America vs Europe

Caro Direttore (del Corriere) Innegabile che la democrazia americana abbia delle debolezze strutturali, come Stefano Passigli ha giustamente osservato nel suo commento “La debolezza strutturale della democrazia americana” (Corriere online, 31 ottobre). Il grandissimo potere concesso ai singoli stati, per esempio, indica senz'altro alla debolezza dell'unione. In questo, come in altri casi, Passigli ha ragione. A mio parere, però, Passigli sbaglia nel sostenere che, per il semplice fatto che la magistratura federale, inclusa la Corte Suprema, viene nominata dal Presidente, la magistratura degli Stati Uniti manca quindi di indipendenza. Per vero che sia che un certo numero di magistrati federali sono nominati dal Presidente in carica, è pur vero che un presidente rimane in carica per un massimo di otto anni, dopodichè a un'altro presidente viene concesso il privilegio di nominare giudici di sua preferenza. Questo Passigli non ce lo dice, come non ci dice che col sosseguirsi dei presidenti le idiosincrasie personali dei singoli giudici si fondono in un collettivo molto bilanciato. Il fatto che il sistema democratico americano sopravvive più o meno inalterato da secoli attesta alla solidità delle sue istituzioni fondamentali. In quanto al ruolo dei leader illuminati—o meno—non è in verità solo l'America che ne ha tratto profitto—o svantaggio. Ciò, storicamente, lo ha fatto pure l'Europa—e con ben più effervescenza. Ermes Culos Ashcroft, BC Canada

Thomas Mann, Doktor Faustus

 I have read, in German, several other books by Mann. I haven't had an easy time with any of them, but I did get through them well enough. Doktor Faustus is a much more difficult novel to read, and I struggled through it, partly, I think, because in it Mann expects the reader to have an extensive knowledge of music and musical theory. Even so, some takeaways:

1. Leverkühn, the music genius in the novel, becomes eminently successful thanks to a pact with the Devil, much as Goethe's Faust does. In the end, as in Faust's case, Leverkühn pays heavily for the contract he had made 24 years before.

This leaves us (me at least) with the thought: Is someone's work still to be admired when the creator of this work is a bad man? 

Also,

Mann, I think, wants us to see in Leverkühn a sort of reflection of the GERMAN or of the German nation, and, an in the case of Leverkühn, leaves with the thought: Is German culture (ie, the Germany of the past, to be disliked because of its nastiness during Hitler' s time?

On racism

 To Sci-Am

Dear Editors

Just read Abigail Libers' “How to Unlearn Racism” (Sci-Am, October 2020).

Racism, defined by Ms. Libers as a power hierarchy as well as prejudice against people of other (i.e., non-white) races or ethnicity, is not only rooted in American society but is also harmful to everyone. Ms. Libers also suggests that racism (again with exclusive reference to white people) is something that lies beneath the level of awareness. 

Ms. Libers does a fine job of defending this conception of racism. A few of her points, though, should raise eyebrows. Here is one:

To show how racism is harmful even to white people, Ms. Libers references a health researcher's view that white people are harmed by the “myth of meritocracy—the idea that working hard and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps leads to success.” Though the author is right in pointing out that some people are not successful despite their best efforts and that they therefore become disillusioned and stressed out, she overlooks the fact that this “myth” (flaws and all) is the very definition of the American dream, the dream that has attracted and continues to attract countless people, white and nonwhite, to the U.S, not excluding—I venture to say—her own parents.

On the subject of racism, or better unconscious racism, I can't resist mentioning this other thing: that Ms. Libers, as well as so many other people in the media, sees no problem with using the expression “people of color”, which she does several times in her article. In an environment that wants people to shed all vestiges of prejudice and strive toward inclusiveness and equality, shouldn't this expression be avoided in favour of something that does not proclaim separation and otherness?

Respectfully,

Ermes Culos

Tant timp fa

 Tant timp fa:

I cjamini par na stradela di cjamp 

cun un daj me frutùs.

Luj al è pìsul e cu la so manuta

al ingrimpa un daj deicj’ 

da la me man destra.

A mi tira la man

e a colp a si ferma.

“Sù, vèn,” i ghi dìs,

ma luj a si u

e cu la so manuta lìbara 

al cjapa sù un clapùt

o un frosc di erba.

“Jòt, pupà, se bièl.”

Ma jò, ch'i soj omp fàt,

i lu tiri sù e i ghi dìs,

“Sù, sù, no stìn pièrdi timp

in monàdis. Paràn via.”

E luj par fami contènt

al mola jù il clapùt 

a mi vèn davòu sidìn sidìn.

Oct 9/20

I am walking on a country road

with one of my kids.

He is very little and with his hand

he clutches the index finger

of my right hand.

He tugs at me and 

suddenly stops.

“Come, let's go,” I tell him,

but he bends lower

and with his free hand 

picks up a pebble first

and then a blade of grass.

“Look, pa, how nice!”

But I, a grownup,

pull him up and say to him:

“Come on, let's not waste time

in silly things. Let's go.”

To make me happy

he lets go of both pebble and grass

and comes along, in silence.

Pandemic dreams

 letter to Sci-Am

Dear Editors
Thouroghly enjoyed Tore Nielsen’s discussion of pandemic dreams.
One thing, though, had me scratching my head. Though the work of Freud on dreams is largely scoffed at these days, shouldn't he—for old times' sake if for nothing else—be given at least a passing mention? The article does, after all, admit that “creative dreaming produces safety imagery that supersedes and inhibits the original fear memory, helping to assuage distress over time”; and this sort of creative dreaming comes pretty close, it seems to me, to being the sort of wish fulfilment that was at the heart of Freud's theory of dreams.
Even so, a nice read.
Ermes Culos,
Ashcroft, BC Canada

Nobel 2020

 

Averno

Louise Glück, Premiu Nobel 2020, Leteratura

Averno

Ti mòus cuant che il to spìrit al mòu.

Sinò i ti vìfs.

No ti faràs cuj saja sè, ma i ti ti rangjaràs—

A è cussì, e basta. nuja da fà.

Cuant ch'i ghi dìs chistu ai me fioj

a no mi scòltin nencja.

I vècjus, a pènsin—

a fàn sempri cussì:

a cjacàrin di ròbis che nisùn al pòl jodi

par platà duti li cèlulis dal sarvièl ca pièrdin.

A si dàn tant di vuli;

sìnt il vecju, cal tabaja dal spìrit

parsè ca no si recuarda pì la peraula par cjadrèa.

Èsi besoj a è terìbil.

I no vuej diši di stà besoj—

di èsi besoj, cuant che nisùn a ti sìnt.

I mi recuardi la peraula par cjadrèa.

I vuej diši—ca no mi impuarta pì.

I mi svej pensànt

I ti às da preparati.

Fra puc il spìrit a ti lasarà—

duti li cjadrèis dal mont a no ti zovaràn.