Posts Tagged Culture
In Praise of Superficiality
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture on July 15, 2009
Sometimes, seeing is believing. Other times, it’s best to shut your eyes.
A Tale of Two Michaels
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture on July 8, 2009
As music icon Michael Jackson was planning his return to the stage, basketball icon Michael Jordan was appearing in a less familiar arena. At the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge, Mr. Jordan shot an 86 — not bad, but a little off his game.
His foursome included Justin Timberlake, Ben Roethlisberger, and Larry Giebelhausen, a Phoenix police lieutenant who had won the privilege of playing in such celebrated company with a six-word contest entry: “I’m a Cop; I’ll Shoot Low.”
It’s hard to imagine Michael Jackson having participated in a similar venue. Whatever common touch the pop star might have once had, it disappeared decades ago, along with his original nose, cheekbones, and coloring, under the searing lights of fame and fortune. It’s to Michael Jordan’s credit that he has retained a bit of humility, to allow “one of the folks” to hobnob with him over 18 holes (not to mention remaining gracious while performing below his usual standard).
No one really doubts whether Mr. Jackson’s meteoric success from such a young age contributed to his tragic decline into scandal, freakishness, and premature death. The kind of humility displayed by Mr. Jordan could never have survived the early adulation accorded Mr. Jackson, no matter how humble his beginnings.
Perhaps the difference can be summed up by what Michael Jordan once said about himself: “I’ve failed over and over and over in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
The sages teach that a tzaddik falls seven times. By grappling with obstacles, by failing and learning from their mistakes, those with the potential to achieve spiritual greatness succeed in achieving it. So too in almost every form of endeavor.
Michael Jordan may not be what we think of as a tzaddik, a truly righteous man. But it is reassuring to see someone who occupies the highest strata of celebrity status showing us that wealth and notoriety do not have to produce the kind of self-absorption, self-indulgence, or ghoulishness that we have come to expect. It is equally reassuring to contemplate how there may be no more reliable strategy for climbing the ladder of success than by persisting in the upward ascent from one rung of failure to another.
1984 and the Language of Confusion
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, Education and Parenting, Philosophy, Politics on June 17, 2009
Sixty years after Orwell’s masterpiece, his message is more prophetic than ever.
And my apologies for the typo in the fifth from the last paragraph. Essays on language should be pristine.
A Lifetime of Mistaken Identity
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture on May 21, 2009
Two girls switched at birth discover the mistake after half-a-century.
The Pursuit of Happiness
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture on May 17, 2009
New research indicates that old, male republicans are the happiest Americans. Without commenting on the validity of the methodology or the results, it offers a good excuse to revisit the Torah perspective on what makes us happy.
Email of the Week: A Story of Socialism
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, Politics on April 2, 2009
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before but had once failed an entire class.
That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
Could not be any simpler than that.
Hat tip: Dave Weinbaum
Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise on Repentance
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture on March 18, 2009
Well, not exactly. But definitely worth reading.
Apostrophe Catastrophe
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, Education and Parenting on February 9, 2009
Someone once said that if the English language is going to die, at least it will die laughing. But this kind of story makes me want to cry.
Please read it, since you may not believe me without seeing it yourself. In fact, I still can’t really believe it.
England has decided to remove aspostraphes from its street signs. King’s Heath will now become Kings Heath. What’s the reason? Apostraphes are too confusing.
According to Councilor Martin Mullaney, who heads the city’s transport scrutiny committee, “Apostrophes denote possessions that are no longer accurate, and are not needed,” he said. “More importantly, they confuse people. If I want to go to a restaurant, I don’t want to have an A-level (high school diploma) in English to find it.”
Maybe this is why Tom Daschle didn’t pay his taxes — he found them too complicated. And perhaps that’s why Rod Blagojevich crashed and burned — he found bribery and corruption laws too confusing. And no doubt this is why the auto industry continued manufacturing substandard gas-guzzlers, why the banking industry collapsed, and why congress is throwing a trillion dollars good dollars after a trillion bad — because responsible business practices and real solutions to difficult problems are just too hard to understand.
But don’t imagine that it can’t get any worse. It will. The closing of the American mind was probably never limited to North America, but it’s spreading like cancer.
It’s more important now to remember Aristophanes: Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.
Beware of “Brilliance”
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, Politics on February 5, 2009
What do Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Woodrow Wilson have in common? They were exceptionally intelligent men who were largely ineffective presidents.
Jonathan Rosenblum makes a pointed case for how the new administration is making the same mistake — confusing intellect with wisdom — and the possible consequences for US policy toward Israel.
Terror is the New Communism
Posted by Yonason Goldson in Culture, Education and Parenting, Politics on January 27, 2009
Hey, I got a social disease!
Remember that line from West Side Story? It seems that the street gangs of half a century ago may have had more on the ball than college students today. Especially in light of the deeply disturbing conversation on a plane recounted here by Dennis Prager.
Apparently, from the lofty view of the ivory tower, terrorism is merely a foil for the political right to wield in its pernicious agenda to trample our civil rights — just like Communism was only a threat in mind of Joseph McCarthy.
With apologies to Ann Coulter, McCarthy was one of the great criminals of American history. With apologies to academe, Communism was much worse.
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