I think a majority of humans today, both the rich and educated and they who are left on the platform prefere to move backwards into the future. I am surprised that they seem to do it of free will.
I assume you have to know that Leonard Cohen was not an American. He was as Canadian as they come, even though he died in Los Angeles (the day before Trump’s first election). it doesn’t much bother me since, as an American, we are quite used to and comfortable with appropriating what is not ours. I merely note this on the assumption that at least some of your Canadian readers might like to maintain the distinction.
To think otherwise is to foster the delusion that the US is #1 in the world in everything.
That is a dangerous delusion. It's at the heart of the Dunning-Kruger effect. It's what makes political lies — like the 2020 US election "was stolen" — not only forgivable, but actually accepted as "alternative truth".
It's a short step from there to "these people are our enemies". When I was in high school, Italian immigrants were derided and attacked. They plastered our new house, and my Dad grudgingly said, "They did a good job — for Italians."
If you let them get away with one lie, they'll go on to the next, and the next, and the next.
"In Germany they first came for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one was left to speak out for me." — Martin Niemöller, 1892-1984
Ugo is right--it doesn't matter. Furthermore, I don't see how you came away from this post and this comment with the idea that there is any claim to the US being Number 1. All I see is someone expressing gratitude for what one part of his life offered him. Perhaps it would do you some good to reflect on the same.
Apart from the fact that Canada is part of the American continent, I never said that Cohen was "American" (intended as a US citizen). Anyone on this planet is entitled to have an opinion about America (intended as the US) and to sing a song about it.
As an atheist, I take your post metaphorically. If anyone provides evidence for anything not physical -energy-matter-information- or dependent upon it, a Nobel Prize awaits!
As to the free will comment by Harris, I'm with Robert Sapolsky, Gegg Caruso, Galen Strawson, and others. It is an illusion which we consciously believe. We make decisions/choices constantly, however the drivers are embodied and physical. Heredity (genes, epigenetic effects, microbiome, viruses, prions, and...?) are impacted by cumulative experiences since conception. When we interact with the present (also physical), the outcomes are determined by the combination.
The situation is different now. Trump is nowdays under influence of the "New Tech Right" (Elon Musk faction), it was not the case in 2016. Peter Thiel tried, but back then his influence was much smaller than the one Musk currently enjoys.
Brilliant start for a young man. Best regards to you and your wife.
Things move swiftly these days. I need to read your latest book!
I'm forgetting the battle/moment/date you flagged up in previous discussions for the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the one I think you ascribed as 'the end'. If I remember it was a century or two before St Augustine disappeared in the sacking of Hippo?
I have read some Toynbee and Glubb ('Pasha') as well as Greer's take on Empires, but fossil fuel lends a perhaps exponential sequence to modern affairs.
Given the 4 year American cycle would you hazard a guess when that equivalent date will appear in the rear-view mirror? A friend has just published a little book that nobody will hear of based on Glubb's interesting '200 years' for similar Empires, to predict a surpisingly precise astrological date not for next January's crowning moment, but the one after that.
To borrow from that very odd British version: 'God Save America'.
I think a majority of humans today, both the rich and educated and they who are left on the platform prefere to move backwards into the future. I am surprised that they seem to do it of free will.
I assume you have to know that Leonard Cohen was not an American. He was as Canadian as they come, even though he died in Los Angeles (the day before Trump’s first election). it doesn’t much bother me since, as an American, we are quite used to and comfortable with appropriating what is not ours. I merely note this on the assumption that at least some of your Canadian readers might like to maintain the distinction.
I know. Does it matter?
I can't believe you're asking this!
Of course "It matters!"
To think otherwise is to foster the delusion that the US is #1 in the world in everything.
That is a dangerous delusion. It's at the heart of the Dunning-Kruger effect. It's what makes political lies — like the 2020 US election "was stolen" — not only forgivable, but actually accepted as "alternative truth".
It's a short step from there to "these people are our enemies". When I was in high school, Italian immigrants were derided and attacked. They plastered our new house, and my Dad grudgingly said, "They did a good job — for Italians."
If you let them get away with one lie, they'll go on to the next, and the next, and the next.
"In Germany they first came for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one was left to speak out for me." — Martin Niemöller, 1892-1984
Ugo is right--it doesn't matter. Furthermore, I don't see how you came away from this post and this comment with the idea that there is any claim to the US being Number 1. All I see is someone expressing gratitude for what one part of his life offered him. Perhaps it would do you some good to reflect on the same.
Andrea Bocelli has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. Is it okay with you if I call him an American?
Apart from the fact that Canada is part of the American continent, I never said that Cohen was "American" (intended as a US citizen). Anyone on this planet is entitled to have an opinion about America (intended as the US) and to sing a song about it.
As an atheist, I take your post metaphorically. If anyone provides evidence for anything not physical -energy-matter-information- or dependent upon it, a Nobel Prize awaits!
As to the free will comment by Harris, I'm with Robert Sapolsky, Gegg Caruso, Galen Strawson, and others. It is an illusion which we consciously believe. We make decisions/choices constantly, however the drivers are embodied and physical. Heredity (genes, epigenetic effects, microbiome, viruses, prions, and...?) are impacted by cumulative experiences since conception. When we interact with the present (also physical), the outcomes are determined by the combination.
America now risks becoming a Christian theocracy. In my view that is far better than an Islamic one, but it is still a reversion to earlier millennia. Reg Morrison saw this coming in his 2000 book _The Spirit in the Gene_, foreword by Lynn Margulis (microbiologist and co-developer of gaia theory). My review is here: https://innovation.cc/document/2000-05-2-9-the-spirit-in-the-gene-humanitys-proud-illusion-and-the-laws-of-nature-by-reg-morrison/
You should be saying "God help America" now that it's turn to fascism seems to be nearing completion.
Blessing and saving are not such a different thing,
Nice post, Ugo. Written from the deep soul.
The situation is different now. Trump is nowdays under influence of the "New Tech Right" (Elon Musk faction), it was not the case in 2016. Peter Thiel tried, but back then his influence was much smaller than the one Musk currently enjoys.
With some hope for the "Soul of Richard Nixon", who purportedly tutored Trump on the presidency:
"Monster", Steppenwolf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnNtpPqE0w0
Brilliant start for a young man. Best regards to you and your wife.
Things move swiftly these days. I need to read your latest book!
I'm forgetting the battle/moment/date you flagged up in previous discussions for the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the one I think you ascribed as 'the end'. If I remember it was a century or two before St Augustine disappeared in the sacking of Hippo?
I have read some Toynbee and Glubb ('Pasha') as well as Greer's take on Empires, but fossil fuel lends a perhaps exponential sequence to modern affairs.
Given the 4 year American cycle would you hazard a guess when that equivalent date will appear in the rear-view mirror? A friend has just published a little book that nobody will hear of based on Glubb's interesting '200 years' for similar Empires, to predict a surpisingly precise astrological date not for next January's crowning moment, but the one after that.
To borrow from that very odd British version: 'God Save America'.
For many years, I felt 100% American. It took me some time to re-adapt to Italy.