Editor’s Notebook © by John Arkelian
The best of writing, photography, art, and argument – on everything from film to foreign policy.
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John Howe — Canadian artist and co-conceptual designer on all three “The Lord of the Rings” motion pictures.
* Editor’s Note: The age of the dinosaurs has at last come to an end — with the arrival of this website!
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On February 9, 2021
© By John Arkelian
An organized society, or ‘polity,’ is made up of innumerable interactions among individual persons – and between each of us and the myriad of laws, norms, policies, and practices that govern the ways we navigate our way through daily life. Never mind the overrated internet; the real ‘world-wide web’ is the profuse, intricate network of connections between people, regulatory bodies, and commercial enterprises – among other entities, like religious, cultural, educational, recreational, and volunteer-driven community service organizations. Aristotle said “Man is by nature a political animal” (or, more literally, “an animal which lives in cities”). The ideal polity is one in which we respect each others’ rights, live by mutually agreed rules, and are governed with our consent. In a very real sense, the polity is us, and we should be ever mindful of ways to make it more just, more amenable to the attainment of the full potential of each of its members, and more conducive to their general welfare. Perfecting a polity is a perpetual work in progress. And, we still have a lot of work to do.
Consider examples from the realms of representative government; constitutional reform; individual freedoms; the regulation of commerce; strengthening consumer protection; repairing a broken legal system; practicing a foreign policy that truly reflects our shared values; and addressing cultural conundrums like those governing our approach to minority communities.
See “The Polity and Us” at https://artsforum.ca/ideas/regional-perspectives
On February 9, 2021
© By John Arkelian
How we see, understand, and interact with the world says a great deal about us – as individuals and as nations. In the realm of political affairs, principle has long taken a distant backseat to power politics. The term of art for that approach is “realpolitik.” It predicates policy and action based on practical objectives rather than abstract principles. Its adherents scoff at treating ideals as the basis for national policy, in the domestic or foreign sphere, and instead claim a dubious pride in dealing with the world as it actually is, rather than as it ought to be. In truth, realpolitik is the dominant organizing principle for human political affairs. But, must it ever be so?
The answer is no. There is another way, a way based upon shared moral responsibility and the eminently practical consideration that no man is free unless and until all men are free. Václav Havel, Czechoslovakia’s playwright and dissident turned first post-communist president, said it best: “One can imagine a foreign policy… that demonstrably does not merely pursue the selfish interests of a country, but instead displays a feeling of common responsibility for the fate of all human society, its freedom, its plurality, and its life in peace.” Accepting a shared moral responsibility for the world means rejecting the notion that one nation (or group of nations) can be free, prosperous, and secure while others are deprived of those secular blessings.
See “Making Room for Moral Responsibility” at: https://artsforum.ca/ideas/the-wide-world
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On September 14, 2020
© By John Arkelian
Politics and the law don’t mix. In the Free World, the law preserves and enlarges our freedom by guaranteeing equal protection to all.
 Keeping a firm grip on the electorate – copyright © 2020 by Linda Arkelian Rich or poor, powerful or meek, mainstream or minority, we are all equal before the law. An inviolable, impartial guardian, the law must stand above partisanship, favoritism, and calculations of either political or private advantage. When politics and law collide, the rule of law is threatened and the chief guarantor of our freedom is undermined. Yet, precisely such headlong collisions – between a self-serving ‘irresistible force’ and our protective ‘immoveable object’ – have been coming fast and furious in the past couple of years. Consider the alarming recent examples from Canada and the United States discussed in “When Politics and Law Collide” at: https://artsforum.ca/ideas/regional-perspectives
On July 13, 2020
© By John Arkelian
“The United States of America was founded on great ideals – of liberal democracy, individual liberty, equality before the law,
 Image courtesy of VectorStock © 2020 inalienable human rights, and governance that is truly of, by, and for the people. In practice, however, those great founding principles have sometimes been neglected, tarnished, unduly compromised, and even actively undermined by aims and actions that are unworthy of the Great Republic. The narrow, selfish interests of the few too often trump the common welfare of the many; when money taints politics, profit outranks principle. Core human rights are sacrificed on the unholy altar of an illusory security from those who would harm us. Wretched tyrannies are embraced as ‘allies’ when we should regard them as repugnant foes of freedom….
Democrat and Republican. How different are they, really? Both seem to neglect the 99% in favor of the narrow interests of one-percenters. Maybe they are just a good-cop, bad-cop tag team, an unholy pairing that gives us the illusion of choice, when, beneath the rhetorical ‘differences,’ each of those parties is one-half of a single Janus-faced party of the status quo…
An idealist, by contrast, is one who cherishes all high, noble principles (rather than a narrow ideology), one who dares to dream of what has never been and to ask, “Why not?” 2020 is a presidential election year in the United States. If there ever was a time to ask, ‘Why not?’ and ‘What if?’ this is it. If an idealist were president, he (or she) would be guided in all things by the great ideals upon which the nation (and indeed, the Free World) was founded…”
Wonder what idealism in practice might mean for American foreign and domestic policy? Read our essay “If An Idealist Ran the White House” at: https://artsforum.ca/ideas/the-wide-world
Copyright © 2020 by John Arkelian.
Image courtesy of VectorStock at: https://www.vectorstock.com/
On June 15, 2020
© By John Arkelian
© Illustration by Linda Arkelian
A little plague goes a very long way. Our accustomed routines
 Tutu much social distancing – © 2020 by Linda Arkelian suddenly stopped in their tracks in mid-March 2020, with a daily dose of isolation taking the unwelcome place of the lives we led before. To make matters far worse, it’s all for a term of unknown duration. The world feels like it has been turned upside-down and inside-out. We are awash in an unpalatable blend of anxiety and tedium, which can, if we let it, sap life of its meaning, purpose, and hope. But let it, we shall not! Even in isolation, there’s no end to what human ingenuity can devise for our mutual edification and entertainment. Spirits need lifting, and nothing serves that purpose better than the myriad of online creations designed to uplift and inspire and ignite our unquenchable curiosity. International film festivals, opera broadcasts, virtual tours of wondrous places, Shakespeare’s timeless plays, religious services, choirs, orchestras, and a tidal wave of creative output have put a virtual world of art and letters, science, nature, travel, faith, and laughter at our disposal.
There already is an antidote to the non-stop onslaught of worrying news. It comes in the form of shining moments of inspiration, like: (i) the public applause from residential buildings overlooking a hospital in Spain; (ii) the joyful singing from apartments facing a nighttime street in Siena, Italy, as a lone voice is spontaneously joined by many others (human and canine alike); (iii) the Ndlovu Youth Choir from South Africa singing an upbeat message about beating the virus; (iv) a Finnish student choir singing a heartfelt “Song of the Fearless,” and (v) an opera tenor in Italy doing an impassioned rendition of Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” from his apartment balcony. Let’s take to heart its determined and dauntless credo of “Vincerò!” (“I shall overcome!”).
For one recent example of a light shining in the gloom, see the three-minute improvisational dance video “Lost in the Right Direction” reviewed in our Dance section at:
https://artsforum.ca/other-media/dance-opera
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