Freedom of thought is absolute

 

        "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing," the bard wrote in Subterranean Homesick Blues when some of us were stretching our minds and pushing boundaries of custom and law while getting an education on campus.

        Nothing was off-limits. War, peace, love, hate, race, speech, art, sex all spilled into classrooms and campuses, the media and even the church. The discussion was fully engaged and frequently rancorous.

        People expressed their views, protested and even went to jail for equal rights, and free speech. 

        I wonder if Bob Dylan of the early 60's would be allowed to sing or think aloud his thoughts on campuses today.   

 

        Would Deans, Provosts or college Presidents  permit a professor to teach of a few words spoken about civil disobedience;

        "There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart that you can't take part! You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus---and you've got to stop it! And you're got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it---that unless you're free the machine will be prevented from working at all!"

       Mario Savio said that to 4000 people on the UC Berkeley campus, sparked a sit in and the arrest of 800 students. It was the high atmospheric turbulence of the Free Speech Movement in 1964. 

        Other winds blow today. Free speech, even humor, is "canceled." Freedom of expression and to incite thought  is increasingly stifled, it might upset or disturb. 

It is a weird mirror opposite of the way it was. Now professors and teachers are fired because those young minds they seek to teach take offense. Today the student has become the heavy. 

        

    

        In decoding the intellectual tyranny haunting academia and popular culture we  are forced to face, to quote David Byrne, it is " the same as it ever was." There is a circular nature to this that is troubling. 

        Savio was among a group of students who had been busy in the south trying to register black voters, facing all the hate and violence that came with that effort back then. 

        When they returned to their northern campuses, including Savio's Berkeley, efforts to raise money for the voters registration and civil right organizations had been banned. The fuse was lit.

        Despite all that ensued in the intervening half century,  schools buckle to pressure from right and left and every garden variety special interests that is either loud or financially empowering to assert a censorship on speech and thought. It is a wave that teachers, adjunct professors, contract lecturers especially and those who are on the tenure track find difficult navigate.

            Tom Nichols nails it.  He's a respected security and weapons analyst who spent 35 years as a professor. He recently used an Atlantic column to dissect the dismissal of an adjunct professor who, with warning, showed students in a global art history class an image from the 14th century of the Prophet Muhammad. She offered any student who did not want to view it an an opportunity to leave class.

           In the resulting furor the school's president, Faynese Miller, questioned that academic freedom was at issue and questioned if academic freedom was sacrosanct or should be put above students own views and traditions.

        Nichols responded:

This makes no sense. The “rights” of students were not jeopardized, and no curriculum owes a “debt” to any student’s “traditions, beliefs, and views.” (Indeed, if you don’t want your traditions, beliefs, or views challenged, then don’t come to a university, at least not to study anything in the humanities or the social sciences.) Miller’s view, it seems, is that academic freedom really only means as much freedom as your most sensitive students can stand, an irresponsible position that puts the university, the classroom, and the careers of scholars in the hands of students who are inexperienced in the subject matter, new to academic life, and, often, still in the throes of adolescence. This, as I have written elsewhere, is contrary to the very notion of teaching itself. (It is also not anything close to the bedrock 1940 statement on the matter from the American Association of University Professors.) The goal of the university is to create educated and reasoning adults, not to shelter children against the pain of learning that the world is a complicated place. Classes are not a restaurant meal that must be served to students’ specifications; they are not a stand-up act that must make students laugh but never offend them. Miller is leaving the door open for future curricular challenges.

        Yes, we know the way the wind is blowing. Poet Dylan was particularly precocious with another line from Subterranean Homesick Blues.....

        "The pump don't work cause vandals stole the handles..."

         Free thought and speech are the pump handles of intellectual

progress. That chill that blows comes in on winds of repression and it bears a thief who seeks to steal your right to exercise and speak your mind.

           See you down the trail. 

        

WET AND PRISTINE

  Architecture and nature make enjoying the scenery and photography a natural response in the northwestern Scottish Highlands.  

  Sir John Square in Thurso, a gift from Sir Tollemache Sinclair in 1879.  The church is St. Peter's and St. Andrews. The first sermon was preached there in 1833.

  The idea of the moors thrilled me as a young reader or mystery fan. 

   They are places of natural beauty and power.

   Ullapool rests on the shores of Loch Broom that feeds from the Atlantic. 

   An inviting spot is the Seaforth.

  A gathering spot for locals and those of us just passing through. We enjoyed the Cullen Skink, a traditional soup made with smoked haddock and potatoes. There is plenty of fresh sea food and drink to wash it down. 

    Mussels, Salmon, Fish and Chips, lobster, crab, as well as haggis, steak pie, burgers, mushy peas, highland cheese and wee nibbles. 

  It is the time of year when the heather blooms and turns the  highlands into a quilt of color and texture.

  Ocean views, rivers, lochs, water falls and streams course the highlands. 

   The Highlands are an unspoiled expanse and wilderness. The abundance of fresh and sea water make it an ideal place for those who love the sea or to fish and hunt.

  The remote Altnaharra Hotel began as a 17th century drovers inn, a place for those who moved sheep. 200 years later it became a hunting and fishing lodge. In the 20th century it became a place where sportsman, travelers and foodies can find culinary hospitality in the highlands. 

 Sheep are still in the neighborhood as well.

  A few more miles along the misty shores and foggy glens and we prepare to go over the sea to Skye.

    See you down the trail.

WHAT DO YOU SAY?

it's complicated

   The rigging on the tall masts anchored in Morro Bay symbolically captures the mood of complexity in the US these days-lots of angles.

     And so does a scene from Hamlet, especially the lines

      "Let me see. (takes the skull) Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times, and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! 

      An explanation in a moment but there is a fascinating detail about the image above. The actor is David Tennant from the 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company Production and the skull is no mere stage prop, it is the skull of Pianist Andre Tchaikowsky. Tchaikowsky's skull was used by Tennant at the Courtyard theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. When the production moved to London's West End, the skull was replaced by a prop as the company thought news of Tchaikowsky's skull distracted the audience.

   The painting above by Philip Calderon is from 1868 and depicts the young Lord Hamlet riding his beloved jester Yorick one of those thousand times. 

    Now here's the link. Charlie Rose, Matt Lauer, and Kevin Spacey- "...and now, how abhorred in my imagination..."

Hamlet and Horatio in the Graveyard
by Eugene Ferdinand Victor Delacroix

      I suspect our revulsion at the revelations about these media stars abusing women and misusing their influence is because we had admired their talent. That is for Rose and Spacey, in my opinion.

what do you say to your kids, matt lauer?

     It was reported the first thing Lauer did after being fired was drive to the private school to tell his teen son. How do you explain your perverted behavior to your offspring? What could he have said to offset the news of his disgusting behavior?

     I'd like to hear Lauer square his treatment of women colleagues with the fact he has a daughter. Someone should ask him what he would think or do if someone did to his daughter what he did to someone else's daughter?

     I was never a fan of Lauer. I was surprised he got the job after Bryant Gumble departed the Today Show. On his best day he was only a middling talent. There are many more effective communicators, hosts and news anchors working on local television stations. Even in the NBC stable there were more talented people.

     what do you say to all your high falutin' friends charlie rose?

    What a painful series of calls, visits and conversations for Charlie Rose. As a journalist and interviewer he had the respect of the worlds best, brightest, most powerful, creative, beautiful and important. People seemed in awe of finally being a guest on his long running interview program. It must be a huge fall. I watched Rose for as long as he did his PBS program and over the years learned and gained insights. Rose's behavior surprises and disappoints as much any on the list of fallen.

     It seems no matter the level of their wealth, a wealth that can allow them all to live more comfortably than a majority of people, they cannot escape the ignominy their vile behavior earned them. 

    It proves again, you can't always trust what you see-especially in a celebrity conscious media.

    revolution?

     Revolution is costly. I hope we are in the early days of a new era in interpersonal relationships in the work place. Perhaps a greater awareness of past abuses will guide us to more appropriate behavior and fairness, but I also hope that it will extend to race, ethnicity, gender identification and age as well as sexual behavior. Equal=Equal, period!

the pence coup?

     Atlantic's new opus on vice-president Pence contains revelations he and other republicans discussed a coup to depose trump after the Access Hollywood tapes were released. The piece documents the Pence "nod and wink" approach to supporting trump, as though saying-don't worry, I've got this covered.  I wonder how long before trump starts blasting his loyal servant?

      Like all those ropes and lines. Angles. Power. It's complicated.

     See you down the trail.

DANGEROUS CURRENTS

Gloaming at the shore

Cambria CA

twilight of reason

     Holding the current escalation in mind, remember these words from one year ago. 

        "We are convinced that in the Oval Office, he would be the most reckless President in American history." 

        Last August some 50 Republican national security, foreign policy, intelligence and diplomatic experts who worked for Republican Presidents from Nixon to George W. Bush issued a position paper stating why they would not vote for the Republican nominee Trump.

         Here are some of their thoughts.

         "From a foreign policy perspective, Donald Trump is not qualified to be President and Commander-in-Chief. Indeed, we are convinced that he would be a dangerous President and would put at risk our country’s national security and well-being.

        "Most fundamentally, Mr. Trump lacks the character, values, and experience to be President."

            "Mr. Trump lacks the temperament to be President."

            "He lacks self-control and acts impetuously."

           "All of these are dangerous qualities in an individual who aspires to be President and Commander- in-Chief, with command of the U.S. nuclear arsenal."

       These men were "the real deal." They are experienced in the real world. They are deep and thoughtful. Republicans too. Astounding that members of the House, Senate did not or have not paid them a bit of attention.

        You can read the entire statement and see credential of the signatories here. I urge you to do so, especially if you were/are a trump supporter.

a gathering fog

    In this dry, tinder like season we love to see the marine fog bank beginning to line up.

     The heavy bank whispers in and shrouds the central coast over night, providing a welcomed dampening cool.

        

        Political foggery is less welcome.

the pence aperient

      I first met Mike Pence when he was a small town radio talk jock and failed congressional candidate. Someplace in his evolution from Irish Democrat to right wing evangelical he decided he wanted to be President. Mike is running now, despite what he says publicly. Just as he seems programed to be piously smug, he is programmed to run.

      He and his people have been making the rounds of heavy contributors and GOP apparatchiks. Before he was sacked Anthony Scaramucci let it slip that's what was up, especially with recent staff changes. 

      Pence is a curious fixture on the scene. After a tour as a member of congress he went back to Indiana to run for governor to bolster his presidential ambitions. He followed the skilled Mitch Daniels and should have just followed in the wake, instead he mucked it up so badly his own party was considering dumping him in the re-election campaign, but that's when the sig rune Schutstaffel lighting bolt named trump struck.

      A bit of advice Mike, stay as far away from Trump and Trumpista thought as you can. If you want to prove your testicles are still in place cut out the "fake news"  and "America first" garbage.  And by all means quit fawning over and paying homage to a serial adulterer, sexual predator, habitual liar, narcissistic, real estate hustler. 

      Even as far out of the mainstream that some of your ideas are, your temperament at least would be a change for the better. Watch yourself, you just may get your dream.

google goobering

    I read James Damore's Google's Ideological Echo Chamber-that's the memo that got him fired.You can read it for yourself, here. It's the latest wrinkle in a trouble of our time.

    Close to the core of the matter is the issue of freedom of speech and thought. We are having trouble with that now.

     In the Atlantic cover story and his new book How America Went Haywire, Kurt Anderson lays much of the blame on the free speech and free thought movement of the 1960's. To simplify Anderson's interesting thoughts, the trump movement and other far right elements, have appropriated the 1960's arguments, tactics and "approval" of things alternative-"you do your thing, I'll do mine," "everything's cool." 

     As Anderson and others including this blogger have noted,  Daniel Patrick Moynihan said it well

     "You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts."  He said that a long time ago and fearfully we live at a time when people claim their own facts.

       I'm not convinced the root of that was the unhinging of things in the 1960's, but it no doubt contributed and the echoes continue to resound. "Fake News" is only a symptom. Ditto Damore's Google memo.

      Damore professes to be open, believing in diversity, and agrees that sexism exists. He tries to ride through the eye of a needle and question what he sees as cultural and intellectual deficits at Google. He perceived a bias. For that he is accused of sexism, and he gets fired. 

      After reading Damore's memo several times I think he was trying to generate discussion in a knee jerk hyper sensitive culture that permits such alleged "indiscretions" where words are ruled to make people "uncomfortable" or "feel assaulted." It is the age of "micro aggressions!"

      Damore, or anyone who tries to raise these topics such as bias, discrimination, revisionism or any of the isms or to seek an examination of values is likely to get his or her head handed to them. I come away thinking he was indeed trying to provoke thought and discussion in a corporate culture.

      But at the same time he asserted ideas and "facts" about sexual and gender differences that in my opinion were too broad, overly arching and beyond his expertise. Had I been his editor, I would have challenged him. But we just don't have many editors anymore, anywhere. That is especially true in trying to divine the line between what we think or believe and what is reality. I understand how some of Damore's "certainty" about women was offensive or could be construed to be that way. 

      I grew up in a newsroom-profane and profound-loud and argumentative, collaborative and demanding,verification and confirmation were foundational. Nothing was sacred, nothing was off limits and even as "tough" as that culture was it allowed for true intellectual wrestling and it revered facts. "Truth" was an ideal and the only way to approximate it was to allow everyone to say their piece, take their shots, do their research, state the facts and if something was still left standing, then maybe someone would say, let's go with that. 

       It might be time to leave feelings (and guns) at the door and make sure we don't call opinion, theory, or belief a fact or a reality and then we could re engage this nation in conversation and debate. Of course having an open mind would be helpful.  Know where you can find any?

      See you down the trail