Hank Kalet

These are my admittedly disorganized thoughts on yesterday’s brutal attack in France. They are initial thoughts, not necessarily fully formed, but ones I thought worth tossing into the fray.

1. The terrorist attack on the French satire magazine, Charlie Hebdo, was not just an attack on a particular business or publication. It was an assault on the notions of free expression and free thought.

2.  Religious extremism, in general, is a threat to liberty, because it is based on certainty and brooks no disagreement. This goes for Islam, to be sure, but also covers many other religious denominations.

3. This attack may have been perpetrated by Islamic extremists — which has caused some to blame all of Islam. But it is logically fallacious to then equate the work and thought of extremists with the thinking of the larger Islamic community. We do not (or should not), for instance, assume that anti-abortion terrorists (that is what they are) who kill doctors in the United States are representative of the entire anti-abortion movement or of conservative Christianity as a whole. We need to stop assuming that the work of a groups most extreme or desperate members represents the beliefs of the larger group. (Read the second half of this post — Muslim response to this and an earlier bombing.)
 4. I support — and we all should support — any publication that chooses to reprint the cartoons as a show of solidarity. I would encourage outlets to do it if doing so is within their editorial mission. However, free expression requires that we acknowledge that the choice must be left up to each outlet — that free expression includes the right to determine what one expresses, when and how.

5.  Too much of our public discourse has come to be based on absolutes, whether it is religious extremism or fundamentalism or the kind of atheism espoused by people like Bill Maher. We need to admit our own fallibility, acknowledge that we only know so much and respect the views of others.

6. We also need thicker skin — satire is designed to create discomfort and offense. If it doesn’t, then it doesn’t work. At the same time, the satirist needs to consider his or her own motivations — is the goal to dismantle shibboleths or is there something else, a racial, ethnic or religious animus, or a personal attack? (Ross Douthat’s post today offers an interesting discussion of some of this.)

7. Criticism of satire is not an attack on free speech, but an extension of it. Satirists need to acknowledge this and engage with their critics. What happened yesterday, however, was not criticism. It was murder and terrorism designed to stop the discussion.

As I said, these are my initial thoughts. I’m interested in hearing from others.

UPDATE: I wanted to direct readers to this from Alternet and this from Huffington Post.

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Paul Krugman’s column today doesn’t exactly break new ground, but its message is an important one, nonetheless.

A quick summary: incomes for those at the top have risen dramatically, as have those for middle-income workers in developing nations. While positive on some level — gains by he middle class in India and China, for instance, have helped alleviate poverty in this nations — these gains occur against a backdrop of stagnation and decline for workers in the developed world.

Competition from emerging-economy exports has surely been a factor depressing wages in wealthier nations, although probably not the dominant force. More important, soaring incomes at the top were achieved, in large part, by squeezing those below: by cutting wages, slashing benefits, crushing unions, and diverting a rising share of national resources to financial wheeling and dealing.

This is not news, as Krugman’s says. The issue of growing inequality has been on the table since the Occupy Wall Street protests and was only underscored by the publication of Thomas Piketty’s surprise best-seller, Capital in the Twenty-First Century.

Politicians have given the issue lip service, but as Krugman points out, they have remained wedded to a game plan pushed by the more well-off members of the western economies. As he says,

the wealthy exert a vastly disproportionate effect on policy. And elite priorities — obsessive concern with budget deficits, with the supposed need to slash social programs — have done a lot to deepen the valley of despond.

He then asks — and answers –a key question:

So who speaks for those left behind in this twin-peaked world? You might have expected conventional parties of the left to take a populist stance on behalf of their domestic working classes. But mostly what you get instead — from leaders ranging from François Hollande of France to Ed Milliband of Britain to, yes, President Obama — is awkward mumbling. (Mr. Obama has, in fact, done a lot to help working Americans, but he’s remarkably bad at making his own case.)

The problem with these conventional leaders, I’d argue, is that they’re afraid to challenge elite priorities, in particular the obsession with budget deficits, for fear of being considered irresponsible. And that leaves the field open for unconventional leaders — some of them seriously scary — who are willing to address the anger and despair of ordinary citizens.

What he is describing is a downward spiral for far too many that has the imprimatur of the decision-making classes: the elite class lacks allegiance to anything but its own well-being; the political class takes its orders allegiance from those who have money and access; and this leaves a growing population of economic outsiders who, one might expect, would be looking to upend an economic apple cart that offers them only bruised and overripe fruit.

This helps explain the rise of conservative populism here and abroad, movements that shift the blame for economic division to convenient targets — immigrants and minorities — or alchemize economic issues into social ones.

Krugman makes allusions to the 1930s, which he admits are excessive — different times, different conditions. But the discontent exists and can only be masked by our modern version of bread and circuses (our techno-toys and the array of mind-numbing entertainment options, among them) for so long. Something has to give. You can only let the pressure build for so long before it pops.

A year in photos from The New York Times. Worth reviewing, they offer a very different glimpse into a troubled world.

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Four more death-row inmates are being spared execution. A year after Maryland eliminated the death penalty for all future cases, outgoing Gov. Martin O’Malley has commuted those not covered by the 2013 legislation.

As Think Progress reports, O’Malley said in a statement that “state executions make every citizen a party to a legalized killing as punishment.”

If only states like Texas and Oklahoma would follow suit.

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What follows is my take on the year in music. Everything on the list, good and bad, was released this year and is something I added to my music collection. This is not an authoritative list and it only represents my taste. I’d be curious, though, to hear what others liked or didn’t like in 2014.

Songs of the year, in case you’re wondering: 1) Mark Ronson, “Uptown Funk”; 2) Temples, “Shelter Song”; 3) Sylvan Esso, “Coffee”; 4) Paolo Nutini, “Let Me Down Easy”; 5) Nick Waterhouse, “This is a Game.”
 First, my Top 25:

1. Spoon, They Want My Soul — album of the year. This album contains multitudes, with each listen giving me a new pleasure.
2. D’Angelo & the Vanguard, Black Messiah — long-awaited follow (14 years) is worth the wait, an album of political and personal statements, of sonic experimentation and rock-solid beats.
3. TV on the Radio, Seeds — easily one of the year’s top five.
4. Kat Edmundson, The Big Picture — I heard her on a podcast last month and now I can’t get her voice out of my head.
5. Tweedy, Sukierae — nice work from Jeff Tweedy, with his son on drums.
6. Temples, Sun Structures — love this ’60s throwback from a new band.
7. Lydia Loveless, Somewhere Else — rock, country, singer/songwriter? Who cares. The emotional and creative depth she displays is breathtaking.
8. First Aid Kit, Stay Gold — unexpected and totally fresh.
9. Kelis, Food — this record makes me hungry for more.
10. Mary J. Blige, The London Sessions — one of her best. Probably the no. 2 or 3 soul record of the year.
11. Neneh Cherry, Blank Project — another fabulous recording, continuing her late-career renaissance.
12. The Fresh & Onlys, House of Spirits — big sound, big ideas and a big pay-off.
13. Rosanne Cash, The River & the Thread — somehow, after 30-plus years of recording, and she makes her best album.
14. Lucinda Williams, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone — another in a long line of absolutely perfect records from Williams.
15. Imelda May, Tribal — a record that breathes fire (and includes a surprisingly sweet cover of Blondie’s “Dreaming”).
16. Angel Olsen, Burn Your Fire for No Witness — she packs a punch, lyrically and musically.
17. Aloe Blacc, Lift Your Spirit — the album title says it all. This is just a great soul record.
18. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Hypnotic Eye — his best in years.
19. Old 97s, Most Messed Up — flat out rocks.
20. Nick Waterhouse, Holly — maybe the most incendiary record of the year. Old-school rock&soul.
21. Jack White, Lazaretto — another great solo record, just missed making the top 20.
22. Nicole Atkins, Slow Phaser — a tremendous record.
23. Benjamin Booker, Benjamin Booker — R&B with a punk soul. Nearly made the top 20.
24. Dum Dum Girls, Too True — wonderful pastiche of ’60s and early ’80s, with an absolutely modern sensibility.
25. Black Lips, Underneath the Rainbow — punky, swampy stuff.

The rest, alphabetically:

• Ryan Adams, Ryan Adams — strong set of songs, though not his best.Joseph Arthur, Lou — a tribute to Lou Reed that reimagines the songs and gives them a different life.
• The Black Keys, Turn Blue — a good record, to be sure, but not one of their better ones. 
• The Both, The Both
• Anna Calvi, Strong Weather (EP) — her voice. I want her to sing a James Bond theme at some point.
• Leonard Cohen, Popular Problems — a return to form, to a degree.
• Rodney Crowell, Tarpaper Sky — Cash and Crowell, in a just world, would be nominated for Country Album of the year. That they won’t says more about the state of country radio than it does about their work.
• Will Dailey, $300 Man
• Steve Earle, Live in Nashville 1995
• Sylvan Esso, Sylvan Esso — a surprise to me, but the single “Coffee” made it a must-have.
• The Hold Steady, Teeth Dreams — good record, but not one that will win the band new fans.
• Jolie Holland, Wine Dark Sea
• Hospitality, Trouble
• Chrissie Hynde, Stockholm — sounds like The Pretenders (how could it not) in all the right ways.
• Mary Lambert, Heart on My Sleeve — she’s more than just the female voice on “Same Love.”
• Kindness, Otherness — a late edition. I just heard this the other day and love the feel.
• Le Butcherettes, Cry is for the Flies
• Jenny Lewis, The Voyager — a little more pop than in the past, but a good record.
• Pete Molinari, Theosophy
• Money, The Shadow of Heaven
• Willie Nile, If I Was a River
• Paolo Nutini, Caustic Love — I was cool to this at first, aside from the single, “Let Me Down Easy,” but this absolutely grew on me and made my short list of new soul records.
• Ought, More Than Any Other Day
• Parquet Courts, Content Nausea and Sunbathing Animal — two good indie efforts from the Brooklyn group, at a time when too many bands take way too long to finish even a single record.
• Chuck Prophet, Night Surfer — another in a long line of good records.
• R.E.M., Unplugged 1991/2001: The Complete Sessions
• The Roots, …and Then They Shoot Your Cousin — continued success from hip-hop legends.
• Rotary Downs, Traces
• Screaming Females, Live at the Hideout — local band (New Brunswick) makes good (music).
• Shakira, Shakira — she never disappoints.
• Bruce Springsteen, High Hopes — I am a bad judge of Springsteen records. I tend to love them, flaws and all. This is not his best, but I like it a lot (though it did make the Turkey Shoot on Sound Opinions).
• The Strypes, Snapshot — an absolute rip-off of ’60s garage rock and the British Invasion, which in this case is a good thing.
• Sharon Van Etten, Are We There — another good effort from the Jersey-born singer/songwriter.
• John Zorn, Psychomagia

The absolute disappointments:

• U2, Songs of Innocense — perhaps the year’s most disappointing record, it managed to be both shallow and pretentious simultaneously.
• Beck, Morning Phase — dark? Perhaps, but not nearly as deep as it pretends to be. In the end, it is just too flat — and makes the short list of year’s biggest disappointments.
• Gaslight Anthem, Get Hurt — this one is too much anthem and not nearly enough gas. On the short list for most disappointing record of the year.
• Prince & 3rdEyeGirl, PLECTRUMELECTUM — on the short list for the year’s biggest disappointment.
• Prince, Art Official Age — nice feel, but nothing earth shattering or groundbreaking.
• John Mellencamp, Plain Spoken — workmanlike, but nothign special.

A few others would have made the Absolute Disappointments list — Neil Young’s two records, Foxygen’s ...And Star Power,  Karen O — but I didn’t bother to buy them, which may be the lesson. I buy way too much music.

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