This is a very interesting and profound question that speaks to morality and human nature. As with all good philosophical questions, answering it requires challenging our preconceptions.

Did Hitler know that he was bad? Well, do we know he was bad? Do we know anyone is good or bad? Great philosophical questions, but let’s avoid getting bogged down in wondering whether we have knowledge of moral truths. Let’s agree that Hitler was a very bad man. When I took ethics at university, the professor said that if your ethical system doesn’t condemn Hitler, you need a new one. I’ve long considered that good advice. …

Ideas change everything

It is impossible for us today to appreciate the profound effect of Johannes Kepler’s theory of planetary motion. Before Kepler’s book Astronomia Nova (1609) the unquestioned assumption was that everything in the heavens was perfect. A large part of that assumption was that the motion of heavenly bodies must be circular.

Since ancient times, the circle was revered as geometric perfection. Scientists and sages assumed that the heavens were a realm of perfection and all motions of bodies reflected that perfection. Planets, assumed to revolve around the Earth of course, must revolve in circles. The paradigm of circular motion was so strong that to explain retrograde planetary motion, astronomers developed the complicated theory of multiple epicycles. …

Today, I watched with interest a BBC news story. It was about the ownership of Taylor Swift’s song recordings being sold by some guy named Scooter to some investment firm. Swift is upset that she wasn’t offered the chance to buy ownership of the master recordings of her first six albums. This is the latest in a long-standing struggle by Swift to win control of her own music. I don’t share Swift’s taste in music, but I admire her for her courage to stand up to the music labels. …

Space for difference

“The test of faith is whether I can make space for difference. Can I recognize God’s image in someone who is not in my image, whose language, faith, ideals, are different from mine? If I cannot, then I have made God in my image instead of allowing God to remake me in God’s.”

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

This quote is from his book, The Dignity of Difference. Another recommended book by Rabbi Sacks is Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence. In these books, Rabbi Sacks calls for the courage to accept those who are different from us. Bigotry is a form of cowardice, and violence against others is driven by fear. …

There are now three realms of existence: reality, fiction, and reality TV. Reality TV is far too contrived to be reality, which is probably why the TV networks prefer the term “non-scripted TV.” The genre fails in comparison to reality. Nevertheless, locking people in houses, stranding them on islands, stalking hillbillies, and raiding abandoned storage lockers are now staples of basic cable reality TV.

Then there’s Oak Island. It’s a real place with a real history, not an island turned into a TV set with scripted “non-scripted” drama. But Oak Island the place is different from “The Curse of Oak Island” the TV show. …

Yes, Trump is a horrible human being. Yes, Trump’s policies are horrible. But as I’ve written previously, Trump isn’t the problem. There’s a problem worse than Trump, and the U.S. has just made that problem worse.

“Feckless” is a good word, meaning weak, ineffective, and worthless. “Feckless” is the perfect word to describe the election campaign run by the Democratic Party this year. There are two ways of looking at the Democrats’ feckless campaign: they are either spectacularly inept or they deliberately lost. …

People ask me “when have things in the US ever looked this bad?” I reply, “1968, to name just the most recent time,” but I do understand their consternation. Things do look bad in the US and we need to ask why. Some of you will say, “Trump is why things are so bad,” but that’s too easy. America’s problems run far deeper than that bumbling buffoon. Trump is a symptom. Hear me out.

Is The US Falling Apart?

First off, yeah, it is sad to see what’s going on the US. The pandemic has vividly exposed the US’s structural flaws and social fault lines. Income inequality, white supremacist violence, climate crisis, runaway corporatism, and the siloization of Americans such that civil conversation is all but dead… it’s an unsettled landscape and few if any American leaders are remotely able to deal with the many problems. …

The last thing my wife and I did before we went to the airport on September 20, 2012, was go to city hall and vote. It was our last day in the US and the first day for early voting, and we felt very fortunate to be able to vote. We have since lived in the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic (and voted by mail every election since). Travel broadens your mind and changes you. Living abroad really changes your perspective — for us, the changes have been for the better.

This isn’t an anti-American screed or political diatribe. I will never not be American, but as events unfold, I am more and more detached from the land of my birth. Time and distance contribute, but there’s more to it. Maybe from my new perspective I’m seeing more clearly how the US is — a bit lacking. …