Because I suspect putting it all together will reveal to me patterns I don't yet understand in how I see these things.
But for now, I just power forward. In yesterday's entry, Part A, I ended with an item from 2003: the deposition of Saddam Hussein. I pick up from there.
2004: The Orange Revolution in Ukraine topples a Russian stooge.
2005: The Provo IRA calls an end to its armed campaign in Northern Ireland.
2006: The creation of Wikileaks. An artifact of the digital era, Wikileaks was founded in Iceland by an organization called Sunshine Press, with the hope of pouring sunshine into some dark places. It would be led by Julian Assange.
2007: Subprime crisis afflicts the secondary mortgage markets, especially in the US. An unexpectedly large fraction of the mortgages originated in the preceding couple of years turned out to be VERY subprime.
2008: A global financial crisis, building up from the previous year's "subprime crisis," strikes banks beginning with Bear Stearns, which has to be sold at fire sale prices. Things go downhill from there.
2009: The creation of Bitcoin. The global financial crisis had brought to a new level a grassroots sense of distrust of traditional banking and the sovereignty-based currencies in which banks trade. Bitcoin offered something new, a currency inherently limited (in much the same way gold is), digital, decentralized, yet secure from tampering.
2010: The Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico explodes.
2011: Rebels, with U.S. assistance, overthrow Muammar Gadaffi's govt in Libya.
2012: Eurozone ministers agree on an expensive bailout of Greece.
2013: The elevation of an Argentine Cardinal to the title of Pope Francis.
2014: Scotland votes on the question of declaring independence from the United Kingdom. The "no" side wins a victory.
2015: Greece misses a payment to the IMF, as part of the deal developed in 2012 (see above). The furor this creates ends with Greece accepting a harsher set of terms than the original agreement, an "austerity" package.
2016: The Brexit vote in the UK. Brexit -- exit from the EU -- wins the vote. This causes many Scots -- who had largely voted "no," to say they wanted a do-over on their own secessionist vote two years before. They weren't aware when they voted that they would be choosing BETWEEN EU and UK. The no vote on their own secession was in the eyes of many a vote for both unions. Now? Sentiment may run in favor of joining the EU and letting the southerners exit from it by their own damned selves.
2017: A coup in Zimbabwe removes President Mugabe.
2018: US President Donald Trump this spring makes good on a 2016 campaign pledge to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
2019: Apple becomes the first $1 trillion corporation in the history of the world measured by market cap. It is not a "computer company" any longer -- whatever exactly that means nowadays -- since the invention of the iPhone it has become the world's leading telecom company, and that has been the catalyst for its breaking of the trillion dollar barrier.
2020: Julian Assange, co-founder of Wikileaks as mentioned above, is arrested by British authorities, originally with the idea of extradition to Sweden, but the U.S. soon enters the picture effectively bidding against Sweden to become the extradition destination.
2021: The EU and UK finally reach an accord on post-Brexit trade relations.
2022: The Russo-Ukraine crisis.
William James was a pragmatist. A time-honored position. Whether that requires refreshing is not so phenomenal. Rorty and others have carried on with this and, admirably, I might add. My view consists in contextual realism, which does not conflict with pragmatism in the least. All it does; all it need do, is recognize that reality changes, with time and convention. A historical view is essential, especially now. More later, if opportunity presents.
ReplyDeleteThank you, anonymous stranger. Yes, an earlier version of this draft was called "Pragmatism Refreshed." Because of technical problems I had to re-create it from scratch and I now use this more specific name. My own pragmatism is not that of Dewey or Rorty, or even Peirce. It is very much that of William James. I hope you'll read more of what I've written here and feel free to contribute your thoughts.
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