A moment of beauty and that by itself is enough

I went to Ann Arbor last evening to attend an orchestral concert, something I haven’t done in three years. This time it wasn’t my beloved Detroit Symphony Orchestra (which I’ve been watching online). Instead, it was the visiting Brno Philharmonic from Czechia. This orchestra was started by Leos Janacek when he was in his 20s. He didn’t blossom into a national and world renown composer until his 50s or so. Naturally, the Brno orchestra specializes in Janacek’s music. In this concert they drew on the musical forces of the University of Michigan to perform two of Janacek’s works that need those extra forces. The first was Sinfonietta, which uses an extra dozen trumpets for the opening and closing fanfares. Alas, they sounded like college students. The second was the Glagolitic Mass, which uses the text of the Catholic Mass, but in Old Slavonic rather than Latin. This featured the University Choral Union. I mentioned all this partly because before the concert there was a pre-concert talk of the Society of Disobedient Listeners, led by Doyle Armbrust. Usually, pre-concert talks are about the music to be played. This one did that only a bit. Armbrust posed the question: Does music have the power to change the world? He included a poll, accessible to people with cell phones, with options “yes” (about 60%), “It’s complicated” (about 30%), and “no” (about 10%). Armbrust asked one of those who answered no to give their reasoning. The answer was essentially: Hasn’t yet. If it could it would have already done so. As a rebuttal Armbrust mentioned Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, in which Israelis and Arabs sat next to each other, read the same music, and used the same pencils. This orchestra was the inspiration for the movie Crescendo I saw and wrote about back in 2020. The chance of creating something of beauty with your enemy beside you does make a difference. But Armbrust, with the help of a musician or two, came around to saying we make music because it is the right thing to do. We make music because it is a moment of beauty and that by itself is enough. A few weeks ago my friend and debate partner went to a section of Ann Arbor near the university for lunch. Before then we had discussed choice of restaurant. I had suggested Madras Masala. He countered with Red Hawk, and I agreed. The way to the restaurant was blocked by traffic and a fire truck. Our chosen parking structure was closed. A block in one direction was closed off with police tape. So we endured more traffic and went to another structure. Yesterday I thought to go to Madras Masala before the concert, but Google Maps said it was out of business. I walked past it yesterday and saw why – the fire truck we saw a few weeks ago were there because that morning Madras Masala had burned to the ground. Earlier this week Mark Sumner of Daily Kos wondered if Russia’s big winter offensive against Ukraine was already fizzling out. To explain what is going on Sumner turned to video games, in particular the original version of Warcraft that came out in 1994. One of the innovations of the game was the tower defense. The human was to defend a particular part of the map against attacking orcs. That turned out to be fairly easy – place defensive weapons along the attack route and the orcs would be taken down as fast as they appeared. The plan worked no matter how many waves of orcs appeared as long as the weapons lasted – and the orcs kept attacking the same way each time. Russia seems to be playing the role of orcs quite well. That also explains why Ukraine has been sitting outside Kreminna for several weeks. If one method of attack doesn’t work they don’t keep trying that one method of attack. Starcraft, a much more recent game, also features characters that try to attack through sheer numbers. Here they’re called “zergs.” And Russian human wave attacks against Bakhmut, which still hasn’t fallen, are known as “zerg attacks.” FlannelGuy of the Kos community wrote that Minnesota has passed legislation moving the state’s energy to be 100% carbon free by 2040. In drafting the new law the state’s major utilities got on board. The law requires power companies to reach 55% renewables and 90% carbon free by 2035. The carbon free category includes nuclear and hydroelectric as well as renewables. All this sounds great (though maybe not fast enough). But North Dakota doesn’t think so and they plan to sue. They like their coal and they export about half their electricity to Minnesota. Greg Dworkin, in a pundit roundup for Kos quoted David Rothkopf of the Daily Beast speaking of the nasty guy:

As the late great poet Maya Angelou might have said had she thought it was necessary, “When someone shows you over and over and over again that they are a traitor, believe them.” For further, completely appropriate emphasis, she might have elaborated: “When someone shows you over and over and over again, for their entire lives, in business and in government, that they are not only traitors, but corrupt, ignorant, pathologically dishonest, coup-plotting, racist, misogynist traitors, then seriously, I’m not kidding about this, believe them!”

To mark 90 year since Hitler came to power on January 30, 1933 Charles Jay of the Kos community reviewed his rise (as told by the BBC series Rise of the Nazis) and compared some events to what has happened in America over the last few years. Jay also quoted Richard Evans, an expert on the Third Reich, as in this description of Hitler’s campaign in July 1932:

Hitler realizes that if he tells a very simple message it doesn’t matter if they are true or not. The point is that you have to keep repeating them, keep hammering them in. Make Germany great again. Restore the economy. They are empty slogans but they are carrying a message that although vague is very powerful.

Jay added:

Just substitute “America” for “Germany” and you’ve got a pretty good description of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Conservative politicians Kurt von Schelicher and Franz von Papen had repeated opportunities to end the Nazi threat and didn’t. They were too focused on their own political interests and seeing the left as the enemy. In the same way Moscow Mitch had opportunities to take down the nasty guy and didn’t and for the same reasons. President Paul von Hindenburg had the power to appoint and remove the chancellor, He appointed Hitler to the role, thinking he could control Hitler. Hindenburg was wrong. Barely Speaker McCarthy made deals with far right members, perhaps thinking he could control them. We don’t know the outcome of that yet. Hitler’s first attempt at power was the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. The January 6 attack on the Capitol seems to be a more successful attempt to seize power. It’s immediate goals haven’t been realized, but Hitler went to jail – briefly – and key insurrectionists in America still sit in Congress. Jewish lawyer Hans Litten tried to tie Hitler to the street violence of the Storm Troopers. In court Hitler denied it, saying the Storm Troopers were a rogue unit. The Proud Boys trial is going on now and some of the Boys intend to subpoena the nasty guy so he could come and deny he had anything to do with them. Litten saw the legal system increasingly Nazified and closing in on him. In 1938 he hanged himself in Dachau. Jay concluded:

Nazism was about the ruthless pursuit of power by sowing hatred and division, finding scapegoats to blame for real economic problems, undermining free and fair elections, and exacting revenge on political opponents. Just consider what extremist MAGA Republicans have already done and say they’d like to do if they ever get full control of the federal government. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has already turned his state into a testing ground for an American-style brand of fascism.

I add: Biden had a masterful week. But the danger isn’t gone. Many insurrectionists are in Congress. And their funders are still handing out big checks.