🗞️ Charlie Kirk’s Murder Is a Tragedy and a Disaster, Jacobin
No one should be killed as punishment for political expression, no matter how objectionable. …
… the prospect of a descent into tit-for-tat political violence is an ominous development that threatens to narrow the space for meaningful political action.… We [the Left] say things that others find extremely objectionable all the time, and we expect to be met with strenuous counterargument – not violent reprisal.
A sober and much welcomed op-ed
The Social Media User’s Prayer:
God grant me cacophonous wrath about the things I cannot change, habitual neglect of the things I can change, and absolute ignorance of the difference.
9/11, Charlie Kirk, and Walt Whitman
Reflecting on 24 years since 9/11 takes on a new poignancy in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. I’m reminded of the opening line’s of Whitman’s 1860 poem, “States!"…
Were you looking to be held together by the lawyers? By an agreement on a paper? Or by arms? Away! I arrive, bringing these, beyond all the forces of
courts and arms, These! to hold you together as firmly as the earth
itself is held together. The old breath of life, ever new, Here! I pass it by contact to you, America.
Whitman understood that mere self-interest would never be sufficient to maintain Union, the “lawyers”, the “agreement on paper” is a reference to the Constitutional compact of Union. It was tearing apart, not only because of Southern recalcitrance to maintain slavery, but also because of Northern callousness—a belief that perhaps it would be better to let them go their own way.
Whitman sought to remind us that there is a deeper bond amongst us Americans, but it needed a renewal of sorts. Here, in the opening he refers to it as the “old breath of life”—a clear reference to the Holy Spirit (cf. Genesis 2:7) among many such allusions in the Bible). But this wasn’t just a Christian, spiritual renewal. What Whitman goes on to describe is a romantic, patriotic friendship that binds not just the Northerns and Southerns—as individual persons—but his scope for that bond was continental, encompassing Canada, Mexico, and Cuba.
Here is Whitman’s closing:
I will plant companionship thick as trees along all the
rivers of America, and along the shores of the
great lakes, and all over the prairies, I will make inseparable cities, with their arms about
each other’s necks.For you these, from me, O Democracy, to serve you,
ma femme! For you! for you, I am trilling these songs.
After 9/11 there was a brief moment of such renewed bond of civic friendship. I don’t just mean the brief 90 percent approval rating of George W. Bush—I mean the way that Americans spoke to and about one another. Even amongst disagreement, even sharp ones, there was a respect and deference that we were still friends. I remember many long conversations with classmates, all of us across the political spectrum and religious beliefs—we debated political issues in good faith. And although I’ve lost touch with those friends from 2001, I’m grateful that among my closest friends, we’ve maintained this spirit of companionship, thick as trees.
I hope and pray that even some of us can recover this old breath of life, reach out to someone with an opposing view on something and just talk.
On Charlie Kirk (an initial thought)
I’m appalled less by the tragic murder of Charlie Kirk than I am about some of the responses, especially on Micro.Blog wherein pointing to his political views but nothing else serves as subtle but obvious implication that he had it coming.
Kirk was a great American because he was a man of conviction—who exercised the blessing of liberty in defense of views he was convinced was true. Indeed, yes, so were Melissa Hortman (and her husband, Mark), and John Hoffman (and his wife, Yvette) who were also great Americans who lived a life dedicated to the principles of advocating for policies and political views they were deeply convinced about. That Kirk was ardent Conservative and Hortman and Hoffman ardent Democrats does not diminish their greatness as models for civic living that the rest of living should emulate and follow.
Words and ideas are not violence, violence is violence. I disagreed with Kirk on much (especially Trump), agreed with him on some things. I had the pleasure of having TP kids in my class over the years (all of whom were deeply respectful of all views, loved engaging with their center-left and hard-left classmates in the spirit of free speech). Kirk had firm positions, but then, so does everyone else. Many will say Kirk was full of hate and bigotry because of an assumption that they’re the sober, moderate ones, but it’s possible that Kirk was moderate and his critics the radicals—that’s an uncomfortable proposition few on the left want to consider. (And, yes, one that few on the right will consider about themselves)
One thing that I noticed over the years is that once his first kid was born, he slowly began moderating himself from the agonistic contrarian to the leader of a movement that he wanted to direct toward better, higher, noble things (like family, faith, and open discourse). It is way too easy to point to a radical sounding clip or quote out of context from years gone by; it is too easy to make his death a clarion cry for more aggressive anti-constitutional policies in the name of righting the injustice.
What’s harder… much, much harder, is reflecting on the man as a man, the American as an American, on objective terms free of partisan bias.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Rest in Peace, Charlie… And may perpetual light shine upon you.
The 9yo is teaching his little sister (4.5), “Take me out to the ball game.” My heart is full. ⚾️
Stumbled on my journal from 2017 while cleaning. It has footprints from the hospital when Paco was born. I wept for god knows how long.
Oh how do I miss that kid. 💔
A rare day with all kids asleep before 7:30. I have the little on my lap while I watch baseball.
🗞️ Why Ohio State is the most recession-proof program in college football, The Athletic
“Ohio State made its 1,000th appearance in the AP poll this week, 72 more than any other team dating to 1936. Since Woody Hayes took over in 1951, it has had just four losing seasons out of 74, the fewest in the FBS. And after some modest lulls by Ohio State standards in the 1980s and ’90s, the consistent winning has been taken to another level in the 21st century with national championships won by three consecutive head coaches.”
Go Buckeyes!
A student gave me an “impact award” from last semester. This was a nice surprise as we begin the fall term.
Just paid the final hospital bill for Paco. It still doesn’t feel real that’s gone, but looking at the pre-insurance costs underscores just how sick he got without warning.
I miss him every moment of every day.
Currently reading: Syllabus: The Remarkable, Unremarkable Document That Changes Everything (Skills for Scholars) by William Germano 📚
Finished reading: On Revision by William Germano 📚
Revisiting The Idea of a University by John Henry Newman now that he been named a Doctor of the Church. 📚
So if an appendectomy wasn’t enough, the big kid got stung by a wasp after watching Bad Guys 2 today—just as he was getting into the car.
🗞️ Curate your own newspaper with RSS via [Citation Needed]
A year or so ago I quipped about RSS at a panel; later that day a younger colleague thanked me for the comment. He never heard of RSS. In light of Google Zero, one has to wonder if, in hindsight, this was the goal of Google all along.
🗞️ Notes on Spite, Hollis Robbins, Substack
To talk about spite is to betray it. Spite operates through concealment and misdirection. Spite succeeds best when its motivations remain hidden from all but its intended target. Spite is forensic. Spite is a creative brief, born of a rejection that when veiled becomes fuel.…
Or, ask me how I got through graduate school.
I finished reading: The Distracted Mind by Adam Gazzaley 📚
Oh, the perils of being a vice-president
Being the Vice-President can be lonely, and the payoff almost never arrives.
Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, is, by most accounts, the president’s point person on mass deportation and immigration enforcement. Russell Vought, the head of the Office of Management and Budget, leads the effort to terrorize federal employees, bring the federal bureaucracy to heel and seize the power of the purse from Congress. The Department of Government Efficiency, formerly run by Elon Musk, is busy dismantling the nation’s research capacity and working to centralize government data on Americans.
Vance might have been on the ballot in November, but you’d be hard-pressed to find him anywhere in this triumvirate. He holds no particular portfolio of issues or items to pursue, and he appears to have no special relationship with the president. On occasion, you’ll see Vance engaged in the sorts of civic activities that vice presidents are often made to perform — those events where it is important that someone from the high end of the administration makes an appearance but not so important that you would send the president or the secretary of state. Even then, however, Vance seems to do less of this than past vice presidents. This is perhaps because, unlike his predecessors, President Trump is less interested in governing than he is in playing the role of head of state."
From Jamelle Bouie’s recent op-ed in the NY Times, which is partly right and partly flawed still echoes the spirit of John N. Garner’s quip that the Vice-Presidency is no worth a warm bucket of piss. We will recall, of course, that Joe Biden was the first VP since George H.W. Bush to be elected President (and before that it was Nixon who, like Biden, had a break in service before winning).
Burgers, baseball, family movie, clean kitchen, kids asleep. That’s a great Saturday. But on the last Saturday of summer vacation?! Miracles exist, folks.
🎥 The only problem with this otherwise delightful NYT cooking & Kenji Lopez-Alt video on cooking hamburgers is that my kids talked me into making hamburgers for dinner while we watched it. Admittedly, this isn’t actually a problem.