2022-07-29
- Fukuyama (Political Order and Political Decay) makes a really interesting point about the development path of Germany: given the structure of the Prussian state, Bismarck’s hyper nationalism was likely a requirement to eventually transition Germany toa modern liberal democracy. Befor Bismarck, Prussia was described as “an Army with a country.” There was no real sense of Prussian/German national identity. Bismarck’s succcessful unification of Germany required creating that strong national identity. Unfortunately, strong national identity is a risky game, and in this case led to WWI and WWII. But the bigger point is that there aren’t really that many compelling alternatives to introducing strong nationalism for moving from a clientelistic/patronage-based state to something closer to a liberal democracy.
- Another interesting point in the Fukuyama book is the balance between the importance of individuals vs the importance of systems/institutions. In the examples given, it’s clear that both are critical. Like in the example of the US moving past clientelism, it was super important that Theodore Roosevelt become President when he did for moving the US towards a more meritocratic-based system at the federal level. If McKinley had remained President, we are much less likely to have seen the changes we did at the time we did. Maybe we would have gotten to a better system eventually without Roosevelt, but he, as an individual, really moved the needle. Nice to be reminded that our own individual actions are important on some level, in a world seemingly dominated by powerful institutions (big govt, mega corps, etc).
- Kenneth Rexroth has some really powerful poetry.
- People have been recently talking about how a society’s drug of choice plays a big role in what that society does. So like, America for a long time has had coffee (caffeine) and alcohol as “drugs of choice.” And people point out that much of modern life in the US probably wouldn’t be structured the same (e.g. working all day in an office) if we had different drugs of choice. And the drugs of choice are changing, of course. These days, Adderall/amphetamines seem to be rising (at least among whatever bubble I am in). Psychedelics also seem to be rising. Nicotine has been falling for a while. Alcohol and Coffee still very strong, of course. This has now been a long preamble to my main point: I wonder to what extent a society’s dominant fabrics reflect/influence the way that society functions. I just saw a woman walk by on the streets of New York. She was, in my view, extremely typical, in that she was covered nearly from head to toe in spandex. Made me think about fabrics.
- The Propher by Gibran is excellent. The line “when you are in love, you should not say ‘God is in my heart’ but rather ‘I am in the heart of God’” is an absolute banger. Gonna be so sick when I find the time to drop that one with Elena: “time spent with you is time spent in the heart of God”. Gotta have the lube ready after that one. Will save for the most special of occasions.
- Jokes aside, the book is full of bangers like this, and I’m only like 10% through it. If you could competently deploy these lines in a romantic setting, you’d be very dangerous. Counterparty would resonate so hard they’d spontaneously combust.
- Advice day. I rarely ask my friends/family for advice. I rarely ask them directly “based on what you know of my goals, what do you think I should change in my life to increase my chances of achieving my goals?” Or maybe even more fundamentally “what goals do you think I should have/what goals do you think i should give up?” Of course, there are good reasons not to ask these questions. But I do wish there was a venue at some time for these questions to be raised and answered. So, I’d like to institute an annual Advice Day. On this day, I request that my friends consider and answer those questions (or related ones of interest in any particular way). Tentative date: Aug 8. That’s the birthday of the Patron Saint of Advice, my mother.
Date
July 29, 2022