SNAPSHOTS AT YEAR'S END: Two sources of (temporary) relief!

MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2020

With plans for the coming year: Frankly, we don't get it.

Our computer seems to have self-corrected, possibly with an assist from us. (For Sunday's discussion, click here.)

The same thing happened at some point over the summer, causing us to buy a new computer. But before we took the new computer out of the box, the old computer self-corrected, possibly with the same assist from us.

Yesterday, we finally took the new computer out of the box. We may install it, or attempt to install it, over the coming weekend. 

Meanwhile, according to our calendrical team, a new year is about to begin. It may be time fro a new computer, and for a new focus here.

That new focus at this site would concern the current views within Our Town concerning matters of gender and race. Rather, concerning matters of gender and "race," or perhaps "so-called race." 

(Within the brutal history of our nation and globe, it's a very important matter.)

This week, we plan to lower our output a bit, taking a semi-sabbatical. In part, this will be a nod to our computer woes, which could always return, but also to the end of the year, a time which may call for reflection.

For today, we'll offer this first year-end snapshot:

Samson chose not to strike over the weekend. More metaphorically, he chose not to pull the temple down around him. 

As with our computer's apparent self-correction, this decision by our modern-day Samson was a source of temporary relief. The background goes like this:

Years ago, Samson is said to have pulled the temple down around him. The leading authority on his conduct describes that conduct like this:

The Biblical account states that Samson was a Nazirite, and that he was given immense strength to aid him against his enemies and allow him to perform superhuman feats, including slaying a lion with his bare hands and massacring an entire army of Philistines using only the jawbone of a donkey. However, if Samson's long hair were cut, then his Nazirite vow would be violated and he would lose his strength.

Samson was betrayed by his lover Delilah, who, sent by the Philistines officials to entice him, ordered a servant to cut his hair while he was sleeping and turned him over to his Philistine enemies, who gouged out his eyes and forced him to grind grain in a mill at Gaza. While there, his hair began to regrow. When the Philistines took Samson into their temple of Dagon, Samson asked to rest against one of the support pillars. After being granted permission, he prayed to God and miraculously recovered his strength, allowing him to bring down the columns, collapsing the temple and killing himself as well as all of the Philistines.

Way to go, Delilah! At any rate, shorn of his liberty though not of his locks, Samson pulled the temple down around him, vanquishing those he loathed.

In the past four or five days, our current Samson, Commander Trump, had been displaying instincts which made us think of the original Samson. The theory on the current commander has always gone like this:

He hailed from Queens—and the swells in Manhattan never accepted him as one of their own. Over the years, he'd developed a (possibly murderous) sense of resentment and rage.

Now that he'd been turned out of office, would the commander, in his fury,  go so far as to bring the temple down around him? In our view, the worst manifestation of this impulse would involve an act of war, possibly involving the use of nukes.

Needless to say, the commander could still take that approach between now and January 20. But he's now withdrawn from the threat that he would pull the budgetary temple down, harming millions of people in the process.

In the past few days, it seemed to us that we might be entering the period of temple destruction.  At this point, it seems that the commander may have drawn back from that threat.

We still have more than three weeks before the commander-in-chief  is scheduled to leave office. In our view, there's no obvious way to know what this highly disordered person may yet decide to do.

For today, our computer seems to have self-corrected, as has our highly disordered commander-in-chief. We wish a computer technician could examine our faltering machine—and we'd still like to see upper-end mainstream journalists speak to (carefully selected) medical experts about the possible state of the commander's mental health.

It seems to us that the commander is some version of "ill." We normally feel sympathy for such people, after removing their ability to harm others and/or themselves. (We "pity the poor immigrant," as Bob Dylan metaphorically wrote.)

In Nashville, it seems that someone pulled the temple down around himself on Christmas morning. At least for now, it seems that our commander-in-chief may be pulling back from such thoughts, though there's more than three weeks to go.

Coming this week: Additional year-end snapshots, computer willing


12 comments:

  1. "That new focus at this site would concern the current views within Our Town concerning matters of gender and race. Rather, concerning matters of gender and "race," or perhaps "so-called race.""

    That Somerby would place race in quote marks but not gender speaks volumes about his misunderstanding of the nature of gender.

    Not looking forward to the new year.

    ReplyDelete
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  2. In order for a metaphor to be satisfying it needs to have several points of congruence with the situation you are describing. To use this Samson metaphor, there is only the destruction of the temple. I doubt that Trump is favored by God, nor that he will regain his strength. And who is Delilah supposed to be?

    That explosion in Nashville may turn out to be another depressed person committing suicide, which is not similar to Trump at all, but very similar to the man who shot up the bowling alley in Rockford IL. The holidays are difficult for depressed people. Using their despair for political purposes isn't something someone should do, in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Over the years, he'd developed a (possibly murderous) sense of resentment and rage."

    Nice.

    We eagerly await for more amusing liberal-hitlerian projections from you, dear Bob, in the coming new year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Such a projection would only be possible if Somerby were a liberal, but we all know he is not.

      Delete
    2. Republican states currently dominate the list of Covid-19 deaths. Just look as deaths/1M pop on Worldometers. You will see an overwhelming majority of the top 5 states are Republican.

      Delete
  4. "We normally feel sympathy for such people, after removing their ability to harm others and/or themselves."

    Mentally ill people don't want pity. It is only possible to "remove their ability" to harm others or themselves in very serious circumstances. Otherwise, it is not possible to force mentally ill people to take medication, nor is it possible to lock them up. As a consequence, some mentally ill people live as part of our homeless population, and some destroy themselves and others behaving as Trump has been doing. But many others live normal, satisfying lives, with help from family, friends, and modern medicine/therapy.

    It is irritating the way Somerby uses Trump's supposed mental illness to excuse his major wrongdoing. If we truly removed those who are ill because they were a threat to others, Trump would never have gained office.

    ReplyDelete
  5. "For today, our computer seems to have self-corrected, as has our highly disordered commander-in-chief."

    Trump didn't "self-correct." He was hammered on by the entire Republican party.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Maybe Somerby will talk about this in the new year:

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/12/28/2003603/-Attacks-on-Black-D-C-churches-by-Proud-Boys-leave-community-shaken-but-ready-to-fight-back

    ReplyDelete
  7. Delilah was sent by the Philistines to attack Trump?

    Philistine (def): "a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them"

    Usually someone who values materialism and is disdainful of intellectual or artistic values.

    That describes Somerby pretty well, and it also describes Trump. Thus, it doesn't make any sense that the Philistines would send Delilah to attack Trump.

    But Somerby doesn't care. He just likes the image of Trump trying to bring down some temple. Even though the most likely Temple in such a metaphor would be Mar a Lago, and Trump is the one who builds such temples, not someone who tears them down.

    But Somerby doesn't care whether his metaphors work or not. They fill up a pleasing amount of space with gibberish so that he can go about his real business of attacking libs.

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