[Xmca-l] Re: Anniversary for Sakharov's essay

Sat Jul 21 12:32:47 PDT 2018

OK. Good contributions. I guess.

Scientism might well be the dismissive override when faced with considering other worldviews, however asking a question is the start of any scientific endeavor. Even artists depend upon scientific method. So, perhaps it isn't that people ask no questions vs asking them, but rather asking too little vs asking too many.

I can't help though but feel that spirit of the thread at its very inception has been kidnapped and this is usually considered bad netiquette (which is sort of selfish). I feel it has included namedropping and had I wanted to know this information I would have asked those kinds of questions. I suppose I have been off this list too long to recall the hazards of making a post, but I have been reminded! 😊

What I find to be truly assymetrical, is to gain an answer to a question that was never asked. Or, asking a question and getting anything but the answer for the reason it was asked in the first place. It's a kind of activity where I do not detect the traces of intellectual freedom, but something else.

Of course there are those who believe that freedom is only for some people and not for others. I don't get the impression Sakharov felt that way. I also don't feel that he was trying to teach us a lesson, but merely reflecting his thoughts about the very things he cared about.

If we are indeed people who believe in the importance of intellectual freedom, then we must walk the talk.

To Rob, thanks a lot for the link to version at Sakharov's website. I noticed that there were subheadings added in the NYT version that seem placed therein to aid for readability, however with regard to the heading "Inequality of American Negroes" (appearing in the NYT article) there isn't much said either in the NYT or the Sakharov website versions that says any more than:

"At this time, the white citizens of the United States are unwilling to accept even minimum sacrifices to eliminate the unequal economic and cultural position of the country's black citizens, who make up 10 percent of the population."

Because there isn't much more than one sentence, I don't think it merits an entire subheading, which struck me as odd. It certainly was a fair statement to make given it was 1968, but Sakharov could have said more about it and I wondered why he didn't.

Yes, the slavery question in US history was (and still is) an open and untended sore, but it almost feels like a really tired complaint when foreigners keep stating the obvious. I say this because there are many oppressed peoples in other parts of the world, and throughout history, and so for me the question isn't about the unjust after-effects of 19th century American slavery, but about how to rectify social injustice against oppressed peoples in ways that are pragmatic, fair, and most of all successful in creating open and democratic societies. It's a question that nags us to silence.

I saw an article here this week:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/19/us-modern-slavery-report-global-slavery-index

indicating that there are as many as 400K people in the US who exist in "modern slavery" which seems to concern forced marriage and labor, which by the way largely affects girls and women. I was reminded of Chrissy Hynde when she wailed at a Lilith concert I attended that "woman is the [n-word] of the world." This US number in the world index measures to one-hundreth of the slavery index worldwide, where a large portion of this population is in Asia.

There is a direct connection to technology assemblage being one reason for this very large number in Asia. It appears what we have accomplished in the US in our goal to "eliminate" slavery, is to export the behavior of forced labor abroad in order to lower technology production costs, but it's not as if the "low cost" is being passed to the consumer (thanks Apple!) for products like computers and smartphones, those remain expensive fashion goods. For items appearing in dollar stores, that may be well be the case. After all this, we have to leave the poor people something to buy after all, such as one-dollar buckets and brooms.

In the essay, Sakharov offers his readers a solution: a 15-year taxation of 20% GDP of developed countries, which seems a bit grandiose, but then what happens to the money?  (Piketty also thought something along these lines but his solution was more nominal, like a 2% income tax, if I am remembering that correctly) At least Sakharov is offering an idea rather than just complaining or describing the ills of society. It still seems naive to think these things can be applied from the top-down. Perhaps that stance is a mental habit after living in the Soviet Union.

Capitalism concentrates wealth, whether by ethical means or not, but then there is the redistribution of that wealth and whether that is by ethical means or not. How to apply the ethical to something so unethical?

I am still reading the essay and digesting it, for it is quite long, but I do think I agree whole-heartedly with Sakharov on one thing: intellectual freedom is the only path to any sort of salvation. If this is true, then this means *learning how* to be intellectually free. It seems that means the following, though you might extend the list: how to debate the merits, how to respect others not like you, how to have the courage to mention the elephant in the room, wherever it happens to be standing, how to face disagreement without being defensive and petty.

How to develop what is ethical from all that is unethical? I would offer transparency, but this seems to produce shamelessness and a brute exhibition of power,  mentality of "crucifixion as advertising," so I'm not sure what the answer is.

Last night I watched the Great British Baking Show, a bourgeois vice of mine. The show's theme was about making  tarts. To make a treacle tart, a contestant was using fortune cookies as an ingredient. One of the hosts opened a cookie and read the message inside. It said, "To speak is silver; to listen is golden."

The gold standard is frequently missing, isn't it.

Kind regards,

Annalisa
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