The Post-Journal

Frustration Of Dealing With The Impersonal

                                                                                        JUL 29, 2023

ROLLAND KIDDER

 It may be because of my age, but I am becoming more irritated and frustrated by what I would call the prevalence of the “impersonal” in today’s society.

Whether it is being besieged by robo-calls, incoming spam calls, or trying to navigate my way through the world of “smart” phones–I am coming to believe that there is a concerted effort in our culture to minimize the personal touch in our lives. I come from the “old school” of wanting to actually speak with a person I know, rather than with an answering machine asking me to push various buttons on my phone.

I suspect that some of these aspects of technology have been specially developed to deal with old, recalcitrant guys like me. I am a bit amazed now that when I have a medical appointment of any kind, I am supposed to text “Y” or “C” (yes or confirmed) that I will be there. I can understand that sociological data probably show that at my age I may forget that I have an appointment. Still, I am bit insulted when the same message comes by phone and email as well as text. Do they really think that I have lost it that much?

Now, the tech world is promoting a whole new line of non-personal contact called “artificial intelligence” or “AI.” I really don’t want anything to do with it. I don’t like it now when I make an “800” call and get connected with a person I don’t know at a call center in Kansas City. However, I prefer that to being connected to a machine in India or China which will make you think there is an actual person talking to you when there really isn’t. No. That’s not for me.

It has been interesting to see recently that the screenwriters’ and actors’ unions in Hollywood have gone on strike, and some of it deals with the fear of being replaced by AI. If computers can create images that act like real people or write script better than humans can–then, who needs actors and screenwriters? We have seen automation in American industry before, but nothing like the challenges that artificial intelligence is now bringing.

I have written before at times about feeling like Don Quixote “flailing at windmills,” and thus know that I am unlikely to change anything about any of this. And, let’s face it, it is hard to feel sorry for Hollywood. Nevertheless, I would prefer seeing and listening to real actors and actresses, rather than being fooled by a computer into thinking that they are real.

It is one more way in which the impersonal is foisting itself upon us. I must admit, I don’t like it. Where it will end, I don’t know.

Maybe the time will come when a computer will choose the cuisine and even talk to you when you go out to dinner…but I hope not. I still like ordering my food at a restaurant and having a good conversation over dinner with real people. I have had enough of the impersonal.

 

The Futility Of Renaming Things

                                                                                    JULy 15, 2023

ROLLAND KIDDER 

I read recently where a group was removing the name “Audubon” from its organization because somewhere, in the past, John James Audubon had owned slaves. Does that mean that his name should forever be removed from the annals of natural history and ornithology?

If so, then shouldn’t the Washington Monument be renamed? What about the Jefferson Memorial? Should Andrew Jackson’s name be taken off the twenty-dollar bill? These former Presidents owned slaves. Should Abe Lincoln’s name even be considered being tarnished because he waited until three years into the Civil War before he announced the Emancipation Proclamation?

I am a deep believer in civil rights for everyone in America. As far as I know, no one in my family ever owned slaves. But, what if some of my ancestors moved south after they arrived in this country in 1649 and ended up owning slaves. Does that mean I should change my own name?

What I am saying is that I think there must come a time in our lives and national history when we need to move beyond what may have been the indiscretions and sins of our forefathers. That does not mean that we should forget about evils from the past or not accept our history as a nation that once embraced slavery. What it does mean is that we need to rise above the idea that “name-changing” can erase all of that.

I took my kids for many years to “Audubon Weekend” at Allegany State Park. We have been members for many years of the local Audubon Center. Audubon will be most remembered for his contributions to bird-watching and advancing the study of natural history. That is what “Audubon” means to me.

George Washington owned slaves, but he will always be remembered as the southern gentlemen who became a military man, and then led the country through five grueling years of a Revolutionary War to final victory over the British at Yorktown.

Thomas Jefferson not only owned slaves, but fathered children by a slave. Yet, he also wrote the Declaration of Independence which was grounded in the principle that “all men are created equal”-a truth that would end up bringing an end to slavery.

If any support of slavery is to be deemed to be just cause for renaming things, then one could even argue that any who helped create the Constitution could be culpable because that initial document included the three-fifths clause — that slaves would be counted not as citizens, but as three-fifths of a person when it came to apportioning votes in the Congress.

In short, I think that the whole idea of renaming things from times past puts us on the “slippery slope” of trying to redefine history itself. It is better to let things be, admit to mistakes and sins of the past, but not to continually try to rewrite history.

Where could it all end? Should we rebury soldiers in Arlington Cemetery where up until World War II, black Americans were buried in separate sections of the cemetery from white Americans. No, I say. Let them be. These graves are a witness to a time when legalized segregation was still a part of our history.

History is what it is-for good or for bad. We cannot rewrite and rectify it by renaming or trying to change everything that may have been tainted by it.

 

 

            Post-Journal 

Wars Are Hard To Manage

LOCAL COMMENTARIES

JUL 1, 2023

ROLLAND KIDDER

I noted some time ago in this space that wars are easy to start but difficult to end. Vladimir Putin is also finding out that they are hard to manage.

Recently, one of his primary underlings, a thug by the name of Prigozhin, broke ranks and for a day or two was advancing on Moscow with his troops called the “Wagner Group.” Wagner is the name given to a large force of private mercenaries who have undertaken strong-arm action on behalf of Russia in places like Syria and Africa. They had also, most recently, been the primary Russian force attacking Ukraine in the Bakhmut area.

The problem for Putin is that Prigozhin, a protoge of his who started his criminal enterprise under the guidance of Putin, got a bit “big for his britches” and resisted when his troops were told that they would have to become a part of the Russian Army. The Wagner Group despises the Russian military command and looks upon the Russian Army as second rate.

Putin probably could have controlled things if he had limited Wagner’s influence to special overseas operations. But, by giving them a leading role in attacking Ukraine…he emboldened them. Now, “the chickens have come home to roost.” The Russian leader created a competing force to his own military and, thus, is reaping the fruits of his own making.

It is difficult to say how all of this will play out. Putin over-played his hand, but Prigozhin and his Wagner Group also had to pull back. They just weren’t strong enough to take on the whole Russian military machine.

A sad thing about war is that it is not only cruel and devastating–it is also unpredictable. In his self-imposed isolation as the kingpin of Russia, no one seemed to be more surprised by the mutiny of the Wagner forces than Vladimir Putin.

Some commentators believe that Prigozhin is a “walking dead man,” and that it is only a matter of time before Putin takes him out. But, Putin, himself, is now tarnished in the eyes of his own people. As the Wagner Group marched on Moscow–Putin came out from hiding and made a direct appeal to the Russian people to resist. That didn’t embellish his strong-man, don’t worry, “I’m totally in charge” persona. He has now become more vulnerable politically.

Some prognosticators believe that all of this will help Ukraine. But, in my view, it is too early to tell if it will change anything on the battlefield. Ukraine, thus far, has not been able to crash through the bunkers, trenches and minefields that Russia has built in the eastern part of its country. Ukraine needs to push on for another 60-80 miles to the Sea of Azov and cut-off Russian land access to Crimea if its offensive is to be successful.

From the standpoint of the democracies of the world, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine must be stopped and, hopefully, that can happen without it becoming a worldwide conflict that sucks everybody in. In the meantime, the war rolls on as a giant wave of unpredictability worrying and affecting all of us.

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident and a Vietnam veteran.