Occupation of Independence

Let's make a guess how Media consumers are reacting to the SplatterGate video or to lesser known videos of that genre, put out by Green organizations. NPR and the BBC watchers don't know what I'm talking about. Mainstream Media watchers have heard of Splattergate, but it was dismissed as unimportant. Internet addicts are screaming bloody murder about it: the biggest news since ClimateGate. I had a strong reaction to the video but for a different reason: I like classic books as a context for many topics, and by chance I was rereading a mid-20th-century classic, "the god that failed," ed. Richard Crossman. That book contained the testimonials of some well known ex-Communists about their psychology during their Communist years. Thus my sensitivity to Authoritarianism was at a peak when I watched the video. The Green belief system only partially overlaps with other Authoritarian belief systems of the 20th century. The latter were studiously unsentimental. In con

No matter how thick a book is or how well you might like it, isn't it true that you only remember a few scenes? Why that scene and not some other? Sinclair Lewis's Elmer Gantry brushed off the village atheist one day. That book was written in 1927. I wondered if people even use that term any more. Village atheist, town drunk, slut, gossip, or do-gooder -- how do they matter to an America that doesn't live in villages anymore? America is a hollowed-out country, a coast-to-coast archipelago of monstrous conurbations. People sat out on porches and kept an eye on each other on Lewis's Main Street. Today we experience our neighbor in the 'burbs only in seeing his garage door open up, a car with tinted windows emerges, it heads off to work or to a fast food drive-through, and then the garage door closes. The Village Atheist used to be portrayed unsympathetically. If he was jolly enough, he might have been tolerated as the licensed lunatic, but usually he was seen as sou

For the first time in years I've finished a novel: "Elmer Gantry" by Sinclair Lewis. I was inspired to read it by Burt Lancaster's performance in the movie as well as the supporting actor, Arthur Kennedy, who played the cynical and world-wise newspaper reporter, as he did a couple years later in "Lawrence of Arabia." I was surprised to enjoy the novel as much as I did, since I'm weary of secular intellectuals trying to out-voltaire Voltaire a century or two too late. Poor old Christianity has been beaten up so much since the 1700's, why do "bold" free- thinkers think they are so heroic in attacking it? It's a case of arrested development; they are perpetual adolescents who are rebelling against the religion of their parents' generation. What about people born in the 1960's? By the time they were adolescents, pseudo-Hindu-Buddhist fads were becoming pretty dated. Why didn't they rebel against them? They should be in their p

The North-South cultural split in Europe still intrigues me. Sure, it's fallen off of the front page of the news, but Europe's financial problems are not over with, and they could have quite an impact on the world. Besides, this blog is not enslaved to the Breaking News Syndrome.   I've found a shelf of books at the local college library that seemed like it would enlighten me on the North-South cultural split in Europe. But after reading a half dozen books on the origins of cultures and civilizations, I was disappointed and frustrated. Think of history as a machine that has an input and an output. What is the input other than other books? But there weren't a lot of books written when Germans were being Christianized and de-barbarianized. And what was written doesn't really explain the habits of thought and feeling that evolved in northern Europe and set it apart from the Mediterranean South. (I've already rejected Protestantism as an explanation or Cause; i

When you follow economic news these days, it's easy to overlook how extraordinary it is that so few ideas are actually discussed. But why should we overlook this? How could an entire field be so moribund? Maybe the only way to make sense of this is to back up a step and imagine that you're living in 1776, when the first economics book was published by Adam Smith. Consider the status of other sciences during this year when economics was founded as a science. For instance, look at the condition of medicine. If somebody had a serious injury of any kind, out came the leeches; or the physician bled the patient. This was based on the ancient theory of the Four Humours being out of balance.  In the 1800's a wounded soldier could expect little help other than a tourniquet and a saw. When you see that happening in the movies, you think, "Oh no, not another amputation; is that all you guys are good for?" It's strange to think that only a few generations ago, medical

Recently I signed on as a volunteer to work on a section of the Continental Divide Trail. I really haven't done any volunteer work during my retirement, although I have looked into it from time to time. It surprised me what a formal organization they were. I got officious-looking letters from headquarters informing me that I'd be camping four nights and working eight hours per day on it. Then I bowed out. But why? It had seemed like such a fine idea. At first I thought it was the logistics of getting there, camping, or finding a dog-sitter. But there was something deeper. Volunteering can seem humiliating, especially when you have to deal with salaried "volunteer coordinators." (Bureaucratic young squirts who live in a spreadsheet dream world.) Time is money, and to volunteer your time seems connected to the idea that your time and life are worthless. I have been turned off by volunteering for animal shelters, as well. The impression I got was that they thought th

It was time for one last ride near Leadville, CO. It was my first time here and I have sort of fallen in love with the place. I chose to mountain bike up a dead end road; they are unpopular with weekenders. Heck, they were even unpopular with me during the first couple years of full time RV boondocking. It took some real effort to break away from the nearly universal preference for a loop road. On the ride we passed a fine old cabin. Apparently somebody lived in it, at least seasonally. It had a marvelous view back to Mt. Elbert. When I hike or bike uphill I never turn around, per Satchel Paige's classic advice. But in this case I'm glad I did. Although it was only mid-morning Mt. Elbert already had a canopy of threatening clouds. We explored a bit more before returning.  Coming down was such a glide! At one point I went to check out a spur road that went up an exposed ridge, my favorite topographic form. The freshening breeze was so delightful, on a day when most

Since arriving in Colorado I have been extolling its outdoors exercise cult to the point of boosterism. It's time for a little balance. This weekend Leadville had a 100 mile Run! Runners had 30 hours to complete it. I'm not sure of all the rules, but apparently they could walk or rest whenever they needed to. But they had to make intermediate cutoff points by the deadline or be disqualified. The 100 miles had its share of climbs of course. The altitude varied between 9500 and 12000 feet. In the afternoon the runners had to contend with rain and lightning. I saw some of the survivors crawling in on Sunday morning. Some hobbled in, looking very sore. Why is there this obsession in running, biking, etc., with enormous distances? Why not shorten the distance, increase the speed and intensity of the race, and make it more interesting by some other angle? My best efforts at amateur psychoanalysis is that these people have a drastic self-esteem problem that can only

The other day I was watching a Star Trek episode when they quietly slipped something by: someone found that the computer records were mistaken. He didn't say that it was intentional or malicious; just mistaken. I'm not sure if I ever saw that before in a sci-fi story. I wish I knew of a hard-core sci-fi reader to ask if he has ever run across this. Today, people tend to believe whatever the computer says. Did it ever occur to them that few if any people make their living by correcting errors stored in a computer? Have you ever taken a trip with a map or gadget junkie? He can be staring right at a road, but if his high-tech gadget tells him the road isn't supposed to be there, he won't trust his lying-eyes. He would never question the computer in the sense of 'garbage in, garbage out'; instead, he thinks he will solve the problem by punching his way through the menu system. Before there were computers for people to have blind faith in, there were books. For 50

Now that the second big holiday of summer has passed, it's time to admit that this summer's plan is not working so well. The plan was to visit as many festivals as possible in high-altitude towns of the Four Corner states. Towns tolerate boondockers a day before and a day after the event, since many of the artists and musicians get by like that. People are fun to be around, during festival times. It was such a brilliant idea. But I'm used to them not working out. I got the idea while enjoying the free Blues Festival in the Little Pueblo in southern New Mexico. I quickly found out how rare free festivals are, and the closer you get to Colorado, the worse it gets. No doubt, the reader thinks that RV boondockers have an obsession about the word 'free.' Actually, the problem with paying to hear music performances is what it does to my expectations. It's more fun to stumble in to a free performance, with low expectations, and be surprised on the upside. A secon

Right now I'm mixing old and new posts on this new blog. It probably seems weird. But I really enjoy editing as well as reliving some past experiences.  Why must a blog imitate a daily newspaper? Isn't the whole idea of "news" a bit silly? Our culture is obsessed with the Latest and Greatest, whether it be fashions, slang words, pop-singer-sluts, fads, etc. But is this a moralistic scold talking or is it an old man who has seen so many people and things come and go during his life that he just doesn't give a damn anymore? I don't want to become one of those grumpy old men who hangs out at the Golden Arches. Try talking to one of them; they don't actually want to talk with you; they just want an audience for their interminable stories about the good old days; today and tomorrow mean nothing. While waiting for a victim they kill their time reading the daily news, ironically enough. But hopefully I'm not that bad yet. I want to think of time-agnos

Before surrendering yesterday I had ample opportunities to watch women enjoying their shopping, usually with a man in tow. The woman would say (for the 200th time that day), Oh, This Looks Cute, or cyyooooot as they intone it. The pitiful man's shoulders would slump. Most of the men showed a suffer-in-silence heroism that would have humbled the most severe of ancient Stoic philosophers. Santa Fe is a veritable laboratory to test your own pet theories. For instance, consider all the New Age religions here. Are they more popular with women than with men, the latter merely dragged along, just like the shoppers? Here's a normal and attractive church somewhere in New Mexico. Wait a minute... Long before the 'Church of What's Happening Now Baby' grooved away, a man living near the site of old Carthage confessed that he had been converted to Christianity by his mother. And then St. Augustine established Christianity on a solid enough foundation to las

This was my first visit to Santa Fe in many years. On the first visit, downtown Santa Fe had had quite an impact on me, primarily for its visual appeal, but also for its historical interest and compact walk-ability. It's easy to feel trepidation in revisiting an old flame. What if it has lost its magic? Is it you or it? On today's visit it took only minutes to realize that the architectural eye-candy just wasn’t having the same effect on me as before. Perhaps I was counting on pure novelty to make travel interesting. If so, what would that mean for the whole idea of RV travel over the next few years? Perhaps Santa Fe was just too cute, too over-restored for me. I had just been wallowing in the sun-bleached, decayed ruins of impoverished towns in New Mexico, where they simply don’t have the budget for over-restorations, and where old things stay dignified by honest decay. You see, I was an accomplished aesthete by now, and Santa Fe was beneath me (ahem).  Relaxed