Labor Day is upon us, so I figured I would discuss work, unemployment and their effects on our psyche.
The current unemployment rate nationally is 4.3% though the labor participation rate is 60.2%. A lot of people don't understand what these numbers really mean. Very basically, the unemployment rate is only looking at the percentage of people out of a job and looking. The labor participation rate is the actual percentage of people with a job. These numbers will never line up for several reasons. There are men and women who choose not to work to manage the household, others who are sick, full-time students, etc.
What we should see, though, are corresponding fluctuations. When you look at these charts going back to 2007, you see that initially, but then they diverge a bit. Starting in October of 2009, the unemployment rate starts dropping significantly and pretty steadily. The labor participation rate, however, stays very flat for the next 4 years. The participation rate in October 2013 is lower than October 2009, yet the unemployment rate improved from 10% to 7.2%. People stopped looking for jobs.
I am not getting into policy here, but rather how dangerous a situation that is. When people stop looking for jobs they have given in to despair. Searching indicates hope, which is needed for one to be happy. At the end of 2013, we had a lot of unhappy, hopeless people out there. I am afraid that many of them resorted to crime, alcohol, drugs to cope or get by. How many became abusive in their personal relationships?
Worst of all, this set an example for millions of then teenagers. They saw their parents and neighbors give in and possibly turn ugly. They heard complaints about greedy companies eliminating their jobs, no good government policies that won't help them and racial complaints that "they" have it easy or are exploiting the situation. Occupy Wall Street started September 2011, shortly after what I would argue was the middle of the low point of our economy.
Occupy Wall Street was clearly the inspiration of the current iteration of Antifa. They share common tactics and both want the current system shut down. The Alt-Right seems to have been a reaction to BLM, which seemed to be filled with disaffected and unemployed youth. All of these groups are looking for an outlet for their grievances.
If the people of our country hadn't fallen into despair for those 4 years, I don't think we would see these violent clashes of opposing ideologies. We wouldn't see the ugliness and anger in these people. So much property and lives wouldn't have been lost. The most concerning aspect in all of this to me is it is the younger half of the millennial generation. The actions of these people will directly influence the mindset of the generation coming after them. Let's hope the influence is for the positive.
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Saturday, August 26, 2017
We Are Killing Ourselves
In light of the issues concerning the alt-right, controversial statues, racism and other current issues in America, I decided to look at pop culture from the 1960s for answers. To do this, I am returning to discuss, again, the themes from a Twilight Zone episode. This time I'm looking at episode 31 of season 5, "The Encounter". This is an incredible episode and can't recommend watching it enough. The plot is a Japanese gardener named Arthur (George Takei) comes to a WWII vet's house looking for gardening work. In the end, mutual prejudices, loneliness and guilt are revealed to be the downfall of both characters.
The overarching theme is racism, prejudice and guilt. The vet, Fenton, is in his attic, which displays a myriad of Japanese souvenirs from the war. The one piece that freaks him out is a samurai sword, engraved in Japanese with the words "the sword will avenge me. While he claims he got it off an officer who tried to kill him, it is revealed that it was taken off of a surrendering officer that Fenton shot rather than take in. The sword "speaks" to the gardener when he holds it, almost possesses him to act like a WWII Japanese soldier.
While Fenton's racism and prejudices are playing out, it is revealed that the gardener was a 4-year-old at Pearl Harbor during the attack and his father worked on the base. Initially, he tells a story about his father looking on in dismay that "men of his own race" would bomb what he built and that he was trying to warn the sailors about the attack. Turns out, his father was actually a traitor and was signaling the bombers. The veracity of this historical tidbit aside (I haven't been able to confirm or dispute it), it shows the constant guilt Arthur is living with. His family was responsible for the deaths of thousands of men, women and children throughout the Pacific theater.
So on one side, we have a hypocritical racist, willing to pawn off the responsibility for his actions. On the other side, a guilt ridden man who thinks hiding his identity (changed his name, won't speak Japanese in public) will ease his guilt and make life easier. Deep down Fenton is conflicted with himself and alone because of his own actions. Arthur's guilt has made him prejudicial in his own right as well as reactionary and short tempered.
In the final struggle, Fenton's racism leads him to attack Arthur, leading to his accidental death by the samurai sword. This adds to Arthur's guilt, he is now personally responsible for the death of a man, and he kills himself by jumping out the window. Because neither man truly deals with their biggest character flaws, those flaws are the cause of their own deaths. This is a genuinely universal and timeless truth of humanity. If we do not deal with our "issues", they will kill us.
What's my point in all of this? If we don't deal with our own troubled national and personal histories we will end up destroying ourselves. Yes, America was founded and grew on racist law and activities. Nothing can excuse it, but hiding it or rationalizing it won't make things better. We as a nation need to own it, recognize what it was and acknowledge that we have evolved past that as a nation and we will never go back to it. Individual groups who are at each other's throats also need to recognize their own ugly roots and disassociate from them but don't bury them otherwise no one will learn from them.
The overarching theme is racism, prejudice and guilt. The vet, Fenton, is in his attic, which displays a myriad of Japanese souvenirs from the war. The one piece that freaks him out is a samurai sword, engraved in Japanese with the words "the sword will avenge me. While he claims he got it off an officer who tried to kill him, it is revealed that it was taken off of a surrendering officer that Fenton shot rather than take in. The sword "speaks" to the gardener when he holds it, almost possesses him to act like a WWII Japanese soldier.
While Fenton's racism and prejudices are playing out, it is revealed that the gardener was a 4-year-old at Pearl Harbor during the attack and his father worked on the base. Initially, he tells a story about his father looking on in dismay that "men of his own race" would bomb what he built and that he was trying to warn the sailors about the attack. Turns out, his father was actually a traitor and was signaling the bombers. The veracity of this historical tidbit aside (I haven't been able to confirm or dispute it), it shows the constant guilt Arthur is living with. His family was responsible for the deaths of thousands of men, women and children throughout the Pacific theater.
So on one side, we have a hypocritical racist, willing to pawn off the responsibility for his actions. On the other side, a guilt ridden man who thinks hiding his identity (changed his name, won't speak Japanese in public) will ease his guilt and make life easier. Deep down Fenton is conflicted with himself and alone because of his own actions. Arthur's guilt has made him prejudicial in his own right as well as reactionary and short tempered.
In the final struggle, Fenton's racism leads him to attack Arthur, leading to his accidental death by the samurai sword. This adds to Arthur's guilt, he is now personally responsible for the death of a man, and he kills himself by jumping out the window. Because neither man truly deals with their biggest character flaws, those flaws are the cause of their own deaths. This is a genuinely universal and timeless truth of humanity. If we do not deal with our "issues", they will kill us.
What's my point in all of this? If we don't deal with our own troubled national and personal histories we will end up destroying ourselves. Yes, America was founded and grew on racist law and activities. Nothing can excuse it, but hiding it or rationalizing it won't make things better. We as a nation need to own it, recognize what it was and acknowledge that we have evolved past that as a nation and we will never go back to it. Individual groups who are at each other's throats also need to recognize their own ugly roots and disassociate from them but don't bury them otherwise no one will learn from them.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Fascists Everywhere
It's been quite a long time since I've posted anything, not that anyone's missed me on here, but that is my fault. Regardless, multiple factors have brought me back here today. I figured I'd keep it light, so I'll talk about fascists in America today.
As defined by Merriam-Webster, fascism is "a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition". On the face of it, one could argue that the KKK and Neo-Nazis are the only fascists around. That is what they are, by definition.
This is where I cause a ruckus. I argue that anti-fa in America today are actually fascist in their strategies, but, by their own admission, anarchist in their vision. Anti-fa use the same strategies and techniques as the groups they are protesting. They are both deliberately belligerent, hoping for the other side to attack so they can claim self defense. They want to play both the victim and the protector. They also want to shut down all political speech by the other side.
Their political vision, according to them, is anarcho-socialist. They are anti-capitalist and do not support any government structure, even within their own group...except when cooperating with police works to their advantage. That would, in part, explain this picture:
So what you had in Charlottesville were two radical groups with more similarities than they care to admit, who like to use violence to further their agenda, colliding in the name of their cause. In the middle were people who aren't as radical. People who want to protect American exceptionalism on the right and those who detest violence and bigotry on the left. Unfortunately, those are the ones who get hurt and killed.
I am not going to victim blame. By the time that jackass got in his car and decided to mow down as many anti-fa or counter protesters, I don't think anyone knew what was going on. I'm sure people were doing things they never thought they would do in the heat of the moment.
I will also not condone one group using violence to silence the political speech of another group, no matter how abhorrent that group's message may be. Violence by one group validates the violence of the other group. Violence does not solve these issues. Violence does not cure us of racism. Violence does not promote the common good.
The 1st Amendment protects political speech, but it does not protect violence. We must confront evil ideas with reason. Expose their ideology for what it is; foolish, childish and counter to our American values. They will lose steam. If they get violent with you, defend yourself but let the police sort it out.
This is where I cause a ruckus. I argue that anti-fa in America today are actually fascist in their strategies, but, by their own admission, anarchist in their vision. Anti-fa use the same strategies and techniques as the groups they are protesting. They are both deliberately belligerent, hoping for the other side to attack so they can claim self defense. They want to play both the victim and the protector. They also want to shut down all political speech by the other side.
Their political vision, according to them, is anarcho-socialist. They are anti-capitalist and do not support any government structure, even within their own group...except when cooperating with police works to their advantage. That would, in part, explain this picture:
So what you had in Charlottesville were two radical groups with more similarities than they care to admit, who like to use violence to further their agenda, colliding in the name of their cause. In the middle were people who aren't as radical. People who want to protect American exceptionalism on the right and those who detest violence and bigotry on the left. Unfortunately, those are the ones who get hurt and killed.
I am not going to victim blame. By the time that jackass got in his car and decided to mow down as many anti-fa or counter protesters, I don't think anyone knew what was going on. I'm sure people were doing things they never thought they would do in the heat of the moment.
I will also not condone one group using violence to silence the political speech of another group, no matter how abhorrent that group's message may be. Violence by one group validates the violence of the other group. Violence does not solve these issues. Violence does not cure us of racism. Violence does not promote the common good.
The 1st Amendment protects political speech, but it does not protect violence. We must confront evil ideas with reason. Expose their ideology for what it is; foolish, childish and counter to our American values. They will lose steam. If they get violent with you, defend yourself but let the police sort it out.
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