You will spend a night in the box!

Robert just had the chance to see Cool Hand Luke on the Turner Classics channel. For those who remember the 1967 film and the memorable non-conformist character of Luke played by Paul Newman, the memorable take-away line is usually "what we have here is a failure to communicate" spoken by the warden as he heaps additional punishments on Luke each time he defies authority and tries to remain an individual. For me, the take-away from the film was that each time Luke defies authority he will "spend a night in the box," a small human-size metal closed cage that barely allows the inhabitant to sit with legs pulled up to one's chest. The message for all of us ordinary folk is that if you fail to follow the orders of the legally established warden, or police officer, or teacher, or president--you will spend a "night in the box." The people at Waco spent a "night in the box." The people at Ruby Ridge spent a "night in the box." And if you don't pay your taxes because you believe that they are used to support unjust wars, you will spend a "night in the box."

If you saw the film, what was your "take away."

Culture or Structure & Development

I just listened to several interviews with DACA young people on NPR. These young people were in every way extraordinary: motivation, knowledge, skills. Given what we know about the role of nature and nurture in shaping the lives of the young, the DACA students must have had parents who are as extraordinary as their offspring. Given this possibility, why aren't the countries from which they came as developed economically as the countries in which they seek their new homes. The answer cannot reside in the skills, talents, and motivations of the people, that is, in their culture. We must look elsewhere, like the qualities of their leaders, their economic policies, and the helpful or harmful economic policies of their trading nations.

History is Dangerous

I have just read, for the first time, that eleven Italian immigrants were lynched by a mob in New Orleans in 1891. They had just been acquitted of involvement in the shooting of a police official. Apparently, the mob didn't agree with the verdict. I was doing this deep reading in order to better understand my deceased mother's pre-occupation with being an American. Although she was born in this country, and was an American, her parents were immigrants, and my mother was married to my father who came from Italy at the age of four, and who was technically an immigrant. What I learned from this "deep reading" was that the 1920-30s was a period of anti-immigration sentiment following the massive legal immigration to the United States. This anti-immigrant sentiment must have been a part of the reason why my mother changed her first name, to sound more American, and eventually changed her last name on her Social Security card because she thought she would have a better chance of finding a good job.

This led me to contrast the anti-immigration sentiment of the 1920-30s with what we experiencing today. Something to think about.