Reconciling Jaimeness

I am a big fan of TV shows like 'The Wire' and plays like 'Wicked'. The Wire leaves you deeply unsettled for the first few episodes of each season. There is no clear, self-contained point of each episode. There is no narrative structure we can smugly project forward in order to guess what happens. Unlike Friends episodes which can be summarised as 'The one with...', it is more like being parachuted into a real life situation. You have to watch and slowly (most of) the mist will rise.

I like this because it allows characters to build in bits and pieces. You aren't instructed who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. There are good cops and bad cops. There are good drug dealers and bad drug dealers. Good cops do bad things. Bad cops do good things. Really bad people do heroically good things. This seems to reflect the way the world is better than 'The Good Witch of the North' and 'The Wicked Witch of the West'. Which is why I loved how 'Wicked' turned the whole story I grew up with on its head while sticking to the 'facts' and time line of the story. It was an interpretation. Much like we view history.

Reading 'The Fall of the Ottomans', I am struck by how the Muslim world's path towards a secular society with constitutional rule was interrupted and halted by the European Game of Thrones otherwise known as the First World War. I am no historian, but it is hard to figure out a good or bad side from what I have read.

Rebecca Davis touches on this in a chapter of the hilarious 'Best Whites and other Anxious Delusions' recounting how she guards against being charmed by people she is interviewing. Only to find out they are rapists or murderers. The world makes more sense when people are good or bad. The idea that we can be charmed by evil is deeply disturbing. Just like it is almost impossible to know how much of our success to attribute to privilege, we have absolutely no idea what sort of evil acts we are capable of give the right toxic mix of circumstances. If you don't want to believe this, don't read 'The Lucifer Effect'.

Early examples of fallen heroes for me include Hansie Cronje and Lance Armstrong. Of the two I am struggling with at the moment, one is fictional. I don't know how on earth to emotionally respond to Jaime Lannister. Progressively through Game of Thrones they have turned him from an evil dude into someone it is harder and harder not to like. But then there is that scene. The one that makes Borat look like a politically correct movie. I had even 'forgiven' him for pushing a little boy from a tower. That scene on the other hand... The real life one is Bill Cosby. I grew up with the friendly, funny father figure from The Cosby Show. I can't reconcile that character, and the public persona of the actor, with his Jaimeness.

I can see why we like clarity. We can throw water at a problem and watch it melt away. Reality is much more messy.

When the magic deserts you

Another Epic Wimbledon Final.

Federer made it through despite everything Roddick could throw at him. It was another of those finals where you can't help but feel that Federer's magic had deserted him. Two mini-breaks down in the second set tie-breaker and already a set down... he was almost down and out for the count. Like last year, he somehow managed to claw his way back.

The amazing thing with tennis is you can be one point away from winning having smashed your opponent and still lose and vice versa. The big points count.

Federer had a few chances to break Roddick's serve but just couldn't do it. Eventually they just slugged it out and slugged it out, until eventually it seems Roddick's only hope was getting his serve in. His body gave up first. Fair enough for someone who had had to really fight his way through a lot more tennis to get to the final.

There were a few magic shots from Federer... but in the end I think his guts got him this one.

Roddick must be pretty broken... he left absolutely everything out on the court and had a number of really close chances that he just couldn't finish off.

These Epic encounters are pretty inspirational. I sit there with my stomach in absolute knots and I am not even playing. To be able to perform and remain calm for the pressure points takes something amazing.

Woods. Federer. Armstrong.

The world needs heroes.

Need a Hero?

The importance of Obama's historic inauguration's is difficult to overstate. He is a politician, and I don't expect that government is what causes things to improve. If you want more direct criticism of the cult of the American Presidency... you don't have to look much further than Wilkinson and Torr (when he gets back from holidays and starts writing again).

While I share their cynicism about politicians... I do think there is a place for Heroes and Inspirational Communicators. Leaders don't do things, the people they lead do. But, I do think that sometimes, people do need a beacon. They need someone to be a symbol.

Perhaps Obama is just hot air. Perhaps he has said exactly the same things as previous politicians as they became the most powerful men in the world. But, we need something to believe in.

Mandela gave South Africa an aura to gather around. No doubt, Madiba is just a man, as flawed as any other... but the symbol which is likely bigger than the man did make a massive difference to dragging South Africa out of a very dark place.

Say what you want, but the Americans are a hardy nation of fighters who are likely to pick themselves up from most setbacks, and Obama provides that symbol around which to gather.

But beyond that, in the 3rd World and amongst the people at War with America... A black man with a second name like Hussein... is now the president of the USA. The world is changing.

The same cynical Wilkinson talks about the dramatic moral progress the world has made in the last 50 years. It is repulsively shocking to think of the ethical and moral depravity of what we used to find acceptable. It is disgusting the way women and people of colour were treated. It is beyond comprehension the level of hypocrisy and cruelty mankind has been capable of.

We have made incredible and fast progress. Obama's inauguration is not the end point by any stretch of the imagination, and the world's morality has a long way to progress still...

But I think we are in exciting times. While we need to take responsibility for sorting ourselves out and can't hope for some heroes to change the world for us...

More heroes is a good thing.

Eistein's Superpowers

This was an interesting post on Oxford's Overcoming Bias Blog. The gist of it is that sometimes we give intellectual (or analagously other types of) heroes superpowers.

We assume that we are incapable of being like them, and any claim that you may be is perceived as one of arrogance.

You can say, I want to be a CEO or a Professor. You can't say, I want to be better than Federer, Woods, or Einstein.

The thought always passes through my mind that some of the world's biggest decision makers are just oridinary people. When the world was on the verge of WWIII during the Cuban missle crisis, the decision lay with JFK and 3 friends. 4 people determining the fate of the world. It seems magical, it seems like they must be endowed with magical powers. But they were just 4 guys... 4 ordinary people.

It seems weird to think of some of our heroes as ordinary people. Nelson Mandela... is someones Dad, someones Grandfather. He makes mistakes, he gets angry... he is sometimes unkind, says hurtful things. I don't know him, but I am pretty confident in these assertions.

Realising that these heroes are ordinary people does have some sort of power. It makes you realise that part of the strength and power of humans is that we build on the knowledge and learnings of others. We move forward. Everything is calaborative and we have the benefit of thousands of years of development.

Some things appear magical, but if you put the effort in (and it does take effort), you can `see through' them. Then you are able to do things that seem magical to others and push it slightly further forward. You may then be someones heroe.

But you will still be just another ordinary person. And isn't that great.