I appreciate your honestly. Sincerely. As you have most certainly gathered by now, while I'm a big believer in hope, I'm also a big believer in not sugar-coating things.
I suppose if there's one thing the event in the last two months have reinforced, it's the skepticism of simple, straight-forward solutions. And there seems to be a certain refusal to deal with messy complexities of any social change, and refusal to engage with more complex realities on the ground. Human nature doesn't change easily. Like, if let's say, for the sake of the argument, police was abolished, some other institution that has similar function wouldn't emerge in its place. Bolsheviks disbanded the hated tsarist police and created the supposedly people-powered militsiya, but... things obviously didn't work out that way.
It's taken me a while to respond to your very thoughtful comment. I kept thinking I'd get to it, and then think about what I could or should say ... and then I'd back away from the keyboard rather quickly. My mental acuity isn't what it once was, and that means saying anything useful, reasonable, or memorable is basically a crap shoot. But let's take a go at it, shall we?
First, my hat's off to you for saying that you're skeptical of so-called simple straightforward solutions to problems. There are very few such solutions out there, to any type of problem - especially problems caused by humans. Or at least there are few one-size-fits-all solutions. (It's in the same church, if not the same pew, as rules not being one-size-fits-all.)
There are some things that are simple to hold on to: love, for example. But that's a different conversation
( ... )
LOL, no worries. It was a very low-key birthday. I'm selfishly glad that nobody in my family, or circle of friends--or me--is having a big milestone birthday this year.
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I suppose if there's one thing the event in the last two months have reinforced, it's the skepticism of simple, straight-forward solutions. And there seems to be a certain refusal to deal with messy complexities of any social change, and refusal to engage with more complex realities on the ground. Human nature doesn't change easily. Like, if let's say, for the sake of the argument, police was abolished, some other institution that has similar function wouldn't emerge in its place. Bolsheviks disbanded the hated tsarist police and created the supposedly people-powered militsiya, but... things obviously didn't work out that way.
That isn't to say that we shouldn't push for change - otherwise, change won't come at all - but history also shows that it requires long, hard work. To use a metaphor from a play of the famous Russian playwright friend of my great-grandmother ( ... )
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First, my hat's off to you for saying that you're skeptical of so-called simple straightforward solutions to problems. There are very few such solutions out there, to any type of problem - especially problems caused by humans. Or at least there are few one-size-fits-all solutions. (It's in the same church, if not the same pew, as rules not being one-size-fits-all.)
There are some things that are simple to hold on to: love, for example. But that's a different conversation ( ... )
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My milestone birthday comes in two months, when I turn 65.
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