Goodbye 2020

 

This year of momentous discontent is nearly over. As the calendar closes out its final week, hope for a better time animates this strange holiday season. This is my first (and only) blog of 2020. So much has been written about the virus and presidential politics lately that I’ve held back from joining the various choruses singing, in Stephen Stills’ words, “Hooray for our side.”

 My last blogs were about my battles with cancer. I am happy to report that my health is stable, so far, so good. A few months ago, I wrote a story about mourning for my mother who died in March. Though not listed as a Covid death, the circumstances of her passing suggest the novel corona virus played a role. She was 97 and died in her sleep in a nursing home in Queens. She led a good life. We will forever regret that in those early days of the Covid pandemic, we could not be there for her in person. Her Zoomed funeral was the first of several we attended in 2020.

 

The many troubling aspects of this year continue to hang over us globally, nationally, and locally. Most disheartening has been the assault on truth, the willingness of so many to embrace and promote malign lies. Most notable among those lies is that Biden really lost the election, that his victory is based on fraud. “Seditious falsehood” is how the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania described those claims in response to a frivolous and failed—but very dangerous—attempt by Trump, et. al., to have the Supreme Court overturn the will of voters. 

 

The deadly consequences of big lies continue. The repeated falsehoods about how the corona virus would just disappear and is no worse than the seasonal flu led to dangerous behavior. Now vaccines are being rolled out with great anticipation. In the next few months we will be able to resume some of the life we put on hold back in March. But too many are still dying. And so many are hurting. From lost businesses to hunger and spreading food insecurity, the devastating effects of this plague linger.

 

On the cover page of this week’s New York Times Sunday Review: “Vaccines are coming. Trump is going. Sometime in 2021, life will look more normal. But it won’t be the same.” Reading that line, I thought of the changes that followed 9-11-01. Eventually normality resumed, but it’s not the same.

 

For some of us who have more yesterdays than tomorrows, past experience is encouraging. We will get through this as we have gotten through previous tragedies and uncertainty. This winter begins with discontent and trepidation but also glimmers of hope. So much will happen in the next few weeks. More people will get vaccinated. The US government will undergo the quadrennial ritual of inaugurating a new president, a very different man coming in to replace the one on his way out. The conflicts and competing interests around the world will not disappear. We will learn to navigate the new normal.

 

Much has changed in the last year. But leadership matters and can make a difference. At every level, I look forward to fresh thinking and a more compassionate approach to managing our current moment and beyond. One day, we will be able to leave our “bubbles” and move from Zoom meetings to being all together in the same room, theater, stadium or sacred spaces. Then we can look back at now and understand just how resilient we have been. All good wishes for 2021.

 

An open letter to President Trump

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The Honorable Donald J. Trump

President of the United States

Dear Mr. President:

I write to you today as one who opposed your candidacy and spoke out against your rhetoric, proposals, and platform.

Though we have never met, I feel as though I know you. After all, we both grew up in Queens and are in the same general age group. I wrote a few months ago about the way good bull shitters are regarded in the New York area. Having a “good line of bullshit” is not necessarily a bad thing. Surely you realize, however, that many of our countrymen and women actually take you at your word. When confronted with some of your more outrageous statements, and I am paraphrasing here, Mike Pence replied “that’s Donald,” the implication being to not always take you literally. Unfortunately for all of us, in your current role, words matter more than ever.

You are quick to invoke the charge of  “fake news” when something reported in the media is not to your liking. And your attacks against specific news organizations and reporters remind many of the way authoritarian leaders suppress opposition in countries whose values are diametrically opposed to historically American governance. You have the most compelling platform in the world to offer your version of events and policies. But when your spokeswoman suggests that your press secretary offered “alternative facts” the impression is that you operate in an alternative universe. As the late New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan taught, “everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”

You and your candidacy deepened divisions in our country and coarsened the dialogue. Yes, we were deeply divided before you ran, but most leaders try to bring people together. You had an opportunity to reach out to those who opposed you throughout the inaugural weekend but chose instead a combative stance that furthered division.

I will continue to oppose your positions and policies with which I mostly disagree. You were elected by people who knew what you intended to do as president. But it’s time to raise your game and recognize that great leaders grow. Find a softer more humble pitch. Take aim at the hateful rhetoric that some of your coalition delights in projecting. Tweet about that. You won the election. Instead of attacking celebrities who challenge you—remember you were an opposition celebrity before you became a politician—show some respect for the opposition. That’s the only way you’ll earn the respect you want from them and the millions of Americans who voted against you.

I will end by saying I don’t expect this letter to make much difference in the way you govern. For the sake of our great nation, I  hope I am wrong.

Thank you.

Trump and the holidays in fewer than 300 words

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Donald J. Trump will become President of the United States in four weeks. Christmas and Hanukkah begin in two days, an unusual year—in so many ways—when the two holidays fall on the same day. Some friends on the right say give Trump a chance. Others, many others, say be vigilant and make sure to oppose moves by the new administration that are bound to be authoritarian and corrupt.

A woman we knew liked to remind us, according to Christian scripture, Jesus was a homeless Jewish baby when he was born in Bethlehem. Some dispute that characterization saying Jesus, Mary and Joseph were away from home but not truly homeless. Hanukkah includes stories within stories but ultimately celebrates religious freedom. Freedom has a price, however, also part of the Hanukkah story. Christmas promotes peace on earth and celebrates a pathway to redemption by a loving God. For Christians, the King of Kings is also a humble man.

As President-elect Trump gets closer to the Oval Office, my hope and prayer for this holiday season is that love and sacrifice, the willingness to give of self for the freedoms we enjoy, and a recognition that those without a bed to sleep on may be the true queens and kings, don’t get lost in the bluster that consumes much of what we see and hear during these troubled times.

I fear the lessons of the season may be lost on the president-elect. His words and actions have indicated a different philosophy of governing and life. Those who embrace the messages of the season, for religious or other reasons, need to also live those values. Love and sacrifice will keep America great. No one person alone can make that happen.

Trump, Queens, and the art of crap detection

 

Donald Trump and I have something in common. We both grew up in Queens. As a proud child of the borough, I offer a bit of background for those less familiar with that part of New York City.

Queens is where working people live, civil servants, office workers, cops and firefighters, construction workers, small business owners, and to this day, upwardly mobile ethnics. The late New York Governor Mario Cuomo—like Donald and me, a Queens “boy”-- once remarked, and I’m paraphrasing, in Queens, arguing is a way of life. There is a certain in your face honesty that is particular to the region. There is also another communication characteristic that will be useful to understand in the days ahead. To put it directly, I can imagine Donald hanging around the schoolyard in 1961 regaling the other kids with stories and keeping their attention. After he left, one of the kids  might say to the others, “Donald has a great line of bullshit.” Understand, that would have been meant as a compliment as much as a criticism.

Neil Postman (1931-2003) was a brilliant scholar of communication. He was also from Queens. In his career as an NYU professor, Dr. Postman offered insight into mass media, culture, and yes, bullshit. In his classic discourse, Bullshit and the Art of Crap Detection, Postman explains, “sensitivity to the phony uses of language requires, to some extent, knowledge of how to ask questions, how to validate answers, and certainly, how to assess meanings.” By the way, the essay (abbreviated version), linked above, is a worthwhile read and not too long.

A few months ago, Bill Maher and his guest Rob Reiner were discussing how having grown up in the New York area, they were able to recognize much of what Trump was saying as BS. They speculated that people from other regions of the country might not be as familiar with the particular style and  brand of BS Mr. Trump spews.

So, let’s see how this all plays out. Will the president-elect build a wall along the length of the Mexican border and get Mexico to pay for it? Will tariffs on foreign goods bring good jobs back to the USA? Will he even be able to impose the tariffs he’s promised? Will he deport all those he said he would send back? Will he really push for congressional term limits? The list could go on but you get the point. Real or BS? Guess we’ll soon find out. 

That's my opinion. What's yours?

(Addendum--11/16/16)

With the benefit of observing the president-elect for a full week in his new role, here are additional observations.

Because Mr. Trump is prone to BS we should be ever more vigilant. As Postman points out, bigotry is a particularly malignant form of BS. And although when he's president much of the BS may never become reality, but too much will with a same party Congress. Words themselves have power. We are seeing each day that coarse language and hateful rhetoric have dire consequences, empowering bigots and motivating intimidation. We must not acccept this as the new normal. Stand up; speak out; remain true to the best in us, not the worst.