Dracula

This concludes my re-read of the major Gothic horror stories. Frankenstein was underwhelming, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was quite good, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Dracula, however, was my favorite. It is such an enjoyable read. And the style in which it’s told—journal entries, letters, newspaper articles—creates an interesting sense of drama.

I also enjoyed the characters, specifically Dr. Van Helsing, who is a strong and charismatic character. Van Helsing really captures the imagination with his intelligence and eccentricities; he’s kind of a Sherlock Holmes character who knows all and makes everyone else look a tad dim.

One invariably refers to the various films when reading this novel. In particular, Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 adaptation starring Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins. It’s a film I have enjoyed numerous times, but it is merely a rough (very rough) approximation of the book. Almost nothing in the film is as it appears in the book. Coppola made his own version of the novel. He titled it Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It is not. It’s Francis Ford Coppola’s. Filmmakers seem unable or unwilling to do books (or history) justice.

One flaw of the book is Bram Stoker’s tiresome fondness for creating dialogue with characters who speak a particular dialect. Even Van Helsing’s English is not 100 percent, and verbs remain in the present tense, and articles get used inconsistently. This ends up being a distraction.

But the rest of the novel is nothing short of wonderful. It really pulls you in and keeps you there. And I know I rattle on endlessly about atmosphere, but the world you enter in Dracula is everything you could hope for: it’s eerie, it’s mysterious, it’s macabre; you can see the fog, the mist, the shadows; you can hear the wolves. I chose autumn as a good time to read it—not because of Halloween—and wouldn’t you know, much of the novel indeed takes place in September and October.

If you enjoy reading and like fiction, I would consider Dracula. It is 400 pages of enjoyment.

https://www.amazon.com/Dracula-Bram-Stoker/dp/0141196882

Chomsky-Epstein Contoversy

I'll post this article for those following the story. The piece is long and the topic is quite specific.

Greg Grandin's article in the Nation is one of the few rational things I have read on this issue.

Sadly, due to a debilitating stroke, Chomsky is not able to defend himself. Many are saying "Aha, there's the proof!" This reaction is due to the fact that they don't like him. And the reason for them not liking him is that for many decades, Chomsky has applied standards universally, criticized US foreign policy first, described Israel's behavior accurately, and analyzed wealth, power, and the doctrinal system as one should.

 
But those who believe America wears the white hat, and believe Israel can do no wrong, are not receptive to cogent analysis. This will win you lots of enemies. And Chomsky haters are legion.

When the news broke, I was like "God damnit." (I knew what people would be saying.) It looks like Epstein wanted to ingratiate himself with brilliant academics. And he already had cultivated a relationship with MIT. It's mostly Epstein emailing Chomsky, and Chomsky responding. And Chomsky would talk to anyone. His open-door policy occasionally put him in contact with unsavory folk.

I do not believe this is a smoking gun. Chomsky was not jetting off to the island. His moral integrity was unique and nothing short of inspiring. He was a tireless voice for the vulnerable and voiceless.

A suggestion: Go on Amazon (or wherever), and randomly throw a dozen Chomsky books in your shopping cart. Then go on YouTube and randomly select fifty interviews and/or lectures and watch them. And then send me an email, and let me know what you think.

Episode 18: Orientalism

 

Good Liberals

Those who follow this blog have likely seen me speak critically about liberals. I mean something specific.

In the common parlance, liberal is the antipode to conservative. If you’re not one, you’re the other. There are only two flavors on offer, and you have to pick one. In logic, we call this an “either/or dichotomy.” This is the fallacy where you’re presented with two choices, and it’s implied there is no third option. There are actually a number of options when it comes to one’s political orientation.

When I use the term “liberal,” I am using it in a particular way. Liberalism, as I have explained, is a centrist political philosophy. Most of the country—by a sizable margin—is liberal. About two-thirds of the electorate are liberal/progressive. At the voting booth, yes, things get tight and divided. Yet, a plurality of Americans like to self-apply the label “conservative.” I guess they like how it sounds. To be a liberal is to be a wimpy tree-hugger; to be conservative is to be no-nonsense, practical, and tough. [sigh]

These “conservative” voters then go to the voting booth and shoot themselves in both feet by voting Republican.

If you don’t like brown people, why sabotage your own material interests over it? Can’t you be a sensible bigot? Just because you’re a racist doesn’t mean you have to be imprudent. I’m just saying be pragmatic about your racism.

When I say liberal, as in “good liberals,” I am talking about a stripe of intellectual. I am talking about those intellectuals who wouldn’t dare go one inch to the left of the New York Times or NPR. Now what does that mean??

These news outlets are actually right of center—like the Democratic Party. Like most institutions and corporations for that matter, they skew liberal/progressive on most domestic issues—LGBTQ, environment, race, sexism, etc. But when the war crimes get under way, and the bodies pile up, they tend to march in lock-step with the State Department.

Many assume universities are hotbeds of leftist thought. They are not. They are New York Times liberal; just like the so-called liberal news outlets, companies, and most executives.

Many parents are concerned that their child is going to be indoctrinated by a pink-haired, Marxist lesbian. I tell my students that the closest thing to the pink-haired, Marxist lesbian they’re going to get is me. I’m her. And are you being indoctrinated? We talk about politics quite a bit, and my students don’t even know where I’m coming from politically. So much for indoctrination.

As noted linguist and political analyst Noam Chomsky has been saying for decades, the liberals are worse. Sure, the conservatives and war hawks say “Exterminate the brutes.” “Send them back to the Stone Age.” But the liberals wring their hands, and problematize, and golly gee, and there is much talk of mistakes and miscalculations. (I’m talking about you, Ezra Klein.)

Liberal intellectuals lend a legitimacy to the murder and bloodshed. They soften the language. They sculpt people’s thinking. And because they are perceived as the reasonable ones, what they say must be in turn reasonable. One cannot be reasonable and truly reside at the center? No, the left edge of respectable “liberal” opinion is the New York Times. It’s the Democrats. It’s cutesy NPR, with their whacky hosts and gameshows. So cute. But when Baghdad runs out of space for dead bodies and begins storing them in refrigerated trucks? NPR has trouble finding something to say.

This is what I mean by “good liberals.” I’m talking about the spinelessness of the intellectual culture. It’s part of the reason that the population is so politically disoriented. It’s why elections are commonly 49 percent. It’s why Elizabeth Warren is not in the White House and we have the clown we have.

My Friend Leah—update 5

[Read time: 4:30]

Leah and I joked that update 5 would be a whopper. The first development since update 4 was one part telling another part to head for a third-story window in her therapist’s office building.

I was texting with him in real-time while on FaceTime with “her.” He said, “She’s not here yet,” meaning she hadn’t arrived at his office yet. I replied that she was in the building trying to get out of a window—and I caught a glimpse of a straight razor. The therapist got there in time and pulled “Leah” off the window sill. This could have gone badly.

Later that day, she swung by my place for a visit. She was in a bad way, quite depressed, and crying on and off. At one point she was talking to her therapist on FaceTime; I was in class online. When class was over I went over by Leah to join in the conversation. Leah poured a bottle of pills onto her sketch pad, and I commented, “I don’t think the label says to take twenty of those.”

So, the therapist and I made efforts to get her to not swallow the bottle. I told her, “If you swallow those, I will call 911, and the ambulance will take you to the ER. And then guess where you’re going when they’re done with you??” She then looked as if she was putting the bottle to her lips, and I grabbed it. I guess in the clinical world they call this an “interventive gesture.” I, with the help of a friend, drove Leah to a mental-health facility that night. She was okay when I left. Sad, but okay.

At this facility, her psychiatrist has made a number of alterations to her med regiment. Leah also got to “ride the lightning.” This is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), where brief electric pulses trigger a seizure in hopes of improving her depression and suicidal ideation. I hope this awful treatment produces positive effects. She is early in the treatment, but there is already temporary short-term memory loss—though she passed my memory quizzes with flying colors. It remains to be seen whether this treatment will continue.

There is talk of another residential facility, one that looks more promising than the last. I am in favor of her trying this. She does not want to be gone and so far from family. But I think it’s the best play—as does her therapist and psychiatrist.

In all these “updates,” I haven’t really told you about Leah the person. At her core is kindness. Her sense of justice and her moral compass are precise. She is very intelligent; I suspect that IQ of hers is substantial. But her intellectual intelligence is also noteworthy. She reads constantly and at an impressive speed.

In addition to the reading list I was tasked with supplying her, she recently asked for one that is specifically about philosophy. Some are the works of great thinkers, some are books about those thinkers. Here’s the list:

1. Plato, The Apology (see my essay)

2. Plato, The Republic (Grube trans.)

3. Descartes, Meditations (see my essay)

4. Stewart, The Courtier and the Heretic

5. Locke, Second Treatise of Government

6. Rasmussen, The Infidel and the Professor

7. Marx, The Communist Manifesto

8. Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals (after Solomon-Higgins)

9. Heidegger, “The Question Concerning Technology” (we’ll do this one together)

10. Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism (see my essay)

She is currently devouring the first list. She has developed a special fondness for Noam Chomsky and Epictetus. Is this what it’s like to be a proud father? Given our ages, Leah could feasibly be my daughter. I ran this by her once, to which she replied, “That’s gross.”

As far as personality, for some reason, the stand-up comic Jordan Jensen reminds me of her a lot. When I watch Jensen, I big-time get a Leah vibe.

Also, she is the most perceptive person I have ever met in my life. She notes body language and tone of voice like no one I have ever met. She can read people, detect lies, detect people hiding things—it’s astounding. If there is such a thing as a perception genius, that is Leah.

All in all, she is an extraordinary person. When one takes into account the suffering and agony she has endured, to hear other people complain about their problems is difficult to listen to. And people, usually men, who talk tough?? They are not. They are weak and insecure, and they are trying to cover up an exposed nerve. Pathetic. Leah is tough, and I don’t know anyone who could have survived what she survived.

That all said, I just like her. We laugh a lot; she is quite funny and playful. As mentioned, we bicker constantly. More than someone whom I look after, Leah has become a dear friend. I love her intensely. I have never felt this way about another person.

But with her list of mental health issues and my physical limitations, we make quite a pair. But I would not trade what we have, in all our rack and ruin, for anything in the world.

A NOTE TO LEAH:

You frequently get down on yourself and refer to your perceived failures; you talk of letting people down, you talk of fucking up. None of this is true. You have let zero people down, especially in light of the person you are, the person you are becoming, and your strength. The fact that a person could endure what you have and not complain, whine, or bitch like so many people do is nothing short of astounding. I personally delight in how you—without knowing it—embarrass so many people. You make a multitude look ridiculous. I love that about you. I am proud of you and I love you.

Real quick:

I called Leah one day, and she answered the call in the following way: “Hey, you big-headed butt face.” And now I say those nice things?? Can you believe that?? Inconceivable!

[Photo: This is me helping Leah check in to a mental-health facility a couple weeks back. The discerning viewer will note that on the flat-screen television is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.]

After Life

I like Ricky Gervais, but a little goes a long way. However, in this series, After Life, a lot is just fine. The series is funny (at times hilarious), tender, and humane. Such a lovely series. Three seasons, get on it.

https://www.netflix.com/title/80998491

Alice Cooper

 Um ... I really like Alice Cooper.