One partial quibble, Ed, regarding " I cannot even imagine what it is like to live 24/7 as a black person coping with a racist world."
You cannot know from the inside, you cannot *experience* it as your experience, but you can, and no doubt have, read novels, essays, memoirs, perhaps diaries expressing and attempting to convey the experience of such life. And it has reduced the distance between you and the people whose lives you would fully understand if you could. It's the work of empathy.
If we cannot imagine the lives of others unlike ourselves (and who else is like me. poor soul?), that's another large problem for democracy. Without turning this comment into my own essay, if democracy pursues the best for individuals, we immediately meet the wall that individuals are all differently situated and members of classes who define the interest of "the best" differently because of their situations. If we are to imagine the best under such situations (an aesthetic undertaking, I'd argue), we need to be able to understand something of those others whom our decisions affect.
Of course you're right, and I was inarticulate--I only meant I could not fully grasp what it must be like, not that I couldn't draw nigh, or at least nigher. And drawing nigher is completely necessary for a just democratic society. Thanks for the corrective words. I cannot imagine how satisfying it is to ... .
Excellent point about the efficacy of literature in helping us to see through others' eyes. Of course, the reason that book banners want to remove books written by gay or trans people is the fear that their kids might read those books and become less bigoted than their parents.
Thanks, Ed, for one of your best essays ever (im[rarely]ho). Instructive, illuminating, thoughtful, and clarifying. Personally, I LOVE the irony of that "I'm off to Egypt to knock down the pyramids because they had slaves" cartoon; the irony, and thus instructive value, was off the charts.
Please live long and prosper for at least the rest of my life so that I can continue to enjoy your work.
I enjoyed reading this and I appreciate your thoughtful analysis. I've been in the historic preservation movement (professionally, as a hobby, and as a volunteer/activist) for a while and I devote a lot of energy to these issues, so I am really glad to see this.
PS I posted an excerpt (as well as a link to your full post) on the Instagram/Facebook account of Historic Atlanta (see https://www.instagram.com/p/C1-eb5Xul0I/). Thank you for putting this out there!
Way to go, Ed -- thanks for taking the time to get all this expressed. Your opinions are well-nuanced, and I agree with them all ... just one more reason I've admired you for years and continue to do so!
BTW, Perry (my co-conspirator of old), here's an emailed message I just sent to the Georgia Dept of Revenue (along with my name and phone #, etc.)-- "Can you please advise whether your policy is the same as it was some years ago?--I refer to the policy that allowed me and others to place books (atheist books in our case; Gideons bibles by others) into state parks for distribution to bedrooms in state park cabins and lodges.
Any information you can provide will be appreciated.
Oh, Ed! You have offended the Great Goddess Sensitiva, Guardian of Political Rectitude and Self-Righteous Indignation. For your sin, you will be banished to the outer darkness, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. You will be pilloried by the goddess's righteous servants, who will shower you with calumnies and pronounce maledictions upon you. Humor? Please. The Goddess and her servants know not this concept. Your failure to repent in sackcloth and ashes shows that you are a hardened sinner and beyond redemption. (Me too, BTW)
I rate Steve Martin's "King Tut" skit as among the funniest things I have seen, ranking with Pontius Pilate's threat to "cwucify" the next person to laugh from Monty Python's Life of Brian, and Chris Farley's manic eruption upon being told that his regular coffee has been replaced with Folger's Crystals.
One partial quibble, Ed, regarding " I cannot even imagine what it is like to live 24/7 as a black person coping with a racist world."
You cannot know from the inside, you cannot *experience* it as your experience, but you can, and no doubt have, read novels, essays, memoirs, perhaps diaries expressing and attempting to convey the experience of such life. And it has reduced the distance between you and the people whose lives you would fully understand if you could. It's the work of empathy.
If we cannot imagine the lives of others unlike ourselves (and who else is like me. poor soul?), that's another large problem for democracy. Without turning this comment into my own essay, if democracy pursues the best for individuals, we immediately meet the wall that individuals are all differently situated and members of classes who define the interest of "the best" differently because of their situations. If we are to imagine the best under such situations (an aesthetic undertaking, I'd argue), we need to be able to understand something of those others whom our decisions affect.
Of course you're right, and I was inarticulate--I only meant I could not fully grasp what it must be like, not that I couldn't draw nigh, or at least nigher. And drawing nigher is completely necessary for a just democratic society. Thanks for the corrective words. I cannot imagine how satisfying it is to ... .
Excellent point about the efficacy of literature in helping us to see through others' eyes. Of course, the reason that book banners want to remove books written by gay or trans people is the fear that their kids might read those books and become less bigoted than their parents.
Thanks, Ed, for one of your best essays ever (im[rarely]ho). Instructive, illuminating, thoughtful, and clarifying. Personally, I LOVE the irony of that "I'm off to Egypt to knock down the pyramids because they had slaves" cartoon; the irony, and thus instructive value, was off the charts.
Please live long and prosper for at least the rest of my life so that I can continue to enjoy your work.
I enjoyed reading this and I appreciate your thoughtful analysis. I've been in the historic preservation movement (professionally, as a hobby, and as a volunteer/activist) for a while and I devote a lot of energy to these issues, so I am really glad to see this.
PS I posted an excerpt (as well as a link to your full post) on the Instagram/Facebook account of Historic Atlanta (see https://www.instagram.com/p/C1-eb5Xul0I/). Thank you for putting this out there!
Thanks so much for reposting this, Clinton Tankersley. You honor me by doing so.
Way to go, Ed -- thanks for taking the time to get all this expressed. Your opinions are well-nuanced, and I agree with them all ... just one more reason I've admired you for years and continue to do so!
BTW, Perry (my co-conspirator of old), here's an emailed message I just sent to the Georgia Dept of Revenue (along with my name and phone #, etc.)-- "Can you please advise whether your policy is the same as it was some years ago?--I refer to the policy that allowed me and others to place books (atheist books in our case; Gideons bibles by others) into state parks for distribution to bedrooms in state park cabins and lodges.
Any information you can provide will be appreciated.
Regards, Ed Buckner"
As a Arabic person myself, Steve Martin's King Tut is a classic SNL skit. Why can't anything be just apolitical fun anymore?
Oh, Ed! You have offended the Great Goddess Sensitiva, Guardian of Political Rectitude and Self-Righteous Indignation. For your sin, you will be banished to the outer darkness, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. You will be pilloried by the goddess's righteous servants, who will shower you with calumnies and pronounce maledictions upon you. Humor? Please. The Goddess and her servants know not this concept. Your failure to repent in sackcloth and ashes shows that you are a hardened sinner and beyond redemption. (Me too, BTW)
I rate Steve Martin's "King Tut" skit as among the funniest things I have seen, ranking with Pontius Pilate's threat to "cwucify" the next person to laugh from Monty Python's Life of Brian, and Chris Farley's manic eruption upon being told that his regular coffee has been replaced with Folger's Crystals.
Thanks, friend!