Jan Notzon's Blog, page 36
August 4, 2016
Insularity
Just had a friend on Facebook say that he had to "unfriend" people who didn't have their heads in the right place concerning the next election.
Interesting: while I will probably not vote in the next election for the first time since I turned 18, this attitude I find intriguing. Does it say, "if you have a differing opinion, I will not consider anything you have to say?"
There is a famous quote from Judge Learned Hand: "The best guarantor of liberty is the proposition that you may not be right." I wonder if there was ever rational, civil discourse concerning the issues. Or is that simply my painting a rosy picture of the past?
Interesting: while I will probably not vote in the next election for the first time since I turned 18, this attitude I find intriguing. Does it say, "if you have a differing opinion, I will not consider anything you have to say?"
There is a famous quote from Judge Learned Hand: "The best guarantor of liberty is the proposition that you may not be right." I wonder if there was ever rational, civil discourse concerning the issues. Or is that simply my painting a rosy picture of the past?
July 29, 2016
Just An Old Fart
There seems to be a tendency in people as they get older to predict the breakdown of society. I have a socialist (self-described communist) friend who predicted the death of American society when GW Bush was president. I have conservative friends that are making the same prediction now.
What I wonder is if that tendency in me is just a function of the fact that I am in what the Spanish call "la tercera edad" (basically, retirement age). Believe me when I say that I hope so. I hope I am just "gilding the past". And, I must admit, the past had some horrible aspects: greater racial segregation, intolerance of alternative sexual preference, strict gender roles, belief that emotional problems were a character flaw, etc., etc.
And let me say before I go on that I think the death penalty is barbaric; I've been in favor of same-sex marriage as long as I've thought about the issue; and, as far as our "War on Drugs" is concerned, I think we've been met on the field of battle and soundly defeated.
But I wonder about the future of civilization when in this country we're murdering our policemen, when in Germany a person is denied asylum and blows up a bunch of innocent people (Hmm...I don't get my way, so everyone else has to die(?)), when in Sweden since it opened up immigration the incidence of rape has gone up by a factor of 15.
It seems to me that the rule of law is a necessary (but not sufficient) basis of civilization. And to blame all policemen for the acts of one or two is no different from making gross generalization about any other group.
I do hope I'm wrong in my concern that this is the product of a society of spoiled children. (i.e. "I don't get asylum, I'll kill a bunch of innocent people." Or, "if you arrest me and I try to beat you to death, you have no right to defend yourself.")
I had a great Aunt Allie who was a real curmudgeon. When I was a young radical leftist in the '60s she said, "I think all those college protesters just follow the crowd." I thought at the time that she was just an old reactionary biddy; I considered myself truly revolutionary. Now, I wonder if she wasn't right.
What I wonder is if that tendency in me is just a function of the fact that I am in what the Spanish call "la tercera edad" (basically, retirement age). Believe me when I say that I hope so. I hope I am just "gilding the past". And, I must admit, the past had some horrible aspects: greater racial segregation, intolerance of alternative sexual preference, strict gender roles, belief that emotional problems were a character flaw, etc., etc.
And let me say before I go on that I think the death penalty is barbaric; I've been in favor of same-sex marriage as long as I've thought about the issue; and, as far as our "War on Drugs" is concerned, I think we've been met on the field of battle and soundly defeated.
But I wonder about the future of civilization when in this country we're murdering our policemen, when in Germany a person is denied asylum and blows up a bunch of innocent people (Hmm...I don't get my way, so everyone else has to die(?)), when in Sweden since it opened up immigration the incidence of rape has gone up by a factor of 15.
It seems to me that the rule of law is a necessary (but not sufficient) basis of civilization. And to blame all policemen for the acts of one or two is no different from making gross generalization about any other group.
I do hope I'm wrong in my concern that this is the product of a society of spoiled children. (i.e. "I don't get asylum, I'll kill a bunch of innocent people." Or, "if you arrest me and I try to beat you to death, you have no right to defend yourself.")
I had a great Aunt Allie who was a real curmudgeon. When I was a young radical leftist in the '60s she said, "I think all those college protesters just follow the crowd." I thought at the time that she was just an old reactionary biddy; I considered myself truly revolutionary. Now, I wonder if she wasn't right.
July 22, 2016
Traction
Well, my new novel "And Ye Shall Be As Gods" so far has not gotten a lot of traction (although those who've read it and commented have been very positive).
I wonder if the title and cover are a little (a lot?) too intimidating. Because my first, "The Dogs...Barking sparked a lot of interest, and the cover and title were a lot warmer, I think.
I'd love to hear from anyone out there on this point as marketing is not my strong point.
I wonder if the title and cover are a little (a lot?) too intimidating. Because my first, "The Dogs...Barking sparked a lot of interest, and the cover and title were a lot warmer, I think.
I'd love to hear from anyone out there on this point as marketing is not my strong point.
July 16, 2016
Pessimism
I hate to be a pessimist. I wonder if I were someone else if I would want to be my friend. I long for someone on the national/international political scene who could inspire with hope rather than fear.
And I wonder whose at fault for that glaring absence. For instance, I was chauffeuring my sister recently for treatments and she listens to am/talk radio (something I avoid like the plague) and a woman was explaining why she voted the way she did. It was all about her anger over the lack of accomplishments of those she'd voted for in the past. The moderator, at the end of her harangue, said that she had perfectly articulated the "feelings" of the public. In that same vein, I heard some interviewer ask Whopee Goldberg if she had any advice for young voters. She said, "Oh young people don't need advice from me. They know how they FEEL (my emphasis).
I wonder if it's healthy to make policy (and that is what you're doing when you vote) based on how you FEEL. Do you vote for someone new just because the people you put in power before didn't accomplish all you wanted them too?
How about, would that person make a good president, prime minister, legislator, etc? As voting members in a democracy, it seems to me that we set the tone. If people get elected by scaring you, then whose fault is that? How about not asking how people FEEL, but what they THINK. Is that not the responsible, mature thing to do?
And I wonder whose at fault for that glaring absence. For instance, I was chauffeuring my sister recently for treatments and she listens to am/talk radio (something I avoid like the plague) and a woman was explaining why she voted the way she did. It was all about her anger over the lack of accomplishments of those she'd voted for in the past. The moderator, at the end of her harangue, said that she had perfectly articulated the "feelings" of the public. In that same vein, I heard some interviewer ask Whopee Goldberg if she had any advice for young voters. She said, "Oh young people don't need advice from me. They know how they FEEL (my emphasis).
I wonder if it's healthy to make policy (and that is what you're doing when you vote) based on how you FEEL. Do you vote for someone new just because the people you put in power before didn't accomplish all you wanted them too?
How about, would that person make a good president, prime minister, legislator, etc? As voting members in a democracy, it seems to me that we set the tone. If people get elected by scaring you, then whose fault is that? How about not asking how people FEEL, but what they THINK. Is that not the responsible, mature thing to do?
July 13, 2016
Challenges
I'm finding choices between using my time to write, research (not to mention making a living) and learning the ins and outs of promotion and marketing painful. I'm really a novice at the latter and there is so much technology to learn: RSS feeds, QR codes, etc., etc. However, little by little, I'm learning. And for an old dog like me, that's heartening.
I find things on the goodreads author support group that truly astound and often confuse me. But I also find that other authors are quite patient and willing to explain these things. That is also heartening.
So, I'm having a giveaway on Amazon for my latest novel "And Ye Shall Be As Gods" and I'm hoping that promoting it here is not against the rules. Here's the link: https://development.amazon.com/giveaw...
Please do check it out. (Was I supposed to put that in the "Tags" block? Oh well, live and learn.
I find things on the goodreads author support group that truly astound and often confuse me. But I also find that other authors are quite patient and willing to explain these things. That is also heartening.
So, I'm having a giveaway on Amazon for my latest novel "And Ye Shall Be As Gods" and I'm hoping that promoting it here is not against the rules. Here's the link: https://development.amazon.com/giveaw...
Please do check it out. (Was I supposed to put that in the "Tags" block? Oh well, live and learn.
June 30, 2016
The nature of hate
I recently finished "The Rwanda Crisis".
The Rwanda Crisis: History of a GenocideApr 15, 1997 by Gérard Prunier.
It provoked a mini-discussion between my closest cousin and me. His reading of history was that the genocide in that country was sparked by a history of abuse by the Tutsi of the Hutu. M. Prunier mentions that there were abuses of each to the other, but lays the blame primarily on the Belgian colonialists for creating what amounted to a caste system. His theory (as best I can understand it) is that this created in the Tutsi a belief in their own superiority and in the Hutu a belief in their own mistreatment by the Tutsi and even the belief that the massacre was actually defensive--because, supposedly, the Hutu believed that the Tutsi would slaughter them eventually. And, in fact, there was such a massacre in neighboring Burundi. (This is a terribly simplified synopsis of M. Prunier's thesis).
But my question is this: does that kind of hate or paranoia--or whatever the catalyst-- have its origin in some wrong done to a group? For instance, the Jews never did anything to the Germans (although all kinds of horrors were imputed to them). I don't know of anything the Armenians did to the Turks or Kurds to have prompted that genocide. And I would say, if anyone had a right to hate it would be the black South Africans--and there was no retaliation on their part...astonishingly enough.
I think actually people hate because they need someone to hate, someone to blame (perhaps ultimately because they hate themselves, or just because they need someone or some group on whom to exorcise whatever disappointments or entrenched, perverse frustrations they have in life).
I don't know the answer. But I wonder.
The Rwanda Crisis: History of a GenocideApr 15, 1997 by Gérard Prunier.
It provoked a mini-discussion between my closest cousin and me. His reading of history was that the genocide in that country was sparked by a history of abuse by the Tutsi of the Hutu. M. Prunier mentions that there were abuses of each to the other, but lays the blame primarily on the Belgian colonialists for creating what amounted to a caste system. His theory (as best I can understand it) is that this created in the Tutsi a belief in their own superiority and in the Hutu a belief in their own mistreatment by the Tutsi and even the belief that the massacre was actually defensive--because, supposedly, the Hutu believed that the Tutsi would slaughter them eventually. And, in fact, there was such a massacre in neighboring Burundi. (This is a terribly simplified synopsis of M. Prunier's thesis).
But my question is this: does that kind of hate or paranoia--or whatever the catalyst-- have its origin in some wrong done to a group? For instance, the Jews never did anything to the Germans (although all kinds of horrors were imputed to them). I don't know of anything the Armenians did to the Turks or Kurds to have prompted that genocide. And I would say, if anyone had a right to hate it would be the black South Africans--and there was no retaliation on their part...astonishingly enough.
I think actually people hate because they need someone to hate, someone to blame (perhaps ultimately because they hate themselves, or just because they need someone or some group on whom to exorcise whatever disappointments or entrenched, perverse frustrations they have in life).
I don't know the answer. But I wonder.
June 19, 2016
Questions
Having read Caroline Morehead's Village of Secrets, I am left (as I was during and after playing Otto Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank) wondering how I would behave if faced with the choices these people had to make.
Of course, one always sees oneself doing the heroic thing, compassionate, caring and brave. But how would I have responded had I grown up in 1920s-'30s Germany, constantly being told that my people were so taken advantage of by the Versailles Treaty, with such horrendous economic dislocation, loss of hope, chaos, and being told at every turn that it was the fault of a particular group that conspired on a global scale--conspiracy theories being so popular.
Even today, conspiracy theories abound. Witness the Occupy Movement and the voluminous theories of "the one percent", the Wall Street Vultures. It actually seems to go back to Biblical times when the "money-lenders" were mercilessly pilloried.
I try, as best I can, to be aware of my own biases. But I know that as a child and young teenager I cannot count myself among the innocent. Then, coming-of-age in the 60s and early 70s, those prejudices turned against the "rich", those evil ones in power who hog all the blessings for themselves. That reminds me of a quote from Winston Churchill: "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings, and the inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery."
Of course, one always sees oneself doing the heroic thing, compassionate, caring and brave. But how would I have responded had I grown up in 1920s-'30s Germany, constantly being told that my people were so taken advantage of by the Versailles Treaty, with such horrendous economic dislocation, loss of hope, chaos, and being told at every turn that it was the fault of a particular group that conspired on a global scale--conspiracy theories being so popular.
Even today, conspiracy theories abound. Witness the Occupy Movement and the voluminous theories of "the one percent", the Wall Street Vultures. It actually seems to go back to Biblical times when the "money-lenders" were mercilessly pilloried.
I try, as best I can, to be aware of my own biases. But I know that as a child and young teenager I cannot count myself among the innocent. Then, coming-of-age in the 60s and early 70s, those prejudices turned against the "rich", those evil ones in power who hog all the blessings for themselves. That reminds me of a quote from Winston Churchill: "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings, and the inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery."
June 2, 2016
Apology
Well, I must apologize to those of you kind enough to read my missives for "venting" in my last one.
I'm presently reading "Village of Secrets" by Caroline Moorehead, and it's curious, but I tend to see myself in one of the figures of the story. Not that I've ever done anything heroic, but in Magda Trocmé, the pastor's wife and teacher in le Chambón, I see an uncomfortable side of myself. She is given to very changeable moods, and I must admit that fault in myself. Hence, my last entry.
Controlling those moods has been a lifelong struggle. The old advice about counting to ten before reacting is something I must learn to master.
Sometimes before I sit down to write, if it's going to be a challenging part of the story, a cloud will seem to form; until I actually sit down and do it. If it comes, it comes with a feeling of exhilaration. It reminds me of something I heard Sir Lawrence Olivier (or Lawrence Lord Olivier) say about hating acting. Yes when you think about it, because you want to do it perfectly. When you actually are in the midst of it, however... Once, after a performance he stormed to his dressing room in a fit. His dresser, I suppose it was, knocked on his door and said, "Sir Lawrence, are you aware you gave the perfect performance tonight?" His answer was "Yes, damn it, and I don't know how!"
I'm presently reading "Village of Secrets" by Caroline Moorehead, and it's curious, but I tend to see myself in one of the figures of the story. Not that I've ever done anything heroic, but in Magda Trocmé, the pastor's wife and teacher in le Chambón, I see an uncomfortable side of myself. She is given to very changeable moods, and I must admit that fault in myself. Hence, my last entry.
Controlling those moods has been a lifelong struggle. The old advice about counting to ten before reacting is something I must learn to master.
Sometimes before I sit down to write, if it's going to be a challenging part of the story, a cloud will seem to form; until I actually sit down and do it. If it comes, it comes with a feeling of exhilaration. It reminds me of something I heard Sir Lawrence Olivier (or Lawrence Lord Olivier) say about hating acting. Yes when you think about it, because you want to do it perfectly. When you actually are in the midst of it, however... Once, after a performance he stormed to his dressing room in a fit. His dresser, I suppose it was, knocked on his door and said, "Sir Lawrence, are you aware you gave the perfect performance tonight?" His answer was "Yes, damn it, and I don't know how!"
May 27, 2016
Loss
I'm dismayed by the suffering there is in this life. I know, we must always look on the bright side. And, for those who believe, there is deliverance from this vale of tears. Of course, even for those who don't believe, death is a deliverance--the end of all suffering: (heck of a way to do it!)
I apologize to anyone reading this if it is a downer; I've recently experienced a loss.
I suppose the reason I write (at least, the only legitimate one) is that it gives me the opportunity to explore all the questions and paradoxes and contradictions of this curious thing called life that we share. That's really what provoked my most recent novel, "And Ye Shall Be As Gods".
Soren Kierkegaard says that evil posits itself. It sounds rather facile to me, but I can't think of anything better.
What makes people hate enough to commit atrocities? Could I, in certain circumstances be capable of such barbarity? Can any of us? What can the rest of us do to avoid its occurrence?
I wonder.
I apologize to anyone reading this if it is a downer; I've recently experienced a loss.
I suppose the reason I write (at least, the only legitimate one) is that it gives me the opportunity to explore all the questions and paradoxes and contradictions of this curious thing called life that we share. That's really what provoked my most recent novel, "And Ye Shall Be As Gods".
Soren Kierkegaard says that evil posits itself. It sounds rather facile to me, but I can't think of anything better.
What makes people hate enough to commit atrocities? Could I, in certain circumstances be capable of such barbarity? Can any of us? What can the rest of us do to avoid its occurrence?
I wonder.
May 9, 2016
Wuthering Heights
I am struck by the difference in my reaction to Heathcliff compared to when I read it as a teenager.
As a matter of fact, I find it quite astonishing that I was so sympathetic to him then. And I wonder exactly what accounts for the difference.
Perhaps as the youngest of five children who were not at all nice to each other growing up, I identified with the torment that Hindley Earnshaw put him through. Although, again, I cannot see it now as any kind of justification for his behavior as an adult. As a matter of fact, it now strikes me as inexcusable/pathological.
I'm pretty sure that as a dour, emotionally overcharged adolescent (and hopeless romantic) I loved the story for its overarching passion.
I hope it's a sign of maturity, but now I find his and Catherine's attachment to each other pathological as well. Can that kind of desperate need be called love? Even if it leads to the other's destruction?
I think not.
As a matter of fact, I find it quite astonishing that I was so sympathetic to him then. And I wonder exactly what accounts for the difference.
Perhaps as the youngest of five children who were not at all nice to each other growing up, I identified with the torment that Hindley Earnshaw put him through. Although, again, I cannot see it now as any kind of justification for his behavior as an adult. As a matter of fact, it now strikes me as inexcusable/pathological.
I'm pretty sure that as a dour, emotionally overcharged adolescent (and hopeless romantic) I loved the story for its overarching passion.
I hope it's a sign of maturity, but now I find his and Catherine's attachment to each other pathological as well. Can that kind of desperate need be called love? Even if it leads to the other's destruction?
I think not.
