Month: January 2017

The Circus is not Coming to Town

Well, this is sad.

After 146 years, the curtain is coming down on “The Greatest Show on Earth.” The owner of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus told The Associated Press that the show will close forever in May.

The iconic American spectacle was felled by a variety of factors, company executives say. Declining attendance combined with high operating costs, along with changing public tastes and prolonged battles with animal rights groups all contributed to its demise.

“There isn’t any one thing,” said Kenneth Feld, chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment. “This has been a very difficult decision for me and for the entire family.”

The company broke the news to circus employees Saturday night after shows in Orlando and Miami.

Ringling Bros. has two touring circuses this season and will perform 30 shows between now and May. Major stops include Atlanta, Washington, Philadelphia, Boston and Brooklyn. The final shows will be in Providence, Rhode Island, on May 7 and in Uniondale, New York, at the Nassau County Coliseum on May 21.

To be honest, it is surprising Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus has lasted this long. There are so many entertainment options that are cheaper or more accessible and the circus really seems to be a  relic of a past time, when people were perhaps more easily entertained, or at least had longer attention spans. I gather Ringling Bros. had been in decline for some time, but the final blow seems to be the decision to end the elephant acts prompted by ongoing litigation from animal rights activists.

Feld and his daughter Juliette Feld, who is the company’s chief operating officer, acknowledged another reality that led to the closing, and it was the one thing that initially drew millions to the show: the animals. Ringling has been targeted by activists who say forcing animals to perform is cruel and unnecessary.

PETA is celebrating.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a longtime opponent of the circus, wasted no time in claiming victory.

“After 36 years of PETA protests, which have awoken the world to the plight of animals in captivity, PETA heralds the end of what has been the saddest show on earth for wild animals, and asks all other animal circuses to follow suit, as this is a sign of changing times,” Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, wrote in a statement.

I cannot see any reason why the circus couldn’t have continued their elephant acts in a humane fashion or why there could not be some compromise made in which the wild animals could perform under carefully supervised conditions, allowing audiences to have the chance to see these magnificent creatures perform. I also wonder that the animal rights activists cannot see that in many cases performing animals are cared for better than they would be in the wild where they would be subject to disease and predators. The owners of an animal act have a financial incentive to keep their animals healthy. But PETA is not interested in compromise, the jobs lost, the missing chance for future generations to see the show, or even really about the welfare of the animals. They have their own agenda and are not about to let any such considerations to get in the way.

Thanks a lot PETA. You made the clowns sad.
Thanks a lot PETA. You made the clowns sad.

It seems to me that more and more in American politics and culture, people are less interested in any sort of compromise and more interested in forcing their viewpoints and demands on others. No one seems willing to meet the other side halfway and compromise is seen as giving in to the enemy or a tactic to weaken the opponent’s resolve. Maybe this is the result of a growing tendency towards Manichean thinking in our discourse. Differences in opinions  are not simply a reflection of different values and experiences between people of good will but as part of a cosmic battle between light and darkness. If you are on the side of the angels, than it stands to reason that your opponents must be on the side of the devils. If your candidate is a lightworker than anyone who opposes him must be on the side of darkness and his candidate must be Hitler. Naturally one does not compromise when fighting the Devil. One can only oppose him.

In the meantime, if you want to see the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus, you had better get the tickets right now.

 

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That Cartoon from the New Yorker

This cartoon from The New Yorker has been making the rounds lately.

170109_a20630-1000“These smug pilots have lost touch with regular passengers like us. Who thinks I should fly the plane?”

What, exactly, is the cartoonist trying to say here? That we should not be led by democratically elected leaders but by some body of elites or experts especially trained in government, perhaps with some sort of license or certification, just like a pilot? That only persons specially vetted should be permitted to hold public office? That this body of certified leaders ought not to be accountable to the people they lead since they are not sufficiently acquainted with the nuances of government? Is the only role of the passengers simply to sit down and shut up while the pilot flies the plane? Do they have no recourse if the pilot is manifestly incompetent or flies the plane to a destination contrary to their wishes?

I think the cartoonist has it backwards. The passengers do not work for the pilot. The pilot works for the passengers. The passengers are the ones who decide where the plane is going. They are the ones who buy the tickets from the airline for the plane that will take them where they want to go. The pilot cannot decide, on his own, what the plane’s destination will be. If a pilot decides that he knows better than the passengers where they ought to go, or if the pilot shows that he is not capable of properly flying the plane, than the passengers have good reason to complain to the  airline and demand a refund of the price of their ticket. If an airline continually employs incompetent pilots who ignore their duties to the passengers, that airline will lose customers and eventually go out of business.

If we apply this analogy to the country, it is we the passengers who decide in what direction we want the country to, not some self-proclaimed elites. We elect people to public office so that they will work for us by taking the country in the direction we want. We do not elect them to office to tell us where to go or how we should live our lives. It may be, as the cartoonist suggests that we have chosen poorly in electing Donald Trump as our next president, but it is still our choice to make. As a very wise man said some two hundred years ago:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

 

Recently, it seems that we have been electing pilots who do not want to listen to us, the passengers. They seem to have the idea that it is their job to take the airplane where they want it to go on the basis that they know better than the rest of us. We have been trying to get the pilots to listen to us , with mixed results. Now, we have elected a new pilot from a very different background. This new pilot has not been to flight school, as we may put his lack of experience in electoral politics, but perhaps he will be more inclined to remember his proper job. Perhaps the other pilots may learn from this last election and start to listen to us again. If not, we may have to switch airlines, or exercise our right to,”alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government”. We may hope that it doesn’t come to that, but it is up to those we elect to represent us to start doing what we tell them to do.

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Noble Titles for Sale

Have you ever wanted to be a count or a baron? Do you think having a noble title will make your life more meaningful? If so, you may be in luck. In the old days, you either had to be born into the right family to get a title, or you could do the king a huge favor and he might reward you by making you a duke or a baron. Nowadays, however, it is possible to buy a noble title. For only a few thousand Euros, you too can be a member of the nobility. All you have to do is go over to the website; Noble Titles for Sale and pick the title you want.

Ostlichter LTA is a company that offers exclusive and high quality legal services and historical & genealogical research related to Feudal and Noble Titles in Continental Europe, mainly French, Italian and German. Privacy and Discretion are paramount to us.

Our company provides a high quality legal service, as all the legal matters pertaining to the purchase and transference of Noble and Feudal Titles are carried out by experienced continental European Solicitors well versed in European continental nobility law, procedures and complexities. We are able to offer a first rate service, very exclusive and of the highest quality.

Why would anyone want to buy a noble title?

There are many people who wish to acquire a feudal or nobility title. Titles may give you a sense of historical belonging, satisfy your vanity, or simply honour your ancestors, leave a beautiful inheritance to your descendants, or use it for business purposes.

They specialize in French, German, and Italian titles.

We are a private institution that specialises in the faultless legal and historical research, transfer and acquisition of ancient Italian Feudal & Noble Titles, mainly Italian Baronies, Marquisates, Duchies and Principalities.

We also work with French Baronies, French Feudal Baronies, French Titles of Count and Viscount, Marquisates and the truly rare and very much appreciated French-German Baronies and Counties from Alsace and Lorraine.

All our Noble and Feudal Titles are hereditary and all the transfers are handled by experienced European solicitors with the utmost respect to legality, complying with French and Italian Law.

You can get a barony for the low, low price of 7000 Euros. (I wonder how much that is in dollars.) The title of Count can cost 9000 or 10,000 Euros depending on whether you want to be a German or French count. You can be an Italian duke for only 15,000 Euros and even a prince for just 20,000 Euros. At these prices, I’m sure it won’t be long before all the good titles are snatched up, so you better hurry.

I notice countries that these titles come from, France, Germany, Italy are all presently republics in which the old noble titles no longer have any political or legal significance. There are no titles for sale from countries such as Britain or Spain that retain a monarchy, and presumably some vestige of the old peerage. In these modern republics, the use of noble titles have been abolished so any title like the Duke of Lyon or the Baron of Hanover (I’m making them up since it is too much trouble to research real titles). There are, no doubt, descendants of these noble families still around, just as there are still members of the Bourbon, Hohenzollern, and Hapsburg families still living. Nearly every country that has abolished their monarchy still has at least one descendant of their former royal family who would be king or emperor. There is nothing to stop the great grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany or the great-great-great grandson of Louis Philippe, the last king of France, from calling themselves king or emperor, but they cannot expect anyone else to take them very seriously.

So, why should someone pay thousands of Euros for something that has no real significance? What’s to stop me from calling myself the Duke of Bridgewater if I feel like it? Nothing, unless there is a real Duke of Bridgewater somewhere. I suppose that it might be considered identity theft if I referred to myself by a title known to be associated with another person. It doesn’t seem to be worth the expense and trouble though.

It is strange that for centuries it was taken for granted that a person who held a noble title or who belonged to a noble family had a hereditary right to rule over others, only to have the whole order swept away virtually over night by the doctrine that all men are created equal, and that government should be by the consent of the governed and not by a hereditary class. This revolution in government has been a great improvement, but I wonder if it is really permanent in the long term. These titles did not start out being hereditary. Duke derives from the Latin dux meaning simply leader (compare Mussolini’s title Il Duce), while Count is from the Latin comes or companion (of the Emperor). Baron may come from Old Frankish “warrior” and baro meant soldier or mercenary in Late Latin. I could go on but the point is that these titles were originally government posts appointed by the Roman Emperor. Over time they became linked with certain families and eventually became hereditary.

Perhaps something like that may happen again. Even in a longstanding republic like the United States. We have had our political dynasties, think of the Adamses, the Roosevelts, the Kennedys. Last year the expected frontrunners for the presidential election were the son and brother of presidents and the wife of a president and it seemed as though the presidency might become the prerogative of the Houses of Bush and Clinton. We managed to avoid that fate, but maybe someday the instinct for hereditary rule will become too strong to resist, even in America. Such titles as Governor or Senator may belong to certain families and be passed down from parent to child.

In the meantime, if you happen to want a noble title, you’ll just have to spend a few thousands Euros.

New Year’s Day

I have often felt that our calendar begins the New Year at a very bad time. New Year’s Day is only a week after Christmas so there is something of an anti-climax. The year begins in the dead of winter when days are still short and it is often cloudy, so the year begins at the most depressing time of the year. I think it would be better if the new year began at the end of one season and the beginning of another, preferably at the first day of spring, March 21. Beginning the year in the middle of a month might be awkward, so I would settle for either March 1 or April 1.

We start the new year on January 1, because our calendar, the Gregorian Calendar is ultimately based on the calendar used by the ancient Romans. Under the old Roman calendar, the new year began when the two consuls began their terms. This was on May 1 before 222 BC, March 15 from 222 BC until 153 BC, and then January 1. When Julius Caesar reformed the calendar, he kept January 1 as the first day of the year and we have been stuck with it ever since. Actually, during the Middle Ages, some countries in Europe did begin the year in spring.For example, England began the year on March 25. When the Gregorian Calendar was introduced and adopted throughout Europe, this regional diversity came to an end and everyone acknowledged January 1 as New Year’s Day, unfortunately.

Maybe I could start some sort of campaign to change the date of New Year’s. I could put up petitions on the Internet, lobby Congress, request the change from President Trump as a way to make America great again, maybe even appeal to Pope Francis. It all seems like an awful amount of work, though. Maybe I’ll wait until spring.

I hope everyone has a wonderful 2017.

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