Liberalism

I haven't blogged in quite a while; teaching, dissertating, and job searching has pretty much taken up all my time. But I'm moved now to speak to those 2 or 3 people who may listen. Or at least, I'm moved to figure something out through blogging.

I'm a liberal. Here's what I think that means: I believe in a liberal viewpoint of the world, that is, weighing sides, thinking critically, slowing down my knee-jerk reaction and culturally coded responses to seek some kind of beneficial "truth" in the world. It means believing that there is not one kind of American that deserves the promise of America: ALL Americans deserve justice, equality, and equal rights guaranteed by the law. I believe in the separation of church and state, though only to the extent that one's religious beliefs should not be forced on another. Our morals are a key part of how we live our lives, so of course one's values should guide one's decision making. And in that vein, I support large social programs funded by the federal government: I value all people's health and prosperity, and so I value programs that help people gain these things in their own lives.

A famous and highly intelligent conservative, George Will, put it this way: conservatives value freedom to the detriment of equality; liberals value equality to the detriment of freedom. I agree. Though I'd also like to add that equality creates a state in which freedom is much more equally gained. In other words, I believe everyone should have equal access to the amazing resources of this nation.

But George Will has said something else, and it gives me pause; he argues that modern liberalism assumes that most Americans are duped into "false consciousness" due to their ability to be manipulated by political and corporate interests. Here, he defines what he sees as the agenda of modern liberalism:

"First, the consent of the governed, when their behavior is governed by their false consciousnesses, is unimportant. Second, the public requires the supervision of a progressive elite which, somehow emancipated from false consciousness, can engineer true consciousness. Third, because consciousness is a reflection of social conditions, true consciousness is engineered by progressive social reforms. Fourth, because people in the grip of false consciousness cannot be expected to demand or even consent to such reforms, those reforms usually must be imposed, for example, by judicial fiats."

I can't deny that there is some truth to this in the philosophy of liberals I know. Often, liberals assume that Republicans are such because they don't know any better. I must say, some of my experience doesn't refute this: when I canvassed for Barack Obama, most answers to "Who do you plan to vote for?" were something like, "Not your guy!" and were given with real hostility. When I asked what issues were for them most at stake in their vote for John McCain, most couldn't answer. Most answered that he was republican, and there you go. Now, much of my canvassing was in low-income neighborhoods where a liberal agenda would, in fact, benefit the constituents (higher wages, pro-union values, pro-head start and other early education programs for the poor).

But I also need to find some way to recognize that while it may be true that some of these "Not your guy" responses were based in a campaign of fear and prejudice, I need to also realize that there are many who choose a conservative agenda because it is their true outlook on the world: perhaps they feel that social programs denigrate the individual by offering hand-outs, not hand-ups; perhaps they feel that support for big business and corporations keep America's economy strong globally; perhaps they believe that there is a way to win the war on terror and thus send a clear message to all who may threaten the U.S.; and perhaps their values maintain that a fetus must always be given the chance to live.

In other words, it's time to refute, not dismiss. And I do refute all of that. The individual is honored through programs that support strong education and jobs. The real way to keep the economy strong is to keep people working, not businesses investing overseas. The war on terror is a diplomatic one more than a military one: it cannot be won militarily alone and we must involve all nations through an attitude of cooperation and openness, nit unilateralism and stubbornness. And the value for human life must extend into and beyond the uterus, to support womens health programs across the board.

So I write this because the charge of elitism might not always be an empty one: despite the fact that Obama was raised by a single mom, and went to Harvard on his own, and not his father's legacy, and despite the fact that he only recently paid his student loans off, it is the perception that George Will speaks of that gains him the charge of elitist: that progressive social programs must be enforced, because the people just don't know what's good for them. How do we fight this charge? How do we instill a progressive agenda that benefits everyone without this assumption that government knows better? For me, the very values of liberalism affirms the values of those conservatives as thoughtful and understandable. That's what it means to be a liberal. And the more each person is given a hand-up at an early age with early childhood education, the more everyone's values can be heard and honored.

Is this a contradiction? All I know is that it is the right thing to do to support an agenda that supports the health, prosperity, and safety of everyone. Even if that sacrifices the freedom of a few CEOs to make a billion dollars. I'm OK with that.

Matt did it again..

I thought we were going to First Watch for brunch. Instead, we went to Cleveland for some Radiohead. Oh, and we were in the pit. Yep, about 10 feet away from Thom York. Don't hate me cause my life rocks.

Radiohead

Degrees of Closeness

So the Kevin Bacon Six Degrees theory has been bolstered by a recent study that shows that any one person's degree of separation from any one other person is on average 6.6.

Everyone you know is one degree away, everyone they know is 2 degrees, etc etc.

But because I have lots of social butterfly friends, I think my degree of separation may be smaller than average. Just think: I have 2 degrees of separation from people in California; Massachusetts; Uganda; Lexington, KY; Rome, NY; Erie, PA; St. Augustine, FL; Taiwan; Russia; Ireland; Toledo, OH; Indianapolis, IN; India; etc, etc.

In other words, thanks to all my friends having so many connections, I have so many connections! Awesome.

From the article I read on MSNBC: "To me, it was pretty shocking. What we're seeing suggests there may be a social connectivity constant for humanity," said Eric Horvitz, a Microsoft researcher who conducted the study with colleague Jure Leskovec. "People have had this suspicion that we are really close. But we are showing on a very large scale that this idea goes beyond folklore."

Yeah, a social connectivity constant for humanity. That's awesome. It's not an account of how we're separated; it's an account of how much we are connected. And always have been. Leading me to surmise that we need to be close in order to survive. Humanity depends on proximity. People need people. (Go ahead, sing it out loud.)

So I'm happy to be connected to all the people I know, but then I think of how awesome it is that I'm connected somehow to all the people they know, and the people they know, and the people they know. And maybe someday when I'm hiking in the mountains of Peru, I come across someone who knows someone who knows someone that I know. And then, what do you know, I'm invited in to someone's house for coffee and I've made a new friend and a new connection for all of you along the constant of connection.

Yay for us.

The Weather Event

CNN tried to determine what the quake in LA was like: "So you'd say it was like a rolling jolt?" "No, not a jolt, just a rolling." "Did you feel any jolts?" "No, there weren't any jolts. Mostly rolling."

MSNBC couldn't decide what catchy name to call it: "Seismic event" was actually uttered at least twice. I'm looking forward to a "Shake n Bake" reference.

Many, many people were interviewed about it ("tell us what you experienced") and hours were filled with three minutes of film footage taken from a helicopter of a school and large buildings.

CNN urged people to send in their i-reports: their own, personal views of what happened: particularly prized are photos and videos of the seismic event.

This all just points to how weird the "news" is. Personalized, sensationalized, commercialized. It was an earthquake. Do you know what was never answered, in all my watching: anyone hurt? Weird.

Oh, and Ty and Jaymie: you were jealous of our earthquake; now you got your own!
Amy: How was it??? Did you and your dad feel it? Was it more of a rolling or a jolt? Do you have pictures or video?

Some Obama Love

I am so inspired for the first time in my life -- by a politician! I feel history. I'm in love with this idea of hope. Just look at these pictures. I know a narrative has been created that Barack is just words, but let me change that narrative a bit: Barack uses words to inspire, to uplift, and that is no small feat. I teach how words move, how words work, how they do something. So keep the narrative going: but remember how words change our lives. Remember how when great leaders have said great things they have changed the world.

"The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down."

Omar Khadr

He is 21 now, was 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan and 16 when he was detained indefinitely in Guantanamo U.S. Military prison. He was detained for killing a U.S. soldier (Christopher J. Speer) and partially blinding another (Layne Morris). He is one of the few who have had hearings; people have come together, that is, to share information and try to decide what to do with him. A few things have come out:

From the Toronto Star in February of this year: "A document inadvertently released to reporters here Monday disclosed that after the grenade was thrown, a U.S. operative killed another suspect and then shot Khadr twice in the back. The revelation casts doubt on the Pentagon's assertion that Khadr threw the grenade that fatally wounded Delta Force soldier and medic Christopher Speer."

Just today, video was released showing Khadr's interrogation where he cries out for "mommy" and confirms their knowledge that his father brought him to fight with Afghani forces and left him there, taking advantage of the forces' promises to take the burden of feeding and clothing children from their parents.

Khadr was put through sleep deprivation and had bullet wounds that were not healing; some were upset that the interrogation was therefore rough. But not Army Sergeant Layne Morris (who was blinded in one eye by the grenade at the firefight):

"If my drill sergeant had spoken to me like that in basic training I'd probably still be sending him Christmas cards," said Morris, now out of the military and living in Salt Lake City. "He's not sniveling and whining because he's hurt or scared, he's just upset he's in U.S. custody for the foreseeable future."

Morris argues that Khadr was not a soldier but a terrorist and therefore deserves charges of murder. He has said of his detainment:

"I'm fine with this dragging on for another five years before there's a trial as long as they stay locked up."

To put an interesting twist to the story, Speers' widow is suing Khadr's father -- even though Kadhr's father is dead -- for $10 million for the death of her husband, clearly recognizing that the burden of guilt and responsibility lay with the father of the 15-year-old who forced him (what agency does a 15-year-old have in this situation?) into armed service with Afghani forces. (Go here for the story.)

This reminds me of Frank Wuterich, a U.S. Marine charged with the murder of 18 civilians in Haditha. What Wuterich did was disgusting (to see the whole story, click here), but I'm confused. We are at war right? Or police action? Conflict maybe? (Whatever we're calling it.) People fight each other in these things; with deadly weapons it seems. While Morris labels Khadr as a terrorist, I challenge you to define terrorism in such a way that any strategic military action meant to incite fear and to damage the ability of an "enemy" to fight back, including damaging their sense of selfhood and/or nationhood does not somehow fit under that definition. This is NOT to say that soldiers are terrorists. They are engaged with an enemy that recognizes their sovereignty -- this I guess is the difference: Khadr was with Afghanis when he threw a grenade. But how do we define murder during a time of war?

Here's a better list of people to court-martial besides Wuterich and Khadr:
Donald Rumsfeld;
Dick Cheney;
George Bush;
Every other person who sent young people into a violent area and told them that some of them are "enemies" and the rest are "trainable;"
Especially those in the above list who never, themselves, had to look through the target of a gun and decide if someone should be killed.

Making it Up

I'm an academic and I recognize and lament the futility academics sometimes serve. I think every day of how my time and energy could be used in so many more powerful and life-affirming ways than reading little-known texts on the visual economy of postmodern culture or considering the way in which Robert Coover's The Public Burning implicates the reader in a 1950s mindset via a lack of empathy with any character (even the unjustly executed Rosenbergs) and an overwhelming sense of "otherness." Let me be honest: everything I just wrote totally turns me on. I freaking love this shit. But I also know it's not very effective.

Not only is not effective, but it is in fact, made up. And I think this is what floats my boat so smoothly down the river of intellectual "bullshit" as some may call it. I love to make it up. It's rigorous, even, sometimes even more so than the research I do to make the stuff I make up sound somewhat reasonable.

And teaching, more than literary or cultural criticism, is about making it up. Now, I know some teachers who will read this and say, "What?!? Nuh-uh! I have to know a subject and impart it to my students in such a way that they too will KNOW the subject." But think about it: all the great stuff has started out by somebody being asked for a solution to a problem and that somebody, at a loss for one, makes one up. And sometimes that somebody is told, "Nope, didn't work. Try again." And so they make up some more stuff. And sometimes they're told, "Wow. That bullshit you just made up is really interesting." And then more stuff gets made up by more people and then there's something that resembles a solution to a problem. Or even something that shows that the problem wasn't what we thought it was.

Ok, that's a lot of crap written there to convince myself that while I sit at my computer writing sentences full of phrases like "dialectical relations" and "otherness" and "critical allusion" that maybe it's not all for nought. Maybe one of the 6 people who read my dissertation will go, hey that's interesting bullshit, kinda reminds me of this other bullshit; maybe I'll add my own bullshit, and then voila, you've got someone saying something that might do something.

We're all improvisers.

Oh. My. Gawd.

From the Washington Post:

McCain's Latest Iran Joke

By Michael D. Shear
Sen. John McCain hasn't had good luck joking about Iran. But he tried it again Tuesday.

Responding to a question about a survey that shows increased exports to Iran, mainly from cigarettes, McCain said, "Maybe that's a way of killing them."

He quickly caught himself, saying "I meant that as a joke" as his wife, Cindy, poked him in the back.

Last time, it was also Iran. His singing about bombing Iran to the theme of the Beach Boy's "Barbara Ann" drew derision from many quarters but a "lighten up" response from McCain.

More Proof of Knowing Nothin

My friend Greg has introduced me to aerogel. It's a gel filled with gas instead of liquid; it's solid but super-low density. It's what is holding up that giant stone there.

Holy Crap.

I'm gonna go work on my dissertation now, knowing that it doesn't really matter that it isn't very useful or important or significant because nothing else is any of those things either. Do other people have these reactions to the strange parts of our world? If the aerogel didn't get ya, try this:




It's a narwhal, or a unicorn dolphin. Yeah. Mind successfully blown. You're welcome.

I'm a hustler baby...

So I've been on fellowship for a year -- funded by Miami University and Mr. Matt to get my dissertation done.

But it's all going to be over soon, because I'm a retard. Or a hustler. You pick.

Starting July 17, I will be teaching ENG 150 at Thomas More College in KY. It's an 8-week course that meets only once a week, and I think it's a pretty small group (7 or 8 students!). These are business students who have to have a writing component in their associate's degree program. They're either going to love my class or hate it; they'll either find it refreshing and challenging or redundant and superfluous to their own career goals. We'll see which one! The theme of the class is Differing Voices in America and the readings are awesome: they include Melville's "Benito Cereno," E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime and Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar.

Then, beginning the third week of August, the retardation/ hustlin' really begins. I'll be teaching 2 Fiction Studies classes at Xavier University on Mon, Weds, Fri; Advanced Composition and American Lit after 1945 at Miami University on Tues/ Thurs. That will be about 100 students total.

I'll be going "on the market" in Oct/Nov, a full-time job of writing letters (not easy) and sending dossiers to universities in the hopes they will want to interview me and then bring me to campus for a job talk and then hire me.

Oh, and I'll also be finishing up the dissertation hopefully.

The upside of all this: I can finally afford to pay the interest that has been accruing on my unsubsidized loans! I know, right? Awesome!

So I'm a retarded hustler. Don't be offended if I don't talk to you after August. I'm just either a) teaching b) grading c) writing letters d) working on the diss or e) having a nervous breakdown.

Amen!

From BBC:

"They preach prosperity - that God can make you healthy and wealthy.

Every year some of America's best known TV evangelists bring in hundreds of millions of dollars from donors all over the world. But as Jonathan Beale reports, some of the TV evangelists' own lifestyles have begun to ring alarm bells and prompted a Senate investigation into their activities."

Go here to see the BBC news video:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7484662.stm

I have always had trouble with this teaching from certain Christian and other religious groups: God rewards the good, punishes the bad.

And so the poor, or the not-so-well off -- why are they not blessed? They give more of their money away* than do the rich and perhaps they put more faith in prayer when not a lot else is available to believe in. (I'm speaking from experience of some of my own poor and zealously religious family growing up.) We all know the poor buy more lottery tickets and in many ways keep the economy going by spending all their money, not saving or investing overseas like the rich do. Probably the most ugly misconception in America is that the poor are lazy. (Just ask me and I'll tell you how many jobs my mom and her siblings each had just to keep their kids in a crappy apartment and school clothes.)

I'm sure the senate investigation will find corruption among these TV evangelists. It's nothing new; we've heard it before, we'll hear it again. It just makes me so damn mad, that's all. These people think that the injustices they themselves maintain are due to some force of God. I wish they could know how wrong they were. But their personal delusions about God will serve them well and allow them to think they're doing the right thing.


*"The 2000 Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey shows that households with incomes below $20,000 gave a higher percentage of their earnings to charity than did any other income group: 4.6 percent, on average. As income increased, the percentage given away declined: Households earning between $50,000 and $100,000 donated 2.5 percent or less." See http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/02/19/Poor-Give-More-to-Charity

Surprise!

Yesterday morning, Matt and I went about our usual everyday stuff. I got out of bed late, stumbled to the kitchen, put on the kettle and sat down at my laptop to check out how many more advertisers have my email address. I heard Matt doing his usual morning rumblings, but was then quickly lost in the progressive blogosphere, wasting time until the tea kicked in.

Usual morning.

Then Matt walks out, showered, fully dressed, including shoes and a shit-eating grin. Now, if you know Matt -- and I know Matt -- you know that this is unusual. This is not usual morning activity for Matt.

So I asked politely, "What the hell are you up to?" He couldn't stop smiling and just said, "Let me show you something." He then takes me to the bedroom, where he has packed an overnight bag. He says, grab enough stuff for an overnight trip and don't forget your swimsuit. I had to admit, he really had me in a delightful tizzy. But, I had to play the part, so I said, "WHAT??!!" and remonstrated against his pleas to get moving. So I finally gave in and giggled the whole way out the door and into the car where I see Matt has prepared us for a road trip with recently burned CDs.

We head down 75 South, picking up a hitchhiker on the way. (OK, Darren actually.) They both enjoy holding out on me the ENTIRE road trip. We get a ways past Lexington and I start getting a little less tickled and just slightly more anxious. Where the hell are we going?

But they won't tell. They DO however agree to stop at a Cracker Barrel for some old-fashioned road-trip country cookin. I have the Country Morning Breakfast and the guys have the Country Dinner with the spicy grilled catfish. Good times all around with the whole peg game -- you know, the one where you have to jump the pegs till one's left. Turns out we're all "Just plain dumb!" Then back on the road. I start getting less anxious-excited, more what-the-bleeping-jesus-freaked out.

But Matt's road-trip CDs are good, so we enjoy the ride for a while.

Then we get to the Tennessee hills. OK, that's enough for me. So after a few rounds of the Oprah or strawberries game (if you don't know it, ask; it's pretty fun) I start to play the silent treatment. That'll show them! Turns out they don't care that I'm not talking. They find it cute. They think the whole "not telling Jamie what we're doing whilst transporting her over state lines" game is fun.

I'm starting to realize though: this must be good. No way they'll drive all the way down here for one night unless it's REAL good. (Not like those Yoplait commercials, "Not having to wait in line for the girls room" good, but like real life "holy fucking shit I love shooting this AK-47 machine gun here in the woods of Vietnam for only $10"* or "oh my god I'm about to jump off a bridge over the mighty zambezi river."** I mean, really good.)

Turns out, it was pretty damn good. We ended up at the civic auditorium in Knoxville to witness the ONE, the ONLY, Tom Waits.

That's right. You're jealous. I saw Tom Waits. It was incredible. Like, "I just saw Tom Waits in Knoxville" incredible. "Make it Rain" was one of my favorite sets of the night. The concert was amazing. More performance art than run o' the mill concert.

Now, you can find a lot of videos of his short 2008 tour on youtube. But I think they all suck. So I found this one from a while ago that is *kinda* close to the feel of the concert. It really was incredible.

Enjoy.



Matt rocks. What a great surprise for a lazy summer Sunday afternoon.


*Matt, cu chi tunnels, Vietnam, 2000
** Jamie, on a bridge above the Zambezi, Zambia, 2004

Omega

The ohm is the electric resistance between two points of a conductor....

Omega (Ω) baryons are baryons containing neither up nor down quarks of isospin I = 0.

In modern usage Om means the Word, the “parnava,” the eternal. Various accounts are given of its origin; one that it is the term of assent used by the gods, and probably an old contracted form of the Sanskirt word "evam" meaning "thus."

Dark Matter

We know nothing. You think you know somethin? You don't know nuthin. Nobody does. Get over it.


P.S. I'm a vegetarian again. That makes me happy cause I have to admit much of the reason for eating meat was fried foods and condiments.

Political Discourse

This is the state of political discourse. Sexist, Racist, Ageist; jabs at patriotism for whether you are one or the other. I will admit, it was harder finding offensive buttons for McCain. One had him hobbling along like an elderly man (I couldn't save it to my disk). But the ones here about Obama and Clinton are just disgusting, outside the realm of positive discourse. I wonder if it's possible to have an election without this hatred?

Rhetoric

From the Ap or some other reputable news source:

"Bush told reporters in Meseberg he had no regrets about going to war to oust Saddam Hussein but admitted he could have been smarter in making the case for the U.S.-led invasion.

" "I could have used better rhetoric to indicate that one, we tried to exhaust diplomacy in Iraq, and two, that I don't like war," Bush said. "But, no, the decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision." "

So in the spirit of fancy rhetoric:

Dear George W. Bush,

Hi, how are you? I'm fine.

No matter what rhetoric you use, or how good or gooder it is, you are still lying.

Keep the cool side cool and the hot side hot,
Jamie -- OUT
<3

Ohio Senate Bill 9

"... applicants seeking certain state issued licenses, public employment or business contracts must fill out new forms indicating that they have not provided financial assistance or support to a terrorist organization. ... The Declaration ... was created to provide the state with an additional tool to deter and prosecute acts of terrorism within Ohio."

Yes, in fact, I do feel like a tool.

I haven't willingly given any money to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, the First of October Antifascist Resistance Group, or Global Relief Foundation (to name 3 of the 132 organizations listed). Now can I have my job please?

(Let's see how long it takes to get this blog shut down.)

Iraq Vets Get Screwed Over, part 35467

On March 20, 2008 a Veterans Administration program coordinator sent an e-mail to VA staff.

(I am unable to copy the jpeg of this e-mail so I'll type in the message here:)

"Given that we are having more and more compensation seeking veterans, I'd like to suggest that you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out. Consider a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder, R/O PTSD.

"Additionally, we really don't have time to do the extensive testing that should be done to determine PTSD."

to see the whole story, go here: http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/31690

I have nothing to say.

Count Me Out of the Idiocy

I just heard Florida Superdelegate John Ausman declare, "We have been in the jail house long enough. Let our people go."

Just to give some context:

When Israel was in Egypt's Land,
Let my people go,
Opressed so hard they could not stand,
Let my people go.

Chorus
Go down, Moses,
Way down in Egypt's Land.
Tell ol' Pharoah,
Let my people go.



WOW. These people screaming "Count Every Vote" seem to not understand a few key things:
1) these are rules Clinton and Obama (and all other dems running) agreed to
2) the Clinton camp, when citing that they have more of the popular vote, are not counting any of the votes cast in caucus states
3) this is NOT a civil rights issue

But, you know what, let em count. They won't make a difference. Obama will still be ahead in the delegate count, which happens to be how we decide the nominee. This is making some democrats look really stupid. Just get it over with, let's move on. Let's remember the REAL issues:
over 4,000 U.S. men and women have died in Iraq; many more injured
over 42 million Americans do not have health insurance
more and more people slip into poverty every day in this country
more and more schools get left behind

Let my people go!

Imagine Peace -- but not too much

OK, I don't watch American Idol on TV. But as I surf the online news in the morning, I often see news of the latest show and check it out. Last night was the final sing-off between what looks to me to be a 14 year old boy and a 20-something who can actually play music. I'm just impressed that someone was playing an instrument. Go American Idol, with your whole respect of music thing!

But, unfortunately, I then actually listened to their songs. David A. sang John Lennon's "Imagine," a kind of peace anthem for the last 30 years or so. But he only sang one verse. Even though the song is only 2:20, and David A. sang for 2:14, he decided to sing one of the three verses and to repeat the chorus 2 or 3 times. Guess which verses he left out? Ok, you don't have to guess, I've put them here for you:

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

Perhaps you've heard this song before. If so, these are probably the lyrics you remember. Because they are the ones that matter. And yet on American Idol, to suggest that religion may be the cause of some of the most horrific acts of human history, including present day wars WE ourselves are involved in -- well, that's just too controversial.

It has come to this: TV producers are so afraid of Christians boycotting them that they won't allow the entire Lennon classic to be played. I think this proves Lennon's point.

When we have to sanitize John Lennon's Imagine, things have gotten retarded.

These are the key words to this song: "Nothing to kill or die for." THIS is what the song is about: no religion, no country, no possessions. It IS hard to imagine. Especially if we don't even hear it.