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For some time we, presumably, in sync with other American mainstream citizens, have been bewildered (and agonized) by the bizarre media reports that the race for the American Presidency, (given the contenders) continues to be close. Such reports have caused us to doubt the wisdom of the American democratic foundational message of “one man. one vote.”

To avoid misunderstanding regarding our previous statement, we would emphatically declare our firm beliefs in the following democratic principles: (1) All people are equal, despite their nuanced individuality (2) The proper aspiration of our democratic republic is to be a government ” by and for the people.” (3) A Republican Democracy is the most just and humanistic form of polity. (4) And notably, for the above principles of equality and democracy to be successful, ( as Thomas Jefferson, presciently declared) a literate and well-informed population is required, It is with this “4th” mandated principle that this writing is contextually concerned.

The nomination of Donald Trump for a second Presidential term, supported, by millions of fiercely loyal voters, despite his known perverse character, incapability, and demonstrated lack of moral compass, inarguably constitutes a popular demonstration of cognitive disorder when measured by the accepted principles referred to above; and, notably, with the beneficial aspirations of our Nation’s Founders. piously inscribed in the Constitution and systemically applied in its legislation and judicial precedent.

We have for some time, attempted to empirically reconcile Jefferson’s admonition, with our inherited national aspirations, however, under the circumstances of the contemporary political scene, we find it necessary, albeit, difficult. to question the prescience of Jefferson and of Benjamin Franklyn ( “…it is a Republic, if we can keep it,”) The political polls bizarrely continue to show the potential electability of Donald Trump, despite his publically known criminal and immoral record and notably, his public declarations to be a dictator.

We would thematically acknowledge the wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson: ” A foolish inconsistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.” In keeping with such unassailable advice, we would dare to make the following radical declaration: the one man, one vote principle, while unassailable as a democratic principle is not pragmatically suitable to our Nation, which, unfortunately, counts among its citizenry, a large population of inadequately educated and poorly informed citizens. We suffer the eternal threat of dangerous incompetence or tyrannical rule, by traditional adherence to such admittedly democratic, but, nevertheless, hazardous, principle; at least without some supplementary change in our system of electing a Chief Executive.

We have long and unsuccessfully ruminated on the existence of democratically feasible solutions to the enunciated, but problematic impact of one man, one vote viz., the existence of a large population of poorly informed and educated populist citizens, No sort of educative or cultural solution appeared to be pragmatically feasible or free of the possibility of tactical misuse. For better or worse our Nation is populated with a sufficiently ample number of poorly informed “populist” citizens. Consequently, to remove the hazard of political or policy disaster, a procedure must be beneficially devised, consistent with the traditional tenets of a Democratic Republic.

Relative to the empirically diverse nature of the American population, it is our view that the endurance of the democratic Republic may, prudentially and salubriously be assured by the following suggested procedure. If all prospective candidates for the August office of Chief Executive were mandatorily and thoroughly vetted (perhaps by a balanced or non-partisan panel) the selection of judgmentally acceptable candidates presented for selection for voters of every description would be far more suitable than that now presented which includes the celebrated, unhinged, and perverse Orange-haired reprobate. It may notably be observed that positions, we daresay, of the most mundane description, require previous scrutiny and acceptance; why not, perforce, America’s august and impactful office of the Presidency?

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Selwin T. Kluggermench, the sole progeny of Tandelaya and F. Throckmorton Klugermench, 32 years of age and still living with his parents, sat up on the early morning of his birthday, July 4, parted the window curtains and ruminated on the miraculous turn his life has taken from its former awkwardly introverted and frustratingly meaningless state to his present fortuitous, widely celebrated success.

His life changed at the mere age of 22, because of the discovery of his innate, unique, and previously undisclosed, talent for computer lapboard research. Lately, he has regularly been consulted by leading research institutions, governmental and civilian, including, the U.S. Censorship Bureau, the National Weather Service, the U.S. Departments of State, The Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Geographic, The Boy Scouts of America and a virtually unlimited clientele, who, at times require the most arcane and abstruse data, empirically unattainable even by the most highly recognized researchers available in the digital world.

Sartorially unkempt and remarkably skinny, the previously non-assertive, Selwin Kluggermench’s subsequently revealed. life-changing singular data crunching capability was fortuitously discovered by the brother of an inspector employed by the home inspection service, engaged by Kluggermench Senior, as part of the customary exercise of diligence concerning the prospective purchase of a suburban home in Wistful Vista, New York. The resultant discovery of a substantial infestation of Eastern Subterranean Termites necessitated the pragmatic termination of the real estate transaction. but by fortunate happenstance, opened the window to the world-class digital genius of our then-youthful, introverted, and markedly introverted protagonist.

Selwin, with lapboard, writing pad, and two, freshly sharpened Eberhard # 2 wooden pencils, after breaking off a soft 6-inch piece of the infested wooden building frame, simply as personal amusement, thereafter successfully calculated the precise extent of the realty’s termite infestation, inclusive of the yet visibly undamaged portions of the wooden structure. The signature event, performed simply for his own casual amusement, was by chance observed by the visiting manager of the house inspection company and excitedly reported to his brother, Milton; a highly placed civil servant in the State Environmental Commission. Milton, after painstaking confirmation of Selwein’s computer calculations, related the facts to his paternal cousin. employed, locally, by the United States Department of the Interior.

To summarize a long subsequent and eventful series of events, the singular capability of our protagonist as an undiscovered lapboard genius of recondite intelligence, became a household word in the arcane world of academic and political investigation. Remote and valuable areas, previously inaccessible despite the expensive employment of known capable and innovative researchers, were, at last accessible through the singular and seemingly “occult talent” of the fortuitously discovered, maestro of lapboard research and analysis, the unique and brilliant, Selwin Kluggermench.

Subsequently, Selwin went on to amaze the multi-disciplined academic research world with his exceptional prowess in research analysis, relative to any variety of ubiquitously submitted subjects, ranging from the optic impact of the bumble bees’ yellow coloration on the daytime seductive properties of the pistols of the tea rose, to the secret articulated language visibly implicit in tree rings, the quantum of chewing gum masticated by teenagers, below the age of seventeen, the dynamics of the innate circular curling prowess, empirically attributable to Eastern earthworms and the standard, acceptable diameter of center holes in the average, commercially produced bagel. Nothing was pragmatically unattainable with the benefit of the miraculously utilitarian services of Selwin Kluggermench. the international aficionado and exotic guru of recondite computer lapboard research.

It may be enlightening to note however, anecdotally, and revealingly, on last Tuesday’s typical rainy morning, after serving her Selwin his customary milk-toast and cocoa breakfast, Tondelaya Kluggermench advised her son as follows: “Selwin, dear, we received a letter for you this morning,” Selwin, uncomfortably confused, but preternaturally inquisitive, responded, ” Momma, what’s a letter?”

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It is not possible to overemphasize the empirical fact that our Nation is entirely populated with immigrants and their descendants (with the possible exception of its Indigenous peoples). Yet the controversy over the admission of new Americans from foreign countries seeking safety or a better quality of life for themselves and their families is productive of non-empathic and determinative controversy

The word “xenophobia,” is universally understood as a fear of strangers or of someone from a different place of origin. It is our considered view that such a mindset is, at the same time, similar to such phobic pathologies as “claustrophobia,” the fear of confined spaces, “agoraphobia,” the fear of being in places where escape is difficult, “pathophobia,” the fear of disease, and “astraphobia,” the fear of thunder and lightning, but as a singular and distinctive aberration, it can be taught, as in the case of the universal dynamics of human bigotry.

We perceive the pathology of ” xenophobia,” as constituting another example of the toxic plethora of irrational bigotry, as morally inappropriate and, sadly, like many other pernicious forms of prejudice, or intolerance, has become a subject of intense disputation and enmity.

It was Emma Lazarus, who referenced the Nation’s institutional and empathic welcome to needy foreigners, by the empathic designation of the Nationally representational, Statue of Liberty ” as the “Mother of Exiles,” and in poetic terms reference it a symbolic colossus, standing tall in the East River, facing Europe with the open invitation, “.Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to be free,” Her aesthetic message articulates the Nation’s traditional humanistic welcome to all new Americans, as legislated in the Nation’s Immigration Laws.

We, with much discomfort, recall the deplorable declarations of Donald Trump on the subject of immigration, “They (?) send us their (?) bad people, their criminals, their rapists…murderers, et cetra ad nauseum. Before we proceed with our contextual theme, we would inquire as to whom Trump refers to when he accusatorily refers to “they” (as in “they send”) and “their.” Foreign refugees from dire peril are universally in flight from their former government and certainly are not “sent” by their respective authoritarian or criminal leaders from whom they flee. By empirical contrast, immigrants universally, escape from dire poverty and famine, seeking a better life for themselves and family.

It is infuriating to hear Donald Trump’s gross and defamatory exhortations, to the delight of his loyal horde of America’s huge underbelly of populist acolytes, concerning these vulnerable souls, desperately fleeing from a dismal existence, yearning, in the words of Emma Lazarus, “to live free.”

The defamatory words, “rapists,” criminals” and the like, neurotically ascribed by Donald Trump to the poor, desperate, and brave heroes who venture to brave great vicissitudes in their desperate march across untold miles of boiling hot desert wasteland in desperate search of freedom, are especially hateful, false and especially obnoxious for the persona of Donald Trump, who has been shamefully a declared an adjudicated rapist is a recognized multi- indicted and convicted felonious criminal, and incidentally, himself, a first generation American citizen (son of a German immigrant) whose all three marriages were celebrated with immigrant wives.

Donald Trump,. with the cultish compliance of his populist base, would likely prefer a change the Nation’s emblematic motto, “E Pluribus Unum,” to a less inclusive expression such as “In Trumpus Verbatim.”

For all those xenophobic descendants of immigrants, we would earnestly inquire as to what makes current immigrants any different or worse than the population of Americans, who, irrefutably are children of immigrants?

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The two terms of Barack Obama’s presidential administration buttressed our faith in the future of Republican Democracy. We were confirmed in our belief that the errant Presidential terms of Richard Nixon and George Bush, like that of history’s Andrew Jackson’s, were anecdotal and not empirically representative of the historical traditions of that August office as exemplified by the esteemed service of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Needless to say, the elevation of Donald J. Trump, whose primal malevolence, incompetence, and egocentric desire for autocracy have been previously observed, was a shocking and disheartening epiphany. The events during his administration elevated the folk aphorism regarding the “rotten apple in the barrel” creditability and emphatic ratification in an unprecedented putrified and disturbing evolution of sentiment concerning our Republican Democracy and its systemic regard for citizen liberty and equality, A foul mist of autocratic political pollution suddenly invaded the historically fresh air of ” liberty and equality of all,” inspired in by our American constitutional principle and dynamically proclaimed in our free way of life,

Most puzzling and systemically devastating was the resultant outbreak of a toxic National pandemic of viral Trumpist support, sweeping the Nation, most especially inclusive of the inadequately educated and poorly informed hoards of populists, financially supported by the self-interested profit-loving, anti-health regulation, industrial orthodox devotees to the Deity of profit.

The inordinately large number of anti-democratic political office holders visibly in fear of Trump’s sway over the voting power of his cultish sycophants permitted, even, encouraged, a vile metastasis of anti-democratic and antisocial elements to perniciously invade our traditionally healthy body politic and infest it with self-hatred and the denial of principle. An egocentric, orange-haired, proverbial rotten apple had, incredibly and tragically, spoiled the National barrel of historically established, unique republican democracy. The prevailing sentiment sadly making its rounds throughout the Nation became fear and distrust rather than the stable and prevailing efforts toward, mutual confidence in one another, regardless of physical difference, and ultimate faith in the ultimate benevolence of the Nation. Frustratingly, nightmarish was the consequential decline in honor and principle of its highest Court, The Supreme Court of the United States, the existential judicial guardian of citizens’s constitutional rights..

In this toxic morass, the political identity of the Republican Party, one of the two parties in our essentially two-party balanced political system, ceased to exist as a utilitarian and doctrinal opponent to the Democratic Party, bizarrely transmogrified into an obedient Trump cult. The mainstream American citizen had empirically accrued significant, cause to fear for the very endurance of the Democratic Republic and to be in fear of a nightmarish replication of the 1930s Munich Germany; especially considering the large populist, underbelly support, for the proclamation of the unhinged contemporary day unstrung. orange-haired Roman Emperor Nero’s frequent proclamations of his intention to be a dictator,,if reelected,

We especially intend this writing to articulate a “fanfare” and salute to the several members of the Republican Party whose patriotic dedication to our mutual American Nation, and its foundational principles overrode their future concerns of political career to ethically, articulate their opposition to the anti-democratic, would-be dictator, Donald Trump.

With all grateful and respectful sentiment, we award our kudos to all such patriotic, career-endangering American Republican politicians with our highest official medal of honor, the ” Red Badge of Courage.”

• Title borrowed, with appropriate gratitude from, “The Red Badge of Courage” by Stephen Crane

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Moist ethereal breezes intimately whisper
Cooling balm to sunbaked foliage.
Trees, now attired in military raiment,
In styles bespeaking revolutionary riot,
Proclaiming in eye-sparkling manifesto,
The swift advent of seasonal overthrow.
-There’s no time to lose!

Boughs strain heavy with seasonal fruitage.
The bounty, tho’, forsaken by large mammals,
In search for safer havens
Alas, no time for juicy gorging,
Time’s to be spent for seasonal survival.
Smaller ones, storing food, burrowing deep.
Instinct warns, dalliance spells disaster!
-We must not tarry!

Winged creatures depart aloft
Huge flocks with little hesitation,
Escaping to safer geography.
Could one but hear beneath the forest floor,
The excited chatter of woodland critters,
Anxiously nose-wrinkling rodent reconnaissance
-Is there yet time?

Darkening clouds bespeak woodland calamity
Soon, winter gales, storms, sheets of ice,
Snow, that covers safe niches and hide-outs,
Cold that delights in shivering death.
All must forsake the Fall magic.
– And again, we will be ready!

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(Leonard N. Shapiro, Sept. 2018)

The salient benefit of classic portraiture, is, that in addition to the replication of the subject’s appearance, the artist can convey an aesthetic representation of his persona. By contrast, the limited nature of the current “selfie” does not suffice to communicate the character or elements of personality. Upon our presumption that the contemplative individual is responsibly concerned, with the ever-changing condition of the Nation, we have elected to uniquely present a “written selfie,” pragmatically allowing observational comment.

Our “verbal selfie,” is contextually intended to serve as an accurate replication of the unexplainably large number of American citizens tenaciously favoring Donald J, Trump for America’s next president, despite his public record of reprehensible behavior and flawed character. Our motivation was catalyzed by the dubious stream of media reports that the political polls demonstrate that the presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, is extremely close the remarkable nature of which in our view, is deserving of thoughtful comment.

It is our subjective perception, that such polling results, if accurate, portray a grossly distorted picture of appropriate reality rationality, such as is reflected by a carnival fun-house mirror, revealing a disturbing and perceptively distorted picture. Emphatically stated, the outcomes conveyed by such reported polling, appear to be irreconcilable with voters’ historical, standards of acceptability.

Aside from the required skills for the acceptability of any candidate for responsible office ( perforce, far less august than the American presidency), a winning presentation, empirically, would require the demonstration of good character, capability, and sincered dedication. In these foundational areas, Trump has fully and inarguably demonstrated an abysmal failure to merit any degree of acceptability. On the existentially vital qualities of knowledge and sound judgment, Trump has shown such patent disability, in his one (twice-impeached) Presidential term) as would render discussion entirely useless and unnecessary, indeed,, de minimus.

Regarding the consequential requirement of good character to serve as president, we have the insight of having previously experienced chaos, moral impropriety, malfeasance, and actual criminal disorder during Trump’s one, (Putin-sponsored) and, twice Congressionally impeached term. In previous writings, we have referred to his neurotic and undemocratic election denial, sponsorship of a violent insurrection against the American government, tax frauds, multiple criminal felony indictments, and convictions, treasonous behavior with Putin, unethically unabashed violations of the Emolument Clause to line his own pockets, his adjudication as a “rapist,” his purloining of governmental secret documents, his criminal acts of election interference, his “hush money” payments to call girls with whom he conducted brisk commerce, his judicial determination that he committed defamation, his publically made bigoted statements, his intimate friendship with autocratic enemies, his regular fascist tropes, such as immigrants “poison the blood, labeling certain classes of people as “vermin,” dehumanizing marginalized groups of people, and many like others, not to overlook his statements concerning being a “dictator” and visiting retribution against his opponents in were sufficient, by themselves to deny him the office.

In notable addition to the above, Trump has regularly manifested an inarguably unhinged persona, evincing raving statements and manifesting behaviors that demonstrate mental unfitness and the state of being completely unhinged. His recent statements that the Nation is deteriorating into a sorry state like Detroit, most revealingly doing so on a Detroit stage, that immigrant “thugs are vile animals, murderers who will enter your kitchen and cut your throat,” that Haitian Immigrants in Springfield Ohio are eating neighbors’ dogs and cats, are but a sample pathologically indicative of his extant loss of mental acuity. His failure to stay on topic, weirdly deranged statements, lapses of awareness, and insane ravings have become a regular and prominent feature of his public appearances.

Our selfie can capture the objective picture of the American population, but unfortunately, not any rational explanation for the existence of a “tight” race.

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To our perception, the fairy tales of Hans Christian Anderson, the Brothers Grimm, and others, subtly contained a sub-rosa message relevant to the nuance and extremes of human behavior. In addition to their recognized status as fanciful tales for the amusement of little children, mere cursory analysis is required to discover that they can be additionally seen to represent, in a symbolic manner, the characteristic foibles and excesses of human empirical behavior. To cite some illustrations of our observation, we would cite the following: “Jack and The Beanstalk,” [the dangers of over-ambition], “The Ugly Duckling” [ value in nuance].”Little Red Riding Hood” [ the risk of naivety and being too trusting], The Three Little Pigs” [the ultimate value of hard work]. “Snow White” [the perils created by jealousy and the importance of supporting allies] “Cinderella,” [the hidden presence of value implicit in ordinary people] and perhaps, “Pinnochio” [ the dangers of deceit]. Time and again, we have observed children’s tales on thoughtful analysis. reveal an instructive lesson to humanity.

Such a message representing our observation is relevant to the contemporary morass of bizarre MAGA ideation and empirical absurdity found in the classic fairy tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” by Hans Christian Anderson. As related in the story, a powerful King is tricked into believing that his tailors have designed a magical suit of clothes for him which might be seen only by the people capably deserving of their position. The misled Emporer then proceeds to walk throughout his kingdom completely nude only to receive the loyal sartorial praise of his subjects.

We see an evident, analogous relevance in today’s MAGA adoration of Donald Trump, thematically, in their facile acceptance of his neurotic meme that his elective success as President was “stolen” from him. It may be noted that such a delusion lacked any factual basis, was refuted by multiple official audits, and was legally rejected by consistent rulings of the judiciary. Analogous to the nonexistent “magical suit of clothes” “worn” by the misled nude King, the purported existence of election fraud was refuted by the naked, empirical reality. Yet, in analogous similarity to the King’s subjects in the fairy tale, where the objective view of the King’s obvious nudity was overridden by their fear of retribution, or group loyalty, the MAGA cultists, loyally maintain, that their idolized deity,, Donald Trump, is irrefutably accurate in his delusion that. the election was “rigged.”

It is revealing that the compliant horde of populist Trumpers also maintain bizarre ideations such as Haitians, eat pet cats and dogs, that the Democrats are responsible for the recent extreme hurricanes since they tactically control the weather, that Putin is a great leader, that abortion is a sin, despite the non-existence of the dreaded subject in the New Testament, that the Founders intended the new Nation to be Christian, that homosexuality can be taught, that 9/11 was a CIA false-flag operation. that the American empathic tradition of refugee immigration is “poisoning the blood of the Nation,” that Israel shoots rockets to Earth, that a secret cabal of Jewish bankers conspires to control the World, and that coastal elites intend to replace white Americans with other racial groups,

Considering the abundance and quality of the universe of MAGA paranoid ideation, it might be said that there exists no available need or space for nursery tales.

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We preface this writing with another of our numerous references to the venerable 18th-century -English Philosopher John Locke. It was Locke, who famously declared that man is born with a “tabula rasa” (a clean slate) and that the (exclusive) source of his knowledge is his empirical experience.

The thoughtful, contemplative individual developmentally acquires a reservoir of reference from his anecdotal experiences. In such a manner, he advances in understanding and perception towards the universal aspiration for wisdom.

THE SEED.

Man’s capacity for rational understanding has its observable advent at birth; consisting of the infantile experiences and reactions to stimuli referable to light, touch, and temperature. The compendium of learned experience increases in kind and complexity with the natural progress of his physical and cognitive maturity.

We have eternally maintained, that the awareness of Man’s “self” or “self-image” is the developmental result of his recollected accumulation of personal responses to previously presenting stimuli, eventuating in the dynamic consciousness or our eternally described,”lifetime conversation with oneself.” The effect is the formation of one’s attributable personality and perception.

THE SPROUTED PLANT.

The opportunities for experiential learning increase with the temporal growth of the individual, as a toddler, viz., the warmth and reliability of family contact, and developmentally later, the interactive roles and hierarchy of the family, then to the ability to communicate his personal will. Early school experiences introduce him to the existence of non-parental adult authority, ever wider social experience with peers, inclusive of members of the opposite sex. Personal motivation is significantly inclusive of peer acceptance and demonstrated capability.

EMERGING GREEN STALKS.

The growth progress continues to young adulthood, accompanied by increasing experiential complexity and an ever-increasing growth of perceptive capability. This is the stage of development in which the individual possesses the combination of great physical prowess, counterbalanced by the storm and stress (termed, “Sturm un drang”) in classical psychology; self-consciousness, personal insecurity as to worth and place, sexual awareness, and the impenetrable fog of his unknown future. Assuming a state of good health, the individual, often awkwardly, but progressively, attains a functional acceptance of his life, relative to the ambiance of his personal existence.

FRUIT BEARING MATURITY.

Still, at the zenith of his physical prowess, the individual, develops a comfortable and relatable sense of personal identity, complemented by the assurance of ubiquitously demonstrated capability, is now in a position to marry, bear fruit (children), and, importantly, beneficially interact with society. His thoughts have coalesced into stable principles developed from his perception of many years of experiential learning. To the extent that he has led a life of contemplation and introspective understanding, he will have acquired a responsible and mature perception of himself and, as relevant and necessary, the world around him. He has developed inner feelings of accomplishment regarding mature social responsibilities, a comfortable sense of worth, and a mature perception. At such a point in his development, the individual is most successful. productive, self-assured, and, for decades to follow, physically capable.

THE LATE HARVEST..

Long after the bearing of fruit, the superannuated plant shows signs of ever-increasing withering and loss of its historical vitality. The remaining entity is possessed by disease and diminution of function. In our analogical reference to agriculture, the beneficial and meaningful period of vital existence and production has empirically passed.

In the somewhat analogous but potentially enriching life process of the planet’s inventory of mature contemplative humankind, the ultimate rewards of the (personal) harvest, in contrast, beneficially occur at the superannuated age. The same may evince joint pain, disability, the mandatory use of “walkers” or other peripatetic assistance, and the decline of physical prowess and capability. Yet, for those who have led a contemplative life of personal growth and advancement through elective engagement in reading and/or other personally advancing activities, a bumper crop of invaluable harvest is produced, concomitant with the extant discomfort and disability, consisting of an ultimate understanding of oneself and others. This is the ultimate harvest of “fulfillment,” the cognitive gold medal of a successful fulfillment of the life of the individual and all humankind.

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Regular followers of this blog post are aware that we have been eternally interested in the societally existential subject of interpersonal interaction. In this essay, we will relate some historical and developmental observations on the vital phenomenon and development of the written form of communication. Our present focus, however, is specifically limited to our empirical observation, as contextually distinguished from a more extensive and esoteric examination of the phenomenon, such as a discussion of ancient Middle Eastern Cuneiform or Old Nordic runes. Additionally, our observations are sporadically colored by a measure of personal anecdotal recollection.

“Retro” individuals who persist in the employment of the traditional “pencil” might describe it as a small slender rod of solid marking substance (usually, graphite) enclosed in layers of soft wood, and used for writing, artwork, and marking. The development of pencil (point) sharpeners was pragmatically necessary so that the written end of the pencil might periodically be rendered in usable condition for transcriptive use

As will be remembered by mature readers, pencil sharpeners (small and handheld, mechanical or electric) were common tools employed in shaving the worn wooden surface of the pencil’s end for exposure of the graphite, affording continued use.

We can vividly remember our immigrant mother’s use of a wooden pencil in her regular course of correspondence, (in the Yiddish language) implemented by way of the pragmatic facility of the penny postcard, with her elder sister, Anna, living “far distant” from Brooklyn, New York, viz., in the then perceived exotic territory of Middletown, Connecticut. Her postcards to our “Tante Anna” always commenced with the salutation, written in Yiddish, [phon.]” Liebe Schvester”) [trans.] “Dear” Sister,” The conduct of such regular familial correspondence was personally made somewhat more difficult due to an amputated right index finger, medically performed in primitive, rural White Russia (Belarus) ie, “the old Country;” and notably illustrative of Russian 20th Century medical sophistication as appropriate to badly infected fingers. Her sporadic need for a pencil sharpener was satisfied by the use of a sharp, dextrally employed kitchen knife. It may be confidently said that such personal messages were light-years in aesthetic distance from the iconic letters (“Belle Lettres”) of Henry *8th to Anne Boleyn, Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera, or those of Zelda Fitzgerald to F. Scott Fitzgerald, but functioned as an effective assurance of the continuance of a close sibling relationship, now resident in the new country.

During our public school era, “dipping pens” were the contemporary school implements universally employed for writing. The implement was a wood with an attached metal-tipped version of the archaic writing goose feather quill, which as in the case of its avian ancestor, regularly dipped in ink to imprint alphabetic letters,.was uncomfortably scratchy and often accompanied by ink blots, some as disturbingly regular as chicken pox. The wooden desks, stereotypic in the time’s early grades featured lidded metal “ink wells” at the right corner for continuous pen dipping.

Our handwriting was never aesthetically admirable but did somewhat improve with the advent of the “Scripto” ballpoint pen. Ballpoint pens quickly replaced the “dip” pens, systemically contained the necessary ink for transcription, and were easily portable, Today our hand-written activity is accomplished with an attractively designed “roller” ballpoint pens. Stylish “Fountain pens,” pens with enclosed ink blatters were always available, but needed periodic suction ink filling.

Written communication, however, manifested, has always had the salutary characteristics of reassuring personal nuance and familiarity to the addressee and afforded the communicator time to select words most reflective of their intended meaning and\ tone. It has uniformly been our view that the written mode of communication is the most articulate and emotionally accurate.

It was this most valuable and humanistic avenue of the societally existential interpersonal mode of communication that was sadly sacrificed to the keyboard laptop and the inadequately articulate “smartphone” (sic) that catalyzed contemporary diversity and feelings of neurotic insular loneliness.

It may be of interest to observe that it was the copious, invaluable letters of ” Pliny the Younger” (79 A.D.) that famously provide a historical treasure trove of information regarding the early Roman era, and, for the readers’ possible curiosity, the eponymous title of this blogspace.

In the advent of the digital age, handheld writing implements and their facility for transcribing and communicating thoughtful and personally nuanced communications were irresponsibly and ubiquitously surrendered for less tiresome, albeit, more humanistic and expressive interaction. Electronically transmitted messages bearing informational or timely advice have, in the desire for enticing interest of speed and convenience, foolishly sacrificed the intimacy of healthy personal inter-communication, Individuals are instantly and conveniently in touch with each other, but are thereby, inadequately articulate. The desire for speed and facility of individual contact has sadly overridden its foundational purpose.

It is our earnest suggestion that, in addition to the facility of computer utilization, the thoughtful individual supplementally maintains the salubrious use of the written and spoken word as existentially vital insurance of the continued endurance of our healthy and humanistic identity as individuals and discreet, identifiable constituents of the planet’s human society.

• Title temporarily borrowed from Omar Khayyam

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The broad and varied range of Man’s respectively nuanced personality and characteristics may conceivably be limitless, Observations such as personal appearance, either, outgoing or reclusive, agreeable or contrary, kindness, and empathy versus cruelty and selfishness, curiosity and openness, compared with adamant atavistic reductionism, matters of skill or profession, racial, ethnic or national identity, gender, and sexual preference, dynamism versus stagnation, talented or incapable, indeed, too many adjectival references to possibly recite.

It may be an inevitable phenomenon that individual exercise of judgmental and possibly, determinative, is dynamically related to the particular persona of the observer; nevertheless, it can be permissible to say that fundamentally, discreet descriptive references, tend to be empirically derived on a societally shared basis.

Judgmental perception of others often may occasionally draw upon temporally controversial issues. As an illustration, during America’s abolition period, the description of someone as a “teetotaler,” might be perceived as an observation that the person, in addition to not being an imbiber of alcoholic beverages, is law-abiding.; during the Vietnam War, critical observation concerned the hotly contested issue of America’s active participation, During the ravages of Covid, the observation that someone was a “non-vaxer” was an empirical determination that he was a MAGA adherent.

In relatively less troubled times, categorical signification appears to depend upon more objective, on perception on occasion, derivable from his group affiliation..The variety of identifiable referential characteristics might concern, physical appearance, demonstrated proficiencies or talents, skills, residential venue, size, profession or calling, place of domicile, demonstrated personality traits such as pessimism or optimism, sociability, or observations of physical disability, athleticism or sloth. cheerfulness or depression, wealth or poverty, youthful or elderly, educated and well-informed as opposed to ignorant, caring and empathic or selfish, left or right handed, married or single. gay or straight, interesting or boring, enthusiastic or pessimistic, graceful or inveterately clumsy, calm or hot-tempered; in short, the full range of the American-British adjectival vernacular.

Contemporary American society seems to have universally overridden the verbal plethora of potential for personal characterization or perceptive description, to the singular, reductive observation as to whether or not the observed citizen is a supporter of Donald J. Trump (“MAGA”). The prudential selection of Vice-President Kamala Harris to run for Chief Executive on the Democratic Party ticket was pragmatically and tactically wise, however, the salient issue in the coming election turns on whether or not the voters will select Donald Trump as President. “Trumpism” has become the critical and judgmentally determinative menu selection du jour. In our view, the contested atmosphere of, the Hatfields and the McCoys, Yankees and Redsocks, Abolitionists, and Non-Abolitionists, vegetarians and Meat eaters, liberals and conservatives, “:red-necks” versus “coastal liberals,” “wise” or “foolish,” dexterous or clumsy, corpulent or spare, tall or short, fat or skinny, fashionable or “retro,” and the entire compendium of adjectival dynamic pales in ubiquitous description by the dense fog of toxic MAGA mania.

The overriding concern and, consequently the reductive and paramount concern regarding Trump and his MAGA cultists is the superseding distinction may as an explanation be analogized to a family (reductive) concern relative to a family member undergoing a consequential and risky cardiac procedure.

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