While I often think that news media pay too much attention to fluffy and inconsequential pop culture stories, I had to stop for this one.
I knew immediately why The Guardian had posted this. It is about the origin story of Pop-Tarts. Pop-Tarts.
I haven’t eaten Pop-Tarts for years, though I’m occasionally tempted. But there was a long-ago time when breakfast most days was a Pop-Tart and Carnation Instant Breakfast (rebranded in 2022 as Breakfast Essentials). I didn’t read labels then and didn’t care. It was too delicious to care. This was before I drank coffee, so the morning sugar rush no doubt fueled my success at school.
See a timeline of the history of Pop-Tarts here. (Fun fact: Pop-Tarts was first available only in Cleveland. Cleveland Rocks!)
There has been an abundant supply of information, analysis, belief and emotion surrounding the current Israeli war in Gaza. I have increasingly kept the analysis, belief and emotion to myself, or at least in a very small circle. In Yiddish terms, who needs the tzuris (trouble, aggravation)?
As for information, I have continued to seek trustworthy work from scholars and historians who have studied the issues. Some of this work is not always in the mainstream of discussion. Here are a few books I have found:
“Just and Unjust Wars has forever changed how we think about the ethics of conflict. In this modern classic, political philosopher Michael Walzer examines the moral issues that arise before, during, and after the wars we fight. Reaching from the Athenian attack on Melos, to the Mai Lai massacre, to the war in Afghanistan and beyond, Walzer mines historical and contemporary accounts and the testimony of participants, decision makers, and victims to explain when war is justified and what ethical limitations apply to those who wage it.”
“A revelatory look at why we dehumanize each other, with stunning examples from world history as well as today’s headlines.
“Brute.” “Cockroach.” “Lice.” “Vermin.” “Dog.” “Beast.” These and other monikers are constantly in use to refer to other humans—for political, religious, ethnic, or sexist reasons. Human beings have a tendency to regard members of their own kind as less than human. This tendency has made atrocities like the Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda, and the slave trade possible, and yet we still find it in phenomena such as xenophobia, homophobia, military propaganda, and racism. Less Than Human draws on a rich mix of history, psychology, biology, anthropology and philosophy to document the pervasiveness of dehumanization, describe its forms, and explain why we so often resort to it.
David Livingstone Smith posits that this behavior is rooted in human nature, but gives us hope in also stating that biological traits are malleable, showing us that change is possible. Less Than Human is a chilling indictment of our nature, and is as timely as it is relevant.”
“A new history of the American Jewish relationship with Israel focused on its most urgent and sensitive issue: the question of Palestinian rights.
American Jews began debating Palestinian rights issues even before Israel’s founding in 1948. Geoffrey Levin recovers the voices of American Jews who, in the early decades of Israel’s existence, called for an honest reckoning with the moral and political plight of Palestinians. These now‑forgotten voices, which include an aid‑worker‑turned‑academic with Palestinian Sephardic roots, a former Yiddish journalist, anti‑Zionist Reform rabbis, and young left‑wing Zionist activists, felt drawn to support Palestinian rights by their understanding of Jewish history, identity, and ethics. They sometimes worked with mainstream American Jewish leaders who feared that ignoring Palestinian rights could foster antisemitism, leading them to press Israeli officials for reform. But Israeli diplomats viewed any American Jewish interest in Palestinian affairs with deep suspicion, provoking a series of quiet confrontations that ultimately kept Palestinian rights off the American Jewish agenda up to the present era.”
The panic about the negative impact of social media goes on. For example, there is a renewed effort to ban it for young people, including one suggestion to bar anyone under 18.
There are many ways these efforts are misguided. Most of all, because they are unworkable and ineffective.
If there is any way to curtail a possibly dangerous social behavior, banning it is the worst. There is a better possibility, though that is also hit and miss. Offer an alternative that fulfills the same need, that satisfies equally, or at least comes close.
Easier said than done. In the case of social media, the first step is determining what needs are being filled. Then find an equivalent alternative.
Going wayback, see the movie West Side Story. The earnest social workers arrange an old-fashioned dance for the disaffected teenagers. It is orderly for a few minutes, but quickly evolves into conflict. Why? Because the need of these young people to dominate the territory and to keep the tribes separate is too great to be moderated by that solution. Even if the outcome is death and misery, the dance at the gym was never going to be an effective alternative.
Analysts, legislators and social engineers should quit the pointless calls for bans and come up with attractive alternatives, which may not even be available. But worth their being more thoughtful and creative.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. — Isaiah 2:3–4
Sophie Scholl, “the most important woman of the 20th century”
My blog posts from 2017 reflect real concern about the possibility of tyranny in America. I and others who shared this concern were not prophets. All it took was a knowledge of history and some insight into politics and human nature.
A signature post in this vein was about Sophie Scholl. She was a founder of the White Rose movement, a tiny group of German students who distributed leaflets opposing the Nazi regime. In 1943 she and two others were arrested, tried and immediately executed for treason. At the trial she simply said, “Somebody, after all, had to make a start.”
In modern times, the readers of Brigitte, the largest women’s magazine in Germany, voted Sophie Scholl the most important woman of the 20th century.
It is reported that many Americans seem gloomy about a supposedly great economy.
The second Noble Truth of Buddhism is that suffering arises due to craving.
It’s that simple.
As for “supposedly great”, while aggregate top-line numbers for all Americans do look positive, there are details showing that everyday things like housing, food and gas are still shaky. Lots of people don’t feel the greatness.
Above and under all that, people compare what they have to what they want and expect to what they don’t have. Weighed and found wanting. Which is natural. But it is, according to Buddhism, and to other traditions (e.g., lilies of the field), a source of suffering.
So whoever you’re listening to—social media influencers and visionaries, Republicans who tell you that you’ve never had it worse or Democrats who tell you that you’ve never had it so good—stop listening for a moment. Then go back to having more or wanting more. We’re only human.
Here’s the most amazing thing: It never mentions Trump at all. But somehow, readers figured out in 2017 and beyond that it was about him.
It’s hard to know which is more unsettling. That a man who is clearly suffering from a psychological illness may yet become president (again). Or that the Republican Party, which must be aware of this, is willing to overlook it.
There are two unlikely but not impossible ways Republicans may yet deny Trump the nomination.
He is convicted of a crime before the convention or the election. That is unlikely to matter, because even if there is a conviction, it will be under appeal and characterized as part of the persecution and witch hunt.
He spins further out of psychological health, so that even irresponsible Republicans worry that voters may notice that the person running for president is—to use the disfavored colloquial word—crazy.
It appears that Nikki Haley is not backing down. She actually appears to be doubling down.
What will Trump say about her next in a rambling speech? What new off-the-wall attacks will he make? What absurd lies about her will he concoct?
Buckle up. It’s going to be the craziest ride in American political history.
The last couple of mornings the clouds have been playing with the mountains. Hanging out, hanging down.
This morning I was not sure I was seeing what I saw. A stream of clouds was hanging way down. For some houses, at roof level or below. As those in the houses could see. As I could see. As you can see.
Bob Schwartz 