Free Speech

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“I can feel in myself, and see
In others around me, a powerful
Nostalgia for the time
When history existed.”
Francis Fukuyama

Bust of President Zachary Taylor covered in plastic after blood was smeared on it when a Trump mob broke into the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021

We’ve created a world where everybody can talk, but only a select few people are actually heard. Anybody can start a newsletter or get on social media, but only a few people are ever actually seen and heard.

Francis Fukuyama writes about in his new book, In the Realm of the Last Man: A Memoir, that while free speech is certainly important, the issue facing us today is about amplification.

More than a conventional memoir, In the Realm of the Last Man is a personal history as well as a political history. Returning to and developing the concepts that have been central to his work, recognition, thymos, trust, identity, human nature, institutions, and he illuminates the crises of the twenty-first century. In the Realm is the story of a life that illuminates the troubled fate of democracy and liberalism over the last fifty years.

In our current fragile democracy, who gets to be heard? How is the President of the United States allowed to use taxpayer dollars for his political propaganda? How is the President of the United States allowed to stymie freedom of speech?

Another important terrifying tell is, why did Elon Musk buy Twitter? Because it bought him a megaphone. Musk was already the richest man in the world, and yet he had to sit by the phone and wait for the BBC or CNN to call him. Billions of dollars couldn’t get him an audience, but his own social media could. And so, he bought social media.

As long as humans have been alive, some people have been heard more than others. At first, this meant the loudest or the most charismatic voices were heard. But then came the gatekeepers. First, publishers decided who could write a book or get in a newspaper. Then came radio, then TV, and now the internet.

Today, Meta and Google control the vast amount of what anybody hears or sees. Everybody can speak. But who gets heard is decided by a few companies changing algorithms and rules.

And so, we hear from the influencers and celebrities who know how to make a viral reel. We hear only about those topics that get shared or liked, or don’t violate a company’s terms of service.

Here and now, our conversations get narrowed, and the speakers are muted or amplified, depending on what a few gatekeepers actually want us to see and hear, while calling it free speech.

Shine On

Eternal Flow of Modes

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“Minds are won through love and nobility rather than force
Happiness is virtue itself rather than its reward
Hope and fear are intertwined, and
Excellent things are both rare and difficult”
Baruch Espinosa

Reading has been part of my daily life as far back as I can remember. Tracking what I read began in 2015 when I discovered Good Reads. This online database website that allows you to track what you’ve read, what you’d like to read and also review the books you’ve read.

Each year I set a goal to read a number of books. It’s a lofty goal but surprisingly because of Good Reads, I’m able to reach my goal.

I read a diverse subject matter of books because of my wide variety of interests and unbridled curiosity. I’m always nosing into something new I find exciting. Recently, because of all the terrible and horrific news on tv, I’m reading more than watching tv. I tape all my news shows and movies so I can watch them commercial free at my leisure. This has allowed me to spend more time reading and also writing my current work of fiction.

One area I have not read a lot about is Philosophy. One man in particular has caught my attention, Baruch Espinosa. He was born in 1632 and died in 1677 and was of Portuguese-Jewish origin and lived in the Dutch Republic. Espinosa’s philosophy addressed a multitude of areas such as philosophical discourse, metaphysics, epistemology, political philosophy, ethics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of science.

In one of his writings he wrote about: “What if death is not the end? It might not be the end that you want, but what if death is not the end of your story?” According to Espinosa’s monism, there might be more to your postmortem existence than you might think.

Espinosa argued that the entire universe is just one substance. He wrote how what if your body and all of your thoughts are part of this substance. How everything is part of an eternal, infinite substance. But everything that we interact with, all of the objects and all of the people that we meet are simply modes. Modes are temporary configurations of the underlying reality.

What if, you are just a particular configuration at this moment in time? Eventually, you will move on to a different mode, because we are just waves in an ocean, briefly visible above the whole. And one day, our waves will fade back again into the sea.

Likewise, you are just a fleeting moment of the infinite. You are a temporary manifestation of the one substance. Eventually, your mind and your body will disintegrate and you will rejoin the great ocean. But your substance will not vanish; it will just transform.

Espinosa invites us to see the world from the perspective of eternity, and from this view, the distinctions we make between others and ourselves, between life and death, are just illusions born of our limited perspective. And so you are not just a human. You are the universe momentarily expressed as you.

Mind blowing thoughts from a man’s theory that one day, you will rejoin the infinite substance — not as a loss, but as part of a vast ocean of the eternal flow of modes.

Shine On

Batman Shelf

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“Patience and tenacity are worth more
than twice their weight of cleverness.” 
Thomas Henry Huxley

If you are lucky to be the parent of a son born in the mid-1980’s, you remember how much they admired Super Hero’s. From Batman to Superman the costumes, pjs and action figures were scattered around their bedroom. My little boy was no different. However, he wanted a display shelf that would show off his most prized Super Hero possessions; a display shelf only fitting for a museum.

After searching relentlessly for months for a Batman style shelf and not finding one, I did what I do when I can’t find exactly what I want. I design and build it myself.

First I designed and figured out the dimensions for the shelf and made a paper template of the exact size and shape. Never having constructed a custom shelf before, I attempted to enlist my talented woodworking husband. My husband was a masterful carpenter; with his power and hand tools always ready in the garage for his magisterial skilled hands. His designs always clean and beautiful, to match the potential of the wood for the task at hand.

Hubby was very busy at the time, but was confident I could build it myself, so he set up his Dewalt table mounted jigsaw for me to cut the wood. He patiently taught me how to use the jigsaw with some scrap pieces of wood. His final instructions were to practice for a few hours until he returned before cutting the beautiful poplar wood I bought for the project.

After 20 minutes of practice, I decided I was skilled enough to cut the final pieces needed for my shelf. Needless to say, hubby was not happy with me when he returned and saw what I had done. Mostly he was angry because I might have lost a digit or two. I can’t say I remember every detail, but I do remember an argument ensued, with wood flying everywhere in the garage. After he calmed down, he was impressed with my little Batman shelf I had created. In fact, he even helped me sand and smooth the edges before I spray painted it glossy jet black.

When my son returned from his father’s house that weekend, I had already mounted the shelf on a wall in his bedroom. He was so impressed he didn’t believe his mom had build the shelf and not bought it somewhere.

To this day, when my son needs help locating something he desires, he calls me to find it for him. So far, I’ve always been able to come through for him. He admires his mom’s patience and tenacity when it comes to getting a job done. And he will always remember and appreciate the time I made his dream Batman Shelf.

Shine On

Phantom of the Opera

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“We never said
Our love was ever green
Or as unchanging as the sea
But if you can still remember
Stop and think of me”
Andrew Lloyd Webber

Recently on the TCM network, they highlighted the work of the great Lon Chaney. I am quite familiar with Chaney’s work but one movie I had not watched was the 1925 silent film, The Phantom of the Opera. This American silent horror film was an adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel of the same name. I was captivated by this movie and Chaney’s performance as the Phantom.

What surprised me as I watched the movie, was how it transported me back to a time when I was honored to see live performances of The Phantom of the Opera not only once but twice. Back then, I was obsessed with the music and for weeks I played nothing but the Broadway soundtrack in my house, in my car and even on my walkman. My 4-year-old son became familiar with all the music as well and learned the lyrics to every song just like mom.

Sarah Brightman sang the iconic title duet and played Christine Daaé alongside Michael Crawford in the Ahmanson Theatre production of The Phantom. After watching the silent film and craving to watch a musical version of the movie, I found a 2011 video production on line.

As I watched this updated performance, I found myself remembering all the lyrics to this iconic music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. But, the music hit this musical empath emotionally different after 35 years, especially the opening song, Think of Me.

Thirty-five years is a lifetime to some people who never make it to thirty-six. Webber’s poignant lyrics to his song, Think of Me hit home; remembering all the people I have lost the last three decades since my first experience listening to the music from The Phantom of the Opera.

Shine On

If you would like to watch the Royal Albert Hall, London England production of The Phantom of the Opera, click on the link below: https://archive.org/details/The_Phantom_of_The_Opera_Full_Stage_Show

Thanks For Following

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“Appreciating others is a reflection
of celebrating oneself.”
Walt Whitman

It’s hard to believe
It’s been over a decade
Since that first blog post
On 2015 New Year’s Day

I began this blog
As a writing exercise
To practice each day
Writing whimsical prose

Through these many years
I never would have dreamed
My followers could grow
To 50,000 plus from Zero

Thanks to all who’ve visited
Who’ve liked and commented
Thanks for all your support
Thanks for following

Shine On