Musk Tells Companies to F Off Then Sues Them When They Do & Vance Strikes a Blow Against Mental Health
Musk Tells Companies to F Off Then Sues Them When They Do & Vance Strikes a Blow Against Mental Health
What I’m Discussing Today:
Kareem’s Daily Quote: How does aging change your perspective on life?
JD Vance called Simone Biles 'weak' for dropping out of the Tokyo Olympics in resurfaced interview: This is how macho posturing damages our children.
Musk’s X sues Unilever, Mars and CVS over ‘massive advertiser boycott’: Musk dared these companies to leave X, and now he’s suing to get them back.
Trump says he has ‘no choice’ but to back EVs after Musk endorsement: One of Trump’s most blatant politician-for-sale moments.
Kareem’s Video Break: Find out who’s better, Mom or Dad.
Scientists Reveal Factors That Increase Risk of Memory Loss With Age: Loneliness can make us forget who we are.
As India ages, a secret shame emerges: Elders abandoned by their children: The shame of immoral individuals can soon become the shame of their society—if we’re not careful.
Simon & Garfunkel Sing “The Dangling Conversation”: This bold song makes us question ourselves—which is always a good thing.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
Getting old is like climbing a mountain; you get a little out of breath, but the view is much better!
Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982), actress (Casablanca)
A “little” out of breath may be understating the situation, but Bergman is right about the view. I’ve often described life as a climb during which each year allows you to look back and see where you’ve been more clearly so that you can better understand where you are and where you want to go. Course correction is often required because we realize that what we want in our youth may not have as much value as we age.
That view allows us to see, not just our journey, but the journey of humanity as a whole. Looking back at all the other people in motion lets us understand our place in that great going on. It lets us better understand where our needs and interests intersect with those of others. Basically, where do I fit in?
There are two kinds of death I can see from up here. One is the death of my body, which I’ll get to a little later. But also the death of the social values of fairness, inclusivity, and compassion that I have spent my life fighting for. That is always at risk and only survives if the majority of people are willing to fight for it too. Everything depends on faith in people.
Faith in people is complicated because people are easy to like but hard to love. I confess that my commitment to loving humanity is challenged by the existence of Trump supporters and other right-wing reactionaries because they embody the single most destructive quality in people: Irrationality. Worse, some people often want to feed that irrationality rather than choke it off before it becomes violent.
Two recent occurrences highlight that addiction to irrationality. First, Trump’s appearance at the Black journalist’s gathering was delayed because he refused to go on stage unless they agreed not to live fact-check him. Let that sink in. What kind of people follow someone who fears fact-checking? Second, the violent and racist attacks spreading through England right now after the stabbing deaths of three children. Much of this turmoil is the result of a misinformation campaign on social media that told people the accused was an immigrant, even though he was born in Britain. But facts are the enemy of the irrational, so the violence continues.
Here’s where age and the view from lofty heights come in. I don’t want to judge people purely on their politics because there are a lot of people I truly like whose politics I don’t want to know for fear it will turn me sour on them. I realize that for most people, their politics is confined to voting every four years and nothing else. The rest of the time they are trying to be good people who love their families and care about their community. We just have to focus on our daily experience with them and whether or not that enriches our lives.
But that doesn’t mean we give a pass to the irredeemably irrational and their resulting cruelty and selfish destructiveness. The book banners, the public liars, and the religious fanatics who live in the Us-versus-Them bubble. From the viewpoint of age, we can see them creeping through society slapping scarlet letters on everybody who doesn’t agree with their lack of logic.
As to my death. It’s one thing to face the things in this world that we know we can change. That’s what hope is all about. But how we face the inevitable—that which we can’t change—is what defines us. Some days I think about death with indifference, some days with amusement, some days with fear. But in these days, and I hope years, leading up to that inevitable event, I just hope to maintain my optimism and faith that most people celebrate the rational way of life.
Meanwhile, I’ll keep climbing—and hold out a supporting hand to the person behind me.