Cat Show. 6/4/2021

VG: So the guy, who was arrested by Lukashenko, looks all swollen and roughed up. Apparently he sings like a bird maligning his former allies and Lukashenko’s critics while praising the wisdom of Belorussian leader. It is hard to believe any of it, especially when the arrested guy, Roman Protasevich, denies his service with the Ukrainians nationalistic guerilla fighters that kill innocent people in Donbass. In other words, something, which we know for sure is denied, while other doubtful things are asserted because they fit the politicians’ narrative. Isn’t it an emblem of modern times in general?

HOBBS: You are talking about all these groundless accusations against Trump and Putin and Russians and all other nothing burgers, including that recent charge against Russian hackers who tinkered with American meat supply and something burgers. I believe that there are still some burgers that are made of meat in US, and not all of them consist solely of Monsanto wheat and New Jersey chemicals.

ALICE: You wouldn’t know the difference, you silly Hobbs. I see how you steal bread from the kitchen counters, even though not a single self-respected cat should consume wheat, let alone Monsanto modified one.

VG: Wait a minute, you two. How dare you to suggest that I consume Monsanto products and the burgers from the burger chains? What will the audience think? That I am some sort of Trumpist waiting for the return of this Great Orange-White hope?

HOBBS: What’s wrong with that? The Big O (as in Orange man) – wanted to rock the sinking boat, as opposed to the senile party and its senile leader who is not even aware as to why people call him Mr. President. It took this dude and his minions years to figure out that Trump was correct to be suspicious of all sorts of pundits and authorities and their whimsical claims, which are as whimsical as those coming from the camp of ignoramuses.

ALICE: I can’t believe you are peddling this equivalence theory. Of course, scientists and researchers who work for Fauci and spent days and nights in the TV stations explaining to the public all the complexities of their work, these scientists know much more than Trump’s “know-nothings.” These are the people with degrees and authority and years of experience of manipulating public opinion for its own good. We can’t allow the panic and mayhem, demonstrated by Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol in January. Do you want Fauci or the stupid two-horned shaman directing our public health policies?

VG: Of course, it makes sense to trust authorities, but there should be a proper sequence. You become authority when you’ve demonstrated your expertise and knowledge by bringing forth tangible results. And not when you claimed to be the authority because you work at a think-tank, State Department or Pentagon, and testify to Congress that Ukraine is building a viable democracy and not the kleptocratic regime sustained mostly by nationalistic hatred and Biden’s money.

HOBBS: Crisis of credibility is all around us. When a guy posts highly bizarre tweets, that states that had he been a Jew, he would have been “ashamed of Jewish insatiable appetite for wars and killing,” and Google appoints him as the head of its Diversity and Sensitivity team, isn’t Google placing itself on the same level with Ukrainians, who place known anti-Semites and Nazi-collaborators’-white-washers in charge of history commemorations. Sure, if you are truly diverse, Bandera and his thugs should be commemorated as much as their victims. How can we trust these biased authorities?

ALICE: Of course, mistakes happen. People are people after all. People used to have a blind trust in the authority of the church. Than the Soviets have destroyed the church and told everyone to believe in the teachings of scientific communism: “The teachings of Lenin is all powerful because it is correct.” But the history had demonstrated that scientific communism is not correct, and the only thing left standing was liberal democracy run by the educated elites. And that’s the whole point. Catholic Church could not admit that it was wrong. Soviets could not admit that they were wrong. While liberal democracies always admit it. Usually by the time set by the stature of limitations. And that’s important difference between hard-core totalitarianism and liberal democracy. The first group can't be wrong. The second one admits its mistakes fifty years later. Can you imagine how sweet it is for the victims of race riots or indiscriminate bombing to get the news in their graves that the perpetrators were wrong!

HOBBS: I got it. To be a pundit and authority means to acknowledge fifty years later that you were wrong. But by this logic, you are even a greater authority, if you acknowledge that you were wrong only five years later. And what if you do it next day? Then you are a true authority. “He, who is without sin…” In other words, we are back to the authority of Socrates who acknowledged that he knew nothing. But this is a dangerous acknowledgment tolerated by neither demos nor by demagogues. When you suggest that “we see through the glass darkly” you run the risk of sharing the fate of Socrates and St. Paul.

ALICE: Precisely. That’s why Americans have separated church from the state. Who needs these religious doubters, when we can have shiny brand new scientific assertions based on the 100% certified organic knowledge, which comes with fifty years guarantee.

VG: What a strange world we live in: temporal truths that come with fifty-year warranty! But then again, wasn’t Peter, who thought that he knew it all, was proven wrong, while Doubting Thomas was proving right. I guess as long as we remember that at any moment truth can turn into doubt and doubt into truth, we are on the right track.