Fools' Gambit

 

Today is the 50th anniversary of President Nixon's visit to open up China and welcome it into the world community.  Unlike other grim anniversaries such as 12/7/41 and 9/11/01, it was not a call for unity but just an unnecessary surrender in advance.  "The U.S.president put himself in the position of supplicant to Beijing.  Chinese state media said a prosperous China would be a peaceful China, and it would be a huge market for American exports." (June Dreyer of the U. of Miami)

But the exact reverse happened.  

Domestic big business saw a large untapped market in China as well as a source of very cheap outsourced labor.  Nixon thought he could pry China away from the Soviet Union (they had a little tiff going) and possibly get some cooperation in ending the Vietnam War, in addition to advancing those big business dreams.  

What we got instead was a disastrous trade imbalance in China's favor, closed manufacturing plants, loss of jobs and hope in cities and rural areas, and a tsunami of inexpensive low-quality goods that do not  last.  My grandparents had several Vornado floor fans, built like tanks, for the summer.  They worked for decades.  Now all you can find is Chinese-made ones that are wobbly plastic contraptions whose switches will fail in a few months, and are of course unrepairable.  

  And there seems to be no way out now.  In answer to Trump's retaliatory tariffs, China put the brakes on American grain imports, devastating the Midwest.  I saw this myself on the Mississippi River, where loading stations were deserted and barges, normally following each other closely, were nowhere to be seen.  

In 1972, China was divided by its Cultural Revolution and despite saber-rattling was not a credible regional threat.  Now they have a large, very modern Navy and Air Force -- and guess who paid for it.  Masters of the long game, after 72 years Taiwan and the South China Sea are easily within their grasp.

Like hornet nests and sleeping junkyard dogs, some things are best left alone.  

"The Verb 'to be' Never Takes an Object"

 

"What we do not call education is more precious than that which we call so."

-- Emerson

We recently picked up a copy of this book at the local library sale, and it brought two thoughts to mind.  The first was, where you when I needed you?  If I had gone through this thoroughly in high school, how much easier and clearer those English classes would have been.  You need context to learn something.   Emerson again: "No man can learn what he has not preparation for learning."  

The second thought was, what moments or books or teachers stand out in your memories of formal education (after all these years)?  That one is easy for me.  Mrs. Neidermayer at Tuckahoe Junior High School, who said emphatically that if we took one thing from her English class it should be that rule about the verb 'to be.'  Her combination of sternness and self-deprecating humor endeared her to my immature little heart.  Although Mrs. N didn't know it, she also launched me on a lifelong (so far) interest in the origin and meaning of sur- and place-names when she said her own name meant "lowland farmer."  I had no idea at the time that names meant anything or so often have fascinating histories.  Go ahead, ask me what the -ez ending on Hispanic names means.

I also remember Dr. See and Dr. Blake fondly from college -- and almost no one else except for the Art History professor whose class was nothing but a treat.  Jansen's History of Art, the large and expensive textbook, was the only one of all those in four years I should have kept forever.  But, I had to sell it in order to eat that week.  At least one thing I had learned by then was to be pragmatic. 

The best textbook I do have, though, also acquired a few months ago at the library sale, is an 1871 volume, A Brief History of the United States.  I haven't seen all U.S. history texts, of course, but I doubt it has been surpassed.  Not many of us will re-read any of our old schoolbooks, ever, but I'll probably go through it again one of these days. 

So, Mrs. Neidermayer, wherever you are, know that your work was appreciated and lives on.

        

More Jibber-Jabber

 

272 words -- that's all of the Gettysburg Address.  The previous orator went on for two hours.  Who better said what the occasion called for?

No lesson learned, though:  today's fresh hell is podcasts.  Easily available technology has enabled over two million more gasbags to be broadcasting than we ever needed.   And the U.S. has about half of the worldwide listeners.  I'll admit there are many more blogs, but they're not the hot thing anymore (as this one with between 10 and 20 readers proves).  

Joe Rogan's is the number one 'cast, but he's just another in a long line of radio shock jocks like Stern and Limbaugh back to Father Coughlin.  Same drivel, different package.  The others in the top five are more intelligent, so we can take some comfort in that.

Beyond being another form of self-expression, there is money in this.  Podcast ads work:  $2 billion in revenue last year, and 60% of listeners bought something.

TED Talks are wisely limited to 18 minutes in length, enough time to make your point without going on and on.   Some of what are overlong and pointless: sports talking heads, the screaming money guy, evangelists, and chat shows like "The View" and the many morning and late night ones on each network.  And...infomercials, looonng home improvement company ads, and almost everyone you see texting and talking on their smart phones beyond any reasonable need.  Of course, people are free to speak and to listen to all this, but I can't understand why.

 I am going to do my part and shut up now.