Is this déjà vu all over again?

 

A snapshot of the 5000-8000 people that organizers estimate attended the Concord “No Kings” rally

Is this déjà vu all over again? Look at the similarities between what’s happening today and the 1960s: America is again divided between two warring ideologies, the National Guard is being deployed against demonstrators, and the president is abusing his power.

Serge Schmeman recently wrote in the NYT that “the big difference is in the spirit of the times, the sense back then that change was possible and today that doors are being closed.”

I agree that the 1960s were fueled by hope and idealism, and for me personally, it represented freedom, an escape from the death grip of what came before. 

Looking back on it, growing up in the 1950s felt like a stifling straitjacket, not the carefree, idealized world of “Leave it to Beaver” and “Father Knows Best.” I was one of the lucky ones, a middle-class, white boy, but even as that privileged kid, I knew something was wrong. 

Things like McCarthy’s reign of terror, blacklisting liberals he accused of being Communists, led my father to confide in me when I was little that I should always be careful about what I tell people because it could come back to ruin my life. 

A quick aside to describe the political climate in NH during that era:

William Loeb was the ultra-conservative publisher of the Manchester Union Leader, by far the most influential news voice in New Hampshire. Loeb was a henchman of McCarthy and was in cahoots with the John Birch Society, an organization so far right that it accused President Eisenhower of treason for being a communist.^⁠1

Not surprisingly, Meldrim Thompson, a three-time governor of NH, was a close ally of Loeb. He is perhaps best known for his “Axe the Tax” campaign, which haunts NH to this day, and for attempting to arm the NH National Guard with nuclear weapons at a time when protestors were trying to shut down the Seabrook Nuclear Reactor.

Now back to my childhood: I remember my feelings of imminent doom in grammar school, waiting for the Russian atomic bombs to fall while crouching under my desk at school in “duck and cover” drills, while neighbors were building bomb shelters.

When I got older, I recall being baffled about why I was taunted as queer if I patted a male friend on the back or wore yellow on Thursdays. And the biggest prohibition of them all, as if etched on a tablet by God Himself: No sex before marriage.

The whole gamut of my childhood milieu generated in me a confused and incoherent rage, which I released by hard drinking and carousing with the wild crowd. It was only after serving in Vietnam that I was able to put my finger on the source of my torment.

Unfortunately, for slow learners like me, it required taking part in a murderous assault on Vietnam for it to sink in what an oppressive atmosphere I  had been nurtured in: it opened my eyes to see my childhood movie hero, John Wayne, for who he really was: A slaughterer of Native Americans – just as we were slaughtering indigenous people in Asia.

Joining the anti-war movement was like a breath of fresh air and an instant education: as my mask of denial fell away, I was sensitized to the discrimination that my new black, brown and gay friends endured daily.

And then there was the largest group of all, grossly discriminated against and shunted to the shadows: I’m talking about women, relegated to running the mimeograph machines for the peace movement in the beginning, but, who also saw the light and rebelled, demanding to be equal partners, beginning a fight for their own liberation.

Yes, the Sixties spelled liberation for us all

Consequently, as Frank Senso, former CNN Washington bureau chief, has written, “we live in a far more open, inclusive, tolerant, and equal America than at any other time in our history”^⁠2.

But today, that is all at risk.

As Leonard Steinhorn has warned in Salon Magazine, Donald Trump is not just waging battles against the press, immigrants, voting rights, the environment, science, social welfare programs, Planned Parenthood and the deep state.“These are mere skirmishes in a much larger conflict. The president has essentially declared an all-out war on the American 1960s.^⁠3

But as our mass protests prove – like our “No Kings Day” rally last week – we, the People, refuse to go back to the dark ages of the 1950s.. 

xxx

¹ https://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/05/

² https://www.amazon.com/Greater-Generation-Defense-Baby-Legacy/dp/0312326416#:~:text=%22Lenny%20Steinhorn%20presents%20compelling%20evidence,influential%20than%20is%20commonly%20believed.%22

³ https://www.salon.com/2017/07/29/donald-trumps-war-on-the-1960s_partner/

The world and I are getting fatter

 

Getting down to the bone

Over the past few months, I have lost more than 15 pounds, not due to illness but by choice. No, I’m not taking one of those new anti-obesity pills like Ozempic. 

I only needed to make one change because I already exercise and eat a healthy diet of unprocessed foods, mostly organic, with little meat. All I had to do was cut back to one small portion at mealtime—absolutely no snacks in between. I’ve even been able to continue drinking a couple of craft beers every day. The secret is: no cheating. I learned that cardinal rule 25 years ago when I quit smoking, the hardest thing I ever did. 

I’m sadly aware of what will probably happen… Three or four times throughout my life, I have made similar efforts to lose weight. Each time, I was successful in shedding 10 or 15 pounds. However, over time, my iron will melted and within a year, I had gained back the weight I had lost.

Of course, overeating is not just my problem  – it is a worldwide epidemic, and  getting worse, as the Guardian has warned: "464 million people aged between 10 and 24 [are] predicted to be obese or overweight by 2030 – 143 million more than in 2015.”^⁠1

Two disclaimers before I proceed: It is not my intention to shame folks who weigh a certain amount.  I’m aware people come in a wide variety of body types, from ultra-skinny to extra-wide, and that cultural norms vary significantly in terms of what is considered attractive.

I’m also not a fan of the media’s current obsession with health and wellness, which I think has gone off the rails. For me, nearing 80, I need to lose weight because of my medical conditions, not because of chattering advice on social media.

However, every so often, a new medical procedure or drug emerges that challenges our understanding of weight loss — and this is one of those times. A new class of alleged wonder drugs has recently been approved, making weight loss appear easy. Still, doctors remain divided on the subject.

 It’s not a slam dunk. 

On one corner, Tony Goldstone, a leading endocrinologist, argues there is no moral component to obesity, no “get a grip on yourself” solution. “If you’re slim, it’s because you won the genetic lottery, and if you struggle with obesity, it’s because you didn’t. A drug that brings down your weight by as much as 25% is a miracle.”^⁠2

On the other side are scientists like Professor Christina Vogel, whose research shows that for many, it is a “sheer impossibility” to eat well due to “a combination of economic inequalities and poor-quality, high-sugar food, mass produced and robustly defended by overweening corporate interests.” She argues that creating a new class of drugs like Ozempic sidesteps the root cause of poor health. 

I’m on the side of Professor Vogel on this one.

These new drugs, while enriching pharmaceutical companies, come at a high cost, not only to our pocketbooks but perhaps to our health. The long-term effects of weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic are unknown. 

Folks from my generation recall Thalidomide, the widely used drug prescribed for nausea in pregnant women during the 1950s and early 1960s that turned out to cause severe birth defects in thousands of children. Just today, in breaking news as I write this piece, ABC News has revealed animal studies indicating that these new weight loss drugs may cause birth defects. [https://abcnews.go.com/Health/uk-warning-weight-loss-drugs-effect-birth-control/story?id=122527179]

Is this deja vu all over again?

Even if these drugs are proven safe, they are like an addiction because they must be taken for life. However, a recent JAMA analysis found that a vast majority of patients stop taking these drugs within two years and regain most of the weight they had lost within one year.

The real solution is government intervention: not to dictate what we should eat, but to educate the consumer. Most importantly, we must switch the food subsidies we currently give to highly processed foods to wholesome, natural foods instead.

As Johanna Ralston, the chief executive of the World Obesity Federation, has stated: “The rise in obesity and related diseases is not just a matter of individual choices – it’s the result of environments flooded with health-harming products including ultra-processed food… “Governments must act urgently to create healthier food and health systems.”

To give the devil his due, Robert Kennedy is right on this one.

xxx

¹ https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/may/20/young-people-obesity-2030-report

² https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/13/the-toxic-debate-about-obesity-rages-on-but-at-least-we-know-if-mounjaro-or-wegovy-is-better-for-weight-loss

Mary Oliver and Military Parades

 

One of the first of Hitler's Military Parades in 1939
Wikipedia Commons

"Still, what I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled - to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world. I want to believe I am looking into the white fire of a great mystery. I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing - that the light is everything - that it is more than the sum of each flawed blossom rising and fading. And I do." -Mary Oliver, House of Light

In this stanza, Mary Oliver, New England’s most beloved poet, hits the nail on the head. Awe is what we all need more of, especially in today’s cruel world of climate crisis, existential uncertainty, and Donald Trump.

On this subject, Dacher Keltner has written a remarkable book, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.^⁠1  Tackling a topic that has always been devilishly hard to define, he has successfully shifted awe from a mysterious, fleeting feeling into a serious subject of study.

Krista Tippett considers his research “One of the most fascinating developments of our time … that human qualities we have understood in terms of virtue — experiences we’ve called spiritual — are now being taken seriously by science as intelligence — as elements of human wholeness.”^⁠2

Keltner tells us how transformational awe can be: “By quieting the nagging, self-critical, overbearing, status-conscious voice of our self, or ego, and empowering us to collaborate, to open our minds to wonders, and to see the deep patterns of life.”^⁠3

It is precisely these qualities that have provided humans with an advantage in our evolutionary journey. Our ancestors who formed groups exhibiting awe-inspiring patterns of behavior had a higher survival rate against both known and unknown threats. 

That’s because experiencing awe, by definition, means being grounded in the present, which maximizes our ability to counter threats.

All of this led Keltner to conduct further research into these enchanted moments when we experience a sense of wonder and confront mysteries that transcend our understanding. He found that these feelings are universal in societies around the world, bringing many benefits: “joy, meaning, and community, along with healthier bodies and more creative minds.” 

I’ve written previously about how empathy is a skill that, if cultivated by more people, could transform society. 

Keltner asserts that the same applies to awe; if we could only slow down and take the time to savor the moment. It doesn’t have to be – and usually isn’t – grandiose vistas like the Grand Canyon. Instead, it’s often mundane everyday events that can be awe-inspiring if we could just get out of our heads and truly taste the present: to smell the roses, be blown away by a neighbor’s wisdom, or be captivated by a playful pattern of light dancing across our kitchen wall.

Keltner also noted that people enjoy gathering together: “People walking to work, little kids going to a dance class, people at a picnic, people lining up to get onto a bus. We just have this tendency to start to move together.”

Emile Durkheim, the renowned French sociologist, termed this natural inclination “collective effervescence:” the intense feeling of energy, unity, and excitement that arises when people come together in shared experiences. It’s that oceanic sensation of being part of something greater than oneself, often accompanied by profound emotions and a sense of social cohesion.^⁠4 

But, in this case, I believe that we must proceed with caution.

I fully support the natural feelings of awe that arise from everyday occurrences evoking wonder and amazement, such as the expression on a baby’s face or a stunning sunset. However, when people unite in collective effervescence, situations can spiral out of control, as seen when sports fans attack supporters of the opposing team or political rallies escalate into violence. 

This becomes absolutely true when awe is not spontaneous but is engineered by a political leader to strengthen their control over the people: I’m talking about Hitler’s flashy mass rallies, which were key to consolidating his power. 

Or Donald Trump’s upcoming military parade, scheduled for June 14^th, which also happens to be his birthday.

xxx

¹ The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life . Kindle Ed.

² https://onbeing.org/programs/dacher-keltner-the-thrilling-new-science-of-awe/

³ The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. p. xx.

⁴ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_effervescence