Category: Politics, Religion & Money

Mouse Trap

The name of this post isn’t taken from the title of the famously long-running Agatha Christie play. It’s from chapter 6 in volume 1 of Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel, Maus.

maus

“My Father Bleeds History,” and volume 2 of Maus, “And Here My Troubles Began,” present an unblinking and unsparing look at the Holocaust, as related by Spiegelman’s father. In harrowing detail, Spiegelman depicts the desperate efforts made by his father to survive, even when it meant favoring himself and his family over other Jews.

Like the Agatha Christie play, last night’s featured segment on 60 Minutes is a murder mystery. It grapples with an instance of Nazi collaboration by Jews, and one member in particular of the Jewish Council in Holland. The greater truth is that, when it’s a matter of survival, there will always be collaborators.

Acts of betrayal made under tragic life-and-death circumstances are rationalized as, “I did what I had to do to survive.” Sad to say, a feckless variation of that, “I was following orders,” was used as a defense by Nazi soldiers who were accused of atrocities.

Once again I will mention Arno Maris, my drawing instructor in college. Under cover of night, Arno escaped from Nazi occupation in the Netherlands in a row boat. Having no expectation of surviving, by an incredible stroke of luck he was rescued by a Merchant Marine ship.

Arno Maris, 2 Jul 1916 – 18 Apr 1996

Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been, a Journalist?

Does lying work for Trump the way it works for Pinocchio, making one of his body parts grow longer? Is that why he’s such a compulsive liar? NPR’s Steve Inskeep was ready for Trump’s groundless claims.

My own short-lived career in radio journalism was much more modest, to say the least, but it had its moments. Considering my meager income of $135/week gross (equivalent to $575 today), I lived in a rented basement room of a house where several lawyers had their offices. One of them had been the city solicitor.

The way the gas and electric company in the city paid its property taxes seemed suspicious to me, so I asked the lawyer what the deal was. He said he’d explain but, knowing I was a reporter, only if it was off the record.

The Gas and Electric company in the city was chronically late in paying its property taxes. After some period of time had elapsed, responsibility for collection fell to the city solicitor, who was paid for his services with a portion of those taxes. That much I already knew, but the delays in payments seemed to almost be on a schedule… and they were.

The general manager would intentionally delay payment of the taxes until enough time had passed to trigger the city solicitor’s involvement. After the taxes had been paid, the city solicitor gave a cut of his share to the general manager. A classic kickback scheme.

The lawyer even told me the current city solicitor, an attorney who I also knew, was in on the action. They sort of took turns with the lucrative gig. Being an off-the-record conversation, I could use the information only for my own “deep background” on how things worked in the city and, I assumed, the world at large.

Sherlock’s Woke America

On my Kindle e-reader I’m progressing through a complete collection of Sherlock Holmes stories. I also have a book that reproduces all of the stories as they originally appeared in The Strand magazine, with illustrations by Sidney Paget. The first two novels, “A Study in Scarlet” and “The Sign of Four,” were published elsewhere.

Years ago, when I first read “A Study in Scarlet,” I was quite surprised that much of it is not only a Western that takes place in America, it’s a scathing portrayal of the violence associated with the early Mormons. Doyle’s interest in the United States appears again in the story I’m currently reading.

From “The Five Orange Pips,” by Arthur Conan Doyle, published November, 1891:

“Have you never — ” said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and sinking his voice — “have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?”

“I never have.” [Replied Doctor Watson]

Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. “Here it is,” said he presently:

“Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was used for political purposes, principally for the terrorizing of the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country of those who were opposed to its views.”

Would the MAGA hat crowd think that reading this story in a classroom is an example of teaching Critical Race Theory? A clever cartoon adaptation of “The Five Orange Pips” makes no mention of the KKK, but prejudice and social integration remain a theme.