Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Democracy dies in darkness, the newspaper motto tells us.
I read today that The Kremlin is trying to keep secret its invasion of nearby Ukraine, the second largest country in Europe (with Russia being the largest). Imagine having such control over the media that one could keep such a secret from 150 million people in Russia. An exception would be the 150,000 Russians, most of them young men around the age of my UC Davis students, who make up the invading troops. When Ukrainians tell them to go home, the invaders will likely understand them, for 30% of Ukrainians speak Russian.
For the one percent of newsletter readers who speak Russian, that would be иди домой! For the record, Microsoft Word feels that I spelled both those words incorrectly.
Outside of Putin and Trump, I don’t know of any other notable people in the world who support the invasion of Ukraine that was launched this week. I do know that more and more people are learning the name of the increasingly notable Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, early favorite for the 2022 Time Person of the Year. Today Zelensky walks the streets of Kyiv with everyday militia members, giving them hope. The Los Angeles Times today asked if Zelensky is Ukraine’s George Washington. One imagines future generations will see his likeness not only on postage stamps, but represented in statues and murals in Ukraine, and perhaps elsewhere. I hope he writes a memoir at the end of a long life.
Meanwhile, Americans are doom-scrolling via social media, typically for more than two hours a day (some of our scrolling is less troubled), and the malaise they feel, encounter, or promulgate reflects growing cynicism about political discourse, the effectiveness of government to solve problems, or even facts themselves.
Gurwinder Bhogal provides some context for the sort of pessimism we sometimes feel in his 2019 article “How Progress Blinds People to Progress.” Bhogal says this:
“The Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker has noted that there’s a tendency for people to become selectively blind to social progress, particularly in Western nations. Despite the West (and the world) making huge advances across almost all major metrics, from crime to poverty, many believe the world has made no progress, or is getting worse.
Pinker blames this phenomenon largely on what the media chooses to report. This affects judgement by exploiting two quirks of the human mind: the availability heuristic, which causes people to overestimate the explanatory power of recently received or frequently repeated information, and the negativity bias, which causes people to overweight pessimistic news stories.”
Even I succumb to negativity bias sometimes, prompting me to take a break from the news to meditate in the park, play a game of chess with a friend, or go for a long walk on Davis greenbelts. When I return to my computer, I will occasionally discover that someone has sent me some encouraging news, such as the fact that today the celebrity actors Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are personally matching donations of up to a million dollars to the UN Refugee Agency that is supporting those fleeing a needless war in Ukraine.
While sometimes big-name celebrities will spend part of their Hollywood and Vancouver fortunes on desperate people being bombed 6,000 miles from California, more often we find our heroes locally. Perhaps not a Washington or Churchill, but our own Robb Davis once gave a stirring speech in Central Park at a vigil following senseless mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Then-Mayor Davis said that to confront gun violence and homophobia, we need to start in our own communities by reaching out to the people who need our help.
Less prominent heroes right here on the cul-de-sac where I live in South Davis offered to bring my family food or other needed supplies when they heard that one of us is ill with that oft-discussed malady that all of us are so careful not to contract. I told him that we don’t need help yet, but if all the adults in our home fall ill, someone will have to fetch us some groceries. He volunteered.
Speaking of the good work that the UN does, upon hearing my neighbor Jim’s offer of help, I immediately thought of something UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Audrey Hepburn once said: “As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands — one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” We live in a time when too much is expected from those brave and forthright souls who volunteer, whether in the cities of Ukraine or the streets of Davis, but I hope that spirit of community, democracy, and heroism will continue long after this era of war and sickness is behind us.
I have already posted this week’s Pub Quiz on Patreon. Subscribe to check it out. This week’s Pub Quiz includes questions on topics raised above, as well as the following: The media, true colors, vitamin A, men in tights, trivial causes of important events, Super Bowl appearances, alternatives to escape, political prisoners, invertebrates, Muppets, olives, people with unusual names, California places, valley dividers, cooling butterfat, longbows, musical ensembles, dukes, things that knock, physicists, lab activities, MVP, interior feelings, current events, and Shakespeare. If you subscribe to the Pub Quiz, I will feel less isolated while I quarantine!
Thanks, and be well.
Dr. Andy
P.S. Here are three questions from last week’s Pub Quiz:
- Film Directors. Who directed the films Play Misty for Me (1971), Firefox (1982), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), and Invictus (2009)?
- Islands. Because of their location, what islands have historically been considered a link between the four continents of Africa, North America, South America, and Europe?
- Pop Culture – Music. Where does American musician Brendon Urie panic?
P.S. Poetry Night is Thursday night at 7: The feature will be Michael Mlekoday with Spencer Rico and singer Gabby Battista as openers.