My Facebook and Bluesky feeds didn't go nuts over celebrities and politicos @ Jimmy Carter's funeral, but some of us did discuss the ceremony. I couldn't watch it live so the next day I found on YouTube coverage by WFAA, a TV station in Dallas, that was just the funeral, no pre and post commentary. It was excellent. The camera mostly focused on the speaker and, when appropriate, on the musicians. Occasionally it showed the political figures in the front rows on one side or the Carter family on the other. I was moved.
I was in my mid- to late twenties during the Carter administration (and living in D.C. for almost all of it, but with no connection to the federal government). Few of the journalists covering the funeral were old enough to have adult or semi-adult memories of Carter's presidency, never mind his time as governor of Georgia. For them the 1970s are like the 1940s and '50s are to me: either they weren't born yet or they were too young to be paying attention. So they don't have firsthand memories of life before Reagan either.
I've been thinking a lot about that, about how experiences are passed on and changed in the passing, if they're remembered at all. The importance of storytelling, and memory.
"I've been thinking a lot about that, about how experiences are passed on and changed in the passing, if they're remembered at all. The importance of storytelling, and memory."
Traditions are nice. That includes the passing of a US President and all that goes with it, a state funeral. Personally found the late Senator McCain's insistence that his be every much like the passing of a President/CinC to be repugnant including the idea of a church service. His contrasts w/Bobby's and Teddy's in so many ways. And is the inverse of Teddy's eulogy of Bobby that is at its core found in these words "My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; but be remembered simply as a good and decent man." Heard much the same at President Carter's service.
To "memory". Mine of Jimmy Carter is tied to inflation. Yup yet not n the way most recall. When inflation began soaring I came across a magazine article in a waiting room by Mrs Dodge of the Dodge-Chrysler-Plymouth fame. She advised people w/paid up life insurance borrow against it at the insurance loan rate of 2% and use the funds to buy high yield CDs, most of which topped 15%. That window was open then. It isn't now except in rare cases. And yes, I did as she advised. And yes I did spread the word.
The other memory and with it the storytell is Operation Eagle Claw, the failed attempt to free the hostages that had no chance of success. Indeed, remain pleased it ended in that desert rather than at the Embassy or on the road to the helos that were to be staged at the last minute. So, while many point to some agreement Reagan may or may not had with Iran, the objective of bringing them home alive is far more important than who gets credit or blame.
We see the exact same thing playing out in Gaza-Israel, US, Gulf States, and non-government interlocutors. All deserve credit just as all deserve a share of the blame. Bringing home the living and the dead matters far more than the peacocking of one person or one nation. And once and for all the position of the USG cannot be we don't negotiate with "terrorists" and exchanges should have some bizarro subjective equilibrium in number or by other metrics that ignore how precious life and bones are to the civilized. Is so weird to see people place a 25M bounty on the head of a mofo then argue a US hostage is worth far less because the mofo is far more bad than a US hostage is good. Am glad the Israeli culture values their living and dead far higher than we do of our own people.
My final memory of Jimmy Carter as a President and man is how he successfully leveraged his faith with those of any of the 3 Abrahamics, yet his faith was leveraged against him when it came to the PRC. He willingly sacrificed Formosa/Taiwan with a 1China Policy that was set in motion by his predecessor. Like his predecessor and Kissinger he did not understand China's history w/the west nor understand he was waking up and feeding the Dragon. How could all of them not see that? Instead "historians" laud the moves much like they lauded Ford's pardon of Nixon over the objections of those who look beyond the present. The same w/invading Af and Ir. Same with cozying up to Bibi. The same w/embracing far right leaders aro0und the globe in the past and present.
there are no words for the rest of your post...it seems as if spectacle is the raison d'être for everything media now. And not in a good way. I am disgusted, ashamed, embarrassed by public figures in this country. How were these people raised? I'd like to think their parents would be mortified at their behavior. We truly are the 'ugly Americans'.
My Facebook and Bluesky feeds didn't go nuts over celebrities and politicos @ Jimmy Carter's funeral, but some of us did discuss the ceremony. I couldn't watch it live so the next day I found on YouTube coverage by WFAA, a TV station in Dallas, that was just the funeral, no pre and post commentary. It was excellent. The camera mostly focused on the speaker and, when appropriate, on the musicians. Occasionally it showed the political figures in the front rows on one side or the Carter family on the other. I was moved.
I was in my mid- to late twenties during the Carter administration (and living in D.C. for almost all of it, but with no connection to the federal government). Few of the journalists covering the funeral were old enough to have adult or semi-adult memories of Carter's presidency, never mind his time as governor of Georgia. For them the 1970s are like the 1940s and '50s are to me: either they weren't born yet or they were too young to be paying attention. So they don't have firsthand memories of life before Reagan either.
I've been thinking a lot about that, about how experiences are passed on and changed in the passing, if they're remembered at all. The importance of storytelling, and memory.
"I've been thinking a lot about that, about how experiences are passed on and changed in the passing, if they're remembered at all. The importance of storytelling, and memory."
Traditions are nice. That includes the passing of a US President and all that goes with it, a state funeral. Personally found the late Senator McCain's insistence that his be every much like the passing of a President/CinC to be repugnant including the idea of a church service. His contrasts w/Bobby's and Teddy's in so many ways. And is the inverse of Teddy's eulogy of Bobby that is at its core found in these words "My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; but be remembered simply as a good and decent man." Heard much the same at President Carter's service.
To "memory". Mine of Jimmy Carter is tied to inflation. Yup yet not n the way most recall. When inflation began soaring I came across a magazine article in a waiting room by Mrs Dodge of the Dodge-Chrysler-Plymouth fame. She advised people w/paid up life insurance borrow against it at the insurance loan rate of 2% and use the funds to buy high yield CDs, most of which topped 15%. That window was open then. It isn't now except in rare cases. And yes, I did as she advised. And yes I did spread the word.
The other memory and with it the storytell is Operation Eagle Claw, the failed attempt to free the hostages that had no chance of success. Indeed, remain pleased it ended in that desert rather than at the Embassy or on the road to the helos that were to be staged at the last minute. So, while many point to some agreement Reagan may or may not had with Iran, the objective of bringing them home alive is far more important than who gets credit or blame.
We see the exact same thing playing out in Gaza-Israel, US, Gulf States, and non-government interlocutors. All deserve credit just as all deserve a share of the blame. Bringing home the living and the dead matters far more than the peacocking of one person or one nation. And once and for all the position of the USG cannot be we don't negotiate with "terrorists" and exchanges should have some bizarro subjective equilibrium in number or by other metrics that ignore how precious life and bones are to the civilized. Is so weird to see people place a 25M bounty on the head of a mofo then argue a US hostage is worth far less because the mofo is far more bad than a US hostage is good. Am glad the Israeli culture values their living and dead far higher than we do of our own people.
My final memory of Jimmy Carter as a President and man is how he successfully leveraged his faith with those of any of the 3 Abrahamics, yet his faith was leveraged against him when it came to the PRC. He willingly sacrificed Formosa/Taiwan with a 1China Policy that was set in motion by his predecessor. Like his predecessor and Kissinger he did not understand China's history w/the west nor understand he was waking up and feeding the Dragon. How could all of them not see that? Instead "historians" laud the moves much like they lauded Ford's pardon of Nixon over the objections of those who look beyond the present. The same w/invading Af and Ir. Same with cozying up to Bibi. The same w/embracing far right leaders aro0und the globe in the past and present.
there are no words for the rest of your post...it seems as if spectacle is the raison d'être for everything media now. And not in a good way. I am disgusted, ashamed, embarrassed by public figures in this country. How were these people raised? I'd like to think their parents would be mortified at their behavior. We truly are the 'ugly Americans'.
Little Women??
winnah winnah