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Sometimes I miss my father. We used to discuss various things in detail, my father had a background in debate, and post-graduate work in history. He was also a bit of a policy wonk.
I remember one topic we discussed quite a bit - WAR or armed conflict. My father served in the military, entered it in 1957, just as the Korean War was coming to a close, and prior to the Vietnam War. So he didn't serve in an armed conflict. While his younger brother, R, did. R was in army intelligence and served in Vietnam. My father was liberally minded, thoughtful and curious. And he taught me to question things, including myself and him. There was no real authority on anything - he told us, and it behooved us to question it. He even questioned his faith.
I remember our discussions about war and armed conflicts. My father was against the War in Vietnam, and to an extent protested against it - by campaigning for candidates that would end it. But, having grown up and to some degree come of age during the 1930s and 40s, he was born in 1932, and having studied in more depth than most World War II, the Civil War, and having a front row seat to the Civil Rights conflict in the 50s and 60s, not to mention being in Chicago during the riots of 1968, he too well understood the necessity of armed conflict in certain situations and most definitely not in others.
He had a response to many arguments that we would pose to him:
* That's an oversimplification of the situation
* That's a radical interpretation of the facts or the context.
I find myself thinking these things in response to so many arguments that I see online. Last year, when I was arguing with someone who felt that Israel was nullifying the Palestinians and committing genocide, I thought - that's an oversimplification of the facts. And last night when I read someone's post on LinkedIn of all places, state that "Zelenskyy's refusal to openly surrender to Russia and end this conflict as Trump and Vance were recommending - was wrong and that Trump/Vance were just trying for a peaceful settlement" - was an oversimplification of the facts and a radical interpretation of them. I wanted to hear my father's take on it, and since I've had so many discussions with him on this sort of thing in the past - I can almost hear it if I listen closely, or hear it in my head.
As I'm writing it - I hear it now. In his voice and his cadence, each word precise and concise - as his arguments often were. 'While War is horrific, in this instance, Russia openly and actively invaded the Ukraine and tried to take over the country, stating it was theirs. The Ukraine fought back, and Russia escalated the conflict. Allowing Russia to do this is not really all that different than allowing Nazi Germany to invade and take over Poland, which the United States did hand-wave in 1939. (The US did not enter the WAR until Japan tried to take Hawaii in 1942. The US was in WWII from 1942-45, Europe was in it from 1939-1945. Think how many lives would have been saved if the US had entered it earlier? But it didn't because the US had adopted an isolationist stance, and it wasn't politically savvy to do so. Also many prominent Americans at the time supported Germany, such as Charles Lindberg.) If we don't learn from our historical mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them.'
The tagline of the speculative 21st Century science-fiction series BattleStar Galatica v.2. was:
"All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again"
And so it does. And yet we don't learn and we don't listen. Leading with self-interest.
The un-evolved or none evolved human being will always lead with their own self-interest, and see what came before through a lens that furthers that self-interest to their own folly. Unable to see past it. And un-selfaware, will continue to make the same errors in judgement, history be damned.
That is my father's voice in my head. My father's first and last love was the study of history. He also adored words. But despised playing games with them, he was a wordsmith but not a gamer.
He'd also advise me not to debate this online. It's better to do it face to face, to see the person you are debating. And to pick my battles. Don't waste my time fighting ones that go nowhere or can't win. I think in this instance, I'm aided in that the poster I wanted to respond to - disappeared into the ether. I just wish I could forget their post, and it wouldn't haunt me long after reading or hearing it. But it does haunt, mainly because it reminds me that as much as I'd like to think everyone agrees, many do not, and there's little I can do to change that.
I remember one topic we discussed quite a bit - WAR or armed conflict. My father served in the military, entered it in 1957, just as the Korean War was coming to a close, and prior to the Vietnam War. So he didn't serve in an armed conflict. While his younger brother, R, did. R was in army intelligence and served in Vietnam. My father was liberally minded, thoughtful and curious. And he taught me to question things, including myself and him. There was no real authority on anything - he told us, and it behooved us to question it. He even questioned his faith.
I remember our discussions about war and armed conflicts. My father was against the War in Vietnam, and to an extent protested against it - by campaigning for candidates that would end it. But, having grown up and to some degree come of age during the 1930s and 40s, he was born in 1932, and having studied in more depth than most World War II, the Civil War, and having a front row seat to the Civil Rights conflict in the 50s and 60s, not to mention being in Chicago during the riots of 1968, he too well understood the necessity of armed conflict in certain situations and most definitely not in others.
He had a response to many arguments that we would pose to him:
* That's an oversimplification of the situation
* That's a radical interpretation of the facts or the context.
I find myself thinking these things in response to so many arguments that I see online. Last year, when I was arguing with someone who felt that Israel was nullifying the Palestinians and committing genocide, I thought - that's an oversimplification of the facts. And last night when I read someone's post on LinkedIn of all places, state that "Zelenskyy's refusal to openly surrender to Russia and end this conflict as Trump and Vance were recommending - was wrong and that Trump/Vance were just trying for a peaceful settlement" - was an oversimplification of the facts and a radical interpretation of them. I wanted to hear my father's take on it, and since I've had so many discussions with him on this sort of thing in the past - I can almost hear it if I listen closely, or hear it in my head.
As I'm writing it - I hear it now. In his voice and his cadence, each word precise and concise - as his arguments often were. 'While War is horrific, in this instance, Russia openly and actively invaded the Ukraine and tried to take over the country, stating it was theirs. The Ukraine fought back, and Russia escalated the conflict. Allowing Russia to do this is not really all that different than allowing Nazi Germany to invade and take over Poland, which the United States did hand-wave in 1939. (The US did not enter the WAR until Japan tried to take Hawaii in 1942. The US was in WWII from 1942-45, Europe was in it from 1939-1945. Think how many lives would have been saved if the US had entered it earlier? But it didn't because the US had adopted an isolationist stance, and it wasn't politically savvy to do so. Also many prominent Americans at the time supported Germany, such as Charles Lindberg.) If we don't learn from our historical mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them.'
The tagline of the speculative 21st Century science-fiction series BattleStar Galatica v.2. was:
"All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again"
And so it does. And yet we don't learn and we don't listen. Leading with self-interest.
The un-evolved or none evolved human being will always lead with their own self-interest, and see what came before through a lens that furthers that self-interest to their own folly. Unable to see past it. And un-selfaware, will continue to make the same errors in judgement, history be damned.
That is my father's voice in my head. My father's first and last love was the study of history. He also adored words. But despised playing games with them, he was a wordsmith but not a gamer.
He'd also advise me not to debate this online. It's better to do it face to face, to see the person you are debating. And to pick my battles. Don't waste my time fighting ones that go nowhere or can't win. I think in this instance, I'm aided in that the poster I wanted to respond to - disappeared into the ether. I just wish I could forget their post, and it wouldn't haunt me long after reading or hearing it. But it does haunt, mainly because it reminds me that as much as I'd like to think everyone agrees, many do not, and there's little I can do to change that.