Dovetail

Again Americans are divided! Not on their politics but by their reaction to the “slap” at the Oscar Awards ceremony. It’s so odd that it has its own name now! Regardless, I’ve heard some people say it’s not important. But, if we use this episode as a tool to examine ourselves, it is a good example of how we shouldn’t behave. Doing the work to make ourselves better can use this as a good example. We have probably joked around at another’s expense and we have probably overreacted to an event. We’re only human. Awareness of how inappropriate it is can be helpful.

Remember the old adage “Sticks and stones can break my bones but names can never hurt me.” We know that’s not so true. We know that being called names is emotionally hurtful. It is bullying. One particular type is called “body shaming”. Making fun of someone over their physical defects is never ok. I think that young girls are particularly vulnerable to this type of abuse. I know I was in grade school. It’s something you never forget and are never ok with. So was Chris Rock completely innocent in the slapping episode at the Academy Awards? I think not. He was subtlety throwing words that hurt at Jada Pinkett Smith.

That being said, was Will Smith’s reaction in behalf of his wife appropriate? His inspiration was but his delivery was not. It could have been settled in so many different ways. And not in the moment. It’s always good to hold back, swallow your hurt or anger and settle it when you are calmed down. But, since it happened it public, it’s being tossed around and people are quick to pass blame or to support one side or the other. We are now looking for reactions from both players, kind of like a sports event, we’re rooting for Chris or Will. I just want to say, “Quit it”. Leave them alone to setttle their differences.

This equates to politics too. Do you remember when President Trump made fun of and ridiculed a handicapped reporter? It’s not ok and it reflected negatively on his character. It was a topic of concern for many. It’s body shaming and very hurtful. Chris Rock could have learned a lesson from it. Self deprecating humor toward yourself is ok, but humor aimed at another’s body defect is not.

In the Montana’s governor race in 2018 Governor candidate, Greg Gianforte, who later became governor, body slammed a reporter who pointedly asked a question that caused Gianforte to snap. He knocked the reporter to the floor and broke his glasses. Gianforte was charged with misdeamor assault. He had to pay a fine, do 40 hours of public service, attend an anger management class, wrote an apology letter and donated $50,000 to a Committee to Protect Journalists. I’m sure that he will think twice about physical and hurtful reactions to his frustration and anger in the future.

So, I guess, my point here in Dovetail concerning the “slap” is when analyzing the situation, try to include the inappropriateness of both parties and not to take one side or the other. Also, use this as an opportunity to be better by learning a lesson from the poor behavior many of us witnessed or watched later.

So, it’s simple. Right? Let me just say that not much involved with economics is simple. So, when you hear President Biden place the blame on Putin’s war (not actually true) and Jen Psaki saying it’s the fault of oil companies for not drilling more, you know there is more to the story. Moreover, those explanations are misleading because so much required information has been left out. Beware of what politicians leave out. It’s just as dangerous as false statements and it can’t be fact checked. I hate to point a finger it but it is a liberal media tactic to leave out pertinent facts.

In this discussion, we’ll be looking at the U S only, not the world. One step at a time.

First of all we’ve stopped buying Russian oil but prices were climbing way before this event. In 2021 gas prices rose a whopping 46% on average. Clearly this was not due to the war on Ukraine. Also as a country our consumption of Russian oil was only 2 or 3 percent of our total consumption. Our government is now looking to Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela to make up that deficit. These companies can inflate their prices because of the demand and they’re not exactly friends of the US. That’s a topic of discussion in itself!

So, to understand the problem, Jen Psaki was partially right. You have to look at the oil companies. Her statement went something like this: Oil companies have the permits and they need to use them to drill and produce more oil. This is an oversimplified statement and again with missing factors.

So, start with looking at our big oil production companies, a short 10 years ago their approach was “drill, baby, drill!” Oil companies eagerly requested drill permits and now have a surplus of permits that are not being used. Well, times have changed. First, just like other industries there is a shortage of workers. Limited workers affect the amount of drilling that can happen. Second, there is an absence of equipment needed for drilling. It’s not just a shortage, it’s an absence of equipment. You can’t do a job without your tools. Third, the focus of large oil companies has shifted. There has been a dramatic drop of investors in oil companies. Because of less money in investments oil companies have decided to forgo the costs of increased drilling and production to provide increased compensation for the shareholders they have now. It’s easy to see how this shift happened as a result of Covid and the emphasis on green energy. Again it goes back to supply and demand. Oil companies are not going to invest money in production if the demand is ultimately going down. Furthermore, any new drilling and production would take months and years to make a difference if the oil companies had the intention and means to take on that endeavor.

So being energy self sufficient is harder than it sounds. It’s not entirely a matter of government suppression of production, pipelines, and drilling. It’s about circumstances like Covid, the available workforce, equipment, and changing trends in oil company priorities. It’s about supply and demand. “Let’s go Brandon” just doesn’t tell the truthful story nor the whole story.

Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m glad we can hold a conversation without rancor and blaming. I have much to learn and I find that I understand better through writing about what I’ve learned. Never stop learning!

Today I stood in line at a store and a few of us were talking about rising gas prices. Comments were made such as “ We won’t be able to make as many trips” and “ We can’t afford both gas and groceries”. A woman chimed in “Let’s go Brandon.” Since I’m not of any political persuasion, I’m more middle of the road, I’m assuming that comment was a way of saying it’s the Democrat’s fault or, more precisely, Biden’s administration.

Why do we have to place blame without really knowing all the facts?

Another conversation I was in recently about gas prices showed a willingness to pay the higher prices to help Ukraine. I hadn’t heard that rationalization before so I started to investigate. I have some sources of articles, essays, and opinions written by scholars and experts on politics, world affairs, economics and other topics. The authors have many credentials and understand the topics better than the average citizens on the street. I listen to their analyses and form my own opinions based on their shared knowledge. I don’t follow party lines or kowtow to biased reporting.

In researching gas prices I’ve found the following information in more than three of my readings: The rising price of gasoline has more to do with COVID and the laws of supply and demand. During the world’s period of lockdown due to Covid, the demand dropped drastically leaving a surplus which dropped the price of oil. Since the demand was low, production slowed down. During the last few months, the Covid grip has eased substantially. People are getting out more. The demand has increased accordingly. Since production is low, prices are high. There is always a time lag in balancing supply versus demand. Hence the prices vary. This is a simple concept that I learned in high school and the experts place the “blame” on this easy to understand basic economic law.

So before blaming, make sure you have all the facts. Turn to the experts rather than the party line. When repeating “Let’s go Brandon” or other slogans, you might appear unable to critically think for yourself. Which is what I felt from those who heartily concurred that “Let’s go Brandon” was the cause.

The World Order as we know it since being established at the end of the Cold War is unraveling. We’ve watched as China and Russia have maneuvered in power plays for world leadership. This leadership would mean dominance in economic and gaining territory, and become a threat to the well-being of secure countries especially in Europe and the Far East.

In an essay called “Enemy of My Enemy” by Michael Beckley, the author explains the types of power structures which work and don’t work in terms of world power. In simple terms one being a top down cooperative structure of negotiations and statesmanship, described as a liberal international order. The other being unification due to a common enemy. The strongest power structures in 400 years of history have been those formed in response to a common enemy.

Up until this current point of Russian aggression, the liberal order has been fraying. For 30 years we’ve not experienced a common threat that got the world’s attention. Now the world has the significant threat from both Russia and China.

Past world orders have been “orders of exclusion” designed to ostracize and outcompete rivals. In sociology this is called the “in group/ out group” structure, in history it was the fear of Carthage that united the Roman Republic. In politics it is called “negative partisanship. The tendency of voters to become intensely loyal to one party because they so despise” the other. This explains so much of the politically divided America we’ve seen in recent years. We view our fellow Americans as our enemy. I’m hoping that current events can be a catalyst for healing the division so prevalent today. Time after time those that united over a common enemy were victors in terms of world order.

Recent alliances were built after victories and they gradually morphed into agents of capitalist economies , free market democracies, and globalization. Without a common threat, they dissolved into weaker and unstable alliances. The reason being the unique hypocrisy which leads to their own demise including: Exclusions, rule breaking, and the squelching of domestic opposition to international rule making. Being repressive triggers an internal backlash. That backlash could be the liberal revolutions in the mid 1800s, the fascist powers of the 1930s, and in the 1940’s the teterritorial expansion of the USSR. “Exclusionary by nature, international orders inevitably incite opposition”.

Just like trying to change one partner in a new marriage does not work, expecting countries to abandon traditional beliefs does not work. As eloquently stated by the author. “the liberal order is, in fact, deeply exclusionary. By promoting free markets, open borders, democracy, supranational institutions, and the use of reason to solve problems, the order challenges traditional beliefs and institutions that have united communities for centuries: state sovereignty, nationalism, religion, race, tribe, family. By removing a common enemy we have lunleashed all sorts of nationalists, populists, religious and authoritarian opposition.”

If you look at the pillars of the post Cold War order, there are increasing global crises: Climate change, financial crisis, pandemics, misinformation, refugee influxes, and political extremism. All due to the liberal order and open system of unfettered flows across borders.

We need a new common enemy. This article could have been written about Russia when in fact it was written about China. More on the article to follow.

I have not done much writing lately. Well, let me rephrase that. I haven’t done any writing on the blog lately. However I have been writing. I wrote a small size book about my adoption story for my family. In addition, I have done much research on “first love” which is a fascinating study in human psychology. If you had a first love in your teens, I recommend reading about the topic of “first love”. There is much evidence that it affects your love relationship choices in the future. I wrote an essay about my own personal story in regard to “first love”. Through my study I found closure, wisdom, and perspective on many levels. I feel I am all the better for it.

But my Dovetail blog is about striving for political and national unity. During this past year, I have found a group called Millions of Conversations. This group believes in building understanding through talking and, especially, listening to others. I wish I had the chance to talk and listen to people more but I live out of town and just don’t get much of a chance. So I’m writing instead.

My mind is always thinking about our two party political system and the huge divide we have right now. As I’ve stated before, I’m about as middle of the road as you can be between liberal and conservative. I can see positives in both camps. My hot button issue is employment, I believe in a living wage job for all Americans who are capable of working. I think that my beliefs developed from years of financial insecurity due to many circumstances that led to unemployment while trying to raise a young family

I will always support the politician who promotes job growth in the most practical way.

Again, I’m wavering from the topic which is American unity. I can see a solution but neither party is going to like what it is. I think both parties and politicians but, most importantly, the American people, will need to step back from their aggressive agendas. Take a breath and step back a few steps. The world is not going to end if we pause a little on pushing our domestic agendas within the United States. The progress we’ve made in social, economic, equality, voting and other issues will serve us for now. But, if we fail to unite in foreign affairs, the world as we know it may end.

After growing up under the threat of nuclear war, I’m not afraid to admit that I’m afraid of Russia and the Russian government. I’m not afraid of the Russian people or culture but I am afraid of Russian power. As they flex their muscles on the border of the Ukraine, I pray for those citizens who will be directly affected, both Ukrainian and Russian. I pray that diplomacy will succeed. If the Ukraine goes, what will be next?

Added to this crisis is the Chinese situation. I’ve always had the feeling that we were making a mistake back in the 1970s when we established a working relationship with China. We would have been better off leaving them in their isolation. But, we have to look at where we are now. Again, it’s not the people or the culture, it’s the government. I’m afraid of China’s reach into countries who are using Chinese funding to better their infrastructure in exchange for a Chinese presence. This is occuring in Southeastern, Central, and Eastern Europe, plus South Asia. I believe the same thing is happening in Venezuela. To me, the writing is on the wall, they are spreading their influence out amongst the free world. Let’s face it, an airport they build could easily be transformed into a Chinese military base. It’s not hard to see their ultimate objective.

Americans, can we please unite about this?

I belong to a movement called “A Million Conversations”. It’s a movement to bridge the political/ societal divide in America. You can Google it to find out more. Today I watched a screening of a short movie called Purple. In Purple a group of citizens met together to talk values, experiences, and politics. There were a wide variety of people represented by race, age, gender identity, heritage, life experiences, etc. The amazing thing was that there were no arguments or name calling, no one was vicious or condescending. People were safe telling their own truth. Most importantly people listened to each other. There was food, relaxed talking together as you’d find at a party. When it got time to really broach the political discussion, it was open and considerate. In a conversation that I mainly focused on, there was a huge difference in perspective but the ideas that were espoused were thoughtful and had real meaning. My takeaway was that each of those people would be going home and thinking about what others had said. Isn’t that where change begins?

You can watch Purple here: https://youtu.be/TH9t7ud7Jgk

We are all still reeling from the loss of 10 precious souls in Colorado. It comes at a time where I’ve had the term “coping” on my mind. I’ve long understood that our individual personalities and expression of the personality, from healthy to average to unhealthy, are formed as a means to cope with our infant and childhood experiences. There are 9 basic types and they can overlap or cross over to other types. It gets very complex.

I have a friend who is trying to quit smoking and she has been looking into addiction. She found a doctor who describes addiction as a coping mechanism to life’s stressors. So coping can not only form personalities but can also affect behaviors.

Then today, I heard a report that mental illness does not create mass shooters, neither does gun ownership. Otherwise there would be many many more of these Only 5% of mass shooters are mentally ill. So the way I interpret that information is that these shooters are emotionally ill, unable to cope with life stressors which can be financial, social, mental illness, physical and emotional/mental abuse, addiction or a large list of stressors. I researched psychosis and found it is an illness or symptom of inability to cope.

I looked up the worse feelings and behaviors of all  human personalities and this is the list:

Victimized, abused, repressed anger, restless, obsessing about destroying whatever reminds them of their shortcomings and failures, murder, hostility, self hatred, crimes of passion, suicide, prey to gross distortions, phobias, hallucination, oblivion, self punishing, extreme paranoia, masochistic tendencies, overdoses, destroy what does not conform to their will, immobilized, disoriented, depersonalized.   

These describe people that are unhealthy in expressing their personality due to inability to cope with life’s stressors whatever that may be. I think this more accurately describes mass shooters. They lose touch with reality and become psychotic. So, what can we do about it?  No easy answer to this question.

I do believe that we can support private organizations and public agencies that work toward healing and promoting healthy behaviors. I think of a local nonprofit called A Ray of Hope. A Ray of Hope uses Christian principles to assist those who are having difficulty coping. They help those who are addicted and those who are being abused. Ray of Hope gives them a home, work, food, and teaches the love of God. They are doing God’s work. Perhaps if we all found an organization like this that we could support, it may positively affect a future shooter. One small step but a start. We all need to teach and promote kindness toward others and assume that others are facing stressors that we don’t know about.

I’m not a professional counselor or doctor, I’m just musing on what average people can do.

I feel so blessed today, my heart is bursting with all the new things I’m learning about myself and how much good there is in this world.  Let me explain a little better.

Last week my husband and I watched the movie ”Invictus” starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, Matt Damon as the Captain of a national rugby team, and directed by Clint Eastwood. It is an inspiring story based on the uniting of South Africa after Apartheid. Nelson Mandela used the country’s rugby team, the Springboks, to unite previously opposing classes and races.  He was an amazingly gifted leader. I thought “This is what America needs”, a common team to unite around. A sport team we can all support but most of our popular sports are regional teams, whether professional, collegiate, or high school.   Then I remembered the Olympics!  The Summer Olympics can be our uniting event!  Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could meet in large groups to cheer our team on?  Sports bars, school auditoriums, church meeting rooms, and theaters,  just about any place with a big screen tv could organize watching events open to the public. I think it’s just what we need. What do you think? Uniting races as well as political beliefs?  Sounds like a win-win to me.

In keeping with thoughts on unity, I discovered The Episcopal Church is focusing on racial reconciliation in its National ministry. I watched an Episcopalian service this weekend and their message of love in its purity was truly moving. Reuben E Brigety, whom I’ve referenced before says “healing the country’s racial wounds would have an important effect on governance”.

I know, I know, in a perfect world but I believe we change one heart at a time. If we put a little effort into it we could be that little drop of water that starts to spread throughout the pond.

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance 
  I have not winced nor cried aloud.   
Under the bludgeonings of chance   
  My head is bloody, but unbowed.   

Beyond this place of wrath and tears   
  Looms but the Horror of the shade, 
And yet the menace of the years   
  Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.   

It matters not how strait the gate,   
  How charged with punishments the scroll,   
I am the master of my fate:
  I am the captain of my soul.

This poem is in the public domain.

Are you curious about your own implicit social biases which are defined as “thoughts and feelings outside of conscious awareness and control”? If so, there is a website where you can take tests to become aware of these biases. Go to: https:/implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/selectatouchtest.html

Harvard University has developed a series of easy to take tests to identify your biases.

I took the age test. It showed that I have a moderate bias in favor of young people which is interesting because I myself am in the old category. However, it now gives me an opportunity to explore that bias in myself and work on it. In watching the program The Implicit Bias of Good People, age is the most common bias among people. So it’s probably a good place to start.

One caution I have is to only take the tests if you can face your own biases as well as a willingness to do work on yourself to help eliminate the bias.

The political news has been very quiet lately compared to the last four years. Thank goodness! I don’t know about you but I am very happy about it. I do not miss it.

Last night I had the opportunity to watch an exceptional presentation of a training called “The Hidden Bias of Good People”. It was an exceptional show that all Americans could learn from. The link below is to the schedule of future viewings throughout the country. If you get a chance to watch it, I highly recommend it.

https://www.ntire.training/implicit-bias

This morning I realized that due to constant and repeated exposure over the last 4 years we probably have political party bias concerning other people. The others.

Has the damage been done? Is it unrepairable? Can we not think of others as just people and not as evil political foes? I don’t know. Time will tell.