Dubitator, a blog reader, has politely drawn my attention to an error in my posting on September 13th about the Emperor Aurelius. He is right. Aurelius was a famous Stoic, not an Epicurean. (One maybe shouldn’t resume posting so quickly after a hospital operation!) In any case the words of Aurelius are wise, regardless of labels. Thank you, Dubitator!
Non- Disparagement Agreements
Some of the people who appear on American TV, or who are quoted in articles about President Trump, have signed non-disclosure agreements that oblige signers not to disparage Trump personally, or members of his family. Some versions provide for financial penalties, others are comprehensive in terms of Trump’s political, social and financial affairs. So the question is: when these people appear on TV are they being honest, or are they lauding Trump because they cannot legally do otherwise?
In the interests of transparency shouldn’t all media organisations now preface every broadcast by a Trump operative by stating that they have signed an NDA, where appropriate? Then the reader or the audience would be better informed as to where the interviewee is coming from. (Fear being one emotion).
We have no idea how many people there are who have signed these NDAs, (although the anonymous critic in the New York Times may have signed one, which explains his anonymity). NDAs have been described as “common” and “very normal” for this administration.
The NDA chills free speech and in all probability contravenes the First Amendment. It is what you expect in a tin-pot dictatorship. A robust, self-confident man with nothing much to hide wouldn’t feel the need for it. Is the President’s amour propre so fragile that he cannot bear criticism of the mildest kind? What precisely is he concealing, and how much of it should be public knowledge? (Information obtained from article by Paul Farhi, Washington Post, 12 September 2018)
Lying
“Injustice is a kind of blasphemy. Nature designed rational beings for each other’s sake: to help, not harm, one another, as they deserve. To lie is to blaspheme, too. Because “nature” means the nature of what is. And that which is and that which is the case are closely linked, so that nature is synonymous with truth – the source of all true things.
“To lie deliberately is to blaspheme – the liar commits deceit, and thus injustice. And likewise to lie without realizing it, because the involuntary liar disrupts the harmony of nature. Nature gave him the means to distinguish between the true and false, and he neglected them and now can’t tell the difference”.
(9.1) “The Decent Life” (9.1) from the philosopher Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, the Epicurean Roman Emperor
What Britain’s pro-Europeans are getting wrong
Brexit seems to be going from bad to worse. The governing Conservative Party can’t agree on a plan for leaving the European Union- the Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed plan is opposed by a significant chunk of Conservative MPs and the vast majority of Conservative members. Negotiations have been slow and fraught, with each side accusing the other of intransigence and wishful thinking. Businesses, particularly banks and manufacturers such as Airbus and Jaguar Land Rover, are beginning to panic at the prospect of leaving. The public are increasingly pessimistic about Brexit, yet so far show little sign of getting behind the pro-European cause. Given how badly Brexit is going, Britain’s pro-EU movement ought to be asking itself why this is.
There are several reasons for the persistence of support for Brexit. The first is the lack of enthusiasm for the European Union as an institution, however unpopular its critics may also be. The EU is seen as a vast, nightmarishly complex bureaucracy, which exists only to serve global elites and not the common man. It is perceived as undemocratic, out of touch and irrelevant to everyday life. Unlike in most of continental Europe, the EU is not seen as a builder of peace after WW2. Unlike in the Eastern states, it is not seen as a facilitator of democracy. Nor are the economic benefits of the EU as widely acknowledged- many Britons would rather have control over our regulations than be part of a single regulatory regime, however convenient it may be for trade.
The second reason is that the structural cause of Brexit- a low-wage, low-skilled economy which has endured lethargic growth outside the South East and the university cities- has not been addressed. Most of Britain feels left behind by globalisation, deprived of investment and attention from central government, and not cared about. Remainers, a group too ideologically diverse to have a coherent economic policy programme, cannot resolve the discontent that led to Brexit.
A significant component of British Euroscepticism is opposition to the EU’s free movement of labour. Were Britain to remain in the EU, or even simply in the Single Market, unregulated European migration would continue. Remainers have failed to make the case for free movement, instead arguing in vain the benefits of EU membership are worth enduring immigration to maintain. This is a terrible mistake: free movement is one of the best things about the EU. It makes us all freer and more prosperous. British people can live and worth wherever they want in the EU, so long as they don’t claim welfare. Equally, EU migrants use fewer public services than Brits, and thus are a net economic benefit.
The fourth and presently most important cause of the pro-Europeans’ unpopularity, is that Brexit is seen as a democratic choice that must be respected, however undesirable it may be. Unlike nearly any other policy, Brexit was endorsed via a high-turnout referendum. Thus, it can’t be reversed by a change of government or a shift in the public mood. Most British people believe the government has a duty to leave the EU- not doing so would be violating the people’s wishes. The notion of a second referendum on the terms of the government’s deal is gaining currency, yet lacks the overwhelming levels of support it would need for Parliament to vote for it.
My overall point is that for all of the mentioned reasons, Britain is a fundamentally Eurosceptic country for the time being. It is futile for the country’s pro-Europeans to pretend otherwise. Those who would rather Brexit had never happened, which includes myself, should play the long game. Begin by making the positive case for the EU, without endorsing any specific course of action which isn’t presently realistic. Then if Brexit goes as badly as its opponents say it will, the public mood will have genuinely changed and a chance to re-join will be possible. But simply waiving EU flags at the Proms and decrying the opportunistic demagoguery of the Brexiteers won’t be effective. It took a long time for Eurosceptics to persuade Britain to leave the EU. It will take at least awhile to persuade them to come back.
The benefits of gentle police work
Inequality, poverty, corruption – Nicaragua has many of the characteristic problems that afflict Central American nations. Yet there is one way in which it stands out from its neighbours: its relative lack of violence. Its homicide rate, according to the latest regional report from InSight Crime, is a mere seven per 100,000. This compares with 12.1 per 100,000 in the much richer Costa Rica, 42.8 per 100,000 in Honduras and a “staggering” 60 per 100,000 in El Salvador.
Why this disparity? In large part it’s a legacy of Nicaragua’s 1970s Sandinista revolution against the US-backed General Somoza dictatorship, and the nation’s subsequent rejection of all things American. Whereas its neighbours, under US pressure, implemented very heavy-handed policing methods in the early 1990s (former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani secured lucrative consultancy contracts), Nicaragua pursued community-based policing, with officers working closely with NGOs to prevent crime. The model was in keeping with the ideals of the revolution, which championed social programmes and progressive ideas such as gender equality. It’s this approach that has enabled Nicaragua to defy “the near-universal correlation between poverty, inequality and violence”. (Roberto Lovato, The Nation, New York, 17 Feb 2018).
Contrast the above with the trigger-happy behaviour of many American policemen, frightened to death, poorly trained, and many of them none too keen on teenage blacks. Republicans always reach for over-reach when contemplating crime. Huge numbers are arrested on specious grounds for “loitering” or holding something in their hands. Huge numbers are incarcerated, ensuring that previously harmless young people become hardened criminals. This is not the way to battle crime and not the way to to get the help and cooperation of local communities. What it does do is get votes from fearful Republican voters, whose fearfulness. is stoked up, often with bogus crime figures. With the posxible exception of Chicago, crime is gradually going down, believe it or not. No thanks to the hordes of John Waynes in policemen’s costumes.