La Gira

power confusion

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation, Slow Reading, thoughts on life and its philosophy

A somewhat remarkable constellation; indeed telling, if we think about power relations, and the role of political parties as it is defined in the Basic Law (so-called constitution):

Article 21
[Political parties]

(1) Political parties shall participate in the formation of the political will of the people. They may be freely established. Their internal organisation must conform to democratic principles. They must publicly account for their assets and for the sources and use of their funds.

The German Social Democrats reached apparently the end of the ‘governance period’, preparing the election of a new board – this happened on December 11th.

Auf dem Ordentlichen Bundesparteitag in Berlin wurden am 11. Dezember 2021 die Mitglieder des SPD-Parteivorstands neu bestimmt. 

Interestingly, on the 4th of December the same party voted in favour of the Koalitionsvertrag, the agreement between social democrats, greens and liberals.

There are two extrem interpretations:

  • The outgoing elite of the party uses the remaining power to determine the future course.
  • A party, being somewhat in a limbo, not having a board anymore and not having a board yet, is deciding about a major issue, one that will be substantial for the future of the party.

Article 21.2. ff. of the German constitution speaks in general terms of the unconstitutional character of parties and the way and means not to allow such parties. Unconstitutionality is broadly defined as not being conform with the basic law. I am wondering now, if – at least when reading formal structures in a substantioal light – the procedure applied here can be really seen as democratic.

Traffic lights

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in aphorisms from living in and between worlds - impressions and conversations, joys - what we usually take for it, thoughts on life and its philosophy

It had been once upon a time, a day in April. Admittedly the news  sounded strange. But thinking so, it had been also clear that Ireland, the small resisting Republic, apparently did have some magic drink, that made it to the model student of Europe – something one could not imagine when the country joined, being ill-reputed as part of the EUropean poor house. So, there had been good reasons to think “Europe is good for us”, and then subsequently good reasons to think about “more Europe must even better for us”. So, the April news:

Ireland will join the European project even more and change the traffic rules fundamentally, introducing the right-hand traffic.

Wow, seems to be impossible … ; but they did it in the nordic countries (Sunday Sonntag, 3rd of September 1967, 5 o’clock in Sweden). The new announcement continued:

From next week, the trucks will begin, using the right side of the road – the experiment will last for month, and if it works out the next month will add to busses driving on the right side. As we expect that things will work out, after another month all other vehicle will follow.

— Amaying, isn’t it?

A BBC-comment on the occasion of the announcement of the new German government reminded me of this story, though we are now facing a kind of reversed version: looking at the “real” traffic light, we see typically one light at a time. The political traffic light will see red, yellow and green at exactly the same time. 

Yes, the first of April is also in Ireland April-fools day …

He did not even have Blue

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in general, Inspirations, joys - what we usually take for it, thoughts on life and its philosophy

Is it fair to say that Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (yes, I mean THAT Rembrandt) had been a great artist? Ever thought to buy one of the paintings ? Most likely not, not easy to get the money you would have to pay.

It is said that he did not have enough money to buy blue pigments – and indeed he did not often use it.

Still, he managed to paint these amazing pieces of art. – What would he do today?

https://www.apple.com/ie/macbook-pro-14-and-16/

easily overlooked

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation, Slow Reading, social quality, thoughts on life and its philosophy

There are the BIG questions, going hand in hand with the one: climate (change). And threre are the big players, governments, non-governmental players, artists finding a new stage (not mocking, I trust he is serious about it) and people like you, Greta and myself.

We all know about the small print – even if contracts and agreements a big, the small print is not getting larger (though probably longer).

And then there is something else – the story with the apple …, well, not Isaac’s apple

https://www.history.com/.image/ar_1:1%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_1200/MTU3ODc4Njg0NTg1MzcwOTUz/istock_000035378086_large-2.jpg

,the other.

Keeping up with the news from the fruitshop, I checked the website: what is the new standard in the computer world?

Nothing, really:

  • first we are driven through and by design — sure, makes a difference but computers are for most of us utilities: things we have to or want to use: work, info, communication, games – only all the fuzz on design makes makes reputation and showing off an additional utility
  • second, the website – yes, amazing the design, yes akward the ease of accessing relevant info – is so overburdended with nicesities (is there a term like uselessities) that all the potential speed is absorbed — the other side of Moore’s law: though the chips are getting cheaper and faster the ammount of waste they have to carry and process is multiplying ….

Perhaps it would be a valuable contribution by ex-computer manufacturers to think about such issues, instead of retiring, becoming professional philantropists and writing books on how to save the planet. It would save them from flying in their bio-fueld aircrafts to summits, preaching for a better world …

public Relations

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation, thoughts on life and its philosophy

She definitely had a point – and still has one: Greta Thunberg, her fear and anger when it comes to climate issues and not least her critique  of politicians with their great and permanent speeches, not much more than warm air, thus often not much more than additional unnecessary CO2 emission. Still, I dare to ask, reading the headline 

‘COP26 is a failure’: Greta Thunberg says climate summit has turned into a PR event

isn’t the reference to another superstar on the political stage, G.T. – like Bono or Yanis V and now as well Leonardo DiCaprio – juts another sign of the deep political crisis, ending with a … in the White House (and even trying too return, comedians leading a Mediterranean country nearer to the abyss and giving another EU-country the feeling of being an orphan after Mutti stepped back. ≥Isn’t Greta herself being made part of the PR-show?

– Perhaps it is time to think about the public, the published and (social) relations – finally the so-called climate crisis is a crisis of polluted social relations – their production which is a mirror of what societies produce and how they do it.

who is to blame

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in joys - what we usually take for it, Peter's Log, Senza categoria, social quality, thoughts on life and its philosophy

China – you can blame it for everything … at least it is done this way. And I will shortly engage in this by posting a video, talking a bit about 10 years “Peter’s China”
Anyway, I finally I read the article in the NZZ, initially hesitating to jump across the paywall. Be it as it is, surveillance – the big topic and of course in some way employing my thoughts. Indeed, even if compared with what I say a year or so ago, there are more cameras, there are these “distant temp-measures” and ……, well, finally reading the article, there is one obvious point: the author ended apparently up in one of the extreme techno hubs, where simply the technicians are keen to do everything that is possible and put every effort into making possible what is not yet possible – and for this all data have to be collected …, oh mind, next time being possibly too generous with your toilet tissue. Yes, it is often as ridicules as that. – so. what he says is not really about China – or it is much about China as the Silicon Valley is about the US.

Anyway, the article … first complaining and at some stage comfortably settling in – no key necessary .. just walk if you are who you seem or pretend to be. But there is something else that comes to my mind, when looking at the kist in front of me and when thinking about “blame the Chinese, they have broad shoulders and are many, they will carry it”.

The List, I mean the “to-do-list”, seeing the many things I wanted to do, have to so, I could not do because I am waiting for something that I need so that I can do …, something else comes to my mind: It is often said the that in China the n-word is barely used: Even if you mean NO, you do not say it. I cannot say that this is definitely not true – and one can speculate if it is because one does not want to hurt somebody else, is it a continued effect  of a clandestine resistance during the various dynasties, or simply ignorance or even part of the genetic code?

Looking at the said list, seeing all things promised, I am wondering if not is possibly not the Chinese but a “nowadays-code”: ignorance due to self-centredness of the “last man”, taking it from the subtitle of Fukuyama’s book on the End of History. Seeing it this way makes sense, as the last man does not need to think about the future – end of history finally means end of time, including end of past, so that there is no future which makes the process of life rather dull and shallow: we add and define our status on Facebook etc, it is a bit like going back to the good old medieval times. And then we blame China — while we forget to ask ourselves: DO WE LIKE TO LOOSE FACE? If we do not ask this question, we lost it already and should SAY NO to continuing this way … never forget: some entered where Dante entered … and that they had to mark as status!

The visible — the invisible — the impossible-to-comprehensively-see

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in academic life - living in academia, contemporary socio-economic situation, thoughts on life and its philosophy

Recently I received a link – making the unbelievable visible.

Looking at it, seeing the dimensions, it still remains unbelievable. What am I talking about? There is no term for it: injustice, inequality, over-stretching incomes … these terms appear being meaningless when seeing what we claimed to know. Bezos’ fortune in relation to … lookinhg at makes probably sense whichever language you speak,opop- guess. It also relates the income some other wealthy folks – as bundle. – I sent the link around, receive one reply: I cannot open it. – I suggest trying the computer, not the mobile. A somewhat unexpected reply:

It’s too complicated for me to copy the fat link onto my laptop, I know which side I’m on.

It’s enough for me to watch the news, at the moment there’s severe famine in Africa, the drought. We take drinking water to wash away our wealth sh….. and there the wells dry up.

A bit earlier I sent a link from a vox-site to the very same peson – all about fashion.

It’s a Chinese online shop, so Amazon must also buy clothes. My 15€ summer pellet is also from there. I advise against buying directly, no liability.

And “we”, people called intellectuals, claiming to be progressive, caring, responsible – we just say “well, sure – the world is full of contradictions”, take the money for the job we have [sure, if we have one], usually considered as well deserved and leave the office for the summer resort or some other nice place where we can click for a better world.

As impossible-to-comprehensively-see as the figures concerning Bezos’ fortune.

Realities

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in Peter's Log, quotes, thoughts on life and its philosophy

The boys threw shore pebbles into the splintering glass parquet, the various impact sounds at the end of the arches abundantly clear in the silence. Armin watched the wave circles: their flight from the centre to distance, their obstinacy in crossing other circles running in opposite directions, passing through each other unharmed! Imagine: we could wander through each other like that. Perhaps angels could do it. With glances we can do it ourselves, after all, thought Madeleine: Glances cross each other undisturbed, undistracted, a hundred people look at one speaker, but no confusion, everyone gets their own personal view, no mixing, no displacement, our nature is quite practically set up.

Erasmus Schoefer: Winterdämmerung

*****+++++*****

We gladly and unconcernedly accept that photographs from our childhood imperceptibly enlarge, shift, colour, add to the images that our memory has directly stored, so that we can no longer distinguish what we ourselves experienced and imprinted on our minds as experienced reality from what has been handed down as a photographic crutch of memory. In any case, any form of literature that describes the past and admits that an objective view is not possible for a human writer, accepts that it will also change the past. By influencing what of the past is still present reality: its reflection in our minds.

unfortunately I had to translate myself

an accident?

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in academic life - living in academia, contemporary socio-economic situation, Slow Reading, thoughts on life and its philosophy

Well, it may be that it is really one, but even if this is the case it can make us thinking. Only recently Iearned that the London Stock Exchange, reasonabky well know to me from analysing economic developments, is also well known as LSE. For me this always had another connotation, standing for the London School of Economics. Seeing the same acronym being used, I am wondering if there is some special meaning in the fact that the latter is rarely mentioned by its full name: London School of Economics and Political Science. It may well be that the accident turns out to be part of a system: a reality, where the exonomy is gaining dominance, being lead by the spirit of economics, a discipline, that is geared to a well-functioning, i.e. profit-msaximising stock exchange, not people oriented.