Conversations With a Blockhead

               Conversations With A Blockhead

               It was a rainy morning in early September, the last throes of summer on Labor Day weekend. We had been to the gym earlier and were now holding “office hours” at our social office in front of Wegman’s on Sheridan Dr. in Amherst. Several people usually stop by and chat for a few minutes. Some we know from our visits here, others we know from the neighborhood or former political alliances.

            There is a good-sized immigrant population living nearby, sponsored philanthropically by the United Jewish Federation. This laudable organization is serious about rescuing Jewish refugees from many areas, particularly Eastern Europe and Russia. As these immigrants are newly arrived guests in our country, we usually try to greet them, in one of several languages, to show that Americans are both friendly by nature and welcoming to our new arrivals. From most, we elicit a big smile and get a returning pleasantry. 

         It is in this manner that we came to meet what I have uncharitably christened as “The Blockhead.” It started with exchanges in French, Russian and Spanish. The man is a Georgian by birth and had apparently lived in several countries. The greetings were friendly enough. Soon, the man took it upon himself to sit with us whenever we happened to be holding office hours. He is both erudite and conversationally friendly. Or, so he was until he started laying the Russian slanted propaganda on us.

          We tried to be polite and brush the hooey off until the doo doo got too deep. “Russia still owns Alaska you, know” He said. Citing a rota of paranoid fantasies that all favored the Russians. Upon further research, everything the man said was both in error and silly. Russia had indeed sold Alaska to America for $7.2 million dollars in 1867. The sale had been ratified by the Russian Foreign Minister and then by Czar Alexander II in 1867. The treaty was ratified by both the U.S. Senate and House in that year, something the blockhead claimed never happened. His claims that the “payment in gold had never arrived” were silly as well. Professors from the Moscow State University had researched the rumor fully and determined that the monies had indeed been received by Czar Alexander II and spent on the development of railroads in Russia. Still, the blockhead refused to acknowledge anything. This stubborn, turtle-shell mentality must be a function of modern political debate. And more egregiously, the man was becoming both rude and unpleasant in his insistence on these silly fantasies. Usually, guests in your home don’t spit in the soup and comment on how bad your house keeping is.

       Another claim the man made is that the United States had dropped the atomic bomb on Japan in WW II, with massive opposition from the U.S. Government. Now, he was really slinging the bull. The U.S. Military had advised then President Truman that the invasion of the home islands of Japan would cost the Americans well over 1,000,00 casualties. Repeated attempt to negotiate a surrender with Japan fell on deaf ears. After the Hiroshima bomb levelled the city, attempts were further made to negotiate a peace with the ruling Japanese military. They refused categorically. The Nagasaki bomb was dropped on that area because that city was primarily a huge military staging area. After that bomb erupted, the Japanese finally saw the wisdom of surrender. There were and are ethical and moral arguments against using atomic bombs in that war or any other, but the U.S did not do so cavalierly, as the blockhead suggested.

     A further claim that the Americans were ready to install a military base in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia also proved to be hooey. “Oh, yes, the deal is all signed and sealed for delivery “ he insisted. Maybe this guy was listening to the Russian version of Fox State News? In any case, his subtle disparagement of “all thing American” was getting on my nerves.

      Lastly, the man virtually sneered gleefully in disparaging the U.S. Navy. He claimed that the Russians have 14 ice breakers that can control the Arctic. The Americans he said have only one rickety old ice breakers that breaks down every four months. Further research validated some of his claim. The Russians do in fact have fourteen icebreakers, one of them nuclear powered. America has three and two are of older vintage.Congress has approved and appropriated money for three new, nuclear powered ice breakers, scheduled for launch in 2024. He also said the U.S. is silly to have all of those Air craft carriers and the expense entailed. "Russia has no world ambitions and doesn't need a fleet like this." At this point, we had had enough anti U.S propaganda and terminated the conversation.

     During this sneering diatribe, I was uncharacteristically trying to be polite, to a newly arrived visitor, but the blockhead had even worn out this extended social grace. I politely advised him of the error of his historical narrative, though I knew that it fell on the deaf ears of the arrogant and the committed. We exited, vowing to move our “social office” to another location, that the blockhead would not pass on his daily rounds. He can spread his paranoid fantasies to some others, who might not be as polite in listening to him as we had been. There are always many ways to look at a controversial issue. But arrogance of mien, insistence on facts not established and a sneering demeanor never encourages either meaningful discussion or a genuine understanding of various positions. In summary, talking to blockheads is a useless, aggravating waste of time and emotion.

     It seems to be hardest to argue with the converted, the cultists and the ideological blockheads that are slavish followers to a daily diet of slanted and paranoid fables, issued by one slanted media source or another. They see only the world that is proffered to them by people with an agenda of their own. No wonder nothing ever gets done in Washington or indeed internationally.

                                             -30-

                                       (881 words)

                                  Joseph Xavier Martin