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Jan 10, 2009 0

We’re All Missourians Now

Politics

Kevin Hilke

“The challenge for all of us,” as Obama said yesterday, “is to identify good ideas.” And so Vandiver’s demand, the demand to roundly understand, must become our own. Having something shown to you in the Missourian sense is a process not of credulous reception but of active and incessant evaluation. For the product of the pragmatic Missourian’s deep skepticism, his demand to know not only the what but also the why of the what, is precisely the elimination of unworkable ideas in favor of workable ones. His search for proof is a continual querying and reconfirming of both the proof itself and the integrity of the criteria from which the proof derives meaning and legitimacy. We must help Obama find or create his whys and whats, and to articulate useful, socially productive, and popularly understandable relationships among them. Being shown is not a passive process. Proof, telling or irrelevant, genuine or counterfeit, is not found but made, and our new president has only two hands.

Nov 21, 2008 0

Sí Se Puede in Politics, Faith, Sports, Love

Culture Politics

Kevin Hilke

Rallying supporters to a political cause, rallying supporters of a team, rallying the adherents of a faith, and rallying oneself to make a romantic commitment all take this form: pretending that we know something (usually about the future [i.e., "We will beat Cal"], but often about the past [i.e., "Christ died for our sins"] or the present [i.e., "The American people want change"]) that we do not and cannot empirically know. In the romantic sphere, as in political sphere, the distinction between lying and failing applies: a divorce due to marital issues does not mean that the parties lied when they said “Till death do us part”; it means that they decided, gradually or suddenly, that fidelity to the truth of their everlasting love has proved unfounded.

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