This posting is based on a talk I gave to The Villages Philosophy Club on 19 July 2019. plus supporting stuff from my Blogs and other sources.
The title of my talk, To See Ourselves As Others See Us is the most memorable line from Robert Burns' 1786 ode To a Louse - On Seeing One On A Lady's Bonnet, At Church.
The graphic above contains the key lines of this very long poem. Robert Burns is seen in the sketch peering at the Louse on the lady's bonnet.
It was written in Scottish dialect. The entire poem is available in original Scottish dialect and translation to common English, at http://toalouse.weebly.com/translation.html. .
Indeed, how may we see ourselves as others see us? How may we apprehend our "Public Image"? A common mirror distorts the picture, seemingly reversing left-right but not changing up-down. Friends and relations conceal their true impressions of us (thankfully :^)
However, Google, Bing, and the Blogosphere know everything! Even my college newspapers from the 1950's have been scanned and are available for all to see. Yet, when I Google myself, many of the impressions reflected by the Internet seem distorted to me, like my image through a fun-house mirror!
HOW MY MORAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY TOOK SHAPE
Of course our moral and political philosophy changes all the time, affected as it is by how we are treated as children and our experiences throughout our teens, college years, employment, family development, and retirement.
However, looking back, it appears to me that my life philosophy started to take shape during my childhood in Brooklyn.
We lived in a second-floor one-bedroom walkup in the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn. My brother and I shared the single bedroom. Our parents slept on a fold-out couch in the living room. The color photo below shows how it looked in 2018, and the black and white inset shows my brother and me around 1945.
We later moved a block away to a Brooklyn Bungalow. where I lived with my parents and brother through High School (Brooklyn Tech) and College. (My parents lived in that bungalow until 1984, when they moved to San Francisco.)
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However, getting back to my life philosophy, things really jelled during my college years, back in the late 1950's.
I was a student at the City College of New York (CCNY) from 1956 to 1961, earning my Bachelors in Electrical Engineering. The Korean War ended in 1953, but there were rumblings in the Taiwan Strait, where the Peoples Republic of China (Communist China) was threatening the Republic of China (Nationalists) that had retreated to the offshore islands near mainland China, with their main settlement on the island of Formosa (now called Taiwan). At the time, Hong Kong, which is adjacent to the mainland, was still a British colony. In 1956 the Hungarian uprising was crushed by the Russians.
In 1957 the Russians initiated the Space Race by launching the first artificial satellite Sputnik I, the first animal in space, the dog Laika on Sputnik II, and, the following year, over 2000 pounds of payload on Sputnik III. This was a tremendous surprise, and I, as an engineering student, felt a special responsibility to help the US compete with Russia and prevent them from using their new military capabilities against us.
In 1958 the Communist Chinese again threatened the Nationalists, and James P. Warburg, an American member of the dovish Council of Foreign Relations, published a Letter to the Editor in the New York Times, stating that we were "at the brink of war with China over two little groups of offshore islands, which - whatever the status of Taiwan - clearly belong to the mainland."
NY Times
I wrote a Letter to the Editor refuting his position and the Times published it on 10 September 1958!
My opinion was that giving up the islands would be to invite the Communists to attack other Nationalist-held islands, including Formosa (Taiwan) itself, and possibly extending to Hong Kong on the theory that it belongs to the mainland as well. I concluded my letter by stating "The United States is the greatest country in the world and it is time we start acting that way."
As I read that letter (from the 19-year old Ira) again (at the age of 80) I was surprised and pleased at the tone. Perhaps that is when my moral and political philosophy really jelled!
Of course, in the past 60+ years the offshore islands have been returned to China and the Brits were forced to return Hong Kong to nominal Chinese control. Yet, Taiwan is still independent of China, and, as we have been seeing in the news, the people of Hong Kong are still successfully resisting control from the mainland, and getting away with it because their economic success ultimately benefits China. Also, although still a one-party dominated country and nominally Communist, China is now Beyond Communism - The emergence of a newly prosperous and increasingly Capitalist China!
AUTOMATION EXPO - US vs USSR
So, getting back to the 1950's, with the Communist Chinese and Russians rattling their sabers, I read in the newspaper that there was going to be an Automation Expo in Manhattan and that there would be a Russian exhibit there!
At the time, I had no literal belief in any religion (nor do I now), but I felt as if some "Higher Power" was calling on me to go to the Expo! Well, it turned out to be one of my best decisions and it affected my future professional life in the best way possible!
Vector
So, I decided to go to the Expo and write a story about it for our CCNY Engineering Magazine, VECTOR. At the time, I had no special connection to the magazine, but I happened to have some copies I had purchased in recent semesters. So, I made badges for myself and two buddies by cutting out the VECTOR logo on the cover, and we three "reporters" dressed in suitcoats and ties, and went to the Expo!
Looking "official" with our VECTOR badges and suitcoats and ties, and Michael's camera, we were warmly welcomed at the Russian exhibit and all the other exhibits at the Expo. Amazing what "looking the part" can do!
Lesson #1: LOOK THE PART. – FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT !
I took the write-up and photos to the VECTOR editors. They were overjoyed! Our story ran in the November 1958 issue, and was even featured on the cover of the magazine!
I joined the VECTOR staff and soon became the Features Editor. The following year, I was voted in as the Co-Editor-In-Chief. (By the way, I'm still in contact with my predecessors as Co-Editors-In-Chief, Stephen Murdock and Richard Pawliger, who, along with their wives, have visited my wife and me in The Villages.)
Popular Electronics
IRA PUBLISHED IN A NATIONAL MAGAZINE
In April 1959, Popular Electronics, a national magazine for do-it-yourself electronics enthusiasts, published my story on "Eight-Sided Dice" -- how to make a device that would randomly display three-bits of "0" and "1" binary code, signifying the numbers zero ("000") through seven ("111"). A great way to learn a bit of binary arithmetic and test for possibly supernatural extra-sensory perception.
My device had three pairs of oscillating neon lamps that flashed until you pressed the button, halting the flash sequence in one of the eight possible states. Thus, the device would randomly display three-bits of "0" and "1" binary code, signifying the numbers zero ("000") through seven ("111").
As a direct result of my association with VECTOR, and with the help of Stephen, I was hired as a Technical Writer at ITT-Federal in New Jersey for the summers of 1959 and 1960.
In those days before personal computers and word processors, the publications business was much more complex than it is now. When I finally graduated from CCNY and got a job as an engineer, my publications knowledge and experience was invaluable and helped me move ahead in all my future jobs.
Again, I do not have any literal belief in a Higher Power that is interested in our individual lives, yet, I cannot get over the feeling that the Automation Expo and VECTOR and my summer jobs, and all the other key decisions that ordered my life, love, family, and future, were, to use the Yiddish word,
Bashert (באַשערט, meaning "destiny" or "divinely foreordained"). Of course, I (along with Spinoza and Einstein) believe we live in a Universe that is Finite, Discrete, and Absolutely Causal and, therefore, Deterministic!
Just after our VECTOR story was published, I read in the college newspapers that our leftist-oriented Student Government, in the name of DIVERSITY, had reserved some seats in Student Council for Engineering students. It seems that few, if any Engineers had run in previous elections and it seemed like a good idea to get some different views.
So, my buddy Michael and I ran, unopposed, and were elected. (The only time I've been the beneficiary of so-called "affirmative action".) As you'll see if you read further, that type of DIVERSITY of OPINION did not work out too well for leftists, so, in the future they stuck to DIVERSITY of GENDER, RACE, and ETHNICITY!
CCNY NEWS1
As a member of Student Council (SC), I found the majority of other representatives to be intelligent, pleasant, young men and women. However, they were leftist-oriented, what I called "naïve-liberals", plus a few who seemed to be hard left and anything but naïve.
By the way, at that time (and currently) I consider myself to be a Classical Liberal, who advocates civil liberties under the rule of law with an emphasis on economic freedom, on the order of John Locke and others of his era. That is in contrast to Social Liberals who endorse a regulated market economy and the expansion of civil and political rights.
IMHO, the small group of non-naïve, hard left members of SC were not Liberal at all, but autocratic and a threat to our rule of law, our legal and economic freedom, and our civil and political rights.
SC ran strictly according to Robert's Rules of Order, which are supposed to take the anarchy out of group decisions and protect both the minority view and the rule of the majority. I found those rules being used as a weapon to stifle the minority (me and my buddy).
I proposed many "motions" which, according to Robert's, would have died lacking a second. However, I had my buddy Michael along to second my motions, so they had to be discussed. So Michael and I spoke in favor (and were joined sometimes by one or more of the "naïve liberals"). We then heard arguments for rejection by one or more of the non-naïve faction (joined by some of the "naïve liberals"). Our motion was always voted down.
As the National holiday of Thanksgiving approached I put together a motion giving "Thanks to the people of New York who are providing us with a first-class tuition-free education". I was careful not to mention God or anything else that could be seized upon to reject my motion. Never-the-less, after due discussion, it was rejected by a slim majority, though I was Thankful for a fair number of "naïve-liberal" votes.
As of May 1959, I had several achievements to my credit. I was the Co-Author of the cover story for VECTOR - the CCNY Engineering magazine, Features Editor of VECTOR, a published author in Popular Electronics, and a Tech School representative on Student Council. Nowhere to go but up - so I chose to run for the esteemed office of President of Student Government!
CCNY NEWS2
In the above graphic I'm shown with my two opponents for the job of President of Student Government (I'm the guy on the left). The above is from The Campus, the slightly less leftist of the two main student newspapers. The other paper was Observation Post, quite a bit further left, and usually called OP.
I did absolutely no campaigning. Our college newspapers duly published a statement of my views and intentions which you may read in the following graphic.
The "DFU" and "PLS" mentioned in the first sentence of my statement were recently formed political parties that even the student newspapers thought were causing trouble. I had no affiliation with either party.
The main point of my statement was that the leadership of Student Government was too "naïve-liberal" to effectively oppose what one of the student newspapers, The Campus, had correctly called the "rising leftist group … clearly to the left of the present and recent SG leadership".
I stated that I favored "membership lists". Any student group that wanted to utilize college facilities and receive money from the student activity fund had to submit a list of at least a dozen registered students. For some reason I will never fathom, my opponents in the Presidential election, as well as both student newspapers, strongly opposed membership lists!
I also stated that I favored what in my opinion is a misleading characterization of a reasonable policy, namely using the term "speaker ban" for the policy prohibiting the use of public facilities by speakers who favor the violent overthrow of the US government. In accordance with the Smith Act, the use of public facilities (such as those of our city-owned college) by anyone who favored the violent overthrow of the US government was against the law.
The term "speaker ban" is an overly broad characterization of the policy. Speakers of a wide range of political opinions were regularly invited and did give talks at CCNY. Of course, nearly all the invited speakers were on the left side of the political spectrum because CCNY students and their faculty advisors tended in that direction. Also, the Smith Act was Federal law and any violation of that law could cut off the public funding needed for CCNY to operate. Again, both student newspapers and my opponents opposed the misleadingly named "speaker ban".
The student newspapers and my opponents also objected to some decisions by the General Faculty, the organization representing our Professors and Administrators. I respected the knowledge and experience of these professional educators and was concerned about the alternative which might be described as "the animals running the zoo".
I ended what might be called my "populist" appeal, by characterizing my candidacy as a "protest against the naïve liberalism and the not so naïve-leftivism prevalent in student government."
Perhaps I did win! My two opponents, like "Tweddle Dee and Tweddle Dum" agreeing on all issues, might split the leftist vote and I could win with the centrist and rightist vote. Actually, it was certainly the case that most students "don't give a damn" about student government and the stupid issues in this election, and they just might be energized by my "protest" candidacy to take the time to vote for me.
Before you look at the next graphic, let me tell you, truthfully, I DID NOT LOSE!
DID IRA COMMIT FRAUD? WAS THERE RUSSIAN COLLUSION?
OR DID IRA ACTUALLY WIN THE ELECTION FOR PRESIDENT ?
In the Observation Post graphic below, the headline to the left reads "SG Results Invalidated; Officials Charge Fraud". "Student Government election were invalidated last night because of alleged ballot stuffing."
So, who committed the fraud, and why?
Based on our 2016 experience of Russian attempts to influence the US Presidential election, a substantial portion of our electorate believes President Trump's victory is invalid because he illegally colluded with the Russians. (My careful reading of the entire Mueller report is that the Russians did actually try to interfere, but the Trump campaign did not collude with them in this effort.)
Remember that 1958 photo of me and my buddies at the Russian exhibit at the Automation Expo? I actually praised some aspects of Russian technology in that VECTOR story. Did the Russians repay me by stuffing the ballot boxes?
On the other hand, perhaps I actually won the election and that was too much for the far-left Student Government "Officials" to believe or accept, so they made up the story about ballot stuffing? Perhaps they were so surprised by my unexpected victory that the only explanation they could think of was some kind of fraud.
The Liberal-arts students who own Student Government had never seen an Engineering student before my buddy and I showed up due to their mistaken DIVERSITY effort. Perhaps they thought Engineers have some kind of mystical superpowers? I was an Engineering student and the Russians in that Automation Expo photo were also Engineers! Is there some kind of international conspiracy of Engineers against Liberal-arts?
Actually, beyond the above newspaper story, no one ever told me what happened. No details of who did the "alleged" ballot stuffing and how they did it or why they did it was ever made public. No one ever charged me with being involved or invited me to answer questions.
Here is a possible clue. I stated at the top of this posting, "Google, Bing, and the Blogosphere know everything! Even my college newspapers from the 1950's have been scanned and are available for all to see."
Well, I just checked and NONE of the issues of Observation Post for 1960 are available in the CCNY archives! OP issues for 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, and 1961 are available, but all of OP for 1960 is missing!
All issues of The Campus for 1956 through 1961 (my years at CCNY) are available. However, for Observation Post, 1960 is missing!
Check it out yourself!
Click http://digital-archives.ccny.cuny.edu/archival-collections/observation_post/1959/ and you will see a list of links to each of the 1959 issues of OP.
Click http://digital-archives.ccny.cuny.edu/archival-collections/observation_post/1960/ and you will see NO ACTIVE LINKS FOR ANY 1960 ISSUES of OP
Click http://digital-archives.ccny.cuny.edu/archival-collections/observation_post/1961/ and you will see a list of links to each of the 1961 issues of OP.
Why is 1960 missing from the OP record? Well, click http://digital-archives.ccny.cuny.edu/thecampus/1960/SEPTEMBER_107_2/00000090.PDF and read The Campus for September 28, 1960, where the CCNY President at the time, Dr. Buell Gallagher, charges that "Communist-oriented students control Observation Post."
HMMM! I never called them "Communist-oriented" but I did say that I was protesting the "not so naïve leftivism prevalent in student government". Apparently I was onto something!
And, before you discard Dr. Gallagher's charges as the ranting of a misguided right-winger, please read the Wikipedia account (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buell_G._Gallagher) of his sterling record as an anti-racist and prominent Democrat who ran on a pro-union, anti-segregation, and pro-United Nations platform in Berkeley California!
According to Wikipedia:
"Gallagher's 1946 book Color and Conscience was among the most critically antiracist books written by any white person in the 1940s. …
"Gallagher co-founded the South Berkeley Community Church, the first explicitly interracial church in the Bay Area, which attracted a membership of several hundred at its peak. He was an unpaid co-pastor at the church for much of the late 1940s.
"In 1948, Gallagher ran for Congress as a Democrat in the 7th Congressional District, which included Oakland and Berkeley. He did so with the endorsement of Independent Progressive Party candidate and former Vice President Henry Wallace. He ran on a pro-union, anti-segregation, and pro-United Nations platform. He lost to his opponent by one percent. …"
In any case, after the report of fraud, I requested that my name be removed from the ballot when the redid the election. "One farce a term is quite enough for me!" I'm quoted as saying.
In any case, after the report of fraud, I requested that my name be removed from the ballot when the redid the election. "One farce a term is quite enough for me!" I'm quoted as saying.
Lesson #2: QUIT WHILE YOU ARE AHEAD !
Vector
FOUR GREAT ISSUES OF VECTOR DURING MY TERM AS CO-EDITOR-IN CHIEF
Things went well with VECTOR during the Fall '59 and Spring '60 semesters. We put out four highly-rated issues and sold over 1000 copies of each issue. (Unlike the college newspapers which were free to students, we had to actually sell copies, for 25 cents each, a substantial amount for a student to pay in those days.)
I wrote a story about the TACAN air navigation system, based on some of the work I had done during my summer internship as a technical writer. I also invented the "Victor Vector" character for some humorous Engineering-oriented adventures.
VECTOR EDITOR BLASTS COLLEGE NEWSPAPERS !
College Newspapers
As the Fall '59 semester came to an end and midway through my term as Co-Editor-In-Chief, I went public with charges that the two main college newspapers, The Campus and Observation Post had systematically failed to provide requested publicity to VECTOR.
In prior semesters, when I was Features Editor or just a staff member, we had received adequate publicity. I suspected the lack of support for VECTOR was due to my political differences with those papers. Our staff had provided publicity information to those newspapers in exact accordance with their policies and I was furious that their conflict with me had transferred to the detrement of VECTOR and hurt all the other staff members.
So, in December 1959, as we were selling our January 1960 issue, I prepared a mimeographed sheet detailing my charges. Using my authority as Editor, I had the student activities center print several hundred sheets and I placed them in various locations around the CCNY campus.
My "heart" was in the right place in taking this action, but I made at least two "fatal" errors!
- I did not inform the VECTOR editorial board (or even my Co-Editor-In-Chief) in advance, to get their advice and approval, and
- I signed the sheet with the name of our magazine "The CCNY VECTOR" instead of my own name.
OY!
So, instead of focusing on the detailed charges, my opponents seized on my errors! For them, the "news" was that I had irresponsibly issued an annonymous attack on the free press!
For me, that was further proof that The Campus and Observation Post and their supporters in Student Government were acting against me due to political motivation. Fortunately, I had NOT included any mention of political motivation in the mimeographed sheet. I stuck to the facts:
- VECTOR published two big issues during the Fall '59 semester.
- We got a total of only one inch from The Campus and only three inches from Observation Post.
- Three other student magazines on campus had received abundant publicity from The Campus and Observation Post even though two of them, Mercury and Journal of Social Studies had not even published during the semester!
- The Campus and Observation Post were systematically discriminating against Tech School activities. This was not limited to VECTOR. For example, the Technology Interfraternity Intersociety Council received no publicity in regard to its important and decisive stand on the Student Council class-school referendum.
Fortunately, our Tech School also had a newspaper, TECH NEWS. It did not publish as often as The Campus and Observation Post and was only distributed in the Tech School buildings.
It was heartwarming to see the TECH NEWS issued on 5 January 1960. The center of the front page featured an absolutely glowing review of our latest issue which we were still selling!
AND, the right column of the front page headlined "Vector Editor Blasts College Newspapers". The long and detailed story covered all the facts in what I'd now call a "fair and balanced" way. See the graphic below!
CCNY NEWS3
Lesson #3: SIGN YOUR NAME TO EVERYTHING YOU WRITE !
Ira Glickstein
(This is the end of PART 1.) CLICK TO CONTINUE TO PART 2
LINKS TO ALL PARTS OF "TO SEE OURSELVES AS OTHERS SEE US"
PART 1 - MY MORAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY TAKE SHAPE IN MY COLLEGE DAYS
PART 2 - MY CAREER, MARRIAGE, FLYING, AND OUR "GREEN ACRES" DAYS.
PART 3 - TOASTMASTERS AND MY EARLY CAREER AT IBM
PART 4 - APPLE II AND IBM PC ROCK OUR WORLD
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