Jeff–Saturday
Within the past seven days America experienced (a) its worst week yet in the grip of an apocalyptic unmanaged plague, (b) an as good as it gets display of political justice with the election in deep-south Georgia of a black pastor and a white 32-year-old Jew to the United States Senate, and (c) nearly its last week as a democracy.
All of that kept me glued to the TV and away from the keyboard for days. After all, how can composing fiction possibly compete with living through such outrageous reality!
Which leads me to three thoughts I’d like to share with you this Saturday. None is original to me, but each seems right for the times.
Number One.
At some point before the 2016 presidential election, I heard or read a commentor make this observation comparing the choice between electing Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump president.
“We are faced with the choice of electing either a bad president or the last president.”
I cannot for the life of me recall who made that prediction, but I’d certainly like to borrow that prophet’s crystal ball.
Number Two.
This comes from a copyrighted newsletter of one of America’s finest hospitals. It’s written by Dr. Craig R. Smith, Chairman of its Department of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief. The newsletter is dated December 31, 2020, and starts off with, “2020 is not going down without a fight,” followed by a description of the status of his Department’s everyone-on-deck role in the Covid war. I will spare you that part, for it is Dr. Smith’s concluding paragraph that reveals the enduring spirit one cannot help but admire in those risking everything in this ferocious battle at the frontlines.
2021 comes in as anxiously desired, and freighted with hope, as any first-born. It is also a serial-pair year (20,21); each century is allotted one—does that help? The most recent one, 1920, was notable for the last “yes” vote (from holdout Tennessee) that ratified women’s suffrage. However, 1920 was also marked by the largest terrorist act in US history, when a horse-drawn carriage filled with explosives exploded on Wall Street, killing 38 people. Since a Covid resurgence clouds this New Year, gravely testing our resilience and stamina, I’d rather go back to 1415, to the Battle of Agincourt, when Henry V defeated a vastly superior French force through ingenuity, archery, and inspiration. Agincourt also inspired Shakespeare’s Henry V, which might seem like the perfect set-up to show off over-used quotes like “Once more into the breach, dear friends!” or the Crispin’s day speech (“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers”). I prefer “All things be ready, if the mind be so.” 2021, give us your best shot.
Number Three.
Somehow, somewhere it crept into my mind that what played a major part in defeating the widespread influence of the Klu Klux Klan was humor. Yes, you read that right. By concentrating on the silliness of KKK dress and ceremonies, it was made to look ridiculous in the eyes of potential recruits. To borrow a word or two from some of their ethnic targets, “Bye bye mister macho, hello mishuganah.
In other words, battle today’s bad guys in the social media environments where they live. Create a Department of Nonsense, staffed with quick-witted sorts (even with Scottish accents) who’ll expose them through humor for what they really are. Humiliate the movements, NOT the people they seek to convert to their agendas. For those souls, the nation must do all that can be done to better their lives and make them less susceptible to the lies and enticements of demagogues.
See you next week. I hope.
--Jeff
PS. Oh yes, Murder in Mykonos, the first book in my Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Series was re-released this week—on January 5 to be precise—and although the nightly news shows somehow were too fixated on other stories to cover it, you can find a place to buy in on my brand new website www.jeffreysiger.com that went live that same day… another overlooked major event of last week.
