Politics, Schmolotics and Beethoven's Birthday

“Henry, dear, I suggest you stick to two subjects: the weather and your health.”

- Mrs. Higgins, “My Fair Lady”

I’ve decided to lay off the Political. All my friends know where I stand, and since political interactions easily devolve into division and bad feelings, it is worse than just fruitless. Politics is frustrating for all involved, and social media make it easy to dehumanize people and feed off that frustration. A name on the screen is not perceived as a person, and responding outrage with outrage doesn’t seem so outrageous when the medium is pixels instead of flesh and blood. But it is outrageous. Social media is essentially a writer’s medium, even where there are memes involved, and most people can’t write. As a result people will write things they can’t articulate, and therefore they approximate or simplify their opinion rather than state what they really mean to say, which invites other people to misunderstand the writer’s actual point of view and instead react to the letters on the screen. As a result, we have dehumanization abetted by social media mixed with the errors of bad writing. Add to that that people are complex beings, vastly more complex and nuanced than their opinions or the image their social media presence projects. I have friends with whom I totally disagree politically and religiously, and yet are the sweetest people, who have consoled us at our worst times, and who will drop everything to help if needed (one of my friends told me, “if you ever need someone to hide the body, you know who to call.” He means it.) My friends are more than their beliefs and opinions. We all know opinions and beliefs can change, but the core person does not. I am friends with the core person. So why argue?

My politics are significantly different from when I was a young man. What changed my politics was my curiosity and life experience. What did not change my politics was direct confrontation with people who had differing opinions, no matter how well they argued their points of view. An opinion about one thing is not a single unit that can be dislodged by a well-reasoned unit of argument. It takes a fundamental reevaluation of beliefs, assumptions, perceived facts, personal identity, relationships, and feelings to change an opinion. That takes curiosity and a willingness to look, a willingness to be judged for changing your opinion, and sometimes it takes life smacking you in the face forcing you to confront what you haven’t confronted before. This is not the kind of thing that happens on social media.

Rather than politics, I’m going to acknowledge and highlight the good and wonderful in this world. Life is about relationships and creativity. I’m going to write about that.

I. Beethoven’s Birthday

As all fans of Schroeder know, Beethoven’s birthday is December 16. I love Beethoven. His music and the wonderful musicians who spend their lives mastering and playing his music are the highlights of humanity. No matter how awful things are, no matter how bad things can get, no matter how grim and cruel humanity can be, there is Beethoven. As I write this line, and as you read this line, there is someone, somewhere, on this planet who is playing Beethoven. This gives me joy.

I ran across this phenomenal performance by German pianist Alice Sara Ott playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Alice Sarah Ott does not just play the piano, she forms and crafts the music and releases it into the world. She and the orchestra are co-conspirators of joy and beauty. I’ve never seen a pianist and an orchestra so in tune with each other, and having so much joy playing. When she sits watching the orchestra play their part, she seems to be feeling that this is where we need to be, and now is the time to be alive.

In honor of Beethoven, and the artists who play his music, please enjoy this performance by Alice Sara Ott and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Believe me, it is greatness.

I have a topic that I have been working on that I am completely underestimating, that I hope will make it to next week’s edition. Now that I told you, I’m committed. It is deep. I love deep subjects, like the meaning of life, why humans exist and whether that matters or not, the limits of the universe, if there are any, and whether we all are just an accident of evolution or the apex of the universe. Oh, and whether this universe we inhabit is the only one. You know, light fare. And here I am thinking it’s just a few hundred words I can knock out in an hour or two. But knock it out I will! Check it out next week.

In the meantime, happy birthday, Beethoven! Please take time to enjoy the full concerto.

Please let me know your thoughts and opinions in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.