First, a moment of silence for Freezersaurus (2009-2016); Rest In Recycling. This week we close the door on our years of arctic antics together. A new, uncertain relationship is beginning, with our diversity of icy inhabitants hanging in the balance. A future post will provide an update.
Stomach-Churning Rating: 2/10; no photos, but some politics; take it or leave it.
Speaking of diversity, it’s Thanksgiving in my home of the USA and thus a time for reflection. Such reflections this year inevitably turn to current global events, in which “diversity” has come up in many ways, and then back to my own life, and back again. It certainly has been a year for reflection, and – like many others – my current taste for dystopian tales mirrors that reflection.
In (the United States of) America, Thanksgiving is a tradition of (at least implicitly) commemorating the meeting of two cultures (Native and newly-immigrated American/Puritan) and the eventual fusion/phagocytosis of those two diverse cultures into something new; leading to the USA of today and its diverse inhabitants and cultures. We spend time with family and have awkward conversations or cheer on sports teams or take engorgement-induced naps. We eat diverse foods of the harvest time and thank the spirits/divinity/cooks for their bounty. Many Americans, across our cultural diversity, take time to ponder what they are grateful for. I’ve always loved this holiday because of that, and my fond memories of past Thanksgivings.
And so I am drawn to reflection on the giving of thanks, and the significance of diversity, and I choose today to type some words that echo my thoughts.
I am grateful for what diversity we have. My life is enmeshed with that diversity: I study biodiversity and marvel at the diversity of nature, which both bring great joy to my life. I worry about the state of funding for, and reciprocally the appreciation of, the scientific study of nature and the human value placed on biodiversity, and the implications of those for the future of diverse life on Earth, both human and non-human. It is well known that they are all under threat, in diverse ways, from sociopolitical and other factors.
To me, human diversity (cultural, ethnic, other) is part of this natural diversity; it has evolved and will continue to, for as long as it exists. It is not going away. I am grateful for that human diversity. Some parts of it bring me terrible revulsion, and those are the source of much worry, and our own nature is their source, too. But it brings my life great meaning to interact with different people, to learn new things from them, and to share experiences in more positive ways. I am curious about all of these things, and because of that curiosity in 2016 I have learned more about that human diversity than I ever have before. Some of that learning has been about the dark side of humanity, from political and social trends (or glaring exposure of longstanding biases) in the UK and USA and more globally. Yet also some of that learning has been about the virtues of human diversity and realizing how much solidarity I feel (and have long felt) for those who are trapped in disadvantageous positions along the fault lines of confrontations between different components of that diversity. It has brought out some of my best and worst feelings.
Like a snail, this year I feel that I have periodically been moving forward to inspect the greater world, enjoying it for a time, then recoiling once I encounter the xenophobia, anti-intellectualism, and selfishness, which make me want to stay inside my shell. Long have I inhabited that shell in 2016. I’m not proud of those feelings and that tenancy in my little partition of this world, but they are what I’ve been able to manage. Today, I am trying to appreciate the broader picture and remind myself of where there is still goodness in the world, and how cycles of diversity can stabilize. We have choices to make about how we control those cycles; we humans are unique in our control of them; and those choices are best poised on the understanding that comes from curiosity. It is there in that diversity that Darwin celebrated; “There is grandeur in this view of life,” and today I am thankful for the grandeur that does still remain around us. I am curious to view what grandeur that diversity presents next. We could all use more of that grandeur.
And thanks for reading this post.
Good thoughts, John. Among the many, many upsetting aspects of the UKIP and Trump victories this year has been seeing how they have brought out the worst in me as well as others.
Today, I saw MP Jacob Rees-Mogg say “Experts, soothsayers, astrologers are all in the much the same category”. I really struggle to see the point is of trying to achieve anything in that intellectual climate. It comes after Gove’s “The people of this country have had enough of experts”, of course — an assessment that was proved correct, and then proved to be true of the USA, too.
Well, I mean to say, what?
I feel similarly, Mike. It’s hard not to sink into despair with the feeling that half or more of the world just can’t agree on some basic facts that are accessible and repeatable. But that is the “elitism” that they rebel against, I suppose. And then it’s easy to sink into the bubble of “fine, then I’m an elitist, I’d rather be that than stupid/wrong.” Which doesn’t help matters in the long run. Maybe there is succour in the knowledge that the long run is what matters most and, although there will still be suffering and perhaps even darker times ahead, there are good chances that, with vigilance and effort, that long run will turn out to be an overall better world. But who knows! Stuff is so unpredictable right now! …If only we had experts? What might not help though is divisiveness, although when there is clear wrongdoing someone has to be brought to justice, and that may increase divisiveness- for the short term, at least? Divisiveness aside, someone’s got to reach across the aisles and work to draw the world back together, and that looks like a hard struggle ahead. We need inspiring, ethical, diplomatic leaders and we can all play our part– in diverse ways.
It really does seem — and I hope I am wrong — that contempt for “elitism” has become contempt for knowledge and for expertise. What can you even do with a world like that? Honestly, a tiny part of me just wants to curl up in my house with my family, subscribe to the Telegraph, and retreat from the world — leave ’em to their economic meltdown, confident that, hey, I have a good job. Now I know I have to be better than that — of course I do — but the temptation is there.
And in a situation where a white supremacist is in the White House, what even is “divisiveness” anyway? How do you “reach across the aisles” to someone who wants to deport millions of citizens? Especially if you are one of those citizens? I struggle to see it.
To me, this feels qualitatively different to every other political misstep I’ve witnessed. It feels like we are beyond disagreements over which policy will be most effectiveness, and into something much more fundamental.
Ugh.
Yeah you’re not alone, Mike. It does feel different. I remember the dark times of living in early 1980s England and USA when we were still feeling afraid of nuclear war, and Reagan + Thatcher were doing their worst. This feels like it is already worse or at least teetering on the brink of it. The sentiments here are those many feel, for example: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/opinion/no-trump-we-cant-just-get-along.html
Diplomacy only works if you can trust the other side to be fair? I’m drifting far away from my blog’s topic but it’s hard to think about much else these days; distractions are temporary.
I think your comment on diplomacy hits it on the head. In the absence of trust, where are you? I read an analysis recently of the literally thousands of times Trump has been sued for not paying contractors the amount agreed in the contract, and the take-away is that he doesn’t consider a signed contract to be an agreement, but the starting point for a negotiation. (I wish I could find it again now, but I can’t.) This bodes ill.
On the brighter side: if more than a decade of SV-POW! has taught me anything, it’s that a man’s blog is his own kingdom, and it’s his inalienable right to write about whatever he wants on it. I find it quite cute now, looking back at my earliest posts on open access and seeing them conscientiously marked “off-topic”. On WIJF, the topic is whatever you want it to be!
Thanks Mike- yeah I have wandered “off topic” a lot here already, and I like that sometimes, but politics makes me feel like I’m straying too far. However, current events make it hard for me to contain my feelings into just one appropriate “safe space” sometimes so I’m happy to have the opportunity to vent– and think about solutions, too.
Well, be sure to let me know when you get the solutions figured out!
Ah, I found that article.
[…] outside your field, with complementary expertise, could give a good perspective? Aim for some fair diversity; like item #3 above, this is increasingly becoming Good Practice, and rightly […]