Trust

I’m having too many of these posting dry spells. As I always say it would help if I left the house some. A feels like temperature of 7º argues against that happening today. Perhaps I’ll run to the local supermarket, I need a few things. I’m not going to walk my usual three plus miles. Eventually I will have to prevented from becoming rooted to one spot and no longer having the option of moving. If I become sessile think musicians might come to perform for me? I think I’d have to be dying before that happened.

I had therapy yesterday and needed it. She could hear in my voice that things were not good. She thinks it’s at least partly COVID-19 fatigue; that’s affecting many people. There are also things specific to me that I’d rather not talk about here. That’s a big part of therapy, no topic is off limits. That reminds me of something. I finished rewatching Daredevil. He had the priest to talk to, but he could really use a good therapist. I’m sure it’s been done but I like the idea of superhero therapists. They would probably have all the Avengers share one, but I suspect that would be unprofessional on the therapist’s part. They would always be talking about each other. It’s even more important for superheroes with secret identities, they can never talk about their work lives. I miss superheroes having secret identities. Pepper Pott’s live should constantly be in danger. If you are worried about Iron Man, you kidnap Pepper. The other MCU versions of the Avengers don’t have anyone close to them to threaten.

I also finished watching The Expanse. It’s so sad to see it go. It came to a satisfactory ending with one exception. They never concluded one subplot, an important one. I’m sure that’s what the sequel series will deal with. While the Expanse was sprawling it always had a clear focus, Holden. I always rave over the realistic depictions of space and physics but none of that would matter if it were not for characters. From the first episode to the last the series was always about Holden’s moral choices. He might not always be right, but he always tries to be right.

Holden virtuous character reminds me of something that I have wanted to write for years, our society’s lack of an Aristides. I’m not expecting you to get that reference. If you do give yourself five points. At the time of the Persian Wars Athens politics was centered around two men, Themistocles and Aristides. One of the fun things to read as a modern reader is Herodotus saying that their rivalry started over their love for the same boy but continued even after he aged and lost his beauty. Pederasty was not just accepted in ancient Athenian society but considered a virtue helping the boy with mentorship and connections. You can’t judge morals of the past the same way as you do the present. That doesn’t mean that pedophilia and pederasty aren’t wrong, it means that people then didn’t know it was wrong. We learn. But that’s not my point. I just got distracted. Let’s get back to business.

Aristides though personally of modest means was the leader of the aristocratic faction. Themistocles though very wealthy was the leader of the populists, his focus was on the benefits to the masses. My ancient Greek history professor compared him to the Kennedys. He also shared the Kennedys party hard tastes. Aristides was austere. Themistocles was responsible for the building up the Athenian navy which proved crucial in fighting the Persians. After the crucial land battle of Platea and sea battle of Salamis, the Persians were for the most part defeated. The rest of the war was driving the remaining Persians out of Greece. Now comes the point of the story. After the Persians were driven out the combined Greek fleets were beached together. Themistocles had an idea, the Athenians should burn the ships of the Spartans and their allies, the Athenian rival for Greek hegemony. The problem was that Athens was a direct democracy ruled by votes of the people, but this plan would only work if it were kept secret. Themistocles told the Athenians that he had a secret plan, but he can’t tell them what it is for it to work. The people weren’t going to just take his word for it, but they trusted the always virtuous Aristides. Themistocles would tell Aristides and if he accepted it, they would go along with the plan. Aristides held the trust of everyone, including his rival Themistocles. When Aristides heard the plan, he agreed it was brilliant but that they shouldn’t do it.

We don’t have an Aristides today. Is there any Republican that Biden could tell a secret plan to that Biden would trust enough to approve based solely on the plan’s merits, and whose judgement other Republicans would accept? There isn’t. Is there any Democrat that Trump could have trusted in the same situation? I’d like to think yes but I know there’s none that Trump and the Republicans would agree to. There has been a dangerous erosion of trust and that’s what causes so much of our governmental disfunction. The fake news epidemic is all about trust. People so distrust the government and institutions that they’ll believe anyone that caters to that distrust. Short of resurrecting Aristides and teaching him that sex with underage boys is immoral, I don’t know how to regain the public trust.

The path of this entry reminds me of the evolution of this week’s Gord’s Gold. Things I considered central elements were discarded and it moved it totally different directions, while retaining some common threads. Now you should listen to last week’s Gord’s Gold.