Chopin and Beethoven
What we dislike more often
Three locals at the pub last night and tonight, obviously regulars, reminded me of conversations I would hear in a similar establishment at home. Selected comments last night included.
“I love Chopin….
He was Polish, you know….
Oh, I like Beethoven….
He is so predictable. Bum pa ba bum. Oh, please, tell me you don’t really like that when you could listen to real music.”
Then,
“Have you seen how often I have sewn these buttons back on?..
You would have to be pretty specific to get them right…
No, they don’t do them any more as the cotton is different…
We aren’t India.”
Next,
“Wasn’t Scarlett O’Hara with John Wayne?..
No, no, she was in that, um, Gone with the Wind but she started with red hair. The problems are always red hair…”
So, I was intrigued to see them back tonight and to hear their conversation this evening. They obviously don’t notice others might find their conversation fascinating (stipulation: I know they are locals, of course, and we are the interlopers so I could have tried to block them out but they were hardly quiet).
“If you put blood from the butchers on the tomatoes, they are so tasty and lovely…
I think that is good for the butcher.”
But, it was the following that got my attention.
“This is the most important election ever in the United States. America went so far left under Biden’s 2020 election”, one stated unequivocally. He then proceeded to explain that Harris’s election would be full out socialism. When his buddies asked what that meant and how it really differed from Trump, he admitted he had no idea but he was sure that socialism was involved because he had heard it somewhere.
As they pressed him for several minutes, the bloke could not really explain what it meant or why he raised it. One of them pushed back pretty hard but this guy was on a roll.
But when asked how Britain compared, he said that Rushi Sunak was stupid to call an election for the Fourth of July because the US Independence Day guaranteed Sunak would lose. He also asserted that Keir Starmer is not interested in returning to the EU but is threatening to do so to get his way (not sure with whom).
His colleagues seemed dubious. My husband I opined we were both tempted to join their table but, of course, respect we are guests in someone else’s country so we would definitely not do so.
He knew what he did not like in detail but not what he was advocating or seemingly how the definitions of the terms matter.
This reminds all of us that catch phrases without much real thought are common these days. We are increasingly societies operating with ample assertions and condemnations based on trigger phrases, such as socialism or the EU, but hardly any serious fixes. The real meaning of those two loaded terms alone are considerably more complex than tossing out the context-free words.
In particular, we don’t know how to describe the endstates we desire, much less how to get there. We—all too many of us—excel at describing what we hate and fear and who we think is to blame but that deviates tremendously from the detail and steps to fixing these woes. It is not merely us but our cousins across “the pond” as well, at a minimum. I suspect it is ubiquitous in democracies.
Opinion certainly is and must remain a privilege that democracies allow, if not encourage. What puzzles (and troubles) is that people don’t seem to want to go further in their understanding (but acknowledge I have a vested interest as an educator in clearer argumentation).
But when we wonder what is going on, we really need only listen to ourselves. Conversations are quite revealing, leaving little serious doubt, that we are reaping the effects of frustration over problems without moving to solve them as we assume someone ultimately will. Hard to see in practice, I fear.
It probably has always been this way but the complexities seem much greater these days.
Actions create consequences.
Thank you for reading actions today. I welcome your rebuttals, comments, and observations so please send them forward. Thank you taking time to read this newsletter as you could spend time on other topics. Thank you to the subscribers who support it with your resources.
The sun shone twice today. In between, I renewed a friendship that has been in remission for 34 long years. It was delightful as was our subsequent walk. I feel so rejuvenated from all the friends zi have been so lucky to see on this trip as the sands of time drop too quickly
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