Modus Ponens/Tollens and Naomi Klein

I was interested to hear Naomi Klein giving a rather long-winded account of how some groups in America reject the very idea of global warming because they see that dealing with reality would mean abandoning cherished dogma about the distribution of the surplus......aka "economics' (vulgarly said)...

In a time when the ruling class is determined to destroy public universities, and whereas Philosophy Departments are also a victim....

IT is worth pointing out that were knowledge of baby logic more widespread--and baby logic is taught in Philosophy Departments at public universities--Klein might have simply said

What's modus ponens to one is modus tollens to another.....

Modus Ponens

If anthropocentric climate change is real Then we need to change our economic system.

Anthropocentric climate change is real.

Therefore, we need to change....

Modus Tollens

If a.c.c. is real, then we need a new economic system.

We don't need a new economic system.

Ergo, climate change is not real.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/9/naomi_klein_tim_dechristopher_guilty_ver

Hitler and the "art" of persuasion....

In the past year I've viewed a few movies for the sake of my stay-at-home elderly parents.

And one of the less pleasant aspects of that has been the "extras" which they put on DVD's--usually some sort of hero worship directed at the film maker and actors....

In the case of "Downfall" I noticed that some people connected to the film seemed to express something like awe or astonishment at Hitler's influence, or his ability to influence.

However, I think they were making a mistake. They confused the fact of influence (as in a storm or an explosion) with being in control (knowing the consequences of the forces one unleashed).

(Reference: I recall that Terry Penner used to refer to a passage in Aristotle with a similar distinction.)

Of course, my remark assumes that if you unleash forces that ultimately backfire and destroy you and your plans, then you never were in control. But that seems like a reasonable assumption....

the USA is a backwards country

the other day, waiting in the doctor's office, I viewed a drama about a psychopathic killer.

Not my taste, but I was in a waiting room dominated by a "large screen" tv.

The creators' of the drama attempted to recreate the killer's obsession with the drowing of a woman. I did not watch carefully, but I did find myself watching a scene in which the killer watches a woman drown, a scene in which the killer enjoyed seeing the woman "give up".

I've carried that scene in my memory, and I am angry at the manipulation involved, angry at the makers of the drama, and angry at the doctor and his office manager for imposing this unpleasant spectacle on me.

Yet, when I purchase a movie with even a brief glimpse of a woman's breasts or bottom,
the DVD comes with a warning label.

I dare say: no one has yet been ruined by a brief glance at a woman's breasts or bottom, or
indeed, vagina.

That's not what ruins people. Poverty and inequality do. Lack of access to education does.

And, what's more: the drama about the killer had absolutely no insights to offer. It was stale, hackneyed, cliched. The attempt to view the killer's mind did not take place in a context where it could bring any further insights. It occurred in the context of a familiar style of narrative with little or no novelty or creativity.,

Yet, that sick little drama was funded. There is ample money available for that sort of crap.

And there was money for the doctor to purchase the large screen TV...

all in a time where, we are told, the "economy" is not doing well....

the case of the Hitlerin office manager

I've written before about unpleasantness in the waiting rooms...

televisions turned on...

no allowed to be turned off...

and no one allowed to change the channel...

very unpleasant

not considerate

and today whilst visiting my father's cardiologist--who I can only praise for his openness,

mildness and professionalism--I had an unpleasant encounter with the so-called

"Office Manger" Frau Hitlerova

Well, she could have taken a page from Hitler's book in the German film "Downfall"

with a portrayal of Hitler by Bruno Ganz.

"It is my will!" said Hitler--or words to that effect

So, too Frau Office Manager said

"The TV goes on when I arrive and off when I leave."

with the unspoken message:

no questions allowed

no suggestions

no discussion

love it or leave it

IT IS MY WILL

how surprising that so Hitleresque an attitude should appear in the land of the free,

in El Paso, TExas....

as if to provide a sharp contrast to the easy-going doctor

No, this woman put me in my place.

And I went away muttering and cursing.

Yes, I would say that this is another mundane example of fascism in America,

but then, you know that political scientists and philosophers don't like it when

I talk that way.....

But they are not dealing with the office manager, are they?

And another thing: why the hell should there be advertisements for junk food in a doctor's office?

And another thing:

I've been very impressed (negatively) with the local health don't care system.

My mother recently hassled rudely over the phone,

my mother who is eighty four years old and has worked very day of her life....

And a local Tenet Healthcare Corp run hospital cannot seem to get its shit together.

six pm the day before my father's operation I get a call about a missing piece of

paperwork! Hey it's not my paperwork! I'm not the doctor!

And the operation is scheduled for eleven thirty in the morning the next day.

HOW VERY UNIMPRESSIVE

what a pain in the ass

I've said it before: That's what happens when you put profits first, courtesy I gather of

the influence of the likes of City BAnk...

oh dear

oh dear

am I going to say it,

I think I can't stop myself:

why not try socialism?

why not try democracy in the workplace?

why not have workers run the factories?

Get rid of managers in the schools.

Get rid of administrators in the colleges and universities.

And Frau Office Manager could be one of many equal citizens..... including patients --who would decide collectively about tv policies... (is that really too much to ask?)

oh dear,

what a dream....

facebook fascism and international woman's day

My mother has worked all of her life--and at the age of eighty-four, she continues to work--in the home, unpaid labor, but real labor.

My father, by contrast, has retired--and my mother continues to take care of him.

I have been helping my mother, so I too have been working in the home, and it doesn't count for the official statistics. I am not part of the "market".

But I do work.

I do contribute.

However facebook will not allow me to specify my position as "unpaid labor in the home".

Indeed, facebook bans other categories..... Hence my term 'fascism'--not used the way that political scientists my like, but, nonetheless, it has a point...

So, on this day when women should be celebrated, let us recognize the incoherence of the dominant economic theory in this region (as in so many others)....

Note
The economist Nancy Folbre has more articulate things to say about this issue of women's labor in the home....(more articulate than what I've said)...but even she just mentions in passing the case of care for the elderly....

Wim Wenders, "Untergang"

[modified 11 Feb. 2012]

Brief summary: I agree with Wenders' reaction to the film, and also fault Wikipedia (the version at the original date of writing) for failing to understand Wenders' critique. I myself also express dissatisfaction with the film. (added 11 Feb. 2012)

I just saw the film "Downfall", which depicts Hitler's final days.

Prior to viewing it I took a peak at the Wikipedia article on the film, and discovered Wim Wender's assessment of it.

Myself, I don't see the point of the film. Yes, it is upsetting to see violence, and the violence in the film is far less than the actuality. But, for insights I would turn rather to books or other films.

Nonetheless, I've been thinking about what Wenders has to say (insofar as I've understood his criticism--reading him in the original German with my less than complete knowledge of that language), and I've put together my own take on what he says.

So far as the English language Wikipedia article goes,

The Wikipedia article is incomplete or unsatisfying insofar as the writer/s simply says/say

that Wenders made a technical analysis of the film (or something to that effect.)

But it's not so "technical" that a naive viewer like myself (or, dare I say, you) can't understand it.

Consider the psychologist's notion of "scripts" or "schemas"--handy and familiar routines, or chunks of rules/abstract notions put together for understanding reality.

If I know someone is a father, e.g., that structures my experience, in advance, so to speak, of actual experiencing.

So, too if I now a building is a restaurant....

So, too, the makers of "Untergang" began with the mundane event of a job interview--preceded, however, by an interview with an old woman, who happened to be depicted in the film, and that's important to mention..l..

Nonetheless, by focusing on the job interview, and the young woman who wanted a job,

and turning Hitler into the boss, and a not so bad one (it seems).....the film did effect a degree of normalization of the man and the historical events.....

She was just like us: looking for a job. Her boss just happened to be Hitler....

No, that doesn't sound right.

A defender of the film might like to emphasize the current day interviews with the older woman, a woman who said: Yes I could have known....(known about how evil Hitler was....)...

But, it is a question of emphasis, and the power of the cinematic depiction with actors, versus the current day interview.

I am inclined to agree with Wenders about the overall effect, namely, the film tended to trivialize Hitler, to frame him as an employer.

For a more profound understanding of World War Two or Hitler, I would have to turn elsewhere...

A psychologically deeper approach is found, e.g., in the recently published novel by Keith Oatley, "Therefore Choose", and if I were to single out a quality that makes that book different from the film, it would be the tension and discomfort I experienced in reading the book.

I wasn't sufficiently uncomfortable while viewing "Downfall".....

Movies? Just now I don't know.

NOTE

Slight modifications added February 11, 2012. (I have not checked Wikipedia to see if there is a newer version of the article.)

El Paso's Bad Weather

Once again the weather is shitty: blowing dust.

Many (perhaps most?) people I meet suffer from an allergy or a cold...

Yeah, what a lovely place.... if you are a cactus or a snake....