cynicandsaint-blog

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Liber

The same beginnings embarked by all With silent conversations found by few. To touch eternity, my heart’s now yearning, Thanks to you, my dear Johannes. Those great souls that death has silenced Live on through leaves, ever immortal. I listen with my eyes those who have long passed, As I live in communion with the deceased. Generations past and present, long in the making Whilst standing on…

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Softer: Masculinity and Emotional Displays

Softer: Masculinity and Emotional Displays

In the song Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters describes a time where he was physically unable to perform at one of his concerts. Millions of dollars rode on him performing. So the band’s managers paid a doctor to forcefully inject Waters with a short-term remedy, enabling him to perform. He shares his feelings on this crisis with the words, “This is not how I am/I have become…

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Meditations on Authenticity

During the 1960s, the term “authenticity” became a buzzword. Authenticity was generally defined in opposition to “artificial”. Emerging baby boomers, often college attendees, united across America in the quest to remain honest to themselves, while rejecting that which they determined fraudulent. According to Sixties historian, Howard Brick, authenticity required “discovering, voicing, and exercising a genuine whole personality,” and this personality must be “freed from the grip of mortifying convention.” The quest for authenticity required the seeker to reflect and be genuine, while refusing to be complicit with routines that inhibited honesty. The most reaching voices of this revolution into the Real came from musicians. Elvis Presley maintained integrity through rejecting conventional standards of “white music.” Instead, he revolutionized mainstream music by sincerely expressing himself. Similarly, The Velvet Underground, led by Lou Reed, allied with avant-gardist--Andy Warhol to launch music, culture, and art into an area it had never been. This push came from an innate yearning to remain true to their artistic vision, complex sexuality, and obsession with forging a counter culture. Perhaps the most respected artist that evangelized authenticity during the 1960s was, Nobel Laureate, Bob Dylan. His protest anthems are still considered music canon that effortlessly describes the tumultuous era, but his authenticity was not tied to his fame. Instead, his artistic legitimacy materialized from his desire to reinvent himself as his genius dictated. He refused to be confined to a single genre on the basis of that is how he gained his reputation. Instead, he “went electric” at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, thus alienating himself from his traditional fan base. He demonstrated to the world that his authenticity meant more to him than external esteem and acceptance. Considering how committed these, and other, musicians were to remaining authentic, it is ludicrous to think of the bands paying “tribute” to them by duplicating their sound. Factory, the tribute band for The Velvet Underground, believes that the groundbreaking avant-garde can be rediscovered through a facsimile. Highway 61 Revisited honors Bob Dylan by reproducing his singularly intimate lyrics with vacuously intoned words. Elvis impersonators can be found by the thousands, mixing with gamblers and drunks in the most artificial city in the world--Las Vegas. Tribute bands have become so routine that a television program is dedicated to presenting artificial performers playing authentic artists’ music. The World’s Greatest Tribute Bands just finished its eighth season! This begs the question: Who cares if someone wants to see some awful tribute band and have a good time? The answer is that it probably doesn’t in this limited instance. Still, a more important question must be asked: Why are multitudes foregoing the daunting quest for authenticity on important matters simply because the artificial is so easily secured? The authentic is so scarce in contemporary America that it has become a pastime to engage in criticism of various artificial components of modern culture. We could join Kendrick Lamar in attacking Photoshop by asking for “somethin’ natural like ass with some stretch marks” or the creators of a well-known YouTube clip that demonstrate the artificial creation of a beautiful woman from a slice of pepperoni pizza. We could join both sides of the political aisle by ostensibly attacking pharmaceutical companies for creating an artificial dependency on medication. We could join CNN, The Guardian, and virtually every major news outlet in attacking doctors that overprescribe medication. We could join Morgan Spurlock, and countless others, that have attacked the artificial fare produced by fast food companies. We could reject, with every intellectual in the world, the hit reality show-Keeping Up with the Kardashians on grounds of lacking reality. Criticizing all of these manifestations of artificiality is futile because, if removed, a new synthetic commodity would replace its predecessor. Photoshop, unnecessary medicine, unhealthy food, and reality television are merely the fruit of the artificial tree. The fruit is easy to spot, but it is the root that must be removed for widescale eradication of the inauthentic. The root is less discernable than the fruit, and in this case, it is something we wish to be withheld from universal view. The root is us, or more specifically, our uncontrolled desire. We demand beauty at a level that is authentically unobtainable. We find comfort in the artificial hope of a cure through swallowing a pill instead of the authenticity of a daily practice of healthy eating, exercise, and mindfulness. We work late and overbook our days, resulting in insufficient time to fix nourishing meals. We present McDonald’s as the only option for sustenance on these hectic days. We turn the television to a program that has no value because judging ourselves as superior to moral degenerates serves as an adult pacifier. Plus, why add authentic experiences through reading and conversing with family and friends when you can bombard your brain with advertisements and storylines of the artificial? It is time for the pursuit of authenticity to take a place of primacy in our minds, as it was in the 1960s. One measure is as simple as talking with people we spontaneously encounter on the bus or walking through the grocery store, not just to exchange information, but to gain awareness and understanding of our communities. We move out of the confines of our minds as we seek to engage neighbors and community members that live around us.. We must listen and comprehend the music we listen to increase our authenticity. Disregarding lyrical analysis in favor for a catchy hook, or a tight beat, leaves us supporting artistic work that we fail to fathom. The music of authenticity written during the 1960s, told us that “The Times They Are A-Changin’”. Through his lyrics, Dylan issued a clarion call for a movement toward the authentic as interpreted through the more humane treatment of Americans and non alike. Currently, in popular music, we find the artificial masquerading as authentic in songs like, “The Way I Are”, where the lyrics detail the lofty ambition the songwriter has of signing a woman’s chest and dancing. This musician is telling the listener that “the way I are,” or his inherent human qualities, guide him to thingify a woman and dance, hopefully with the woman he just claimed. “Listener” has become a misnomer, it should be replaced with “feeler,” as in, someone that feels the beat. Music has digressed from the authentic it once was where the composers called for equality and the betterment of all. Luckily, we can easily reclaim honesty and storytelling in music by listening and supporting artists that are authentic. Such artists already exist! Still, another way of pursuing authenticity is by familiarizing ourselves with people that are socioeconomically diverse. It seems that nearly every homogenous community accuses other homogenous communities of existing in a bubble. Most communities live in isolation to a world that is unlike theirs. We can experience various forms of diversity by traveling and learning of other cultures, enrolling in higher education, and visiting gatherings and festivals in communities that are unlike ours. Seek for ways to appreciate and understand others. If we look for these opportunities, we will notice that these chances abound. However we choose to pursue authenticity, it must be what inherently brings us joy. Authenticity is being the person we were before the artificial took over. We must free ourselves from “the grip of mortifying convention,” and discover our “genuine whole personality.” That is the only way we will return from the artificial world we have created to one of authenticity. -The Saint

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Meditations on Fear and Power

William Golding’s masterpiece, Lord of the Flies, is a complicated novel that requires careful critical analysis to understand the intricate themes. It is challenging for advanced readers, let alone for a ten-year-old—my age when I first attempted the classic. The exposure into human nature shocked and amazed my immature senses. How could boys, boys like me, engage in such awful acts? Would I devolve into an animal if I was sequestered from society like these young men in the novel? I was left confused, irritated, and angry. At such an age, I could not understand what was really happening. I felt like there was something much more complicated being relayed than just a few young kids becoming beasts. I suppose that I would have had a conversation along the vein of the discussion that Ralph, Piggy, and Simon had as they lamented their fate that would result without intervention from adults: “Grownups know things,” said Piggy. “They ain’t afraid of the dark. They’d meet and have tea and discuss. Then things ‘ud be all right—” “They wouldn’t set fire to the island. Or lose—” “They’d build a ship—” The three boys stood in the darkness, striving unsuccessfully to convey the majesty of adult life. “They wouldn’t quarrel—” “Or break my specs—” “Or talk about a beast—” “If only they could get a message to us,” cried Ralph desperately. “If only they could send us something grownup . . . a sign or something.” What I failed to comprehend in my naïve mind, is the same subject that so many readers either cannot or refuse to see. Global leaders are akin to the little boys stranded on an island. Global citizens have faith in these leaders, yet the rulers of the world are afraid, they set fire to the world, they quarrel, and perhaps the most juvenile—they relentlessly portray the “beast.” The turning point of the novel occurs when a council meeting is called. Ralph, the democratically elected leader, demands to discuss Jack’s failure to keep a smoke signal on top of a mountain. This failure allowed a distant ship to pass by the island without being alerted to the boys’ plight. The signal ceased because Ralph’s friend and rival, Jack, left the fire to hunt for pig. Jack and his hunting party triumphantly returned to the scene of dismay atop the mountain with a slaughtered pig. Ralph pleads with Jack and his followers to see the futility of hunting when weighed against rescue. During the council, a few of the youngest children express their fear of a beast. There is no evidence of a beast, but groupthink prevails as the boys are whipped into a paranoia over an unsubstantiated creature. It is at this point that Jack, the newly christened pig-slaying hero, sees his opportunity to depose Ralph. He preys on the emotion that unrelentingly grips the boys. Many of the boys fall away from the reasoning leadership of Ralph and his signal fire, stable shelters, and sanitary latrines. Golding’s most startling revelation ventures into the realm of brain composition. Generally, humans engage their prefrontal cortex when making decisions. It is the prefrontal cortex that brings logic, rationality, and evolved emotions into the thought process. However, there is a more primitive portion of the brain that also plays a role in decision making as well. The amygdala is the primitive aspect of the brain that recognizes more basic emotions, those that assist in basic survival. The amygdala registers fear. Evolution utilized this sensation to motivate early homo sapiens to flee from threats such as sabretooth tigers. The amygdala often overrides the premier decision making prefrontal cortex when one feels fear or anger. This results in a human’s brain being reduced to a more basic animal’s brain. When a threat is perceived, the human brain loses function of the prefrontal cortex and is left with the reasoning capabilities of an animal. The amygdala gains controls when fear is present, repeatedly telling its subject to fight or flee, while the rational portion of the brain is rendered incapable of expressing patience, charity, and logic. Tyrants, dictators, and totalitarians cultivate fear in those they govern. History gives multiple examples of the collective amygdala outweighing the country’s prefrontal cortex. Adolf Hitler played on the base emotion of frustration and fear of the German people. Like Jack, Hitler convinced his people of the looming beast—Jews, revenge, and vindication of their rightful status. So many of the Germans began to see this previously undetected threat. Reasonable, ordinary people were plagued with paranoia like Golding’s island-dwelling boys. Hitler utilized the amygdala and harnessed that fear to catapult himself into one of the most powerful positions in the world. Germany, fearful of the beast, was stripped of the use of its prefrontal cortex along with the ability to comprehend—love, compassion, and rational evaluation. Another poignant example of fear controlling an entire group of people occurred during the Cold War. The bipolar world saw powers in the Soviet Union and the United States playing nuclear chicken. At one point during the Cold War, the world understood the concept of “mutually assured destruction”. The world knew that if any nuclear attack was launched, both powers, and likely the world, would be destroyed. A global prefrontal cortex would reason, it would express concern and patience. It would highlight the lunacy of winning a battle that resulted in the annihilation of humanity. Still, the collective amygdala reigned for years before the world reengaged its prefrontal cortex. This brings me to the crux of my argument: America is under the uncompromising influence of its amygdala as fear pervades television, social media, and water cooler discussions. So many are missing the point about the danger of Donald Trump. Critics point to lewd tweets, excessive golfing, and the asinine ketchup on a steak. Surely, President Trump has engaged in disturbing behavior, but the populace has been alerted so many times that any future warnings will fall on deaf ears. America’s collective concern must be on the fact that President Trump has hijacked our prefrontal cortex, and we are left operating the country and the world with a brain that can only register fear and hatred. Perhaps the most disheartening calculation of Trump’s team’s actions is that it is not just fear of Mexicans, terrorists, and the media that is controlling America, although that is a significant part. Opponents of Trump have been captivated by the amygdala as well through their fear and hatred of, not just Trump, but his supporters as well. He has transformed himself into the beast in an effort to force, otherwise rational individuals, to hang on a Twitter account all hours of the day. Controlling the amygdala is counterintuitive. The more you focus on it, the more you feed it, the more you try to shut it off, the more power it has. Instead, one must excessively engage the prefrontal cortex. It is hard at first when it seems that the amygdala will not shut off, but America must use its higher emotions like love and charity, and higher thinking like critical reasoning and logic. Like Simon bemoans, there was no beast on the beautiful island when the boys arrived. They brought the beast. The beast resides within us. -The Saint

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The Misuse of Philosophy

“Would you rather ride in the car with motion sickness for two hours or feel fine and ride for six?”

This was a question posed by William, my 11-year-old son to Adam, his 9-year-old brother. Adam quickly replied that queasiness in the car was awful. However, a ride in the car for six hours would be really bad, too! He inquired about a middle ground. There is always a compromise, right?

Neither option is particularly palatable to some. I would not have much of an issue with riding in a car for six hours, but my sons regard it as torture. When an unpleasant option is placed before us, we assume there is always a way out. It has become somewhat of a motto in modern lifestyle–something better always comes along, I don’t have to make hard decisions.

Parents, and even a few doctors, have embraced this ideology when it comes to vaccinating children. Adam’s indecision on the car trip hypothetical provides insight into the minds of those charged with the care of young people deciding to delay vaccinations. Instead of proceeding with the usual inoculation pace that the CDC prescribes, the decision makers and their accomplices use a prolonged schedule to administer pain-preventing aid. Their reasoning is that vaccinations are so dangerous, they simply cannot subject their children to something that might harm them. Vaccinations are not dangerous, but nevertheless, that is the way of thinking amongst these parents. The catch-22 occurs with the possibility of their child or patient contracting a fatal or debilitating disease by not vaccinating.

So what’s the solution? Fight the hypo! The two decisions seem to be on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Why not let logic aid us in this quandary? Why not utilize Aristotle’s Golden Mean? The Golden Mean encourages the decision maker to find the two extremes and to situate themselves somewhere in the middle. Thus, extremism is averted and an inclusive compromise is made.

The mean, in the case of vaccinating or not, is doling out smaller doses of the vaccination over an extended period of time. Another problem solved by the inappropriate application of a rudimentary logical technique.

However, there is a problem. Aristotle’s Golden Mean is meant to apply to morality, not scientific facts. Applying any moral philosophy to something as concrete as the law of gravity would find oneself quite dismayed with the result of jumping from a three-story building to test gravity because it is in between the Empire State Building and the bottom step on your staircase.

This misapplication of a beloved moral philosophy to justify poor decisions is becoming rampant amongst all camps in public discourse-primarily social media. Relativism has come back in vogue. Social Darwinism, Darwinism’s ugly brother, has returned as a philosophy used to justify hatred and mistreatment of the disadvantaged. Neo Nazis embrace single sentences or phrases from Nietzsche while disregarding his overall message. Thoughtful lines are taken from existentialists and then misapplied to the topic because they had little to do with the original intent of the philosophers. These brief snippets are then distilled into memes to achieve a more potent stupid that justifies one’s general negative outlook on their targeted society.

Yes, the Golden Mean tells you the appropriate amount of affection to treat your doctor with, but it does not tell your doctor how much treatment of your infection is appropriate.

-The Saint