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Archive for the ‘Opinion’ Category

Sacrifice

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged , , , on August 2, 2016| 6 Comments »

Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery

What is sacrifice?

There has been a lot of talk about this word over the past several days as Donald Trump tried to somehow equate the service of a fallen Muslim soldier and the loss felt by his family to those things in his life he views as “sacrifices”—working hard, hiring people and building buildings.

I wasn’t going to comment but yesterday morning I heard one of the many Trump surrogates [ for a man who so readily proclaims his own brilliance he requires an army of people to explain and interpret his often incomprehensible words] saying that opening a business is a sacrifice, similar in many ways to serving one’s country in the military or public service.

It is not similar.  It is so different that it is offensive to even try to defend his statement in that way.

Yes, opening and operating a business is a risk and a gamble.  True, there is a choice made to do this rather something else and devote time to this.  But it is not done for altruism but with the desire and goal of creating personal gain and wealth for the person taking the risk.

When a businessperson hires an employee (or thousands of employees) it is because they are necessary to create and maintain profit.  I doubt that Trump has ever hired a person who did not serve his personal goals or could not serve his needs or help enrich him in some way.  This is an expense and an investment.  This is not sacrifice in any form.

Erecting buildings is much the same.  It is done with the desire for wealth creation and sometimes, as in Trump’s case, self-aggrandizement.  It is not done to serve the public good unless that somehow coincides with increasing one’s wealth and brand.  This, too, is an investment, not sacrifice.

And as to working hard, I consider myself a hard worker.  I consider it a positive personal trait but would never consider it a sacrifice.  Working hard is a privilege, a right and, to many, a pleasure.  It is the opposite of sacrifice.

Sacrifice is the giving of that which is precious to you for something greater than yourself.  It can be, as in Captain Khan’s case, the giving of one’s life to save his fellow soldiers or it can be in giving up personal gain and rewards to serve the greater good.

I didn’t want to write this.  I want to stay a million miles away from this whole thing.  I would much rather focus on painting and almost anything else.

But it must be addressed.  We have someone who is so close to attaining so much real power in this world yet does not understand the meaning of personal sacrifice and displays so little empathy for those less privileged than himself.  This is a man who has had advantages and privilege in every aspect of his life from the day he was born yet doesn’t even recognize that simple fact.

His goals are his goals alone and not ours.

The only things he has sacrificed in his vain and cynical grasp for power are dignity, honor and truth.  But realistically, even that has not been a sacrifice for Trump—those were never of any value to him in the first place.

And still there are people who ignore these most basic character flaws and his almost endless ( and proven) lying, still believing that he has their best interest at heart when there is absolutely no evidence beyond his empty boasts.

It is beyond my comprehension.

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Declaration of Conscience

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, Quote, tagged , , , , , on July 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Margaret Chase Smith

Margaret Chase Smith

Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk.

— Margaret Chase Smith

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One more word on the current political scene and then it’s back to business as usual here– a little Sunday Morning Music tomorrow and basically art thereafter.  I promise.

Donald Trump is the Republican Party’s Presidential candidate.  We know exactly who this man is now and who he has been over the past 30+ years he has spent in the public eye–  an immensely vain and amoral blowhard and bully with little regard for those who cannot serve his selfish personal interests.  He has appealed to the electorate with a blend of ugly rhetoric rooted in division, fear and anger and has assembled a fair sized group of equally angry, fearful and hateful true believers behind him.

But you know something, I don’t blame Trump for who he is, as much as I deplore him.  There have always been and will always be figures like him.  That can’t be helped.

No, the people who are most responsible for his rise are those who enabled the intolerance, group thought and uncompromising  partisanship that has taken over the Republican party over the past few decades and created an environment that gave him the opening he could exploit

I’m talking about those Senators and Representatives and other politicians who simply went along, never taking a stand or speaking out against even the most egregious and often hypocritical actions of the party as it tried to gain short sighted political gains, ones that only served their own selfish interests and not the general welfare of the American people.  They were against any form of compromise, entirely intolerant of any opposition to their short term goals and would remain quiet as the most outrageous claims were repeated and repeated to the American people, their notable silence acting in itself as an acceptance of those claims.

Their silence allowed a demagogue to grab the helm of their ship away from them.  Some sheepishly have gathered behind their new ship’s captain and shamelessly assented to much of his nonsensical babble.  But shamefully there are those in that party who are horrified by the words and actions of this man as well as the direction in which he takes their party who still refuse to speak out and denounce the man.  Perhaps they hope he will somehow avoid the rocks towards which he is steering them and that they will be able to rip back the helm from him and come out unscathed.

But their silence and inaction could lead to more dire consequences not only for their party but for this country and the ideals on which it was formed.

Speak up.  Put aside your self-interest and serve your constituents, not your party.  Be a citizen first and protect those ideals.

Speak up.

Below is an excerpt from a speech,  Declaration of Conscience, that is considered one of the great American speeches of all time. It was given by Maine Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith in June of 1950 when the dark days of Joe McCarthy and his Communist witch hunts were taking hold.  She saw what McCarthy was and the great harm that could come to this country if he was allowed to continue his campaign of rampaging character assassinations. She spoke out against him and those in her party who remained silent and simply went along.  She did not endorse the other party but pointed out that any victory for their party that was based on ignorance and fear and  that came at the expense of their true principles would be a disaster for their party and the country.

If you don’t know who Margaret Chase Smith was, it is worth taking a moment and looking her up.  She was a tough but moderate Republican who made a habit of reaching across the aisle and of backing bills that often went against the Republican ideology of the time.  She believed in doing what was right for the American public first, regardless from which party an idea emerged.  She was also the first woman to be placed into nomination for the Presidency by a major political party.

Margaret Chase Smith would most likely not be welcome in the current Republican Party.

Read these words from her Declaration of Conscience in 1950 and I think you will see how they apply to this election over 65 years later.  While I don’t agree with the assertion that our current Democratic administration needs to be replaced I do understand that there are those that do.  But to replace it with a morally dishonest alternative is not the change that will best serve the American people.

Surely these are sufficient reasons to make it clear to the American people that it is time for a change and that a Republican victory is necessary to the security of this country.  Surely it is clear that this nation will continue to suffer as long as it is governed by the present ineffective Democratic Administration.

Yet to displace it with a Republican regime embracing a philosophy that lacks political integrity or intellectual honesty would prove equally disastrous to this nation.  The nation sorely needs a Republican victory.  But I don’t want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny — Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear.

I doubt if the Republican Party could — simply because I don’t believe the American people will uphold any political party that puts political exploitation above national interest.  Surely we Republicans aren’t that desperate for victory.

—–Margaret Chase Smith, Declaration of Conscience speech,  Delivered June 1, 1950

This is perhaps the most important election of our lifetimes, folks.  Pay attention and speak out against fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear.

Back to our regular scheduled programming tomorrow.  I promise.

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Light and Dark

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged , , on July 29, 2016| 11 Comments »

DNC 2016Yesterday, I heard journalist Carl Bernstein call this election the Gettysburg in America’s cultural wars, meaning that this election might very well determine the nature of our future existence as a nation.  I found that a very striking  and fitting analogy for this race.  This race entails two very different visions for America, one filled with light, the other darkness.

For example, the difference between last week’s Republican convention and this week’s Democratic convention was breathtaking.  The Democratic convention was a showcase of diversity across the spectrum of America– there were even many longtime Republicans that spoke to the crowd.  It had substance.  It had optimism and a positive message that spoke to the ideal of the American can-do spirit.  It was uplifting and inspiring with too many awe inspiring speeches and stories that I can’t even begin to list them here.

It was about us, about our love for this country and not the love for the hate-filled rhetoric of an angry reality star.

It was filled with light.

On the flip side, the Republican convention was the darkness, somehow both an angry and low energy affair  filled with a crowd that lacked the vitality and diversity that makes us America.  There were only 18 black faces out of the over 2400 delegates, a number so low (that’s only about .07%, folks) that the black delegates were asked to not  congregate so that they could better disperse through the crowd. The whole event terminated with Trump’s dismal vision of America and his assertion that he alone could solve the problems of this country.  He couldn’t even deliver on his boast to make the Republican convention a “showbiz” convention, packed with flash, celebrities and a “winner’s night.”  I must have somehow missed that part of the convention.

No, he portrayed this country, including our military, as being filled with fearful cowards who are not up to a challenge. He certainly didn’t offer one to the people of this country in his rambling diatribe.  No, he offered to take over with an air of authoritarianism that is all too reminiscent of  Mussolini and the rise of Fascism in Italy in the 1920’s.

You do know how that turned out, don’t you?

He says we must believe him when he says that he and only he has the answers and solutions we need, though he has yet to offer any tangible plan for us to see.  Nor has he any evidence of having any answers in the past as a so-called businessman.  He is a businessman in the way that the Kardashians are celebrities– all flash and little substance.  He is all about brand.  That’s it.

Take for example, his only experience in operating a publicly owned corporation, Trump Resorts (DJT).  If you had invested $100 dollars in it at its IPO in 1995 and cashed out ten years later you would have been left with $4.  Four– a  loss of over 95% of your investment.  This company lost staggering amounts of money every single year from 1995 until 2005 at a time when other casino stocks boomed and the stock market index was doubling.  A $100 investment in his competitor MGM Grand turned into $600 over the same time frame.

But he made money.  He stripped every cent he could get his tiny little hands on from the corporation until it finally collapsed in bankruptcy.  Great articles on this in the Washington Post and  MarketWatch.

And while he says he will put Americans to work, only this past week he and his Palm Beach resort filed for 65 guest worker visas so that he could fill staff with foreign workers, even though there are hundreds (according to local labor stats, there are actually over 1300 who are looking for work in the same field) of nearby resident in need of jobs.  His record of filling his staffs with foreign workers is astounding.  There is nothing illegal in it but it certainly doesn’t jibe with his boastful rhetoric.

His proposals and his resume are short on facts because the facts are not his friend.  His word is not his bond and even contracts to which he set the terms are subject to being challenged when he feels it is to his benefit.  This is not a man of honor.  This is a many without empathy and little reason, a man who seeks to punish those who he believes have slighted him.  In fact, even last night at a rally, he spoke about his desire to retaliate against the speakers at the Democratic convention  who pointed out his flawed life and ideology.

At one point last night he said, “I was going to hit this guy so hard his head would spin, he wouldn’t know what the hell happened.”  This is last night, folks.  This man wants the power and strength of the US military at his beck and call.  God help our troops if this man somehow continues to hoodwink those Americans who refuse to see the evidence of his reality.

And it is there for all to see.  He has shown what he is, who he is.  He is a lifelong bully, a spoiled petulant manchild who is fixated on his own image and his own voice in the grandest form of narcissism we may have ever witnessed.  He uses the lie as tool.  He has never taken any personal responsibility for any of his failures, always finding a scapegoat on which to lay blame.  Nor will he take responsibility for his failures if, God forbid, he becomes President.

And there will be failures.  That is the nature of the job.  That is the very nature of life.

Do your research and don’t believe his vapid promises without first considering the reality of them.

Now for the record, I consider myself a Liberal who is proud of the many accomplishments of the progressive movement.  I like and respect Hillary Clinton very much.  I believe she will work harder for us than any President we have seen in our lifetime.  That is just how she goes about things. But she is not perfect in any way.  She has made mistakes but that is  often, unfortunately, one of the risks in taking on great tasks.

Nor is she the caricature from the Right that has been formed over the last 30+ years, a period of time in which her every word, her every action, her every look and even her appearance have been put under a microscope and dissected.  Think about it, how many of us could hold up with that kind of constant inspection over that long a time?  If you’ve not made a mistake, spoken a wrong word or didn’t do things that you deeply regret then you are either a better person than me or you have not lived a life of consequence out among the people.  I know I couldn’t survive that kind of constant examination.

I will end by saying that I would rather have Hillary Clinton fighting for me than nearly any other person that comes to mind.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Trump fighting for any other person than himself.

If you must respond, I will respect your opinion because in America it is understood that there is often a difference of opinion.But  please be civil.  No name calling.  No broad smears or conspiracies. Use facts please.  That is something I seldom see when reading comments from Mr. Trump’s supporters.

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Again… and Again and Again

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged , on June 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Orlando Mass Shooting ScreenshotYet another mass killing right here in the the good US of A, this time in Orlando.  50 dead and another 53 wounded, many in critical condition.

It raises all kinds of emotions.  Sadness and sorrow for the families of the people killed and wounded.  Anger at the senselessness of it all.  Fear and dismay that this record for carnage will fall all too soon. Frustration that instead of finding unity and a coming together as a nation  in the wake of such an event we choose to become even more divided and vulnerable.

And simply numb because this happens again and again and again.

And this will  not end soon.  Not while we remain a country that can’t find common ground on which to build,  one that assails those who have a different point of view, one that refuses to compromise and sacrifice individually in any way for the betterment of the whole.

We have become a niched and insular country.  We can live our entire lives within our own little circle without overlapping our adjoining community or country in any way which is the antithesis to our development as a nation.  We were built on community and until we can find that form again in this modern society we will struggle and foster this continued insanity.

Again and again and again.

How do we do this?  I do not know.  But I do know that it is not something that we can overcome by through fear and rancor or by arming ourselves and building walls.  It requires vision and optimism and setting a common goal while setting aside greed and selfishness.

Is it possible?

I can only hope.  But it might be our only chance…

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Maurice Sendak and Trump

Posted in Favorite Things, Opinion, tagged , on June 9, 2016| 2 Comments »

Maurice Sendak from We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy 1993Forgive me.

I try to keep this blog and my work separated from politics, keep it a place where you don’t have to face the crazy contentiousness and illogical arguments that fill every minute of the news cycle in this election year.  We need a tranquil resting place.

Last year, when I was leading a two-day workshop, one of the participants brought up the then burgeoning presidential race, wanting to bash one side.  Though I agreed with him and wanted to bash as much as anyone in the room, I felt like I had to stop the discussion.  I didn’t know the politics of everyone in that room and didn’t want anyone to feel challenged or attacked in any way.  They didn’t sign up for that.  They came, hopefully because they wanted to learn to do something that took them away from rancor, something that united rather than divided people.

So I declared the workshop a no-politics zone and we moved on.

But today I am making a slight departure if only to share the  illustration above from the late great Maurice Sendak.  It’s from his 1993 children’s book We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy, which basically took two Mother Goose nursery rhymes and combined them into one simple story that presented strong social commentary that decried the ills of our society.  You know, greed and avarice and that kind of thing.

One of the illustrations is the one shown at the top which shows Trump Tower and a host of folks in rags with them exclaiming the words: Lost! Tricked! Trumped! Dumped!

There’s lot more that could be said.  In fact, I went on a spiel but cut it.

Sometimes it’s better to let a simple image do the talking…

 

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The Angst

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged , , on March 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

gc-myers-the-angstI don’t want to turn this into a political debate but watching the Republicans lately (or for that matter, over the past several years) is a lot like seeing a terrible car wreck.  You want to turn away.  You want to cover your eyes and make believe it’s not happening.  You try to think happy thoughts but, oh, the horror of it all, it won’t go away.

So you have to look,  just to see if anyone can somehow miraculously climb from the carnage.  All the time there’s this gaping pit of sickness pooling in your gut even while a small grain of self-satisfaction appears as you tell yourself that this was inevitable, that for someone driving that recklessly and with so little regard for others on the road this was bound to happen.

You feel bad for the folks in the car just along for the ride but you know that it was their decision to trust this group of questionable characters (yes, I mean this to be plural) to steer their vehicle.

There was no need for this, no need to drive like maniacs and, despite what they claim, they were not forced off the road by a black man in an Escalade.  They were just blinded by their own fears.

Unfounded fears.

Think about it, folks, and try to be honest in remembering how things looked in 2008.  We were looking at the collapse of our stock markets and our housing markets while unemployment had skyrocketed in the prior years.  Lives were in disarray.   Do you believe that things are as bad after the past seven years as these reckless drivers claim?  The only thing keeping us from realizing how close we are to some form of prosperity is this promoted  and irrational fear.

That’s what Warren Buffett believes and I tend to agree with him.  As he said in his 2015 letter  to his stockholders in which he makes a compelling and detailed argument (please read it) against this overstated fear that we are on the brink of disaster:  while it would be irrational to be excessively optimistic all the time, it’s useful to remember that the greatest deterrent … remains their excessive focus not on what can go right in the future, but on what might go wrong.

Get that?  Focus on what can go right, not only on what can go wrong.

Before you go crazy and point out how awful the world is in your eyes,  let me point out that I understand that things are not perfect right now.  The point is that no time has ever been perfect and none ever will.  That is simply the nature of life, especially life in a large and constantly evolving country that has interests all over the world.  It’s a shifting puzzle that looks different from day to day.  But if you are always told and believe it’s going to look bad, it will look bad.

But some will always see the end of the world coming in the present and some will try to benefit from this. They’re going to want to drive the car, say they know a quicker route and that if you don’t let them at that wheel now you’re all going to die soon.

But give it some thought and trust your own mind, people.  The sky is not on fire and the four horsemen are not scourging the land yet.  Take the wheel and go with the flow…

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The painting at the top is an old piece from about 20 years back that I call The Angst.  

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20th Century Man

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Opinion, Photography, Video, tagged , , , , on January 24, 2016| 1 Comment »

august-sander-man-on-street-portraitI was listening this morning to the song 20th Century Man from The Kinks.  Released in 1971 — don’t do the math, it’s a long time ago– it is a song of a man decrying his existence in a time in which he feels he doesn’t fit.  Ray Davies may have felt that he would have been more at home in the 19th century but the odd thing is that the song’s words still fit very well for someone like myself whose life consists of mostly time spent in the 20th century.

Even though we’re well into the 21st century– that new century smell has pretty much worn off by now– I am still basically a 20th century man.

It struck me that the next generation that is quickly coming of age and into their own will be a group born in the 21st century, never experiencing a second in that distant time.  I never gave that a thought before but their time will be spent entirely in a time unlike mine or people of my age.  The 20th century might be just a distant thing to them, a source of old people’s memories and dry historic fact.

Relics.

And maybe that’s a good thing.  I don’t know.  For as pivotal as the 20th was in so many ways, it was mightily flawed and maybe trying to see the world beyond its lenses will be refreshing.

Hey, let me hope, okay?

So for this Sunday Morning Music here are The Kinks and 20th Century Man.  The accompanying photo which jumped off the screen at me is from the great German photographer August Sander who I will be discussing here in the near future.

Have a great Sunday and enjoy your time in the 21st Century…

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Between

Posted in Opinion, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , on November 28, 2015| 5 Comments »

GC Myers- BetweenA man’s work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover through the detours of art those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.

–-Albert Camus

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These lines above are from an essay, Between Yes and No,  written by the French Nobel Prize-winning writer Albert Camus.  It basically states, in sometimes grim detail, his belief that art “exalts and denies simultaneously.”  In short, truth is generally somewhere in the middle, never absolutely in yes or no.  Yes or no is generally an oversimplified view.

While I may not fully understand all the subtleties of Camus’ essay, I do fully agree with the premise as I see it in my own simplified way.  I think that art communicates best when it contains both the yes and the no— those polar oppositions that create a tension to which we react on an emotional level.  For example, I think my best work has come when it contains opposing elements such as optimism tinged with with the darkness of fear or remorse.

Yes and no.

I guess it’s this thought that brought the title for the new piece ( 4″ by 4″ on paper)  at the top which I call Between. Simply put,  I see it as the Red Tree being torn between the nebulous  desire of the Moon’s promise set against the security of its earthly home, represented by the patchwork quilt-like look of the surrounding landscape.  Between the unknown and known.

Somewhere in between the yes and the no…

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I Love Paris

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged , , , , , , , on November 15, 2015| 2 Comments »

Paris - Pont des Arts 1953 Henri Cartier BressonI just don’t know.

I am still trying to make sense of the attacks in Paris, trying to understand the logic of terrorism and how people are convinced to follow any quasi-religious group that advances its beliefs through such violence.  It all defies logic and that is a terrifying thing because how can you fight against, let alone negotiate with, such an illogical entity?

What is lacking that would drive people to such acts?  What is missing that drives young people to join these groups in order to give their lives to hurt and kill others? Is it real religious conviction or is it just a matter of them feeling a sense of purpose that they either can’t find or refuse to feel in the world in which they were raised?

I just don’t know.  But I  do fear that this marks a tipping point, that we are in for a long and even uglier struggle, if you can imagine that,  going forward.  It may be that we are already in the beginning days of a type of World War III as the Pope has said recently.  I hope not but when you are dealing with the illogical there’s no telling where this goes.

But my heart bleeds for the people of France.  Part of me wants to jump on a plane to Paris just as a sort of ‘screw you’ to those who wish that country harm, just to let them know that their terror based on a warped and hateful religious vision will not stand up to people who try to live by the motto, Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité.

Liberty. Equality. Fraternity.  These are the uniting qualities of humanity, not just of France, and will not be taken away through a campaign based on fear and hatred.  These are words that we need now more than in any time in the recent past.

Okay, let’s take deep breath.  Today’s Sunday music is a fitting tribute written by the great American songwriter, Cole Porter.  Although there are many, many great versions out there, I chose this one from jazz great Etta Jones–  not to be confused with Etta James of “At Last” fame.  Have a great day and keep the people of France in your thoughts. Here’s  I Love Paris.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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If Not Now

Posted in Current Events, Music, Opinion, tagged , , , , on October 4, 2015| 2 Comments »

Onion Article Oct 2015Another week with another tragedy that seems more and more uniquely American.  Is this what is what people mean when they say American Exceptionalism?

The airwaves are filled as always with the same expressions of shock and outrage from public figures, which leave me cold.  It happens so frequently that there is almost a standard protocol for reaction in place for the media and public officials.  You know as soon as this happens what the outcry will be and how it will fade in several days except for those who lost family and friends in the gunfire.

Until the next time,  which unfortunately will not be too long in coming.  So we wait and shrug our shoulders, saying, like The Onion headline above, “There’s no way to prevent this.”

And there isn’t so long as we refuse to make difficult decisions.

Maybe putting off hard choices is our exceptionalism.  We are wonderful in that capacity.

That brings me to this week’s Sunday musical choice.  It’s  fittingly titled If Not Now from Tracy Chapman from way back in 1988.  Maybe if we hadn’t kicked that can down the road back then…

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