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Uncertain and Afraid

2019-08-06 · letter vlog · John · 3:53 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society (also: Books & writing, Philosophy & meaning) · mode: Personal essay · tags: heavy topic

Approaching the 80th anniversary of W. H. Auden's poem 'September 1, 1939', John confesses feeling uncertain and afraid amid rising hatred, polarization, loneliness and falling US life expectancy, despite data supporting his hope, and holds to Auden's lines that we must love one another or die and may show an affirming flame.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Auden's 'September 1, 1939' as a relic of 1939, and John feeling uncertain and afraid 80 years on

  • ★★ John says W. H. Auden's poem 'September 1, 1939' begins in a dive on 52nd Street, 'uncertain and afraid', as the clever hopes of a low, dishonest decade expire. — 00:00:00

    “uncertain and afraid, as the clever hopes expire of a low, dishonest decade”

  • ★★ John has always read the poem as a relic of what life felt like in 1939 as the war in Europe began. — 00:00:00

  • ★ In a different poem from around the same time, Auden writes of all the dogs of Europe barking and each nation sequestered. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Those sentiments always felt distant and historical, but approaching September 1, 2019, 80 years on, John confesses feeling uncertain and afraid, as if the clever hopes of a low, dishonest decade are expiring. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ John doesn't think a global war like Auden's is imminent, but in his 41 years he has never experienced a now that felt so precarious and fraught. — 00:00:29

00:00:58 — Ascendant hatred, polarization and dehumanization versus hopeful data on crime, income and unemployment

  • ★★★ John says hatred feels ascendant at the moment, and polarization is worsening, bringing the dangerous dehumanization of others. — 00:00:58
  • ★★★ When we call people trash, vermin or monsters, John says, we edge toward the abyss where we treat people as trash, vermin or monsters. — 00:00:58
  • ★★★ John acknowledges that he is hopeful and thinks the data supports his hope. — 00:00:58 · hope
  • ★★ Homicides and violent crime declined in the US in 2018 and are both lower than in 42 of the last 45 years. — 00:01:27 · United States
  • ★★ Even adjusted for inflation, average US household income has risen consistently over the last decade, while unemployment has consistently declined. — 00:01:27 · United States
  • ★★★ John says none of that improving data invalidates the contemporary horrors. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ John notes that in the US violent crime and unemployment were also falling during the late 1930s. — 00:01:27 · United States

00:01:56 — Something is wrong: loneliness, unhappiness, falling life expectancy; waves of anger and fear

  • ★★★ Even as humans live healthier lives with better technologies, people report on average feeling lonelier and less happy than ten years ago. — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ US life expectancy is going down for the first time in decades, primarily due to substance abuse disorders and mental health conditions. — 00:01:56 · mental disorder, United States
  • ★★ Something is clearly wrong, John says, and maybe part of why he feels uncertain and afraid is that he doesn't know quite what. (hedged) — 00:01:56
  • ★★ John sometimes feels waves of anger and fear wash over him so forcefully that he is powerless, like an actor in a play he cannot rewrite, whether over a friend's death, climate change or mass murder. — 00:02:26 · climate change
  • ★ John tells viewers not to worry about him: he is fine. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ John doesn't know how we unwind from this labyrinth of terror and outrages, but believes we will. (unsure) — 00:02:26

00:02:55 — We must love one another or die; the poem's last stanza and an affirming flame; sign-off

  • ★★ John believes he will one day explain to his children why this moment felt so strange and scary, and to them it will feel like history. — 00:02:55

  • ★★★ The poem's most famous line, 'we must love one another or die', is gospel truth to John; he will die, but truly believes we are not going to die. — 00:02:55

    “we must love one another or die”

  • ★★★ Not knowing how to move through this world, John says all he knows is the poem's last stanza, where the just exchange messages and the speaker hopes to show an affirming flame. — 00:03:24

    “show an affirming flame”

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description recommends listening to Auden himself reading 'In Memory of W. B. Yeats', which John also quotes. — video description
  • ★★ Happiness, and how it is trending, varies a lot depending on where people live. — video description
  • ★★ Violent crime in the US is falling and has been falling for decades, except for a couple of years in the 2010s. — video description · United States
  • ★★ Even adjusted for inflation, US median household income was higher in 2018, as in 2016 and 2017, than in any year in American history. — video description · United States
  • ★★ John adds that rising income doesn't mean the economy works for everyone, income isn't wealth, and none of it invalidates the truly terrifying horrors around us. — video description

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: dehumanization · love · September 1, 1939 · W. H. Auden

Also: Works: In Memory of W. B. Yeats

Concepts: climate change · Happiness · homicide · hope · Income · life expectancy · loneliness · mental disorder · political polarization · substance abuse · Unemployment · violent crime

Places: United States

Events: World War II

Also centred on dehumanization: An Army of Mindless Drones · What Does It Mean to Be Human? · Aida and Majeeda: Thoughts from the Azraq Refugee Camp · Zaatari: Thoughts from a Refugee Camp · The Psychology of Package Thieves · Moving to Hope from Hopelessness (3 ways)

Also centred on love: I Love My Brother · Happy Esther Day! · Lives Made of Love - Esther Day 2016 · Two Love Stories · you're bundled up now? wait till you get older. · I L*** Hank

← Previous: I Love John: Esther Day 2019 · Next → Decluttering the Somewhat Embarrassing Nightstand of a 39 Year-Old Best-Selling Author