. This is a platitude. It is improvable and means nothing. If this is part of your personal philosophy, you’re standing on shifting sands. You say, “We despair, ironically, because we haven’t endured much real suffering. Any dispassionate assessment would show a glass much more than half full compared to prior ages …” This is another groundless claim. (Have you ever thought about entering the world of politics?) The world of my generation (of which I believe you are one) has been filtered through something never before seen in recorded history – an effective mass media propelled by the profit motive. My brethren have been slaughtered in Vietnam and my son’s brethren in Iraq, both conflicts where truth has been subordinate to widespread lying and propaganda. Millions of my coworkers have been “downsized” and left with lesser standards of living but still believe we are “number one.” As Americans in particular we have watched our nation slide into widespread poverty, crime and ignorance. The key arsenal used to battle this situation is the distorted media and the rampant prescribing of antidepressants. The U.S. has more people on antidepressants than anywhere in the world and more of our citizens behind bars. The present is not always better than the past, sorry to say. To be frank, K.J., some of your statements would indicate a sheltered, complacent, even smug man. I hope that you are none of these. Is despair useless, as you claim? Do you really “enjoy the spectacle of the big picture about which one can do nothing?” This is a credo that begs self-examination.
Comment by K.J. Webb
9 April 27, 2008, 1:02 pm o'clock |
I guess we both have to accept that you care more about health care than I do, Greg. But caring about things is kind of easy to do, don’t you think? There’s a whole list of things we ought to care about. I have a lot of respect for folks who do things, but just caring in a vacuum is something I stopped doing when I graduated from Sunday School. Thinking is more challenging than caring. And doing is better than either. (One man’s platitude is another man’s eternal truth.)
So we’ve got different mindsets. I can deal with that. Go in peace, my friend. You’re probably a better man than me. Then again, if we meet in hell some day, I’ll gladly give you a lift in my state-provided Canadian wheelchair.