The Future

The Crystal Ball by John William Waterhouse (1902)

Protracted combat for which there seems no end (in Ukraine and the Mideast) is not a new phenomenon. There was the Hundred Years’ War between England and France and the Thirty Years War which culminated in the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) wherein the modern nation state was born. Wars are bitter divorces which remake alliances and, to extend the metaphor, also create strange bedfellows. Who knows what the complexion of the world will be? Is it a game of musical chairs in which random parties simply grab the first prospect they encounter, like a couple on the rebound? Or does history ever evolve in a way that makes sense? Hegel proposed a dialectic in which Communism is actually born from the womb of the capitalist state. Similarly free market capitalism became the force which eradicated feudalism with its inherited fiefdoms and rights. Today meritocracy is the new elixir. During Arab Spring it was thought technocracy would create an equanimity as people identified with each other because of their Apples. The brand name would supplant arcane tribal and ethnic identifications. Of course this was wrong. Undoubtedly ISIS militants enjoyed the Apples they pilfered, without bothering to see themselves in the dead. Would that there were a crystal ball? Unfortunately, the future is one of the mysteries that science has yet to solve. Nikki Haley?

read the review of Francis Levy's The Kafka Studies Department in Booklife

and listen to this rendition of "Something is Wrong With My Baby" (1967) by Sam and Dave

When Bad Things Happen

Some agnostics or atheists might treat “faith healing” as an oxymoron. Christian Science is another oxymoron. What’s scientific about Christianity? The answer to these conundrums lies in enjoying the benefits of belief while understanding the dubiety of its reaches. The late rabbi Howard S. Kushner author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People was challenged when his child died of progeria—a condition of premature aging. Holocaust survivors routinely ask “where was god?” The answer is that God is with you as you navigate the shoals of being. Faith, in Kushner’s paradigm, lies not in a quid pro quo but in an understanding of a spiritual territory and power.

read the review of Francis Levy's The Kafka Studies Department in Booklife

and listen to this rendition of "Something is Wrong With My Baby" (1967) by Sam and Dave

Pornosophy: Fetishistic Objectification for Dummies

Linda Nochlin once compared fetishism to synecdoche, the figure of speech which takes the part for the whole—The White House instead of the presidency, for example. Objectification is the psychological term that’s used when a sufferer complains of liking T & A. Kim Kardashian actually uses her A as a logo. One wonders if it qualifies as intellectual property, subject to copyright and patent. Jennifer Lopez advertises a particularly noticeable fundament. Imagine not just marveling at her booty but proposing to it. By the powers vested in me I now pronounce you man and ass! Or "they"--since even body parts are now required to demonstrate the correct pronouns. It’s often said by apologists that it’s not the size of the penis but what a guy does with it. This is dismissive of those men who possess large endowments. These "friends with benefits" are likely to feel marginalized. Everyone is dealt a different hand and it can be work and sometimes even a burden to carry a big package. But take a gander at the self-satisfied expression on any male or female who has enjoyed a centaur and you’ll realize that Teddy Roosevelt's “big stick” can be a force of good for those  who walk softly with it.

read the review of Francis Levy's The Kafka Studies Department on Booklife

and watch the trailer for Erotomania which will be featured in the Nihilist Film Festival

Many Eyes for An Eye?

There has been massive pushback against the Israelis in the wake of the October 7 massacre by Hamas. At first, Joe Biden literally embraced Netanyahu in a show of support. Then, as the invasion proceeded and Palestinian casualties increased to enormous levels, the brutality of the Hamas attack receded from the consciousness of even those who were formerly supporters of Israel. There were calls for humanitarian pauses for which there was a mixed response. Hospitals being suspected as providing cover for massive Hamas control centers (some even functioning as holding cells for hostages) have been bombed with the outcry against Israel only increasing. But looking at the situation from a purely military perspective, what are the Israelis to do? Hamas leaders have proclaimed that Netanyahu's call for retribution is just what they wanted. Would Israel have fared better if they had massed troops on the border indefinitely? Should they have confined their actions to only guerrilla strikes at targets in which there were little or no civilians (an almost impossible strategy). The Israeli policy is "an eye for an eye" or "many eyes for an eye," but what if they had turned the other cheek? Would the world have applauded? Would Hamas have been stopped in their tracks or would they have used the opening to fill their hive with Iranian killer bees?

read the review of Francis Levy's The Kafka Studies Department in Booklife

and listen to "Only the Strong Survive" by Jerry Butler

A Marshall Plan?

George C. Marshall

Dresden was notoriously fire-bombed in l945. It’s the first referent that comes to mind when you see pictures of Gaza. There has been much talk about the creation of a new order when and if the war ever ends. The Israelis don’t really want the responsibility for such a venture. The P.L.O. has been mentioned, but their feckless leadership has had a bad track record on the West Bank. Beyond bad, to the extent they lack a constituency. What to do? It’s absurd and even horrible to take the view of Dr Pangloss that “all’s for the best in the best of all possible worlds” in the face of all horrors both the Israelis and Palestinians have endured. However, what about the Marshall Plan which installed solid democratic institutions, along with prosperity? Will a Two State Solution rise like the Phoenix over the ashes? It seems Quixotic to entertain such thoughts but isn’t it better to chase windmills than missiles?

read the review of Francis Levy's The Kafka Studies Department on Booklife

and listen to "Love Train" by the O'Jays

Glasnost or Toast?

What if Putin had not massed his troops along the Ukraine border? What if Israeli intelligence had stopped the October attack before it started? On a material level Russia, Ukraine, Israel and Gaza would be in better shape. Certainly there would be far less suffering all around. But from an aspirational point off view nothing would have changed. Life in Gaza was tough to start. Its citizens suffered under apartheid. The situation with Russia and Ukraine bares only one real comparison. If you believe in Imperial Russia then then Russians are the have nots. Now the fork in the road. Russia could have gone its merry way. In fact, it would have been merrier for Russia security-wise if Finland and Sweden hadn’t joined NATO. Gaza and the West Bank are another story. The status quo leaves an impoverished society whose citizens have no rights. It's a little like supply-side economics. The Abraham Accords might produce a kind of trickle-down prosperity--an anodyne feeding a delusion.

Listen to "Police State"by Pussy Riot

and listen to the playlist for The Kafka Studies Department on Largehearted Boy

Time

Time is is not only on your but my mind too. Stating the obvious the experience of time might be categorized as neuro-scientific qualia. In lay terms a greatly anticipated event can seem to pass before you know it. On the other hand waiting  for something that’s not going to occur takes forever. Is time a fiction? The revolutionaries of France in1789 changed the  names of months.  You say "I'll call you back in a minute" and mean 20. “It’ll take forever…” is another one. Translation:  tomorrow. So “in a minute” + forever comes to 24:20.  Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich really means "a day give or take." No day is 24 hrs exactly unless you’re looking at your watch. In fact "clock watcher" is s derogative term used by trainers or therapists against patients or clients who look to get credited for lost time, (which has nothing to do with A La Recherche du Temps Perdu). What about Bergson's "involuntary memory" and the Proustian "Madeleine?"

read the review of Francis Levy's The Kafka Studies Department in Booklife

and listen to "Time Is On My Side" by The Rolling Stones