Yeah, I guess I’m considering whether we should be more pessimistic about the past and less pessimistic about the future. The SCOTUS ruling is a great case study: with the lens of pessimism, it seems inevitable that Trump will now rule with total impunity. But impeachment (or the threat of impeachment) has, so far, been the only real means to reign in a president. So I’m curious how we’ll look back at the ruling in 20 years.
1. So it’s actually Obama to blame for Trump’s presidential craze? Dammit. (I read the footnote article too, but still)
2. I’m not a huge chart reader to be honest, but the chart of how this recession has affected home value made me stop and also made me sad.
3. I think we, as humanity, don’t often revisit predictions unless they come true. It’s crazy to revisit your 2024 predictions halfway through the year and see how they’ve gone right/wrong.
4. I sometimes with Doctor Strange was real and could tell us how social ideologies will land over time - like the reception of Street fighter or gay marriage. I think he’d have to have no morals but also it would save us so much social turmoil (“blah blah they run their course to mature over time, ok whatever”)
On the morals of future generations, my bet is that they would/will judge me more harshly for my omnivore ways than my carbon emissions, but we’ll see. I kinda adore Benjamin Franklin’s nerdy “Plan For Achieving Moral Perfection,” but he was also a slave-holder before becoming an abolitionist and reportedly neglected his wife and an illegitimate child.
I’m amazed when I read a poem like that and then discover it was translated from another language. What magic. A small part of me wants to focus on translating poetry.
It’s all relative, but this does remind of photos from places like Iran or Lebanon, or even Cuba of people freely partying or protesting or whatever. We are always looking at a certain time, relatively speaking maybe “the good times” to us, but for another part of society, these days are categorized as the dark ages.
Also you should meet up with my friend Steve in Paris. How long are you there?
With the most recent Supreme Court ruling, I’m glad this post was less optimistic than you usually are but still way too optimistic.
Yeah, I guess I’m considering whether we should be more pessimistic about the past and less pessimistic about the future. The SCOTUS ruling is a great case study: with the lens of pessimism, it seems inevitable that Trump will now rule with total impunity. But impeachment (or the threat of impeachment) has, so far, been the only real means to reign in a president. So I’m curious how we’ll look back at the ruling in 20 years.
Shit, lots to think about here:
1. So it’s actually Obama to blame for Trump’s presidential craze? Dammit. (I read the footnote article too, but still)
2. I’m not a huge chart reader to be honest, but the chart of how this recession has affected home value made me stop and also made me sad.
3. I think we, as humanity, don’t often revisit predictions unless they come true. It’s crazy to revisit your 2024 predictions halfway through the year and see how they’ve gone right/wrong.
4. I sometimes with Doctor Strange was real and could tell us how social ideologies will land over time - like the reception of Street fighter or gay marriage. I think he’d have to have no morals but also it would save us so much social turmoil (“blah blah they run their course to mature over time, ok whatever”)
On revisiting predictions, I thought this was great: https://x.com/historyinmemes/status/1806422247596245173?s=61
On the morals of future generations, my bet is that they would/will judge me more harshly for my omnivore ways than my carbon emissions, but we’ll see. I kinda adore Benjamin Franklin’s nerdy “Plan For Achieving Moral Perfection,” but he was also a slave-holder before becoming an abolitionist and reportedly neglected his wife and an illegitimate child.
This reminded me one of my favorite poems of all times:
https://war-poetry.livejournal.com/119331.html
I’m amazed when I read a poem like that and then discover it was translated from another language. What magic. A small part of me wants to focus on translating poetry.
It’s all relative, but this does remind of photos from places like Iran or Lebanon, or even Cuba of people freely partying or protesting or whatever. We are always looking at a certain time, relatively speaking maybe “the good times” to us, but for another part of society, these days are categorized as the dark ages.
Also you should meet up with my friend Steve in Paris. How long are you there?
It’s true, it’s impossible to generalize true feelings of individuals based on the vibes of headlines.