IS OBAMA'S STAR DECLINING?

According global mass media, it seems to be that Obama is becoming a specially blamed lame duck. ‘Not only is he losing power, but also his well-known charm and charisma,' it is said. War conflicts in the Middle East such as Syria, Iraq and the bloodthirsty Islamic State; the raise of Chinese Economic Power, the lack of imagination to solve domestic social troubles, e.g. Ferguson (Missouri) and so on.

There is not any doubt that Obama will leave thousands of unsettled political problems on his rectangular table in the Oval Office at the White House. If not, he would be a superhero like Captain America.

In my opinion, Obama’s Achilles heel is not his ineffectiveness in both domestic and global issues, but Republican Party. The current US President has had to rule most of the time against clear Republican majorities: first, at the Congress, and from now on at the Senate as well. A wide range of his initiatives would have been successful whether both chambers had been under Democratic control.

God willing, Obama still has two years ahead of him as a US President. No one knows what may happen in these two years. His aura can raise or drop. Anyhow, it is not on our minds to know it; we can simply guess.

Let me tell something. Whatever could materialize within this time, but Obama will be known in the future not only because he was the first Afro-American US President, not only since he was a fabulous orator, and a cultured politician; not only, lastly, for the reason that he really was a very charismatic leader.

My point of view is that he will have achieved to force Americans to realize that they have two big social problems: Public Health and Immigration. Obama has taken two main domestic political initiatives: first, a real Health Public System ('Obamacare'), which covers especially the lowest layers of population; and second, the proposal to regulate the situation for about 6 million of illegal immigrants. He may reach or not these goals, but just for trying to solve these huge social injustices, Barack Obama deserves a place amongst the greatest Presidents in the History of the United States of America.

Because today is Black Friday at least, wouldn’t you agree?

MAY LAW BECOME A BIRDCAGE TO TWITTER?

Some matters of fact permit to see that the limitless liberty of expression may actually be harmful for the general liberty of individuals. Two issues in Spain have recently caught the attention of public opinion upon Twitter.

The first one was some joking comments about a politician’s murder posted by insensitive people. They applaud the crime because ─ they argue ─ all of politicians are corrupt. Of course, I am convinced that encouraging anybody to kill politicians or justifying any sort of violence against them can’t be accepted by civilized people.

In the second case, thousands of tweets against Jews were published because Maccabi of Tel Aviv beat Real Madrid in the final of the European Basketball Champions League. Insults from some few idiots ran through the web because anyone stupid else retweeted them again.

Certainly we could daily find thousands of similar cases in the social networks. Many posts defaming women, gays, elders, pop stars, football players, black people and white or red ones as well; hundreds of tweets spreading mixed lies and half-truths throughout the world. So what does happened in these two concrete circumstances?

In the murder of the woman who held a public charge in the Spanish Autonomic Community of Castilla-León, the establishment reacted in order to avoid their own loss of prestige and also to protect themselves. They can’t permit people to use violence (nor physical neither verbal) to express their annoyance.

In the campaign against Jewish, this issue is too sensitive to be tolerated at all. ‘Final Solution of The Jewish Question’ by Nazism was too terrifying to be forgotten, and we can’t afford that people without any kind of historical memory or moral scruple talk calmly about it. Therefore many Jewish Organisations protested and denounced that awful action.

It seems to me that any type of legal regulation is necessary to avoid similar matters, because social life needs laws and rules to be possible. There is no doubt that social networks are part of the social life as well, aren’t they? Freedom of speech and expression needs guaranties to develop itself rightly in a free and equal society. Can a well-weighted and thoughtful legal regulation really become a jail to the blue bird?

WHAT ON EARTH DOES ‘CYNICISM’ MEAN ?

I had a discussion with my dear teacher Jenny about the meaning of ‘cynicism’ during the last conversation class, and we didn’t completely agree. I am going to try to explain why.

The word ‘cynicism,’ like the others from the same semantic field, has different meanings, and they are still wider if we take in account several languages.

This word proceeds from ancient Greek. ‘Cynics’ were members of a Socratic philosophical school that was founded in Athens in the 4^th century BC. That school exaggerated some features of Socrates to the limit. Their name -"The sect of the dog"- was taken from the Greek word for ‘dog’ (Kyon) because members of that school tried to live like a dog, that means without any kind of moral or social conventions.

We are going briefly to consider the adjective ‘cynical’. Etymologically and philosophically, ‘cynic’ means ‘amoral’ (not only dogs, but it seems all the animals live without any moral sense). However, some modern languages also give other meanings to this word.

In English, for example, the term ‘cynic’ may also be ‘suspicious’, ‘selfish’, ‘skeptic’, ‘immoral’, or ‘cruel’.

In Spanish, ‘cínico’ can mean ‘indecent’, ‘dirty-minded’, or ‘someone who acts with shamelessness in telling lies, or defending and practicing some condemnable doctrines’. It also means ‘dirty’, and ‘rude’.

In Catalan, the meaning of ‘cínic’ is indeed more restricted: ‘someone who boasts about his indecency and insincerity’.

In German, at length, ‘zynisch’ means ‘shameless’, ‘sarcastic’, and ‘cruel’ too.

We can see how the meaning of the term ‘cynic’ has been expanding. Anyhow, it is commonly taken as a word for describing negative traits of personality.

After this modest cross semantic analysis, I hope my teacher and me have closed our opinion.

'The Stare of the Owl' is already available online

Dear readers,

My new essay about the notion of crisis is available in the following address:

http://www.bubok.es/libros/225561/LA-MIRADA-DE-LA-LECHUZA-Un-antidoto-contra-las-crisis

For more information, you can view the last item in this blog.

If you are studying spanish, and you like reading and thinking, then you could practise with my book.

Cheer up to buy and read it,

The author

News about my New Book

GIL VERNET, Jordi

The Stare of the Owl. An antidote to crises (written in Spanish)

Bubok Ed. (digital and paper edition, 267 p.)

Reus / Málaga, 2013

This essay, which was written last year, will be published within a few days. I reflected there on some current crises from a philosophical perspective. The critical situation of the publishing world forced me to make an autoedition. I want to think the cause was not necessary the low quality of my work, but economic reasons. Anyhow, you will be able to get this book online from wherever you are, and decide yourself. This essay doesn't try just to analyze the economic crisis, but the notion of crisis itself. In several chapters, some examples of crisis are considered to try to find what they have in common.

The content has been split in two parts. The first part treats about that could be called 'Social crisis': the crisis of family, education, values, religion, and politics. The second part reflects on both crises of knowledge and science. The two parts examine what there is really deep down of those great changes named crisis. It is actually said that there is a crisis when something changes quickly and suddenly, isn’t it? It doesn’t mind if we are talking about ‘the Cuban missile crisis’, ‘a marriage crisis’, or ‘a government crisis’. They all are crises.

The thesis I hold in the book is that being alive is being constantly in crisis, taking into account that the word Krisis meant 'sudden change' in ancient Greek. Social life and even the things of nature are always changing. Sometimes there are bigger, sudden changes: they are great crises without any doubt, and so they are called. Evolution is the name we give to the great and constant changes in the nature. The universe is always evolving, and things which are inside are evolving as well. I would like that this book may help its readers to understand better what 'crisis' means.

By the way, if you are studying Spanish, and you like thinking, and also reading essays, cheer up and dare to buy and read my book. I think I may assure you won’t regret. As soon as the book is available, I’ll put the publisher link in this blog.

Back Home

Reality was waiting for me when I arrived home. I returned to Spain two weeks ago, and I found three astonishing news. However, I must admit I'm confused because I’m not certain they aren’t connected.

The first one is that José Maria Aznar, a former president of the Spanish government for eight years, is threatening to come back. It seems that he is dissatisfied with the policy of current president Mariano Rajoy, and he would like to take over the control of the situation. It is well-known that Rajoy was chosen by Aznar as his heir instead of Rodrigo Rato. (By the way, there are no words to describe the successful-failure professional career of Rato: International Monetary Fund (IMF), BANKIA…) Anyhow, why is Aznar unhappy with Rajoy’s policy? Why is he hesitating about the skills and abilities of his successor?

It is said that Aznar doesn't agree with Rajoy’s policy. It seems that he thinks he would do it better. It's thought the balance of the Aznar era was positive because macroeconomic figures went up, and Spanish Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew up too. The fact, nevertheless, is that Aznar’s government was quite responsible of the building bubble which almost ruined the Spanish economy ─although fortunately for him, after his term of office.

Perhaps there is another explanation for his comeback. It is also said that Aznar is disappointed about some information relative to his daughter’s wedding. Something about gifts and favors received from people who are being investigated for corruption in the called Gürtel case. Aznar could have got gifts valued in many thousands of euros in return for some dark compensation. The wedding ceremony lighting, expensive wines, luxurious clothes, and perhaps jewels would be amongst those gifts. In the background, the cause of Aznar's annoyance is very likely the attitude of president Rajoy in front of the corruption in his own party and the Bárcena’s papers issue.

The B accounts of the Popular Party (PP), which reflect some alleged illegal payments to many high PP public offices, were done on manuscript sheets by its ex-treasurer Luis Bárcenas. The scandal was brought to light in the last autumn. Aznar wouldn’t be glad because his name appears on the list of beneficiaries. Reaction of Aznar has been to disavow Rajoy, and he insinuates Rajoy is misusing both his authority and his legacy (Aznar’s authority and legacy, I mean). Should Aznar return? Is that the right question? Would his comeback be good for Spain? Many people are hesitating over that fact, especially in his own party.

Meanwhile, the economic crisis follows in spite of our unbelievable figures of unemployment are going down as a consequence ─at least in part─ of seasonal contracting. Although it exists actually the hope this decrease is not just a consequence of the summer tourism industry demand, but a real economic trend. We’ll surely know it inside four months. I wish it were a positive indicator that our economy is reactivating.

(The first news has been powerful, hasn’t it?) The second one is that Spain follows being the main guilty for all the evil things which affect Catalonia. The government president of Catalonia, Artur Mas, doesn’t lose any occasion to say that Madrid is responsible for all our pains and sufferings. "Catalan people don’t deserve so bad luck. Why did we marry Castile over five-hundred years ago? Why have we had to be in fact under the Spanish Bourbon crown for about three centuries? We would have liked to get independence or, at less, to belong rather to the USA, like Massachusetts or to Germany, like Baden Württemberg; but not to Congo or Myanmar, of course. We are rich and civilized; we aren't poor and barbarian. Catalonia is pure; Catalonia has neither corruption nor misadministration," he seems to say.

It seems as if our politicians didn’t make any mistake. “Nowadays, Catalonia has not money because of Madrid. Ergo: if Catalonia were independent, it would have a lot of money, and Catalans could live surrounded with pleasures and treasures,” they say. (Where are you seeing the fallacy, dear reader? OK, you’re right.) The really truth is that state, national, and local politicians are equally responsible for all those things which were wrong done last years in the whole Spain. Not just Madrid, Very Honourable President Mas.

The third news affects surprisingly nature: WE (West Europe) won’t have summer in this year, whether the forecast which has done a French weather agency was right. It seems that math models predict an unusual cold and wet summer as effect of the cool and rainy spring that Europe has had. I wonder if a cold and wet summer is not a summer too. Why are some kinds of news so shocking? Maybe it'll be temperatures one or two degree lower than the average; perhaps we'll see more rain than usually. However, does it mean we are not going to have a summer? I thought that I could swimming, playing beach rackets, diving, motorbiking, running, and having a few jars like any summer in my life. However, next summer I’m going probably skiing, making snowmen, and staying home having tea. What a summer is waiting for us! 

Do all these news have something to do each other? Should Aznar come back? Should Artur Mas find other excuses? Is nature furious with us? Haven’t we done the right things? Has the world become mad? Am I having a dream? I don’t know, but I’m absolutely sure I'm back home.

A Brief Comment by an Irish Runner

I don’t know whether or not I have anything to do with the dude who appears in Running Boston (2), but I thought I should answer just in case it refers to me.

I'm a curly haired, freckled, and white skinned as a glass of milk young Bostonian guy. You would say I seem to be like an Irishman because my descent came indeed from Ireland. I run often along the Charles River. Sometimes, I gaze at other runners. I remember for example a guy wearing a complete black running equipment some Sundays behind. I thought he wore overdressed, but he seemed being cold. I followed him for a mile, and further I overtook him. It was a bald, thin, suntanned, and about 6-feet tall middle-aged man. It caught my eye the fact he ran with a very good style, but I immediately thought he was able to go faster. Maybe he was doing a long training. I didn't know. If he wasn't from New England, he would be an European dude. Definitely, he could not be from one else of the States. He might be Italian or French; perhaps even a Spanish guy.

It doesn't matter if he came from France, Italy or Spain: he brought the whole Mediterranean in his blood. They are very different to us, the Celtics. Although some Celtic people lived at the Cantabrian Sea, and other regions in those countries, Mediterranean people are another thing. That runner seemed also well accustomed to move through the Hub. Was he maybe thinking of living in Boston definitely ?

Two Sundays later, I saw him again. However, that time he ran faster, and he was doing acceleration series or maybe a Fart Leck training session. When we coincided under the Harvard Bridge afterwards, I was be able to see why he ran so fast: he put on a pair of brand-new sneakers New Balance 890v3 Boston Marathon Edition - M890B0S3 - Paul Revere - reflective purple colorway. I understood it all at once. How I envied that Mediterranean guy, and even more at night!!!

Patrick O’Toole