The Peripatetic Philosopher reminisces:

 An Upside Down World!

James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.

© January 23, 2017

In my 1995 book, “The Worker, Alone! Going Against the Grain,” never considering myself either political or prescient, and obviously not anticipating Donald John Trump as the 45^th President of the United States, I wrote what follows.  It was a little book written at my sister’s and her husband’s house while on a short visit to Clinton, Iowa in the Fall of 1994. 

The world seemed every bit as “upside down” then as it does today only nobody seemed to notice or to make much of the occasional unsettling headline stories in the news media:

There was President Clinton’s decision to intervene in Bosnia with mainly military reserves and support from NATO keeping the whole affair low profile.

There was the stumbling at the Dayton Peace Accords with the late Richard Holbroke taking the heat.  In reflection, it seems incredible but it was a case of out of sight out of mind for most Americans.

NATO was feeling its oats and bruising for a war with Yugoslavia over power, oil and gold, which went mainly unnoticed.   

Bosnia then became our Syria today.

There was the memory of “Desert Storm” (1990 – 1991) and the strategic air strikes of the United States Military that fueled execrable contempt for America and Americans in the Middle East.

There was the disruption of airline deregulations that is still felt today.

And there was the anticipation of space warfare by the Pentagon and CIA with Hollywood jumping the gun by making films of that genre.

“The Worker, Alone!” was written then with only oblique references to things found disturbing keeping the themes of the book troubling but not too much so.  Here is an excerpt of the chapter “An Upside Down World”:

The English poet John Donne (1572 – 1631) was wrong when he said “no man is an island,” as every man today is an island unto himself, and his only redemption is in the full knowledge and acceptance of that fact.

The answers are not in government, nor industry and commerce; no longer in religion and certainly not in science.  So you ask, “Where does that leave you, the worker?”  I reply, “Very much alone!”

Expedient naiveté does not improve the worker’s long term identity and recognition; nor does naiveté ensure the continuance of freedom which is virtually taken for granted. 

The worker is on his own nickel and there is no savior, no God, no protector to shield him from the crush of history; from the inevitable force of reality, other than him or herself.

What is missing in these times is a lack of attention to fear.  Workers are afraid to lead fuller lives, not because they embrace their fears, but because they deny them while being preoccupied with distractions. 

I understand fear.  Fear runs through my body the way sap runs through a tree.  I am attentive to fear each day of my life, for that day may be my last.  Were it not for this attention I might be distracted and go to my grave without expressing these sentiments.  Fear is a powerful elixir to life.  It keep you attentive.  It finds you taking life seriously, but not yourself.

The working world is upside down.  This world today demands workers go against the prevailing grain to put the world back on its foundation.  What is killing this country in particular and the working world in general is too much HYPE, too much Harvard, Yale and Princeton elitism in politics, government, commerce, religion and industry. 

These institutions of inflated grading and solipsistic egos, would in government restore order from chaos by cosmetic surgery (CRIME BILL), revitalize trust by the appearance of propriety (NEW DECLARATION OF ETHICS), establish economic stability by treaty (NAFTA and GATT), and rejuvenate accountability by modification of the rites of passage (TERM LIMITS IN CONGRESS).  None of this touches the society’s sick soul. 

The “upside down world” continues and what appears here in a book written more than two decades ago may sound like a stump speech of the Donald's drive to the presidency.  If so, what could be a better indicator of the world standing on its head than this?