The World According to Chuck

My weekends are crazy-ass marathons of online chaos, and just got worse, so I have no time.

Still. I read this quote on Andrew Sullivan’s site and had to steal it, because it’s a huge fear for me, worry and fascination. Harry Collins, author of Rethinking Expertise:

I would say that the danger to democracy that my own discipline—social studies of science—is not doing enough to combat is the collapse of the idea of expertise. Current social studies of science has difficulty with the notion of expertise. The attitude that anyone’s opinion on any topic is equally valuable could spread, and there are some indications, such as widespread vaccine scares, that suggest it is happening. A world in which there is said to be no difference between those who know what they are talking about and those who don’t is not one that anyone who thinks about it wants. Such a society would be like one’s worst nightmare, exhibiting many of the characteristics of the most vile epochs of human history.

I agree. I agree, I validate, I will make a T-shirt and a sign today. We not only now devalue the hard work and brain power it takes to master a subject, or many, marginalize experience and trivialize commitment, but we sneer at it. And then call them “elites” and pretend we have native superiority by virtue of our ignorance on just about everything.

This is contemporary America, or at least American politics, now manifested in what we saw this last week in particular. Not to name names, because many are equally guilty of trying to triumph the virtues of being provincial and uneducated.

But your initials are Sarah Palin.

The saddest thing about this current election is the perception some of us have that at some point in, say, 2001, John McCain got body snatched and replaced by a politician. I remember reading a New Yorker profile about him back in the 80s, back when he wasn’t making ambition waves, and I was sort of stunned by the admiration I felt for this guy.

And I may have been fooled. His Senate record, on careful review, is pretty unremarkable and biz as usual. And he’s had his share of corruption and nastiness. And then there’s the famous temper and womanizing, etc. Nobody’s perfect, though, at least nobody I pay attention to, and considering his 5-year Trip To Hell I think slack cutting is not only necessary but appropriate. Give the man a break; they hung him by his arms.

That said, we’re getting a lot of POW POW POW 24-7, and I wonder how the original McCain would have felt about this. It was John McCain (or somebody who looked an awful lot like him, see above) who advised John Kerry to play down his Vietnam experiences and let others speak for him.

So this harsh but interesting piece by M J Rosenberg summed it up for me:

You would never know it from the media coverage but John McCain is not one of America’s greatest war heroes. He is a former POW who survived, heroically. He deserves to be honored for that heroism.

But one thing distinguishes McCain from other war heroes, the kind whose heroism changes history rather than their life stories.

America’s two greatest war heroes were Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower. Grant saved the union. And Ike saved civilization.

And neither one ever bragged about their experience. (Can you imagine Ike smacking down Adlai Stevenson by saying that while Adlai ran a nice medium-sized state, he was the Supreme Allied Commander who ran D-Day, defeated Hitler, and liberated Europe?).

Impossible. Like Grant, Eisenhower did not brag.

And you know what? I’m not sure it’s bragging, just political strategy. But it feels…awkward. And I think the Real McCain would have agreed.

Noticing a backlash today after Sarah Palin (and, to be fair, she read a speech written for her. In large part, actually, written for somebody before she was even picked. We have no idea if this is how she really feels) mocked, belittled and sneered at Barack Obama’s past as a community organizer. Adam Serwer:

But as my friend Jay Smooth points out, community organizers aren’t just those rabble-rousers who help keep people from getting evicted or protest police brutality — they’re basically the ordinary people across the political spectrum who to try hold government accountable to its citizens. Mocking that really shows how much contempt the party has for ordinary people. Republicans look down their noses at alleged “elites” while directing their anger at community organizers, who actually live and work among the people politicians only pay attention to when they’re looking for votes. But it’s not surprising that a party that has spent the last eight years running government into the ground would be irritated by an active citizenry demanding that government actually do its job, rather than simply letting incompetent pols go about their business. If there’s any takeaway from this theme, it’s that the right would rather Americans shut up and fall in line.

Or, as Ezra Klein puts it:

When Giuliani sneered about community organizers on the “South side” of Chicago, it’s pretty clear what he’s saying: Barack Obama spent his time rabble-rousing among black people. It’s no different then when the RNC called him a “street organizer.” It’s fairly clear what they’re trying to evoke. No reason anyone should help them mask it. A community organizer can be a PTA member or a Christian Coalition lieutenant. But that’s really not what Palin and Giuliani are getting at. Obama organized poor black people. That’s change you can fear.

The elite media fesses up and says sorry:

On behalf of the media, I would like to say we are sorry.

On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.

We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad….

[W]e should never have strayed into the other stuff. Like when The Washington Post recently wrote: “Palin is under investigation by a bipartisan state legislative body. … Palin had promised to cooperate with the legislative inquiry, but this week she hired a lawyer to fight to move the case to the jurisdiction of the state personnel board, which Palin appoints.”

Why go there? What trees does that plant?

Fourth, we should stop making with all the questions already. She gave a really good speech. And why go beyond that? As we all know, speeches cannot be written by others and rehearsed for days. They are true windows to the soul.

Unless they are delivered by Barack Obama, that is. In which case, as Palin said Wednesday, speeches are just a “cloud of rhetoric.”

I’m staying away from Sarah Palin and the GOP-ers this week, because it makes me crazy. Crazy crazy crazy. There was nothing subtle about the pick (please the Christianist Right Party, and maybe pick up some those mad Hillaryites because they really, really want a woman somewhere, regardless), but the spin is mind-bloggling. The mean liberal media hates her, that’s all! (the same ones who have fawned over McCain for years.) It’s an invasion of her private life! (Bill Clinton was different.) She’s got more experience governing than Obama! (so, by that standard, McCain too, right? Should the ticket be reversed?) Aack. I feel so stooopid.

So I’ll only note something funny that struck me. Today the talking points people are all over, of course, and really pressing, as part of the Palin bio, that she’s “the most popular governor in America.”

She’s very popular currently in Alaska. Approval rating around 80%. No other governor in the U.S. has approval ratings that high.

But you see, right? Let’s say the Green Bay Packers have sold out every game since their inception (this may be true; I have no idea). No other team comes close. That means, by this Palinolithic logic, that the Green Bay Packers are the most popular team in America, right?

Right?

Heh. Just amused, is all. And feeling pretty good about all those Father’s Day cards that said, “To the BEST DAD EVER.” Could be.

Always beware the smiling rabbit.

I don’t believe I’ve blogged enough about my love affair with Trader Joe’s. It’s possible I haven’t blogged about it at all. So I have some amends to make on this front. Trust but rectify, always.

Of course, this may be irrelevant. Trader Joe’s is a multiregional grocery store, but this is a big country. Texas, for instance, as far as I can tell, has not a single Trader Joe’s, and Texas is a pretty big country all by itself. And large swaths of the nation sit there swathing without a TJs, not knowing what they’re missing.

On the other hand, we have 14 here in Washington, including two that are equidistant from my house, about 10 minutes away, depending. And there are 16 in Massachusetts, where my daughter and son-in-law-in-waiting live. They are big TJ fans, too. There’s only one in Arizona and one in New Mexico. Maybe you guys can write letters or something.

You want to know why I like Trader Joe’s? Well, for one thing, the franchise began, in its original incarnation as a convenience store (called Pronto Market, a proto-7-11), in 1958. That’s right, the very year I was born. THE WORLD ACTUALLY DOES REVOLVE AROUND ME.

Then there’s the selection. TJs takes quirky to a new level, with new, exotic or at least interesting items popping up and then sometimes disappearing all in a matter of a week or so (it seems). You want organic? They got organic. You want Free Trade? Ditto. You want quality deli items? You’re going to pay for them, but they’re there.

They have no serious chilies. That’s my only complaint.

But my second-favorite reason for shopping there? I wander the aisles, do a complete sweep of the store (the one I go to is fairly small, so this isn’t hard), pick up all sorts of wonderful things, robust avocados and cherry tomatoes and frozen meatballs to die for and couscous and cookies and whole wheat pancake mix, and when I’m done I leave with a full bag having spent about 8 bucks. It’s like magic. But there’s more!

First-favorite reason (wait for it):

They have the hippest old people ever.

I watch old people a lot these days, trying to figure out where I fit in. So far I’m comfortable, both in my own skin and with my fellow 50s, although there are still those who succumb. You know the types. Mostly men, who apparently reach middle-age or thereabouts and think, “Hey, I’ve spent my entire life with reasonable taste in clothing. Time for a change.” And then there are the comb-overs (or, alternatively, the embarrassingly short haircuts), and the sensible shoes that do not — and I cannot emphasize this enough, but I will try, DO NOT — go well with shorts.

And Bluetooth. My, but de old people love dere Blueteeth. I see them all the time, wandering around the ordinary grocery stores, getting lost and looking confused but by God they’ve got their Bluetooth jammed almost completely into their ear, just in case the grandkids call or something.

I have no idea what this is about. I see young people all the time, and not one wears a headset. Ear pods, sure, but no Bluetooth. It’s the prerogative of the badly aging, apparently. Maybe they get The Weather Channel beamed directly in there, dunno.

But Trader Joe’s? Not a cellphone to be found. If you go during the day, you’ll find old people who look, amazingly enough, like young people who got older. Couples, mostly, perusing the produce and the coffee. They’re animated but low key, they come in all shapes and sizes but mostly look pretty fit, they murmur and nod, and they buy a lot of wine. Just saying.

It gives me hope. These aren’t aging hippies (although it’s possible they were hippies at one point), just aging graceful people who look pleasantly surprised to be alive and shopping, and as it turns out they came to the right place. Me too.