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EDWARD JACOBS

Category: Living

  • 27 January, 2025

    Someone asked “Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?”

    Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England, wrote this magnificent response:

    “A few things spring to mind.

    Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.

    For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

    So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

    Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever.

    I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.

    But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

    Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.

    And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

    There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.

    Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.

    Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.

    And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.

    Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.

    He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.

    He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

    And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.

    That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.

    There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

    So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:

    * Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.

    * You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

    This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.

    After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.

    God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.

    He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.

    In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

    And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:

    ‘My God… what… have… I… created?

    If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.”

  • 25 January, 2025

  • 22 January, 2025

  • 20 January, 2025

    Martin Luther King, Jr. Day brings to mind so very many concerns, so many issues both historical, institutional, and still in dire need of being addressed by our entire society.

    But I continue to wonder if the nature of humanity is such that equality and “justice for all” are truly possible. MLK, Jr. said that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I will admit that I fear that the arc of humanity’s nature bends further towards injustice with each passing day.

    And today, one where the United States of America brings a convicted felon to highest seat of its governmental power, a petty figure driven by vengeance, is not a day that believes any better of humanity’s nature.

  • 18 January, 2025

    We have been travelling, this time to St. Croix. A lovely island, with very warm people, and a contagiously relaxed vibe. We’ll likely go back, but at a different time of year.

    As for the diving, well, I made a rookie mistake and really should have researched better. We were not there at a good time of year, with prevailing “Christmas Winds” making for pretty treacherous shore entries and exits. We got in some diving without serious injuries, but getting in/out wasn’t necessarily pleasant. When we headed to Frederiksted, the west side of the island, for its calmer waters and the highly recommended pier, it was always busy with cruise ships–and diving isn’t allowed when ships in port at the pier. So it wasn’t really a successful dive trip. But we did enjoy the people we met there, and are likely to return.

    We stayed in Cane Bay, mid-island on the north shore. We were at The Landing, which was all we needed. Perfectly comfortable–which to us means it had a/c–and we enjoyed meeting others staying there. Many of the folks we met seem to be annual visitors, for many years/decades.

  • 6 January, 2025

    The year has begun the way that ’24 went out, with opportunities to simultaneously review and anticipate.

    I can’t make sense of so much going on in the world of late; I still have trouble accessing the news on a regular basis. It is still inconceivable to me that so much of the world has turned to a Nationalist ideal that prizes isolation; an economic and political model that prizes oligarchic authority; and a xenophobic perspective that refuses to acknowledge the wealth brought to all by the views of those who have experienced life in other places.

    And so, with a strong distaste for the state of the world, I also self-isolate. I turn further and further inward, only wishing to engage with family and a very few friends. If I choose to share time with others, it is only to pursue the single interest of SCUBA, or perhaps talking about our dogs. I’ve noticed the tendency to talk about larger issues has decreased among all of us since November, when so many of us held tight to the hope that, at least here in the U.S., things might not continue the trends of so many other places. But hopes were shown naive, and we’ve closed up like scared snails.

    I’ve been asked to evaluate a pile of submissions for a music/composition prize. And that experience has been truly remarkable–surprisingly so. The first phase of this adjudication involves reviewing materials on my own, and somehow selecting a very small “top” list. As I have spent almost a month reviewing alot of music on my own, I have heard so many interesting ideas, so many expertly executed works, so much inventiveness. This has really been inspiring, and I find my own musical ideas arising during quiet moments of the days, during the early morning hours of dog-walking. And I welcome those moments just as I did decades ago.

    The second phase is for that list to be shared with other judges’ “top” lists; then we’ll meet/discuss to agree on a final list of just a few. As each individual has a unique list of submissions to review (though enough overlap so that every submission has several reviewers), I know that my list cannot be exactly the same as any other single judge’s. So that means that the next phase will bring even more exceptional music and ideas into my view.

    But it also means that I will have to engage with others to try to reach a point of agreement. That is, after all, the point of the task we all face. I don’t personally know the others on this panel. I will admit that I am not looking forward to this next phase, as I simply don’t want to engage others with whom I may disagree. I have retreated so much into my shell that I am dreading having to meet with them at all. And that is just ridiculous and immature.

    I spent many years in academia, where working out disagreements is baked into the processes. I used to relish the task of working things out, of finding points of agreement that could build into new views and future paths of progress. But now I feel a bit paralyzed. We’ll see how it all works out, and how I deal with the meeting of minds that emerge during the next phase.

    But I do look forward to hearing the submissions of the other panelists’ “top” lists. While it will be a challenge to pluck the top of the top, it is likely to bring interesting ideas to my ears. And it will also bring new stimulation and, possibly, inspiration, to my composer’s ear.

    I do have a piece brewing, and the excitement of hearing the ideas I’m working out is like a boiling pot. I am enjoying this feeling again, after avoiding it for some months now.

    The past few weeks have also brought some “blasts from the past” my way. Some friends from decades ago have reached out and reconnected, and we’ve shared some newsy exchanges. I am in awe of what some of these folks have faced in their lives, of how they’ve survived and thrived, and how we all gain experience through our tests–some of theirs far more challenging than my own.

    And that reminds me that even those I may disagree with have had their own tests. Perhaps that’s the best I can do right now.

  • 25 December, 2024

    Special message

  • 17 December, 2024

    Exactly so, from today’s NYTimes:

    “This unfortunate fact remains: We have a fundamentally broken process for choosing federal judges,” Mr. Mangi wrote. “This is no longer a system for evaluating fitness for judicial office. It is now a channel for the raising of money based on performative McCarthyism before video cameras, and for the dissemination of dark-money-funded attacks that especially target minorities.”

    Adeel Mangi, a New York lawyer picked for a spot on the Philadelphia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit…after Democratic senators cut a deal that in effect left him and other Biden appeals court nominees with no path to confirmation.

  • 16 December, 2024

    more pix from Thailand!

  • 15 December, 2024

    Jackson and Nate (driver) in Thailand!

    I am in awe of Joe and Cristin’s passion for traveling, and for their dedication to assuring that their boys (5+ and 3+) get accustomed to seeing new things, places, and people. They landed in Bangkok Saturday morning, and this pic from their first day there. They report that the boys were great on the long trip–and that Qatar Airways is the best. After a few days in Bangkok, they’ll head north to Chang Mai for about 10 days. What a great way to enjoy the holidays.

    They’ve moved recently, to boot, so this is a very busy few months for them. New schools for the boys, which are going well; a promotion for Joe at work; and the new house seems to offer a great neighborhood, and the best schools around. All good news.

    We are enjoying some relaxing down time here in Raleigh. After travel to NY (helping on the move), then to Tennessee to help Tim as his house nears finishing, we’re in one place for a few weeks before our next trip. Looking forward to sampling the diving in St. Croix in January!