The fundamental weakness of Western civilization

George Orwell at work
photograph by ullstein bild

According to Elon Musk, “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” 

When I read this in the Guardian, I almost fell out of my chair. Sadly, it gets worse! This heresy is not merely a hallucination emulating from Elon’s ketamine-fueled brain: It is gaining traction not only among evangelical Christians, “who have begun to recast the pangs of empathy that might complicate their support for Donald Trump” but also Catholics in the JD Vance mold.^⁠1

This is, perhaps, the most extreme example of the Trump Administration engaging in what George Orwell called“doublespeak,” coining the word in his dystopian novel “1984:” This is a trick to try to fool citizens into believing things are the opposite of what they really are. Examples of Orwellian doublespeak include “war is peace;” and “freedom is slavery.”

“Empathy is weakness” is Elon’s over-the-top contribution to doublespeak. It flies in the face of the Golden Rule, which calls on us to treat others as we would want to be treated by them. Various expressions of this rule have been the bedrock of religions and creeds throughout the ages.

Golden Rule gained strength as recently as the Obama administration; that’s when scientists discovered “mirror cells”– a type of nerve cell that reacts both when a subject performs an action and when the subject sees that action performed by someone else. 

This discovery provided a biological explanation for empathy, strengthening religion’s age-old claim. Perhaps this is what led Obama to declare that America was not suffering from a budget deficit but an empathy deficit.

What a transformation from then to now:  From the height of Obama lamenting the cuts to social programs as an ‘empathy deficit’ to Musk gleefully slicing through social programs while wielding a giant chainsaw.

Many other examples of over-the-top doublespeak come to mind, like Trump’s oft-repeated mantra that he won the 2020 election in a landslide when, according to all credible sources, he lost.

But to me, Musk’s empathy statement takes the cake. Riding the wave of their unchecked power, Republicans and Musk forget history. He is a throwback to Ayn Rand, who was the darling of conservatives in the 1950s. Rand wrote popular books promoting ultimate individual freedom while showing no mercy to the weak and disadvantaged. In many ways, Musk is Rand’s clone.

This isn’t the first time Republicans, while in complete control of the government, have leaned too far over their skis and crashed in a ridiculous fashion.  Just look at what happened during the McCarthy era in the 1950s when the FBI was run by J. Edgar Hoover, a right-wing zealot, much like our current director, Kash Patel. 

Here’s one example.

Influenced by testimony from extremists like Rand, Hoover’s FBI issued an official report on the movie industry, including his findings on a revered Christmas classic we still watch. Hoover determined that Frank Capra’s classic,  “It’s a Wonderful Life,” was “written by Communist sympathizers” attempting to instigate class warfare while “demonizing bankers."^⁠2

I predict future generations will reflect on the second Trump administration similarly to how we reflect on the McCarthy era of the 1950s and its baseless witch hunt against loyal Americans accused of being communists.

xxx

¹ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/08/empathy-sin-christian-right-musk-trump

² https://www.openculture.com/2014/12/ayn-rand-helped-the-fbi-identify-its-a-wonderful-life-as-communist-propaganda.html

Trump is bringing patriotism back into vogue for the rest of us

 

"Hands Off" Protest 4/5/25 Concord NH
Photograph by Arnie Alpert

Winter is losing its grip. Even the chunks of snow that slid off my north-facing roof are almost gone. The daffodils have pushed up through matted oak leaves, and the ice went out early on Jenness Pond. It’s a time of renewal not only for Mother Nature but also for our democracy. Since his inauguration in January, President Trump has given it his best shot to become our dictator-in-chief.

But he will not prevail!

As the opposition, we were flabbergasted by the audacity of Trump’s attacks on our constitution and institutions starting on day one of his second term. We were initially struck dumb, but once it sunk in, his outrageous actions became rocket fuel, igniting us into action.

But first, a personal note:  a brief return to Trump’s first term as president to explain how he restored my patriotism.  It took Trump’s first brutal, authoritarian reign to open my eyes – long shuttered by my country’s often unsavory and unjust behavior – to see how special, despite its flaws, our country is. 

At an emotional level, I was infuriated that Trump was able to wrap himself in the flag, anointing himself as America’s supreme patriot despite dumping on our constitution. Even more irking, he was AWOL in the war I fought in because of his lame excuse that he was physically unfit to serve because of bone spurs, despite being a star athlete in high school.

My war was a bad war, but I did my duty. Meanwhile, while  Viet Cong sappers almost sank my ship on the Mekong River, killing 23 brave Americans, he was bragging that his actions were more dangerous than Vietnam: sleeping around with so many women during the AIDS epidemic.

Donald’s gift to me was to take me back to my youthful idealism, which had motivated me to enlist to fight in Vietnam. President JFK’s words inspired me: "Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”¹

That’s my tale of how Trump’s shameless wrapping himself in the American flag restored my patriotism; it prompted me to buy a large American flag, which I have flown proudly ever since until it was ripped to shreds by a recent winter storm. It was a harbinger of things to come that the flag should self-destruct right as Trump began his second term.

Now, back to the present. 

Since his inaugural, I have bought a replacement flag and am flying it proudly. It doesn’t seem possible, but our new president has doubled down on his crusade of destruction, ransacking our institutions, eliminating essential safety nets, and gutting our constitution.

But, thankfully, we have now regained our mojo.

We are standing tall again after being sucker punched in the gut.  As the respected journalist James Fallows observed, “Americans as individuals seem suddenly willing in larger numbers to “meet the moment.” More and more people are acting as they might sometime be asked, “What did you do, when it mattered?” And they’ll have an answer.”²

We, the people, are now standing up to fight for the kind of country we want to live in. Bernie Sanders and Alexandia Ocasio-Cortez’s recent tour “Fighting Oligarchy” has drawn enthusiastic crowds, including an estimated 34,000 in Denver.³

And last Saturday, we had a day of rage with over 1200 protests in every state across our country. Here at home, as the Concord Monitor reported: “This was the sixth protest in Concord since Trump took office and was the largest by far, with organizers estimating that more than 2,000 people attended.“

On Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the protest stretched for nearly 20 blocks. In Chicago, thousands flooded Daley Plaza and adjacent streets, while, in the nation’s capital, tens of thousands surrounded the Washington Monument.⁴ Nearly 100,000 angry demonstrators gathered in Boston.⁵

After the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked, "What sort of government have you given us? A republic or a monarchy?" Franklin's response: “A republic, if you can keep it. “ He understood that democracies are fragile and won’t survive without vigilant citizens.

I had shamefully forgotten the idealism and courage that it took to build our nation. It required clear thinking, tolerance, patience, and perspective.  As Tom Edmondson wrote in a letter to the Washington Post: “Throughout all time and across the face of the Earth, ours is the only nation not founded on ethnicity, territory, or religion. Ours is the only nation in human history founded on ideas, ideals, and a system of government.”⁶

These qualities that our forebearers sacrificed their lives for are desperately needed today to preserve their sparkling achievement. We saw an example of such idealism last Saturday.

xxx

¹ https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/education/teachers/curricular-resources/ask-not-what-your-country-can-do-for-you

² https://fallows.substack.com/p/standing-up-it-looks-like-this?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=ktp62&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

³ https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/thousands-attend-bernie-sanders-aoc-rally-denver-push-progressive-change/

⁴ https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/05/us/politics/anti-trump-protests-hands-off.htm

⁵ https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/hands-off-protest-boston-massachusetts

⁶ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2025/patrick-henry-revolutionary-war-virginia/?itid=sf_opinions_letters-to-the-editor_p007_f003

Trust the unknown

CC Jean Stimmell

Maggie Jackson wrote “Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure,”  a book praising “not knowing.” This is a very counterintuitive claim because, in our gut, we all hate uncertainty: it scares us at a primal level. This fear has been baked into our genes from prehistoric times for a good reason:  not knowing where our next meal was coming from could spell starvation; the rustling sound in the dark might not be the wind but a sabertoothed tiger intent on making us its next meal.

However, Jackson makes the case that nowadays, under most circumstances, embracing uncertainty is good for us. She shows us how embracing uncertainty can spark creativity, improve problem-solving skills, and help us lead better, more hopeful lives.

Of course, when it comes to uncertainty, Buddhists are way ahead of us: they have practiced “not knowing” for thousands of years, aware that life is an ever-moving target. The more confident we are that we know the right way forward in a world that is constantly reshaping itself, the less open we are to other possibilities that might have more merit.

Kaira Jewel Lingo makes this clear in this Tricycle Magazine quote from 2022 that I saved: “But when we let ourselves hang out in the space of not-knowing, there is enormous potential and life could unfold in innumerable ways. So rather than avoid and fear this place of uncertainty, we can embrace it and all its gifts.”^⁠1

But embracing uncertainty isn’t easy; it can be paralyzing.

Kaira Lingo gives an example from her own life when she was wrestling with a life-altering decision on whether to forsake her life as a nun, “questioning this vow that I had assumed would carry me through my entire life.” In that time of transition, she didn’t know who she was anymore and had no idea who she might become.

“I was in the midst of a process, like the caterpillar that must dissolve itself completely in the chrysalis to become a butterfly. It was terrifying and extremely uncomfortable  when I wanted answers and clarity when I was used to knowing who I was and where I was going.”^⁠2

I believe that we as a society are now going through that same agonizing transformation as Kaira Lingo did.

We are at the end of a historical epoch, undergoing a dizzying transition into a complete unknown. As Jackson tells us, when thrown into pivotal moments like this, we have to step up to the plate and be the most clear-eyed: able to embrace uncertainty, not deny it.

Unfortunately, in highly stressful times like these – human nature being what it is – our instinctual response is to put on blinders and double down on what we think we know. This is especially true if one is an ideologue – whether on the left or the right – the urge is to beat the drum even harder.

That means that MAGA voters, rather than raising doubts about Trump’s extreme agenda, double down on whatever the president says, no matter how absurd. On the other side, if you are a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, you vilify anything MAGA.

Truly, we are in a pickle. Our culture is dissolving before our eyes while our environment is going up in smoke. Like butterflies, we are collectively entering the chrysalis; our future is fraught but unknown. We have no choice but to act with humility, accepting that none of us has all the answers. We have no choice but to work with our fellow citizens, collectively learning as we go on how to navigate this time of momentous change, disruption, and breakdown.

xxx

¹ https://tricycle.org/magazine/buddhism-decision-making/?utm_source=Tricycle&utm_campaign=61a360f7d0-Daily_Dharma_02_05_2022_S&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1641abe55e-61a360f7d0-307712649

² Ibid.

 

Stillness

 

    Jenness Pond    

“In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.”

― Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere

I am looking at a photo I took at the apex of summer.  It is a hazy, sunny day, but dead still: no wind, not the slightest breeze. The world is in suspended animation: more like a painting than a living landscape. There’s no sense of foreboding, only a feeling of peace and serenity, a blessed escape from the jittery world of appearances, disconcerting like the flickering lines in the early TVs I watched as a kid.

Today, of course, things are different: TVs are now unblinking portals in technocolor looking out on a world gone bonkers while our own country is sinking fast under our spastic new president.

Seeking stillness is my safe harbor in the storm. But I'm a piker compared to pico Iver, the writer and world traveler who has carried it to an extreme. He and his wife moved to Tokyo to live in a tiny apartment without a bedroom or TV.

Pico recently wrote a fascinating little book about his transformation, The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere^⁠1, based on his TED talk. In it, he argues that our perspective—not the places we visit—tells us where we stand.

He quotes Admiral Richard E. Byrd, who had this to say after spending five months alone in a shack in the Antarctic in temperatures that dipped to 70 degrees below zero:  “Half the confusion in the world comes from not knowing how little we need.”

In many ways, Pico and I are kindred souls, like the way we feel about going places: “Every time I take a trip, the experience acquires meaning and grows deeper only after I get back home and, sitting still, begin to convert the sights I’ve seen into lasting insights.” 

He quotes like-minded individuals like his friend  Leonard Cohen, who spent years at  Buddhist retreats: “Going nowhere isn’t about turning your back on the world; it’s about stepping away now and then so that you can see the world more clearly and love it more deeply.”

Pico follows in the tradition of Joan Halifix, a well-known Buddhist anthropologist who informs us Indigenous people live this higher truth every day of their lives:  “This wisdom cannot be told, but it is to be found by each of us in the direct experience of silence, stillness, solitude, simplicity…and vision.” Their wisdom is a precious resource that could help us repair our rapidly disintegrating world.^⁠2

Echoing this indigenous wisdom, the Franciscan Priest Richard Rohr considers silence to be “the very foundation of all reality. It is that out of which all being comes and to which all things return.” Unless we learn to live there, “the rest of things—words, events, relationships, identities—all become rather superficial, without depth or context.^⁠”^⁠3

I fear that the wisdom imparted by the likes of Iver, Halifax, and Rorh is too much for our driven, information-obsessed society to absorb, chattering away like a class of kindergarteners who have gorged on too much candy and soda.

¹ Iyer, Pico. The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere. Kindle Edition)

^{2 3} Joan Halifax. The Fruitful Darkness: A Journey Through Buddhist Practice and Tribal Wisdom (Kindle Locations 1417-1421). Kindle Edition.

^{3 4} Rohr, Richard. Silent Compassion: Finding God in Contemplation (pp. 1-2). Franciscan Media. Kindle Edition.