tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post1499408270556966806..comments2024-03-27T15:44:43.564-08:00Comments on What Do I Know?: How We 'Know' Things Determines How We Handle Them. Old Age, Mental Health, DeathStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-71459506917944020642016-05-08T09:09:45.612-08:002016-05-08T09:09:45.612-08:00Got it, Barbara. Cheers!Got it, Barbara. Cheers!Jacob Dugan-Brausehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06287631724339961459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-86919670930958191462016-05-08T09:08:47.154-08:002016-05-08T09:08:47.154-08:00Happened again. Worked up a good, thoughtful reply...Happened again. Worked up a good, thoughtful reply to have it evaporate when I hit a radio button I didn't look at carefully before clicking it: Sign out.<br /><br />NO! Not sign out! I meant publish!<br /><br />Oh well. Gone.<br /><br />In short, let's just say I was recounting how the State of Israel is burning bridges where I live now.<br /><br />Yeah, I know. Quite a comment from someone who knows a thing or two about setting bridges alight...<br /><br />My point, exactly.Jacob Dugan-Brausehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06287631724339961459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-13727419430651110782016-05-08T04:08:23.681-08:002016-05-08T04:08:23.681-08:00He hasn't listened to the news since Obama was...He hasn't listened to the news since Obama was first elected, but seems to understand the big picture despite that and has a wicked sense of humor. He's British.Barbara Carlsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05463074148195784152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-87820422564276006342016-05-07T22:11:54.267-08:002016-05-07T22:11:54.267-08:00Being Mortal raises many key issues in this evolut...Being Mortal raises many key issues in this evolution on how we think about the end of life and is being read by doctors and used in medical schools. It's important to stop now and then and think about what is truly important in one's life and how one wants to spend one's precious time - whether that's ten years or two weeks. <br />And tell your husband to stop listening to the news so he doesn't have such a distorted view of violence in the US. :)Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-55046731464429198382016-05-07T22:06:31.440-08:002016-05-07T22:06:31.440-08:00Congratulations. I know nothing about either cand...Congratulations. I know nothing about either candidate, but there is symbolism here that is important. Just as electing a black US president had important symbolic value. Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-21788579554918735172016-05-07T22:00:05.544-08:002016-05-07T22:00:05.544-08:00Since you brought it up, let me offer my two cents...Since you brought it up, let me offer my two cents.<br />There's anti-semitism which is like any prejudice and resultant discrimination that comes from judging individuals based on believed characteristics of the group they appear to belong to. <br /><br />There is opposition to Israeli policy on Palestine, which may or may not be conflated with anti-semitism, or be a cover for anti-semitism, or may simply be pro-Palestinian rights. <br /><br />When people opposing Israeli policy on Palestine attack (verbally or physically) Jews who are not Israeli, one begins to suspect this is the conflated form, or the one is a cover for the other. <br /><br />One also has to wonder how people in the US and Europe come to make anti-Israelism a major focus of protest when they do not address much more brutal and dictatorial treatment of people in neighboring countries. How do Israel’s wrongs get to the top of the evil list? Are they being held to a higher standard? If so, why? <br /><br />I personally find the Israeli government’s behavior in the West Bank and Gaza both appalling and ultimately self-defeating. But I also believe that any country a) surrounded at close range by people who deny its right to exist and attack that country with military weapons whenever they can, and b) has the power to protect itself, would have done far more damage than Israel has done to Palestinians. Russians invaded Ukraine because they felt threatened by NATO. The US was ready to start WWIII over missiles in Cuba and then went to Viet Nam to protect itself from Communism. England occupied Ireland. And the Republican presidential candidate who wants to build a wall along the Mexican border won the most votes.<br /><br />It’s important to remember Israeli geography. Israel is 9.3 miles wide at its narrowest point. You could walk that in three or four hours. And 85 miles at its widest. <br /><br />Ramallah is 12 miles from Jerusalem. Watford and Uxbridge are 15 miles from London. Imagine the British reaction to rockets launched into London from those towns. Would there be checkpoints to get into London?<br /><br />Gaza City is 47 miles from Jerusalem. Cardiff is 132 miles from London. Again, consider Cameron’s reaction to rockets into London from Welsh nationalists. And if they were being supplied by the Irish and Scottish? Or the French? In that context, I dare say that Israeli response is rather timid. The Arabic nations surrounding Israel could could have easily absorbed all the Palestinians in refugee camps if they really had wanted to help raise the living conditions of Palestinians. But keeping the Palestinians suffering allowed them to focus political anger in their own countries away from themselves and onto Israel. <br /><br />I can argue both sides of this issue and I do depending on who I’m talking to. Israel should have built good housing and good schools for Palestinians long ago. They should have treated them with respect. I think it would have gone a long way. But Israelis will tell you the Middle East is a tribal neighborhood where people still fight centuries old battles and nothing they would have done would have changed things. I don’t know the solution, but I know that everything about it is far more complex than most people want to know about. “Good guys” and “bad guys” is even used by so-called news reports these days. I just want to say, in that jargon, there are good guys and bad guys on both sides. And the good guys are not all good and the bad guys aren’t all bad. And individual Israelis have close friendships with individual Palestinians. And there are those who have a vested interest in the tension and kill off the peace makers - on both sides. <br /><br />I admire those who are working hard to create a sincere and lasting peace in the area. It’s a long and wearisome task. Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-6106563677978193822016-05-07T05:29:42.315-08:002016-05-07T05:29:42.315-08:00Fearing to be flippant after Jacob's good news...Fearing to be flippant after Jacob's good news, I give you my husband's answer my asking him, "What is the third largest cause of death in America?" Without a pause, he said, "Ricochet."<br /><br />An important post: I had to watch my parents being held ransom by the American system of "farming" (obviously dying) people for profit.<br /><br />The Boomers are coming up to decisions about their own last days/years. I told my family, after seeing what happened to my parents: I will off myself before I linger like that. They understood. But as of a few months ago, doctor-assisted suicide is now legal in Canada, another progressive thing to be thankful for, living here.Barbara Carlsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05463074148195784152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-83152660043285637112016-05-06T09:51:31.516-08:002016-05-06T09:51:31.516-08:00Steve, it's 18:45 in London and the mayoralty ...Steve, it's 18:45 in London and the mayoralty has been called by news editors for Sadiq Khan, the Labour candidate, a human rights lawyer and British Muslim. It's a big step forward in face of fear. <br /><br />Officials will announce shortly. I'm proud of being a Londoner tonight!Jacob Dugan-Brausehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06287631724339961459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-13579217351907979142016-05-06T07:16:39.636-08:002016-05-06T07:16:39.636-08:00Dear Steve and everyone,
Agreed, change happens t...Dear Steve and everyone,<br /><br />Agreed, change happens through what we know. Just as it’s ageing in Britain, it's aging in America. <br /><br />I’ve found why and what I learn; where and how I take in news; when and why I discuss these matters with friends, all work toward what I believe I know. Of course, this all comes well after our parents’ inculcation, religious and state indoctrination, making childhood friends (and not) and finally, living out our terrible teens!<br /><br />I would think these things and others affect the way all of us see our world. But there is another influence I've found important: where one chooses to live. Several examples come to mind and certainly one that's in the news in Britain recently, is whether one is anti-Semitic for opposing the presently-constituted State of Israel. While I lived in the USA, supporting the State of Israel ‘proved’ one wasn’t anti-Semitic. It was true for the left and became true for the religious right.<br /><br />When I arrived in Europe (where anti-Semitism was/is likened to racism in America), I pulled up a chair and listened to Europeans. I read, chatted over coffee and give it all a think. While doing this, I stumbled on history of Zionism and Jewish settlement in Palestine. I chatted with Israelis and Palestinians and people whose work took them to Israel, especially Quakers. It all led to shifting my views on the question of the Palestinian state. <br /><br />I get that we live in a world convulsed by globalization, itself shaped by liberal thought aspiring free movement in trade, people and ideas. Yet Israel, as a country once more, wanted nothing more than what all nations dare to possess: self-determination. Israel’s problem is that a one-state solution makes Palestinians stateless. In Britain, some are accusing those who oppose Israel’s one-state polity for being anti-Semitic. <br /><br />I guess it’s not convincing me to duck any more. What I once held is not now what I believe. Maybe it came with being dual national: I know it’s possible to have two nationalities exist in me. I leave it to you to decide if it’s possible for a nation.<br />Jacob Dugan-Brausehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06287631724339961459noreply@blogger.com