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Response about existentialism
Recently Keith Dunson took writer Matt Kane to task in a letter to the Bangor Daily News for allegedly misusing the word “existential” in the latter’s July column criticizing Bezos and Branson for their “self-gratifying space-capades.” But I believe that Dunson himself distorts its meaning.
As used currently, the term refers to an impending or threatening event. It signifies no allusion to the philosophy of existentialism.
The philosopher Martin Heidegger and novelist/playwright Jean-Paul Sartre founded the school upon the principle of human freedom conceived in terms of human responsibility and authenticity. Since existence precedes essence, we create our own values in an inherently meaningless world. We must then make conscientious choices or evade them, in an act of bad faith, by obeying some imposed immoral obligation. Whether our death will be “fully understandable and unencumbered,” as Mr. Dunson asserts, is not guaranteed in striving to live conscientiously and humanely.
The concept is important: In World War II, the Austrian farmer Franz Jagerstatter was executed for refusing to serve in the genocidal Nazi war machine. Recently, fellow citizens believed lies about our recent election enough to assault the Capitol — followed by the deaths of several policemen — while believing they, the insurrectionists, were acting authentically.
Dave Witham
Bangor
Don’t lose focus on climate coverage
On Aug. 9, the BDN covered the UN’s climate report, and followed it with stories on action steps, urban heat islands and even an editorial cartoon. As a contributor to that UN report, as well as other assessments from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, I implore the BDN not to let the climate crisis leave the front pages.
UN Secretary General, António Guterres, calling August’s report “code red for humanity” was neither hyperbole nor opinion. This report is a nearly 4,000-page synthesis based on more than 14,000 scientific articles and nearly 75,000 comments from global experts. It took several years and 234 authors to write.
Last weekend, the country faced simultaneous disasters: the west continued to burn uncontrolled and Louisiana recorded one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit the U.S. mainland. Abroad, we watched a fortified Taliban regain control of Afghanistan, another catastrophe underpinned by environmental decimation. Unable to make a living due to severe drought, many farmers joined the Taliban in recent years just for a paycheck.
We do not need August’s IPCC report to confirm that fires and hurricanes are growing, or that climate stability is inherently linked to political stability. Yet it confirms all of this, and it confirms that our persistent inaction is a direct catalyst.
While Maine has made progress with the Climate Council and recent move to divest from fossil fuels, it must continue to lead. Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins need to endorse carbon pricing as part of budget reconciliation, and the Maine legislature needs to declare a climate emergency now. Dirigo.
Susana Hancock
Freeport
World’s Fair memories
The BDN’s great Emily Burnham wrote a page-one round up on the epoch of World’s Fairs and how Maine was showcased. The piece was imaginative and thorough. The 1964 World’s Fair attracted, she writes, “a great deal of criticism and was viewed in hindsight as a failure.”
I remember the concentration of world press in downtown Manhattan taking their cue from an up and coming comedian named Woody Allen who did a riff on how “square” the Fair was as part of his stand-up act. My guess is that few of the jaded New York writers actually visited the fair, or would admit to it. It just wasn’t cool in those days.
I was there that summer as a guide just out of college, and every day we had crowds — mostly families — enjoying themselves and queuing up to to see Disney’s talking Lincoln, take lunch at New York State Space Needle and stand in line for It’s a Small World at the Pepsi exhibit and Michelangelo’s Pieta on loan from the Vatican. Dinner at the Spanish Pavilion was the toughest reservation in town … even for a sophisticate like Woody Allen.
Tom Deegan
Orono
Correction: An earlier version of this article misidentified Susana Hancock.