40 Years On

QOTD: Who else?

Well, you walk into the room

Like a camel and then you frown

You put your eyes in your pocket

And your nose on the ground

There ought to be a law 

Against you comin' around

You should be made 

To wear earphones

THB has been mulling. That is natural given that there was a long period where there was no baseball to watch or listen to (that’s often referred to as “winter”), and there was a long stretch of no travel (that’s often referred to as “what, are you feeling ok?”).

The mind begins to wander. And, what better to review than the last 40 years. After all, who could have planned a bookend of Nixon’s resignation and the Pope retiring?  The only president to call it quits and the first head of the RC church in 600 years to fade off into the sunset.

So, what’s been going on? Let’s just try and keep it simple: 1973 and 2013…

In 1973, THB was full of idealism: Nixon was on the ropes, the Viet Nam war might actually be coming to an end, saving the environment was a hot topic, and the boomer generation (if it was called that then) was starting to see power coming its way soon. Women were entering the workforce in big numbers, civil rights laws were enacted and being enforced, technology was becoming a bigger part of the economy. THB was pretty damn optimistic (or so it seems, looking back).

It’s 2013, and THB is now too old to be idealistic, and optimism is something better left to those who don’t want to look back. THB has decided to break this essay up into its constituent parts, and let those followers with time on their hands read and decide what to think about THB’s mental state now (it must be better, baseball is coming back!).

Nuclear Disarmament: remember getting under your desk with your butt to the windows? The good news: nothing has happened (i.e., no major explosions) in 40+ years and the imminent death of civilization from nuclear holocaust has faded, along with open air testing (at least in US). That’s not to say THB isn’t worried: Iran, North Korea, India, Pakistan, hijacked cobalt in Mexico…plenty to be worried about, just that the status quo appears to have been maintained. No Nukes…No Nukes…No Nukes.

The Environment: for an idealist of the 60s and 70s, this has been a disaster, and growing ever more disastrous. Global warming ain’t going to be contained, the tipping point has passed (and THB is now a total, 100% pessimist). Population has doubled in 50 years. Antibiotics in the food chain, pesticides in the ground and water, SUVs (THB is beyond understanding how his contemporaries ended up making mini-trucks the “car” to have), and, to top it off, fracking.

One example: pesticide companies are suing to protect their profits even though there is a substantial risk of their products killing off bees and eliminating a key species in the food production chain. That’s in Europe, where a ban is in place; the US has no such ban!

On other hand, air quality is better, asbestos and other cleanups have happened, and nuclear energy plants were stopped from propagating (a big win!). However, nuclear seems to be coming back (with all its huge costs and dirty fuel) because it is considered cleaner than coal even though nobody knows what to do with spent fuel rods (Yucca Mountain is not an answer unless you think abandoning Las Vegas and most of Nevada is the right thing to do, oh and teaching them how to read the signs in 10,000 years) and Fukushima and Chernobyl will never be fully contained. The oceans are being depleted of fish (THB thinks the following: humans will make anything disappear or pollute it if nobody can visibly see the damage, except in China where they can’t see the hand of the person next to them on bad air days). Or put another way: what has happened to bats, bees, frogs, pine trees, and many other species (in record numbers) that have gone or are going extinct? We’re squeezing them out.

The Optimistic View: There are billions of other planets out there and we can’t get to any of them to inoculate with our problems. Long live the Universe!

Artisan Bread: THB is ecstatic because there is so much good bread out there and the ability to make excellent bread at home is here, now, even using sea water.

Sneezing: When THB was younger and living in LA, he traveled with a giant handkerchief (aka, a diaper), since he was semi-allergic and conducive to long sneezing fits. Now, people cough and sneeze into their elbows. THB would have had to wear a long sleeve shirt all the time back in the day, and it was hot in LA!

Drugs: Hey, the mantra of the 70s was “let’s legalize drugs”. Waddaya know, it seems like some legalization is here, especially with marijuana dispensaries all over California (and other states). On the other hand:
·       The War on Drugs is unstoppable, and Homeland Security is here to make sure it is funded, big time
·       Tons of people have gone to prison for possessing or selling
small amounts of recreational drugs 
·       Disproportionate emphasis of war on drugs falls on minorities (say, 10-1 comparing those in jail, vs that over half the users are white)
·       Prison guards are now the most powerful union in California
·       Mexico is a narcocountry (along with several others) and can’t get out of the cycle of US demand and violence involved in protecting supply routes
·       Compassion for drug users is long gone, as is the sense of rehabilitation (for those that do get out of prison after long, long mandatory sentences). At least the Dutch and Canadians are trying alternatives like paying alcoholics in beer to clean city streets and parks.

The Fall of The Wall:  So, in 1989, the USSR went bankrupt, lost control of its sister states (not all control: see Ukraine and EU membership), and the Cold War came to an end: the biggest political event of the last 40 years. Billions of people now live better lives (if measured by consumption), the risk of nuclear annihilation lessened, Berlin became THB’s favorite city to visit, and even Cuba attracts tourists. And, Russia is still run by thugs (well, one gigantic thug, Putin), China is as well, and as are a number of ex-Communist countries. Better?

Food: The growth of organic has been a pleasant belated surprise. THB believes that to feed 7 billion (on its way to 10 billion) we need to have large scale industrial farming that is non-polluting. That appears to be a dream for the distant future though THB has volunteered that the Great Plains states should be divided into farms (oops, soon may be too hot there for many crops) and national parks and otherwise abandoned as political entities. Is GMO safe? We won’t know until it is too late. Here’s a stat on crop planting in US: 92 million acres of corn of various varieties and 270,000 acres of kale, cabbage and chard combined. 

Religion vs Science: one definition of wisdom is to hold two competing ideas in your head at the same time. In the years since 1973, intelligent design has been compared to the theory of evolution like they are equals (in the NYT no less, giving credence to those who don’t understand science), over and over again. We have seen recent Republican candidates for president (including the college educated nominee in 2012) profess that it is a myth that global warming is exacerbated dramatically by human industry.  And, of course, the rise of fundamentalism throughout many countries, drawing followers back into the dark ages.

THB thinks it should be Religion AND Science: have faith and understand how the universe works. Don’t confuse the two. Who knows:  there are more atheists alive now than at any other time in human history.

Peace in the Middle East: 40 years ago, there was strife in the ME and today, it is about same-same as far as Israel and its neighbors. The Big News: The Arab Spring has brought something new to the area, with social media helping to (or in process of) overthrowing dictatorships. Not necessarily a better something, it is way too early to tell.  Of course, there’s the mess in Syria.   Oh, and lest we forget, the US has troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, the worst foreign policy moves in THB’s last 40 years. By far…thank YOU, George and Dick.

Growth of Technology: damn, these computers are everywhere (THB means it literally, they are every few feet, usually in someone’s palm), and just about anyone under 40 (or is 50?) has a job making technology work in everyday lives.

Steve Jobs, the man of the last 40 years? For sure, the last 10.  At least a TV still looks like a TV….oops, no it doesn’t. A radio is a radio…no, it isn’t. A book is a book…sorry, no.  A camera…nope. Send a letter? What time is it? Visit the bank? Make a payment? Read a newspaper? Watch your local news? Use a dictionary or encyclopedia? A phone…all of the above!

The Women’s Movement: Depends on who you ask? Clearly, women are pretty much pursuing just about any type of career and succeeding; going to college in greater numbers than men; serving in the military, including in combat; close to becoming president. It sure seems way better than 40 years ago.  How can Lean In be a controversial message…there appears to be confusion between the message and the messenger. The message seems obvious (to both men and women). Start practicing that “tilt” towards power.

Gay Rights: Off the charts, from deep in hiding to open in most parts of the country and in most democracies around the world (still don’t think Putin is a thug? Russia is legislating to ostracize gays).  We had gay friends in 1973. We lived in the Bay Area. We have gay married friends in 2013.  Another stat: pairs with children least likely to get divorced: gay men.

Where we live: THB has always loved big cities, and particularly the Bay Area (two baseball teams, diversity, emphasis on good food, pleasant weather, public transportation, two baseball teams). Somehow the flight to the suburbs was never quite understandable to THB, and the exurbs unfathomable. Clearly busing accelerated this trend. Remember when private schools were for the malcontents and public school was where all upper and middle class kids went?

And, it turns out the big cities are more liberal politically and socially. And, from an environmental standpoint, wayyyy better for holding down rampant use of cars. Is it too late to collapse back into tighter neighborhoods and let the exurbs return to parkland and farms? Not quite: the Great Recession has killed a lot of the overexpansion, only temporarily in THB’s view. For the ultimate disaster: visit Detroit.

Sports and TV: From zero to 60 in 40 years. Basically, for about $15/season, you can listen to any baseball game via the internet, and for $125/season, you can watch any game via the internet (with short delays for your home team games). And, it’s pretty much the same via cable/satellite: you can watch any game in any sport for not that much money. And, there are sports bars that specialize in specific sports and/or teams, so you can drink with your fellow fans while watching any event taking place anywhere on the globe. And, even talk-radio is now on TV, so guys who never in a million years were thought to be photogenic (i.e., every sports writer or radio personality) are now on TV non-stop, talking away, right next to women doing the exact same thing in tight blouses.

Space Exploration: worthless. If only the money had been spent making the earth more environmentally sustainable. Life on Mars? Give THB a break…or maybe, just maybe, 500,000 years from now, it might be meaningful? Not a chance. Not for humans (or dogs).

Medical Science: THB believes that palliative measures have been way more important/impactful than the huge investments in medical research.

Which has extended more lives: Getting people to stop smoking? Making everyone in cars wear seat belts and helmets for motorcyclists? Trying to eliminate drunk driving? Promoting how moderate eating and exercising makes you healthier? Providing everyone with clean water?  Eliminating the spread of diseases in third world countries? Getting rid of guns? (oops, THAT didn't happen!)

Or, trying to find cures for cancer? Having every hospital outfitted with the latest technology? (Anyone notice that the only sector putting up buildings during the recession: hospitals.) Finding a cure for AIDS helped dramatically (because safe sex and clean needles weren’t going to stop the disease from spreading, though they are effective measures). DNA and genetic advances have been dramatic and now THB can see the day when your identity is based on DNA verification, which will soon be instantaneously available.

THB knows someone out there will disagree. Will someone also please provide the dollars spent just on the administration of all these massive efforts that don’t seem to extend or improve quality of life?  

Affordable health care: See Medical Science above; the US has managed in 40 years to become the worst case scenario: lower life expectancies and higher costs than any other first world democracy. The single most likely reason the country will go bankrupt unless some way is found to slow and reverse the cost growth (let alone the poor performance for the price). If only we ate like they do in Greece and Greece paid taxes and worked like they do in the US…utopia?

Integration: Another “depends on who you ask” category? Better than in 1973, that’s for sure. A lot better? How tragic was busing (and the resulting flight to the suburbs) for public education, urban redevelopment (or, in many cases, teardowns without build ups), the concentration of minorities in specific neighborhoods, and the inability to improve inner-city schools. THB believes in affirmative action (it seems to work, as does Head Start), and yet it continues to be dismantled. On the positive side, nobody (only a few? some?) in many communities blink when an ethnically mixed couple shows up and for sure we have way more “hyphen” kids than ever before. Discrimination (all types) is not gone; it seems to be on the wane.

Abortion Rights: no common ground (how can there be when one side sees it as murder and the other as a woman’s right to choose). Medical advancement at keeping the premature infant alive is astounding, making the divide even larger. In the last 40 years, the Republican Party has moved from supporting choice to trying to outlaw all abortions. Another wedge issue in the red and blue states? Side note: the Catholic Church members vote with their lower birth rates in US, regardless of church dogma.

On-line games: THB does not play video games, something that did not exist 40 years ago and is now bigger than the movie industry (true?). And, in total symmetry, THB is back playing bridge, real time with real people, just like 40 years ago, this time without all the smoke in the room and a much quieter atmosphere. Oh, and with a lot of old people (day-time mid-week tends to attract a non-working crowd).

Where’s Waldo: 40 years ago, THB was married to DHB, did not have kids and lived in an apartment (well, just barely, Trestle Glen was right around the corner). Today, THB lives in a large one-room apartment (a condo loft) without kids, is married to DHB, and is pretty sure the kids are not coming back. Same-same but very different in between the bookends.

Everybody has their moment of fame: 40 years ago THB didn’t want his picture taken. Today THB not only has his picture taken, he takes (sometimes shaky, shaky) pictures and posts them for everyone to see.

Deregulation: The world is in a constant state of change, migrating along a continuum with centralization at one end and totally fragmented at the other. Much of what goes on in the business world can be captured by describing which way on the continuum there is movement. So, when Reagan brought on deregulation, what did we get: GREED! Lo and behold, the most stable form of capitalism is controlled capitalism. What you avoid: boom and bust, boom and bust. Humans gravitate towards maximizing personal gain. Hmmmm….where did THB find that nugget hiding? The last glorious example: when the financial sector grew from 10% of economy to 20% we got the Great Recession. Thank YOU, Mr. Greenspan.

Patriotism: Another evil the boomers were gonna take care of, by diminishing the emphasis on how much more important my turf is than your turf. After 9/11, you really did have to stand for the national anthem, go to the restroom during the seventh inning stretch to avoid God Bless America, and stand in line at airports. Good news: you can bring those 2.36” and shorter blades onto airplanes again, same as you could in 1973, and keep those electronic devices on during landings and takeoffs. Oh, wait: no blades, and some airlines for some e-devices.

Decision making: THB likes things that can be studied, analyzed and recommended based on facts (baseball, anyone?), and with the emotion taken out of the equation. THB does not think that has become a prevailing view in the last 40 years, based on our political process, though it could be said that the rise of science impacting humanity has been the major _____ (fill in the blank) of the last 200 years.