"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?"
Robert Browning "Andrea del Sarto"
Or what's a heaven for?"
Robert Browning "Andrea del Sarto"
16
Interestingly one of my favourite philosophers addressed this in "In Defense of Lost Causes" by Slavoj Zizek {"The most dangerous philosopher in the West,"}.
"...crazy, tasteless even, as it may sound, the problem with Hitler was that he was not violent enough, that his violence was not 'essential' enough..."
Unlike many who bemoan their lost causes, he identifies action to take - while we may not agree with his prescription, at least it is good action-oriented philosophy - which is sadly so rare today.
"...crazy, tasteless even, as it may sound, the problem with Hitler was that he was not violent enough, that his violence was not 'essential' enough..."
Unlike many who bemoan their lost causes, he identifies action to take - while we may not agree with his prescription, at least it is good action-oriented philosophy - which is sadly so rare today.
4
I've got a lost cause -- to convince people that the computing part of our brain is more often the handmaiden to, rather than the master of, the emotive/instinctive part of our brain.
As but one example of the unfortunate consequences of our failure to better assess our reactions to events, ideas and other people is that our very powerful, very primal fear instinct is not properly harnessed by our reasoning ability. Instead, we use our reasoning ability to figure out how to achieve the only antidote to fear --- power.
Hence a world where making a sacrifice or taking a risk is rare, a world where every technological advance is weaponized and one where trillions are spent on wars and prisons and police and spooks and "defense" and ....
And a world where a fear-mongering moron can become the leader of the most powerful nation ever to inhabit this planet.
Need more convincing?
As but one example of the unfortunate consequences of our failure to better assess our reactions to events, ideas and other people is that our very powerful, very primal fear instinct is not properly harnessed by our reasoning ability. Instead, we use our reasoning ability to figure out how to achieve the only antidote to fear --- power.
Hence a world where making a sacrifice or taking a risk is rare, a world where every technological advance is weaponized and one where trillions are spent on wars and prisons and police and spooks and "defense" and ....
And a world where a fear-mongering moron can become the leader of the most powerful nation ever to inhabit this planet.
Need more convincing?
15
On this day of Remembrance, Warriors, stay in the saddle and continue tilting at windmills in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan.
6
Pointing out the fault logic in the following logic of the self-made martyr:
Even though people are mad at me and you lose, you may be right...
Therefore, because people are mad at me and I'm losing I know I'm right.
Even though people are mad at me and you lose, you may be right...
Therefore, because people are mad at me and I'm losing I know I'm right.
1
In 1998, the U. S. Supreme Court, on a 5-justice conservative vote, over the vigorous objections of a 4-justice dissent, overruled the finding of the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (en banc) that Thomas Thompson had received “a fundamentally unfair trial,” and reinstated the state’s death penalty order.
Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in which he concluded that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had abused its judicial discretion in overturning the judgment of its own three-justice panel by not adhering to the objects of the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) in recalling its mandate: "Although the terms of AEDPA do not govern this case, a court of appeals must exercise its discretion in a manner consistent with the objects of the statute."
Justice Souter wrote in the 4-justice dissent: "Whatever policy the Court is pursuing, it is not the policy of AEDPA. Nor is any other justification apparent." Calderon v. Thomspons, 118 S.Ct. 1489 (1998).
Thomas Thompson, an innocent man, was executed on July 14, 1998, at San Quentin State Prison in California, as a result of a constitutionally improper and erroneous 5-4 vote of the United States Supreme Court . . . in my opinion.
Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in which he concluded that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had abused its judicial discretion in overturning the judgment of its own three-justice panel by not adhering to the objects of the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) in recalling its mandate: "Although the terms of AEDPA do not govern this case, a court of appeals must exercise its discretion in a manner consistent with the objects of the statute."
Justice Souter wrote in the 4-justice dissent: "Whatever policy the Court is pursuing, it is not the policy of AEDPA. Nor is any other justification apparent." Calderon v. Thomspons, 118 S.Ct. 1489 (1998).
Thomas Thompson, an innocent man, was executed on July 14, 1998, at San Quentin State Prison in California, as a result of a constitutionally improper and erroneous 5-4 vote of the United States Supreme Court . . . in my opinion.
15
My lost cause us simply kindness for ourselves, each other, the earth and the other creatures that live on it.
20
I see nothing praiseworthy in tilting at windmills. Frankly, it is pathetic, especially when there are so many actual opportunities to improve the world. Americans live in an era of unparalleled narcissism, whether the windmilling left or the no-nothing right.
The tragedy is that the no-nothings vote in great numbers and the windmillers don't do their part to prevent national disaster, AKA Trump.
Just vote.
The tragedy is that the no-nothings vote in great numbers and the windmillers don't do their part to prevent national disaster, AKA Trump.
Just vote.
11
A necessary and valuable column, especially now that we live in Trumpistan. I have saved it for myself and am sending it to all my friends.
9
Lost cause. Like many, it's bringing sensibility to the senseless machinations of American government. At first I thought it impossible as so many Americans have been drinking the socialist kool-aide for so long there could never be enough voters who wish to straighten things out. But I was wrong. Granted President Trump is a very poor start. As bad as he is, he's still better than the alternatives available last election. Hopefully this will bring even more sensible candidates to the forefront as sensible alternatives.
2
To me, the ultimate lost cause is the power of Twitter over our popular culture. What was primarily supposed to be an unfiltered medium for entertainment is now the sole source of news for so many people. There is no analysis and half of the information being circulated is dangerously false; yet, we do nothing. People can no longer discern fact from fiction because we - as a society - have spurned our research institutions in favor of this baseless medium. It kills me to watch newspapers and journalists suffer because of this. I can see how Twitter has corrupted the minds of my generation. It breeds apathy and ignorance. It may be Quixotic, but I refuse to support or join twitter. Especially during a time when the truth is at a premium and demagogues are using this medium to their advantage.
21
My lost cause is to improve public transportation for everyone by requiring all public officials to use it.
27
My all consuming lost cause is the removal of Donald Trump from office.
I will not stop trying though, because the tragedy that is his presidency affects all my other lost causes.
I need to resist to exist.
I bet Quixote felt that way too.
I will not stop trying though, because the tragedy that is his presidency affects all my other lost causes.
I need to resist to exist.
I bet Quixote felt that way too.
26
Thanks. Uplifting article for those of us who still believe in the Saint of La Mancha.
9
Here's my lost cause: vegetarianism for all humans. The vegetarian diet is healthier for people than a meat-based diet. Meat production takes an appalling toll on the environment. And, it's hideously cruel to animals. (If your brain isn't too compartmentalized, spend some time checking out videos of conditions for animals in factory farms and slaughterhouses.) In an age when we have so may food choices and don't need to kill animals--animals that want to live and be free and comfortable every bit as much as do we--then why do so? Why kill them when you don't need to? Their lives are in no way less important than yours. Finally, the next epidemic may well come out of the factory farming system (it's unhealthy on every level) and kill us all off.
Of course, I am tilting at windmills. People value a few seconds' happiness through their tastebuds far more than they value those things i mention, above. But, if only... Just think of what a wonderful world that could be!
Down with all forms of cruelty, including meat consumption.
Of course, I am tilting at windmills. People value a few seconds' happiness through their tastebuds far more than they value those things i mention, above. But, if only... Just think of what a wonderful world that could be!
Down with all forms of cruelty, including meat consumption.
17
The whistleblower generally fights for a lost cause. She suffers retaliation and, often, termination. She seldom wins fair compensation for her suffering, the alleged wrong is seldom corrected, and the alleged wrongdoer is seldom punished. Yet it would be unbearable to live in a world without those willing to call out what they believe is wrong. Even when our perceptions of wrongdoing are inaccurate, our motives are suspect and our tactics are flawed, steadfast silence would be a worse form of lunacy.
17
I have no praise for lost causes. If you want the tragic sense of life, consider the two men killed on that train in Portland, standing up for the young women being assaulted by a racist fanatic. We have sympathy for Don Quixote and similar literary figures because they illustrate how courage and a good heart are not always enough to prevail. Yet we express our admiration, because collectively we would want someone to step forward to defend us, and for us to do the right thing ourselves, if fate should force it upon us.
I do not think that those two brave men gave their lives for a lost cause. Nor will I let my sadness blind me to the reality of what I must do in my own simple and unheroic life, bearing in mind Goethe's very wise aphorism that nothing is lost until it has been abandoned.
I do not think that those two brave men gave their lives for a lost cause. Nor will I let my sadness blind me to the reality of what I must do in my own simple and unheroic life, bearing in mind Goethe's very wise aphorism that nothing is lost until it has been abandoned.
66
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
George Bernard Shaw. Maxims for Revolutionists (1903)
George Bernard Shaw. Maxims for Revolutionists (1903)
36
In a PhD program at Indiana University, I stood up against bigoted and abusive treatment of disfavored students. As punishment, administrators ordered me not to speak to my classmates outside of the classroom. I stood up for this cause in the university's grievance system. As punishment, administrators terminated me. I appealed that to the U.S. Department of Education. That appeal remains undecided, eight years later.
I started over in a PhD program at the University of Arkansas. Administrators called me in for consultation after I gave my students a type of exam question they had not seen before. (The question allowed students to obtain the answer from anyone on Earth, with no limitations, as long as they gave credit to the source. Instead of simply answering the question, several students complained to the dean.) Later, administrators removed me, as instructor, when I followed the campus ethics officer's advice to report students caught cheating on an exam. Administrators finally terminated me after discovering that I had blogged the Indiana experience.
I continue to advocate, against the system, on behalf of actual education within so-called higher education.
I started over in a PhD program at the University of Arkansas. Administrators called me in for consultation after I gave my students a type of exam question they had not seen before. (The question allowed students to obtain the answer from anyone on Earth, with no limitations, as long as they gave credit to the source. Instead of simply answering the question, several students complained to the dean.) Later, administrators removed me, as instructor, when I followed the campus ethics officer's advice to report students caught cheating on an exam. Administrators finally terminated me after discovering that I had blogged the Indiana experience.
I continue to advocate, against the system, on behalf of actual education within so-called higher education.
17
I sued a major company for x amount of dollars in small claims court and won.
I went in blind and ignorantly and discovered it can be done, even to my own surprise. So go at those corporate windmills if you've been wronged. It can be done and yes, you CAN fight city hall too. Don't be afraid of them, do not.
I went in blind and ignorantly and discovered it can be done, even to my own surprise. So go at those corporate windmills if you've been wronged. It can be done and yes, you CAN fight city hall too. Don't be afraid of them, do not.
17
There's an American artistic analogue to Don Quixote. His name is Jefferson Smith in Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." He talks about how the only causes worth fighting for are the lost ones, the ones no one else, no one in their right mind, is foolish or idealistic enough to defend, and how that is the reason they are the ones that most need defending. I know it's just a silly, old fashioned Hollywood movie, and that since I am a college professor, I should have higher-toned, more high-culture comparisons to draw from, but I have to confess that in my own university, where I have been fighting years of losing battles to defend student freedom of speech and faculty freedom to conduct research and offer courses free from administrative censorship, free from control by the “thought police” (yes, as recent events demonstrate, they have enormous power in the American university, not only over the minds of students but even more dangerously, in my view, over the minds of frightened and timid university administrators who spend their days worrying about the effects of controversial speakers, course offerings, and faculty research and publication on admissions and alumni giving), and have experienced a range of bureaucratic punishments for taking the stand I have, I have often taken heart from what I remember of Jimmy Stewart’s cracked voice and sagging body as he sustains his one-man filibuster in Capra’s film. Capra’s work seems a little less corny the older I get.
15
In my new book, "Move Fast and Break Things" I make the argument that the notion of privacy is not a lost cause. The fact that Facebook is testing ads that reach young people when they are feeling emotionally vulnerable, tells us that the techno-determinists will not stop until they insert a chip in all our brains. I may be tilting at windmills, but I cannot believe that Surveillance Capitalism will triumph.
13
The reason people fight for "lost causes" is that they aren't lost. We have to disabuse ourselves from a nostalgia that masks the necessity of the status quo to reinforce its claims over and over again.
14
On March 10th the families of St Helen's Catholic School were told that the school would be closing due to a 8 plus year old debt being called in totaling $580,000. The money needed to be paid by May 31st 11 and 1/2 weeks away. As private Catholic schools go St. Helen's is one of the poorest our families are working class blue collar folks and our school was sustained through fundraising and tuition. With no help from the Diocese we persevered we had fundraisers every weekend, sold tamales, had a car show, karaoke night, paint night, A Fiesta night, and even our children decided they were going to help out and made bracelets, key chains, and necklaces to sell. Some of the children went door to door asking for donations and made origami animals to sell. Our community came out and participated in the fund raising while supporting us through prayers & outpourings of encouragement & love. TV news stations and reporters kept us in the news and cheered us on. By May 25th we raised over $330,000 but we were still short and when we thought we weren't gonna meet our goal, 2 very kind and very generous God sent angels/donors step up and bless us with $250,000! When we felt like giving up the Father would provide us with courage and determination. We tilted against that windmill, and with the Father's help we won! Glory to God in the highest
P.S. we now have set up a foundation, have financial advisors, grant writers, and other steps set up so that this will never happen again
P.S. we now have set up a foundation, have financial advisors, grant writers, and other steps set up so that this will never happen again
11
Our 'lost cause': The fight to return Rivington House, former nursing home for those with AIDS. Many good outcomes later, we fight on. Great article similar to Vaclav Havel's thought: "Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out."
4
The quixotic dream of defeating the powerful Clinton machine was accomplished.
Although the establishment powers still resist the election of the President, and despite the fact that money and power remain in the opposition, despite the fact that the media of the powerful resist, small gains continue to be made.
No one believed it was possible for Trump to be elected, and yet he was. The battle is not over, as the money on both the Republican and Democrat sides would love to override the will of the people and remove him, there may yet remain sufficient democracy in the US for him to remain in office.
Although the establishment powers still resist the election of the President, and despite the fact that money and power remain in the opposition, despite the fact that the media of the powerful resist, small gains continue to be made.
No one believed it was possible for Trump to be elected, and yet he was. The battle is not over, as the money on both the Republican and Democrat sides would love to override the will of the people and remove him, there may yet remain sufficient democracy in the US for him to remain in office.
"In Praise of Lost Causes" appeared only days after the Times Magazine published the article "Jared Kushner’s Other Real Estate Empire". The latter is surely a case of the former: low income tenants in Baltimore being harassed by a Kushner real estate behemoth and its legal henchmen. The Baltimore tenants could use Quixote now.
23
One of the last and bravest things Unamuno did before he died of a broken heart was to denounce Franco's uprising against the Republican government of Spain in 1936 and defy a deranged Fascist general who was shouting "Long Live Death!"
16
My lost cause is the battle against Amazon's ads on Breitbart. Each time I read or hear mention of a purchase or sale of a product on Amazon I ask if it's really necessary to do business with a company which financially supports these modern day Nazis. I also tag Amazon regularly on FB and Twitter every time I buy something from another source. I'm tilting at windmills, but it's the right thing to do.
31
Delightful read, thank you.
6
If we are fierce in our resistance, we will yet prevail. Do not let the voters in Montana deter you.
35
You are right to publish that optimism on this site. Hang in there.
3
Ask the United Daughters of the Confederacy or the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
2
Only the pure-blooded Anglo Saxon descendants of the Scottish slavemasters (Master Jackson of Mississippi) and the Irish Protestant slave drivers & traders (Roswell King of Georgia) are allowed to join those organizations.
Even if they now claim to allow members with visible West African heritage, I doubt they would be comfortable hearing the oral history that is still preserved by the black descendants about the vile activities their Confederate heros committed long after the war.
The sexual physical, and economic abuse against their Anglo-African household help ( who were often the master's black cousins or his wife's black siblings) continued as if no war against slavery had been won.
The black Sons of the Confederate men---- including masters, paddyrollers and drivers who ran the slave industry & breeding farms---- far outnumber the pure-Anglo descendants.
It is said by black Southern elders, that most white men of the middle class and the aristocracy in the South, until the Civil RightsEra, had a first-born child that was black.
All across the former Slave States, the pure Anglo descendants still hold all the economic and political power given to them by their Master ancestor, but their black family side holds the truth.
How can you tell who is a Southern descendant of a Confed master or general? By last name. Not by race.
Even if they now claim to allow members with visible West African heritage, I doubt they would be comfortable hearing the oral history that is still preserved by the black descendants about the vile activities their Confederate heros committed long after the war.
The sexual physical, and economic abuse against their Anglo-African household help ( who were often the master's black cousins or his wife's black siblings) continued as if no war against slavery had been won.
The black Sons of the Confederate men---- including masters, paddyrollers and drivers who ran the slave industry & breeding farms---- far outnumber the pure-Anglo descendants.
It is said by black Southern elders, that most white men of the middle class and the aristocracy in the South, until the Civil RightsEra, had a first-born child that was black.
All across the former Slave States, the pure Anglo descendants still hold all the economic and political power given to them by their Master ancestor, but their black family side holds the truth.
How can you tell who is a Southern descendant of a Confed master or general? By last name. Not by race.
5
In college I read selections from the 8 volume Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression published right after the war. One selection told the story of a stridently anti-Nazi Catholic parish priest in Bavaria. He was beaten up by the local thugs - this right after the Nazi's took power - and forced to flee for his life. He took refuge in the home of a Bishop - of Rothenburg I believe. The Bishop's palace was subsequently surrounded by Nazi thugs demanding that the priest be surrendered and tried to set fire to the house. It didn't end well for the priest.
His refusal to be complicit in Nazi crimes from the beginning is no where memorialized. His identity is lost to history and he left behind no stirring words to become today's cliches. But his hopeless cause lived on in the recollection of those who witnessed his actions. It informed their views and their own actions and today Germany is a very different place than it was in 1933. It is not for my own posthumous glorification that I tilt at windmills. Who knows how my own hopeless acts of integrity and courage will leaven a world yet to come.
His refusal to be complicit in Nazi crimes from the beginning is no where memorialized. His identity is lost to history and he left behind no stirring words to become today's cliches. But his hopeless cause lived on in the recollection of those who witnessed his actions. It informed their views and their own actions and today Germany is a very different place than it was in 1933. It is not for my own posthumous glorification that I tilt at windmills. Who knows how my own hopeless acts of integrity and courage will leaven a world yet to come.
59
well, of course, in the broadest sense, life itself is a losing battle, we all know it's conclusion, though some billions press for a glorious afterlife of milk and honey. what concerns me most about the "happy tilter" school of bravery, is that it is precisely this that most extremists, be they disillusioned white folk, disenfranchised muslim youth of the world or the happy hoards of christians coming to save the "poor wretches" of china from eternal damnation. these happy tilters, most with "god on their side," are determined to fight their "good fight," in the face of more humble respect for a quieter, gentler, global survival. it is precisely this kind of "determination" that is fueling mankind's current race to destroy itself as handily as it can. let's ask the tilters to respect the golden rule, lay down their lances and invest in wind power . . . please.
14
My lost cause is America under Republican rule for the past 50 years. I will continue to fight and protest against this wholly immoral cabal in hopes of revealing its ugliness for all our fellows to see.
57
Absolutely! Ditto. Same here.
3
"Lunacy" is protective. We keep it as long as we need it.
1
Good piece--
See Emily Dickinson's pithy and apt poem "Much madness is Divinest Sense/To a Discerning Eye..." -- Or, Emerson's "Self Reliance."
See Emily Dickinson's pithy and apt poem "Much madness is Divinest Sense/To a Discerning Eye..." -- Or, Emerson's "Self Reliance."
12
You know this is true by looking at the past. So many causes that seemed lost to start with, like South American independence from Spain. I am trans because people before me transitioned, facing mockery and derision. How ridiculous, to say a man is female! Yet we do, and are far happier for it. Britain has a National Health Service, and sooner or later Americans will realise that if society supports everyone's health care, everyone benefits. Ridiculous? Will you follow where Europe and Canada have led?
12
Language. At least the American language.
Half a century ago, when the baby-boomers became self-conscious about their privilege, they became similarly self-conscious about their language. Articulate speech became an embarrassing class giveaway -- not that you were upper-class, which almost nobody was, but that you were middle-class, that your scruffiness and your twangy singing were phony.
Then began the flight from the subjunctive and from the present perfect and past perfect tenses. People who were perfectly capable of tossing off "If I'd known you were coming I'd have baked a cake" started running into a force field when they approached that kind of sentence. Before long, forms like "If I knew" were doing double duty for "If I knew [but I don't know]" and "If I'd known [but I didn't know]". Then "I already ate" stepped out of the cultural background and slapped "I've already eaten" aside as if it were the prime minister of Montenegro.
American English is well on the way to becoming a language of grammatical primary colors. Not only shades of meaning but whole meanings are going to be inaccessible or require tedious negotiation.
Trying to reverse this trend is like resisting the invasion of the body-snatchers. Still I resist. When you find me popping up in front of your windshield on these comments sections, wild-eyed and sleep-deprived, please understand that it's not only politics that's driving me crazy.
http://thefamilyproperty.blogspot.jp/
Half a century ago, when the baby-boomers became self-conscious about their privilege, they became similarly self-conscious about their language. Articulate speech became an embarrassing class giveaway -- not that you were upper-class, which almost nobody was, but that you were middle-class, that your scruffiness and your twangy singing were phony.
Then began the flight from the subjunctive and from the present perfect and past perfect tenses. People who were perfectly capable of tossing off "If I'd known you were coming I'd have baked a cake" started running into a force field when they approached that kind of sentence. Before long, forms like "If I knew" were doing double duty for "If I knew [but I don't know]" and "If I'd known [but I didn't know]". Then "I already ate" stepped out of the cultural background and slapped "I've already eaten" aside as if it were the prime minister of Montenegro.
American English is well on the way to becoming a language of grammatical primary colors. Not only shades of meaning but whole meanings are going to be inaccessible or require tedious negotiation.
Trying to reverse this trend is like resisting the invasion of the body-snatchers. Still I resist. When you find me popping up in front of your windshield on these comments sections, wild-eyed and sleep-deprived, please understand that it's not only politics that's driving me crazy.
http://thefamilyproperty.blogspot.jp/
19
The great Greek poet Constantine Cavafy has a great poem titled "Thermopylae" paying tribute to those who have set their own Thermopylae to guard, particularly those who know they are going to be betrayed and lose in the end.
http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=69&cat=1
Honor to those who in the life they lead
define and guard a Thermopylae.
Never betraying what is right,
consistent and just in all they do
but showing pity also, and compassion;
generous when they are rich, and when they are poor,
still generous in small ways,
still helping as much as they can;
always speaking the truth,
yet without hating those who lie.
And even more honor is due to them
when they foresee (as many do foresee)
that in the end Ephialtis will make his appearance,
that the Persians will break through after all.
http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=69&cat=1
Honor to those who in the life they lead
define and guard a Thermopylae.
Never betraying what is right,
consistent and just in all they do
but showing pity also, and compassion;
generous when they are rich, and when they are poor,
still generous in small ways,
still helping as much as they can;
always speaking the truth,
yet without hating those who lie.
And even more honor is due to them
when they foresee (as many do foresee)
that in the end Ephialtis will make his appearance,
that the Persians will break through after all.
A lost cause is to think that FIFA is going to void the championships that were won by soccer teams in Colombia, when the teams were owned by cocaine landlords such a the Rodriguez Orejuela, or the Rodriguez Gacha. They had big money to pay and reward players, and instilled fear in their opponents.
FIFA voids championships, for example, if a team uses players that for any reason breaks one of its rules. But they don`t have in their mind the young people of Colombia that could think that a championship can be win with dirty money. America, Nacional and Millonarios have not been punished for that.
Thousands have died in Colombia and in the United States as a result of cocaine. But FIFA does not care. They don`t answer emails.
FIFA voids championships, for example, if a team uses players that for any reason breaks one of its rules. But they don`t have in their mind the young people of Colombia that could think that a championship can be win with dirty money. America, Nacional and Millonarios have not been punished for that.
Thousands have died in Colombia and in the United States as a result of cocaine. But FIFA does not care. They don`t answer emails.
4
I think, everything considered, that gender equality in all realms probably equals tilting at windmills but is probably the noblest of causes.
1
Thank you for 'resurrecting' Don Quijote for those who thought he was dead. He lives in our hearts, a master in lost causes, and a prime example of moral courage...in spite of the odds. Incidentally, as you mentioned the Spanish-American war, it must be said this was an invented war by Theodore Roosevelt, and assisted by Hearst's propaganda, as he needed a battle to show his bravery (different from 'W''s stupid war in Irak to show his father he was a .macho man' (and whose cost is still being paid). But I digress. What is needed now is 'moral outrage', as we seem too passive in accepting the institutionalized violence that Trump's incompetence and corrupted ways as 'the new normal'. And Don Quijote would, proudly, fight these windmills of arrogance and despair...while too many 'Sanchos' remain complacent or complicit in the current governmental misrule. Unless one sees more Quijotes, perhaps we have earned, and deserve, the wrath of our vulgar bully in chief.
9
As a veteran of the Vietnam War, I read this with great interest. It is particularly timely this Memorial Day, and especially relevant, I believe, for us VN vets. Despite the disdain and antipathy toward the war of many Americans, even to this day, those of us who fought and died in Vietnam did our duty there. We may not have 'won' the war in Vietnam, but we answered the call. Nearly a half century later, we must take comfort in that. I take nothing from my father's generation. Their defeat of Hitler, Tojo & the Axis powers saved our world. But theirs was a clear and present danger. Vietnam was a windmill that we were ordered to tilt at...and we did.
28
Duty to whom? I respect the sacrifices Vietnam vets made because they thought it was their duty, but it is up to each of us to determine what battles are worth killing and dying for and to not just follow leaders blindly.
5
My lost cause is an intelligent populace who can think critically for themselves.
I dream that the reporter who was arrested for asking Tom Price a question be
Released,with an apology and the HHS secretary be arrested for attempted
High crimes and misdemeanors against the health care of United States
Citizens.
Released,with an apology and the HHS secretary be arrested for attempted
High crimes and misdemeanors against the health care of United States
Citizens.
12
I dream that fake news will be discouraged by liberals, even when it feeds their narrative. That innuendo and leaks of misleading classified tidbits will not be mistaken for facts. But then again, I am an idealistic dreamer.
2
Superb piece--much needed in our present times, where we are surrounded by windmills--of "alternative facts," fake news," and the broad scale acceptance of a dishonesty, incivility and gratuitous violence in face of disagreement. Maybe if we joust with them, we can save ourselves from lunacy--or at least retain our integrity.
12
Paul Tillich, writing about facism and communism. wrote the phrase "By our silence, we too take a stand". While I was both saddened and angered that two good men are dead, those who spoke up against the anti Muslim speech are truly heroes to me.
27
As Professor Alessandri eloquently points out, there are lost causes and then there are lost causes.
Fighting authority to preserve and foster basic human rights for everyone should not be conflated with fighting authority for the right to enslave others.
One would think such would be obvious...
Fighting authority to preserve and foster basic human rights for everyone should not be conflated with fighting authority for the right to enslave others.
One would think such would be obvious...
1
Thank you Mariana. This column helps me.
7
I still believe in labor unions; although I wonder sometimes if union leadership does. I believe that if ALL unions would actually support ,at the very least, one another's agendas and struggles, this country would be so much better for all workers. With the exception of some choice elections, unions all operate like estranged family members....no cohesion, no litrral support for each other's cause. I can remember when one union had a grievance, all unions had a grievance . I still believe that the Democratic party will one day will also truly unite; since the Viet Nam war, they have never mended the divisions between the blue collar faction and the hippy/intellectual and the civil rights factions of the party. These have never been resolved and it hurts the interests of the common good. It feels like the greasers, the jocks and the eggheads are still feuding. It is 2017....this is my Quixote.
18
You long for the days of the 1930's where there was poverty for many and the "labor" movement rallied to establish a minimum wage so that "colored" people migrating from rural areas could be excluded from work. So that unions consisting exclusively of white men could exclude the lesser people from employment.
Unions did not allow women and minorities to join until after the Civil Rights laws put employers in a bind between union power and federal law. Manufacturing companies did not hire white men exclusively because the capitalist owners were pursuing maximum profit. They did it because the white union leaders had a constituency they were protecting, white men.
Even today, with racial discrimination theoretically illegal, the union bosses have it set up such that in unionized Teamster locations like the ports, white men get hours and overtime and black men work part time. Same deal at the highly paid transit worker organizations. The federal government under Obama insisted that employers provide detailed payroll information so that it could make a case for theoretical gender wage discrimination. Why weren't they similarly interested in racial wage disparity among unionized workers, where the white men in the union hall decide who gets to work and who gets overtime?
There is no unity between unionists and civil rights.
Unions did not allow women and minorities to join until after the Civil Rights laws put employers in a bind between union power and federal law. Manufacturing companies did not hire white men exclusively because the capitalist owners were pursuing maximum profit. They did it because the white union leaders had a constituency they were protecting, white men.
Even today, with racial discrimination theoretically illegal, the union bosses have it set up such that in unionized Teamster locations like the ports, white men get hours and overtime and black men work part time. Same deal at the highly paid transit worker organizations. The federal government under Obama insisted that employers provide detailed payroll information so that it could make a case for theoretical gender wage discrimination. Why weren't they similarly interested in racial wage disparity among unionized workers, where the white men in the union hall decide who gets to work and who gets overtime?
There is no unity between unionists and civil rights.
" being taken for a madman or a fool ". Seems to have worked out quite well for the Presidential Apprentice. The rest of us, not so much.
5
My lost cause: working to undermine the work ethic.
Most work is soul-sucking drudgery that makes people miserable. Because for most of human history we lived in a situation of scarcity, without labor-saving technology, we needed everyone working. So we developed the myth that work was somehow a necessary condition for human dignity, and in any case a moral obligation.
Now we have technology to eliminate the need for much of that drudgery and it’s work rather than goods that is in scarce supply. But we’re still gripped by that myth. And, in the interests of leveling down people who work demand that others do too, whether they can contribute or not, whether there are jobs for them or not. So Americans, in particular working class Americans, who do the most agonizingly boring drudge work, demand punitive disincentives and work requirements for government assistance. ‘I’m trapped for 8 hours at this stinking job—it’s only fair that those bums and welfare queens should be as miserable as me.’
Work is a necessary evil. Some has to be done. But in the interests of human happiness the aim should be to minimize the amount of work done and the number of people who do it.
Most work is soul-sucking drudgery that makes people miserable. Because for most of human history we lived in a situation of scarcity, without labor-saving technology, we needed everyone working. So we developed the myth that work was somehow a necessary condition for human dignity, and in any case a moral obligation.
Now we have technology to eliminate the need for much of that drudgery and it’s work rather than goods that is in scarce supply. But we’re still gripped by that myth. And, in the interests of leveling down people who work demand that others do too, whether they can contribute or not, whether there are jobs for them or not. So Americans, in particular working class Americans, who do the most agonizingly boring drudge work, demand punitive disincentives and work requirements for government assistance. ‘I’m trapped for 8 hours at this stinking job—it’s only fair that those bums and welfare queens should be as miserable as me.’
Work is a necessary evil. Some has to be done. But in the interests of human happiness the aim should be to minimize the amount of work done and the number of people who do it.
14
Hi, again; as you requested a lost cause, look at the new healthcare ugly monster, at least if we allow the hypocrites in congress (all republicans), that passed a cruel bill to disenfranchise the poor, the sick and the elderly (to name a few), to convince the Senate to approve it and, with the complicity of 'our' irresponsible bully and demagogue-in-chief, its signature, so it becomes the law of the land. It seems as though we are losing our marbles in 'moral courage', in accepting a runaway government to trample its own people. If the government's function is supposed to be of service to us, and to promote the well-being of all (and everybody), why are we allowing a bunch of pluto-kleptocrats to dictate our fate? We definitely need more 'Quijotes', to fight the injustice being perpetrated against the least among us. Otherwise, the meaning of 'deplorable' may haunt us, even break us apart.
5
Well written. I read Don Quixote little by little when I was 17 at night, taking seven moths. Never thought an old comedy would make me laugh but it did. Greatly enjoyed your article, which reminded me of an elementary school poster that read "Stand up for what you believe in even if your'e standing alone." As fr lost causes: reading. Far too many people eschew literature for Netflix on the parlor walls or to listen to their seashell's in the ears--Guy Montag's windmills if you will. RIP Bradbury your prescient son of a gun. Thanks again.
7
yes but.
No clearer example of tilting at windmills exists than the Vietnam War. Even before the Tet offenses, the US intelligence community was well aware of the impossibility of defeating the ARVN and Viet Cong, but still we fought on, as blindly as Quixote.
But that fight was not ennobling. Our troops became demoralized, finding solace in pot and smack, and doing their best to avoid danger, even if it meant fragging their officers. It tore our nation in two, destroyed the neighboring nation of Cambodia, and drove our President into self destructive madness, ending in his resignation.
It's all well and good for an individual to tilt harmlessly at windmills, but powerful nations bear a far greater responsibility to use their lethal capabilities with wisdom and purposefulness.
No clearer example of tilting at windmills exists than the Vietnam War. Even before the Tet offenses, the US intelligence community was well aware of the impossibility of defeating the ARVN and Viet Cong, but still we fought on, as blindly as Quixote.
But that fight was not ennobling. Our troops became demoralized, finding solace in pot and smack, and doing their best to avoid danger, even if it meant fragging their officers. It tore our nation in two, destroyed the neighboring nation of Cambodia, and drove our President into self destructive madness, ending in his resignation.
It's all well and good for an individual to tilt harmlessly at windmills, but powerful nations bear a far greater responsibility to use their lethal capabilities with wisdom and purposefulness.
12
Viet Nam was a Democrat war. Founded by JFK after the French gave up, expanded by Johnson, and ended by Nixon, before the 1972 election.
Nixon eliminated all deferments from military draft and implemented a draft lottery in 1969. Once liberals were subjected to the same rules as the poor, college resistance to the war exploded. The children of the rich were going to war even if their parents could afford to pack them away in college for four years and then get them a job as a teacher, which was conveniently a deferrable occupation.
The lying claim of a Bill Clinton that he was going to join ROTC didn't work anymore, so Democrats became anti-war.
It's all well and good for liberals to pretend that they had some virtuous objection to the war in Viet Nam. Reality: they didn't give a fig as long as poor people were being used as cannon fodder.
Nixon eliminated all deferments from military draft and implemented a draft lottery in 1969. Once liberals were subjected to the same rules as the poor, college resistance to the war exploded. The children of the rich were going to war even if their parents could afford to pack them away in college for four years and then get them a job as a teacher, which was conveniently a deferrable occupation.
The lying claim of a Bill Clinton that he was going to join ROTC didn't work anymore, so Democrats became anti-war.
It's all well and good for liberals to pretend that they had some virtuous objection to the war in Viet Nam. Reality: they didn't give a fig as long as poor people were being used as cannon fodder.
1
The lost cause of "Truth". Maybe I am just too old but I still believe that Truth exists and should be respected. Currently under a massive assault, truth must be valued and stated clearly. Truth is not political and this notion should be fought against. America is becoming a society of randomness where bits of facts are thrown into the tornado and they just land where they will. People will think me crazy but I still believe that up is up and down is down.
14
Defining a lost cause, and then railing against it, knowing you will lose seems similar to striving to reach an ideal, by definition, unreachable. But the former seems even more futile in its nature. The author posits the possibility of a surprising "win", achieving that which one felt was never achievable. But is there merit in dedicating time, energy, resources - your life - to a truly "lost" cause? To do so is to risk total ridicule, to be seen as dedicating your life to something ridiculous. The ultimate disdain. Could it be that one's belief of "lost", truly lost, is by definition faulty - that humans cannot really know that any cause is absolutely "lost". And thus, is there always that one tiny tiny hope for success lingering somewhere? Is there admiration due for those who pursue what they have come to believe is a truly "lost" cause? Does jousting at windmills tend to defeat the true loss of hope, without which all seems truly lost? Is it the last-ditch preservation of hope that is to be admired and cherished over ridicule?
2
My hopeless causes tend to be small and close to home. I pick up plastic litter daily. A few thousand pieces a year. It is a true hopeless cause, but perhaps it will save a bird or turtle somewhere.
57
Such a thought provoking article. My lost cause is to end the suffering of nonhuman animals at the hands of human ones. I advocate veganism, which brings about plenty of ridicule when meat eaters begin to feel uncomfortable (Don't plants have feelings, too? Don't you care about children?). I am now accustomed to such comments and have no intention of ceasing to work for my "lost cause".
14
One great (apparently) lost cause is the abolition of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth. Establishment thinking confirms a bland confidence that either it shouldn't be done (deterrence will continue to work forever) or that it cannot be done (human nature is such that someone will always rebuild). And thus the nations drift downstream together toward the inevitable waterfall, whacking each other with their paddles instead of putting them in the water and pulling together toward shore. If we truly loved our children more than we hate our adversaries, we would find this difficult battle eminently worth fighting. We created these less-than-useless monstrosities and we can rid ourselves of them. We need to build our diplomatic relationships not on trust but on the shared understanding that possibilities like nuclear winter render the weapons obsolete.
12
Alonso Quijano -- who named himself Don Quijote de la Mancha -- didn't go "mad from reading books," he became enthralled by reading tales of chivalry. His were not fights for "lost causes," but gallant charges to save the beautiful woman he was defending (and other weaker innocents if they should need saving.)
We should not read Cervantes's two novels as struggling against lost causes; we should see them as an admonition to face reality.
Today, Don Quijote would no doubt be sitting around and watching television.
We should not read Cervantes's two novels as struggling against lost causes; we should see them as an admonition to face reality.
Today, Don Quijote would no doubt be sitting around and watching television.
2
I had never read Don Quixote. My default lost cause image was Sisyphus--until this morning.
I am an elderly woman with a flip-phone and I have watched Shark Tank enough to know that I have no talent as an entrepreneur. But, while we were taking care of our parents, I accidentally invented something made our lives as caregivers easier, may have saved my mother’s insurance company $100,000, and one day it kept me from killing my father. The first one I made cost less than a dime. This is my lost cause.
Thank you for a jolt of encouragement.
I am an elderly woman with a flip-phone and I have watched Shark Tank enough to know that I have no talent as an entrepreneur. But, while we were taking care of our parents, I accidentally invented something made our lives as caregivers easier, may have saved my mother’s insurance company $100,000, and one day it kept me from killing my father. The first one I made cost less than a dime. This is my lost cause.
Thank you for a jolt of encouragement.
10
Good gracious. What was it??
4
Why needs to change, first & fore most in the here & now, isn't so much economic inequality, but rather the relative importance of the 'bottom line' in relation to other values. I know that in terms of my life time, this is as hopeless as Quihote's charging a windmill, but give it a century or 3 it might begin to happen.
7
I think pop music insipid for the most part, but I'm enough of a child of the '60s resistance to have always liked these lyrics from ABBA:
There was something in the air that night
The stars were bright, Fernando
They were shining there for you and me
For liberty, Fernando
Though I never thought that we could lose
There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando
There was something in the air that night
The stars were bright, Fernando
They were shining there for you and me
For liberty, Fernando
Though I never thought that we could lose
There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando
4
For me, it has always been a matter of being free to be accepted and respected as someone who is not a conventional girly-girl. I grew up at a time when girls were expected to wear shoes and clothes that were uncomfortable and revealing, to read romance novels, and to engage in conversations that revolved around about boys and makeup and blueberry pies. We were supposed to keep our knees tightly clenched together, talk in breathy whispers, never laugh out loud, never express anger or irritation or righteous indignation, never contradict, and to smile, smile, smile. Being a fully-fledged, authentic, intelligent human being was frowned upon, but that's what I wanted to be, and that's what I thought people were supposed to be. Times for girls and women are better, but that frustrated, lost, ridiculed, angry, guilty, hurt little girl is still there and still fighting for her right and the right of every other human to be free to be accepted and respected for who they are deep inside, regardless of their gender or the color of their skin.
11
I have spent most of the last twenty five years living in the American Midwest and know my attempts to teach Americans their history is not going to bear fruit.
There was an American Revolution and revolutions are revolutionary not evolutionary. America was to be be country of new laws and new values that served The People not just those that ruled.
Before America constitutions were between man and God and America became the first country to make a constitution between man and man and where science rather than dogma was supposed to rule. Lawyers were educated not trained and a common English language was just developing and English as a language of law was centuries away.
The constitution had a preamble that explained the revolution and the constitution itself was a preamble to the new laws that would animate the new nation "conceived in liberty" with justice for all.
Disney's America was not America, it was a lie, a bald faced lie of power being passed from an old aristocracy to a new aristocracy.
Today America is the reincarnation of preAmerica with "the invisible hand of God" again determining America's future. America was great when Americans felt they created their own destiny. America today is the Britain of 1776 where the East India Company ran the Empire and a mad king was sent by God to put his stamp on the laws written by the corporate ownership.
My lost cause is trying to resurrect America but there are not enough people who even remember that Burke was liberal.
There was an American Revolution and revolutions are revolutionary not evolutionary. America was to be be country of new laws and new values that served The People not just those that ruled.
Before America constitutions were between man and God and America became the first country to make a constitution between man and man and where science rather than dogma was supposed to rule. Lawyers were educated not trained and a common English language was just developing and English as a language of law was centuries away.
The constitution had a preamble that explained the revolution and the constitution itself was a preamble to the new laws that would animate the new nation "conceived in liberty" with justice for all.
Disney's America was not America, it was a lie, a bald faced lie of power being passed from an old aristocracy to a new aristocracy.
Today America is the reincarnation of preAmerica with "the invisible hand of God" again determining America's future. America was great when Americans felt they created their own destiny. America today is the Britain of 1776 where the East India Company ran the Empire and a mad king was sent by God to put his stamp on the laws written by the corporate ownership.
My lost cause is trying to resurrect America but there are not enough people who even remember that Burke was liberal.
14
Fascinating, Mariana Alessandri's piece on Don Quixote de la Mancha - "In Praise of Lost Causes". My Father, a I.S. Marine, who fought in 4 wars - WWI at Belleau Wood and Chateau Thierry, WWII at Iwo Jima and Saipan, the Arab Israeli War with the Haganah in 1948 as "an observer", and the Korean War - loved and lived the song "The Impossible Dream" from "Man of La Mancha". He was an impossible dreamer like Don Quixote and we remember him this Memorial Day. He cultivated moral courage, which is foreign to today's President and Republican Party and tilted at windmills.
7
my lost cause is rallying my state senator to vote for NY's single-payer health insurance bill and to remind my MOC that my family is one republican "health care" bill away from financial and physiological disaster.
11
Tilting at windmills. That's what we NYTimes readers are feeling right now, with the state of our country. We who are not Trump supporters know that our nation, as a beacon of democracy and decency -- both domestically and internationally, is becoming a lost cause. That none of the lawful acts we've engaged in since the election have mattered. That there is no quick fix within the confines of our Constitution. And this is all true.
But understand this. Generations of people fought for other "lost causes" -- the end of Jim Crow, the dismantling of "lawful" segregation, and women's suffrage, who did not see success in their lifetimes. We are now in such an era.
It may take years -- decades, in fact, to return our democracy to some semblance of what it was not so many years ago. Many of us who are older may not live to see the restoration of this once imperfect but great country. I'm in my sixties. Given the extent of destruction this Republican party and this "president" have wrought already, I suspect I may not live to see all this damage undone. They have at least three more years to hasten the destruction of what is best in this country -- and they will.
And yet, those of us who are not his supporters are engaging in a worthy cause, in standing up to him, this Republican Congress, and their hateful backers. History must show that we tried, even if it appears as if we failed. Only then may future generations stand on our shoulders.
But understand this. Generations of people fought for other "lost causes" -- the end of Jim Crow, the dismantling of "lawful" segregation, and women's suffrage, who did not see success in their lifetimes. We are now in such an era.
It may take years -- decades, in fact, to return our democracy to some semblance of what it was not so many years ago. Many of us who are older may not live to see the restoration of this once imperfect but great country. I'm in my sixties. Given the extent of destruction this Republican party and this "president" have wrought already, I suspect I may not live to see all this damage undone. They have at least three more years to hasten the destruction of what is best in this country -- and they will.
And yet, those of us who are not his supporters are engaging in a worthy cause, in standing up to him, this Republican Congress, and their hateful backers. History must show that we tried, even if it appears as if we failed. Only then may future generations stand on our shoulders.
34
I really don't think Trump will stay in office that long. He's made too many enemies. There will be a major progressive reform movement in the 2020s.
I have a lost cause too important to give up: Fighting for patients' rights.
50% - 80% of all medical bills contain errors, and they have for decades. Congress doesn't lift a finger to fine healthcare providers for these "errors", which cost Americans tens of billions of dollars annually -- money they don't don't owe and don't want to potentially damage their credit rating..
The federal government sits idly by while patients, in particular the elderly and those with life threatening chronic conditions, are price gouged by the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. They do nothing to regulate drug and device pricing, as other civilized countries do. Their inaction causes the unnecessary suffering and deaths of innocent Americans who can't afford their meds.
Congress and the Administration refuse to regulate health insurance companies that skyrocket costs, strangle provider networks, illegally cancel policies and consistently deny claims that should be paid.
My business helps people who get taken advantage of my healthcare providers, hospital groups, nursing homes, insurance companies and the like. They have countless in-house attorneys and big budgets on their side. Further, they have the knowledge that the government won't intercede on behalf of the patients.
Even will the cards stacked against us, we have and will continue to take our swings. It's a battle of financial and physical life and death.
50% - 80% of all medical bills contain errors, and they have for decades. Congress doesn't lift a finger to fine healthcare providers for these "errors", which cost Americans tens of billions of dollars annually -- money they don't don't owe and don't want to potentially damage their credit rating..
The federal government sits idly by while patients, in particular the elderly and those with life threatening chronic conditions, are price gouged by the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. They do nothing to regulate drug and device pricing, as other civilized countries do. Their inaction causes the unnecessary suffering and deaths of innocent Americans who can't afford their meds.
Congress and the Administration refuse to regulate health insurance companies that skyrocket costs, strangle provider networks, illegally cancel policies and consistently deny claims that should be paid.
My business helps people who get taken advantage of my healthcare providers, hospital groups, nursing homes, insurance companies and the like. They have countless in-house attorneys and big budgets on their side. Further, they have the knowledge that the government won't intercede on behalf of the patients.
Even will the cards stacked against us, we have and will continue to take our swings. It's a battle of financial and physical life and death.
11
My lost cause in this day and age is civility and good manners. The ability to disagree with people and still see the good in them. To engage in a public debate over the course of our nation without demonizing the opposition. The realization that the real purpose of life is to leave the world a better place for your having been here. We are stewards of our world, not owners. It is our obligation to pass this world on to our children, well cared for. Not only the physical world, but also our cultural world. I want the world of my children to be a place where a 'flash mob' featuring the "Ode To Joy" could happen, where there is an appreciation for the 7th wave in a surf set (I live in San Diego, after all), where if there is trash in the street someone will stop and pick it up, where strength is used to lift someone up rather than push them down, where our President would use the phrase 'please, after you' rather than push someone aside for a photo op.
In a real lost cause, I am still hopeful that all of the above is possible.
In a real lost cause, I am still hopeful that all of the above is possible.
12
It is highly ironic that in the Opinion piece 'The Stone' a comment is made that asserts that perhaps the most important causes are the lost ones.
Why is it ironic? Because this could easily be used to justify the Confederate side of the Civil War or even the Axis side of World War II. In both cases there was no shortage of strongly-felt 'principles' on all sides, yet the Civil War and World War II resulted in unimaginable death and destruction of combatants and civilians on both the winning and losing sides.
So, clearly, 'principles' in themselves are a completely inadequate means of avoiding catastrophe. Given the multiple means humanity now has for destroying itself, from nuclear weapons to environmental degradation or willingness to profit either politically or economically in the near term regardless of long-term consequences, clearly this issue is more than just one of academic importance.
Why is it ironic? Because this could easily be used to justify the Confederate side of the Civil War or even the Axis side of World War II. In both cases there was no shortage of strongly-felt 'principles' on all sides, yet the Civil War and World War II resulted in unimaginable death and destruction of combatants and civilians on both the winning and losing sides.
So, clearly, 'principles' in themselves are a completely inadequate means of avoiding catastrophe. Given the multiple means humanity now has for destroying itself, from nuclear weapons to environmental degradation or willingness to profit either politically or economically in the near term regardless of long-term consequences, clearly this issue is more than just one of academic importance.
5
My lost cause is a struggle against money. With very little money I write. I practice trumpet. Because music is a journey without end, I've learned that the process is the reward, and that every moment counts as a lesson and a step on the journey. The getting of money is also a lost cause, but a malignant one that prevents us from growing. The money isn't ours, and it hasn't any character. It teaches only about itself, so more money provides no reward to our selves. Seeking it incessantly won't produce good results.
6
You've taken on the ultimate question of our time. But after reading your essay I'm even more conflicted because fighting for a cause alienates me from the people I love the most.
3
Reading in the Times today of the US military's request for 5,000 more troops for the long-failed, and bound-to-fail, Afghan war, I'm just not sure I can get on board with quixotic battles.
Surely it matters who decides which quixotic battles to fight.
Surely it matters who decides which quixotic battles to fight.
4
Constant repetitive insurance company audits for doing the right thing and spending attentive, constructive time with patients. I am audited, told that the quality of care is exemplary--but that they will continue to audit me as an outlier until I come into conformity with other dermatologists in my community who make much more money by seeing more patients per day for less time each. It does not make sense to see many of these folks more than once per year for their cancer check, Rx refills, and update on potential associated conditions, given their problem lists. Insurance wants me to make these patients come in more often, for shorter lists. That would be an utter waste of their work time and the time of family members who need to accompany the elderly and infirm. One third-party vendor Highmark uses now says I will be questioned each time I submit a higher-level visit code, to confirm my code is correct. The code has already been certified correct when I submitted it the first time. So I am being punished by having to spend extra time, and receiving delayed payment--when I do the correct patient-centered thing--and so many of my colleagues have simply caved in, in frustration, passing the buck to patients. Shameful to the point of unethical.
7
Here is a 4000 year-old Sumerian Riddle. What could be its answer?
A house with a foundation like heaven,
A house which like a copper kettle has been covered with linen,
A house which like a goose stands on a firm base,
He whose eyes are not open has entered it,
He whose eyes are wide open comes out of it.
The answer is "the school." More than 4000 years ago, the ancient societies, such as those of Sumer and Egypt, became sufficiently complex that there arose a need to impart complex knowledge and intellectual skills such as writing. Thus arose the first school systems.
But today, intellectual inclination is no longer a trait valued by today's schools or the wider society. Modern educators are more interested in cultivating so-called emotional or social skills than nurturing intellect or imparting subject knowledge. Pop psychology and self help literature of 20th century has convinced many people that having an attractive personality and abundance of social skills are the key to success in life, and that intellectual inclination is an impediment to success.
Most people don't realize that today's popular educational and psychological attitudes are anti-intellectual. Rather than being institutions for learning, many modern schools are places where children compete for social popularity. If a quiet and bookish child was considered the ideal in 19th century, such a child is likely to struggle in today's schools.
https://medium.com/@rs3/ad-astra-per-aspera-be7198657e3e
A house with a foundation like heaven,
A house which like a copper kettle has been covered with linen,
A house which like a goose stands on a firm base,
He whose eyes are not open has entered it,
He whose eyes are wide open comes out of it.
The answer is "the school." More than 4000 years ago, the ancient societies, such as those of Sumer and Egypt, became sufficiently complex that there arose a need to impart complex knowledge and intellectual skills such as writing. Thus arose the first school systems.
But today, intellectual inclination is no longer a trait valued by today's schools or the wider society. Modern educators are more interested in cultivating so-called emotional or social skills than nurturing intellect or imparting subject knowledge. Pop psychology and self help literature of 20th century has convinced many people that having an attractive personality and abundance of social skills are the key to success in life, and that intellectual inclination is an impediment to success.
Most people don't realize that today's popular educational and psychological attitudes are anti-intellectual. Rather than being institutions for learning, many modern schools are places where children compete for social popularity. If a quiet and bookish child was considered the ideal in 19th century, such a child is likely to struggle in today's schools.
https://medium.com/@rs3/ad-astra-per-aspera-be7198657e3e
5
I am a licensed psychologist in Florida. For the last dozen years or so, I have been practicing a brain-based Behavioral Health intervention called neurofeedback. It is a type of biofeedback based on real-time analysis (by computer) of EEG waves measured at the scalp, compared to a database of both typical (I.e. Non symptomatic) and atypical people. The idea is to use video, auditory and human reward signals to inform the patient when they are generating brain activity more likely to be seen in people without symptoms.
Combined with other types of psychological treatments such as trauma therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, play and family therapy, our patients report significant improvement in 70 to 80% of cases. This is compared to a standard for mental health interventions in which a 35% improvement rate is typical. Most of our patients become able to function well without psychotropic medications, and permanently, due to resulting positive changes in brain function through neurofeedback-driven synaptogenesis (creation of new connections between neurons).
Most authorities of allopathic medicine believe this is not possible and a waste of time and money. Patient improvement is attributed to placebo effects (even though resulting changes in brain function can be shown in fMRI and PET scanners, as well as qEEG studies). Big pharma believes we are tilting at imaginary windmills. But our patients keep referring others and we recently opened a second clinic. Whose "crazier"?
Combined with other types of psychological treatments such as trauma therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, play and family therapy, our patients report significant improvement in 70 to 80% of cases. This is compared to a standard for mental health interventions in which a 35% improvement rate is typical. Most of our patients become able to function well without psychotropic medications, and permanently, due to resulting positive changes in brain function through neurofeedback-driven synaptogenesis (creation of new connections between neurons).
Most authorities of allopathic medicine believe this is not possible and a waste of time and money. Patient improvement is attributed to placebo effects (even though resulting changes in brain function can be shown in fMRI and PET scanners, as well as qEEG studies). Big pharma believes we are tilting at imaginary windmills. But our patients keep referring others and we recently opened a second clinic. Whose "crazier"?
5
Thank you to the author of this article and to the Times for printing it. As other readers have said, choosing which windmills to tilt at is important. We can't go tilting at all of them. And some causes that appear lost may be winnable. But ultimately I agree with the author and am thankful this article appears at this point in time.
3
How about the 18 week college semester? Start in September, first semester finals at the end of January ( 2 days for Thanksgiving, 2 weeks for Christmas), Start again in February and then graduation in June.
1
There may be another interpretation that fits the story of Don Quixote de la Mancha's. Maybe, just maybe, when one faces an impossible task the reality of actually fighting and winning the battle is possible.
In modern days there and many impossible dreams, but are they all impossible? Many things needing to be fought against are often popular opinions (should I say trending?) and not as daunting as they are made out. Even so, the task is worth trying if the results really necessary. If a person believes something is wrong and does everything they can to overcome it isn't that how the progress occurs? Was "Getting to the moon in this decade" when spoken, an impossible dream?
If no one ever tilted at windmills the world would be a much worse place today and maybe more "tilting at windmills" could make the world an even better place tomorrow.
In modern days there and many impossible dreams, but are they all impossible? Many things needing to be fought against are often popular opinions (should I say trending?) and not as daunting as they are made out. Even so, the task is worth trying if the results really necessary. If a person believes something is wrong and does everything they can to overcome it isn't that how the progress occurs? Was "Getting to the moon in this decade" when spoken, an impossible dream?
If no one ever tilted at windmills the world would be a much worse place today and maybe more "tilting at windmills" could make the world an even better place tomorrow.
1
My lost cause is deflating the influence of money. When was the last time an average American family could thrive on one income? The answer is when the top marginal tax rate was around 70% or higher.
Since Reagan cut that tax rate in half, income inequality has grown while wages remain flat. Politicians have become even more craven about campaign donations. Citizens United didn't create the problem but it didn't help.
When the tax rate put the burden on the rich, the middle class thrived. We could afford to build interstate highways and a rocket to the moon. Now, the tax burden is on the working class and we can't repair crumbling bridges. And people can't afford to buy a house in the city they work in.
Because of the influence of money, we no longer promote the general welfare. We promote the rich.
Since Reagan cut that tax rate in half, income inequality has grown while wages remain flat. Politicians have become even more craven about campaign donations. Citizens United didn't create the problem but it didn't help.
When the tax rate put the burden on the rich, the middle class thrived. We could afford to build interstate highways and a rocket to the moon. Now, the tax burden is on the working class and we can't repair crumbling bridges. And people can't afford to buy a house in the city they work in.
Because of the influence of money, we no longer promote the general welfare. We promote the rich.
9
I was particularly struck by a couple of phrases. One was the reference to our society's centuries old belief in equating progress with innovation and technology. The other was the use of the term moral courage. How can we expect people to embrace moral courage when we spend so little time trying to find out who we are, the meaning of life and our role in the universe. Our addiction to progress as something solely defined as the quantifiable and our aversion to teaching morality has led to Higher Education's total embrace of the utilitarian. This I think more than anything represents the failure of Higher Education as nothing more than a factory for producing careerists. I seriously doubt if Unamuno would be someone that Harvard, Yale or Stanford would ever pick to be its president today.
4
Reading this remarkable article strikes many cords. The story of Unamuno -- his "The Tragic Sense of Life" is indeed an exemplar of "quixotic pessimism," remembering Cervantes' Don Quijote itself, and even the "Impossible Dream" song in Man of La Mancha -- they all mix together. And, I just finished reading Adam Hochschild's Spain in Our Hearts (2016) about the "lost cause" of the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War and the lives (and deaths) of the Americans who fought in the international brigades -- the same civil war that consumed the elder Unamuno in 1936. I don't think Unamuno, Cervantes or the idealistic Americans fought in vain. In fact, Spain today is a vibrant liberal democracy where by and large its people live a life free of tyranny and can pursue solutions to current problems in peace. In other words, their cause was not "lost" and on the contrary they are (finally) "winning."
My own solidarity is precisely with this same cause, with liberal democracy. Fighting new tyrannies as they inevitably arise is what matters, in our own United States or anywhere else. If winning the fight requires a resolute dose of quixotic pessimism ("fighting the long defeat"), that's also precisely the antidote we all need.
My own solidarity is precisely with this same cause, with liberal democracy. Fighting new tyrannies as they inevitably arise is what matters, in our own United States or anywhere else. If winning the fight requires a resolute dose of quixotic pessimism ("fighting the long defeat"), that's also precisely the antidote we all need.
2
A lovely essay, and much needed at this point in our history. Many thanks and warmest good wishes.
2
we have been publicly protesting the us wars in afghanistan and iraq weekly since march 2003,here in aroostook county maine. we have certainly,over that time, exhibited quixotic pessimism. But sometimes the tide turns: we have been much more favorably viewed in the last half a dozen years. still crazy, but persistence is sometimes rewarded with increased awareness.
i also find it interesting that unamuno seems to be making a comeback in public discourse.
i also find it interesting that unamuno seems to be making a comeback in public discourse.
I have been engaged for over 20 years in the seemingly lost cause of trying to keep a natural habitat and adjoining a wetland area near where I live undeveloped. It is an approximately 10 acre undeveloped patch of privately owned ocean view property. It is surrounded on three sides by suburban sprawl and a freeway. On the ocean side is a federally protected sand dune area overlooking (rapidly eroding) sandstone bluffs. Everyone enjoys this open space and the visual relief in provides but more or less takes its existence for granted. Unfortunately much of it is zoned for fairly dense development, 8-10 units an acre. As a result of our environmental group's appeal back in 2006 to the California Coastal Commission, a 43 unit complex was stopped due to its proximity to a wetland. But now with the real estate market booming other developers have returned. In 2016 the City and the Coastal Commission approved another project there. We are currently engaged in a law suit to forestall it. But the only real long term solution is to convince a land trust to buy up the surrounding property (which we are working on). But that is a long shot as land trusts have limited funds and many areas that need protection.
8
The biggest giant is human nature. Every thinker, every politician, every radical wants to fight human nature, and persuade the human race to live in accordance with reason. It hasn't happened, and it's not going to happen.
It is safe to say that 500 years in the future, powerful men will still want to get rich, live in luxurious houses, and make love to beautiful women - and they will find a way to do so. It's not pretty, but there you go....
It is safe to say that 500 years in the future, powerful men will still want to get rich, live in luxurious houses, and make love to beautiful women - and they will find a way to do so. It's not pretty, but there you go....
7
The late great Ursula Franklin, when asked why she would go on seemingly useless demonstrations against a variety of evils, used to say that it was a form of bearing witness. That they should know that someone was watching, someone was taking note, that not everyone agreed. Quaker morality. She was also fond of referring to a strategy of Gandhi's, which was to position himself so that people on the inside who were unhappy could become secret allies. These were ways to go on even against the odds.
91
A member of Congress represents about 700,000 constituents. I spoke with an ald to my congressmen in his district and was informed that he fields about 150 to 200 calls and e-mails per week. People don'the think their voices are heard, yet they rarely use them. We should all tilt at windmills relentlessly regardless of wether the results are being apparent immediately. If that aid started getting 2000 contacts a week, things just might change for the better.
83
I've got a lost cause. My lost cause is to fight for compassion in our culture. In matters of health care, for instance, we need to balance the cost of care with the need for compassion when making decisions about maintaining the health of our nation. Instead, we think only of cost. Costs rule. Costs are the only factor in the health care equation. And that is wrong. In every debate on every side, the only thing that matters is the cost of health care. Compassion, caring for each of our fellow humans is EQUALLY important. It is our responsibility as human beings. Until we realize the need for that balance we shall continue to squabble over dollars as though dollars were everything.
100
My lost cause too. I have come to believe that the practice of compassion is the truest form of rebellion. So I continually rebel against a cruel world. Lost cause. Do it anyway.
5
the usa isn't a country; it's a business.....
9
So much to ponder, Professor Alessandri. Thank you.
A Lost Cause that springs to mind immediately is the American South's war to retain slavery. In the slave states, loyalists viewed their cause as righteous and worth fighting for. Their great windmill was the Union.
Today, in an ironic twist, Quixote-like chargers-at-windmills have set their sights on removing Confederate memorials, reminders of one of the greatest stains on our history--side by side with our shameful treatment of native Americans and of Japanese-Americans.
Any division between people creates factions, and each faction believes itself to be the noble one. Time, of course, will tell who is right. But morality also will tell, our innate sense of what is the right thing to do. In the spirit of Don Quixote, I say our world needs more tilting-at-windmills "craziness."
A Lost Cause that springs to mind immediately is the American South's war to retain slavery. In the slave states, loyalists viewed their cause as righteous and worth fighting for. Their great windmill was the Union.
Today, in an ironic twist, Quixote-like chargers-at-windmills have set their sights on removing Confederate memorials, reminders of one of the greatest stains on our history--side by side with our shameful treatment of native Americans and of Japanese-Americans.
Any division between people creates factions, and each faction believes itself to be the noble one. Time, of course, will tell who is right. But morality also will tell, our innate sense of what is the right thing to do. In the spirit of Don Quixote, I say our world needs more tilting-at-windmills "craziness."
10
I am grateful for the insight and inspiration of "In Praise of Lost Causes". Moral courage that does not falter after calculating the chances of success will sustain those struggling to preserve and improve our democracy.
40
Winnable causes sometimes appear in the guise of lost ones because we lack sufficient information or we permit fear to overwhelm our reason, our common sense. In 1932, many Americans despaired of our capacity to restore prosperity, but FDR convinced them that fear, not objective conditions, blocked recovery. In like manner, the leaders of the American Revolution confronted the seemingly impossible task of defeating the most powerful military force on the planet. Despite many setbacks, however, they persisted in their conviction that a free people, with some outside help, could overcome an army of conscripts. These men risked their property and their lives out of devotion to their cause. But they also believed they would win.
Sometimes, of course, our reason correctly identifies lost causes. In those cases, the old adage applies: "Choose your battles carefully." Don Quixote's ineffectiveness arose not only from his inability to identify real enemies, but also from his determination to confront every injustice or threat he encountered. Some evils inflict more harm than others, and even people of exceptional moral courage lack the energy or resources to combat all of them.
Thus the refusal to tilt at a particular windmill may not reflect lack of commitment or courage. The inaction may arise from the fact that the crusader has targeted her energies at another, possibly greater, injustice. Don Quixote may not offer the best model for champions of lost causes.
Sometimes, of course, our reason correctly identifies lost causes. In those cases, the old adage applies: "Choose your battles carefully." Don Quixote's ineffectiveness arose not only from his inability to identify real enemies, but also from his determination to confront every injustice or threat he encountered. Some evils inflict more harm than others, and even people of exceptional moral courage lack the energy or resources to combat all of them.
Thus the refusal to tilt at a particular windmill may not reflect lack of commitment or courage. The inaction may arise from the fact that the crusader has targeted her energies at another, possibly greater, injustice. Don Quixote may not offer the best model for champions of lost causes.
23
Thank you M. Alessandri for a deeper look at this great Spanish Classic; I have always loved the erasable Don Quixote from afar and now I feel I have really been introduced to the noble knight errand as a real person, and he is indeed worthy of admiration and respect. I used to have some Quixotic madness, but gave those things up as a lost causes. I'm shifting gears in my head as I write. The Stone will do that to you.
12
A great argument to make, thanks for having made it. One of the sweetest feelings is when, after having tilted at the windmills for some years, in your mind on your own, you discover that in fact there is a crowd out there that has done the same, so "you are not alone". And this is where the social media can have a fantastic impact and virtually change your life.
13
I understand what Prof. Alessandri is saying but for me there is a better concept in "Zivilcourage," an idea that has been around for less than two hundred years. Civil courage does not pursue lost causes but stands for the highest possible moral and ethical precepts; it promotes a reasoned stand against wrong and fights no matter the possibility of losing. Civil courage doesn't seek lost causes; it perceives and takes vital, principled positions against wrong, unjust, immoral acts. I think the Great Don should be left to literature and more education should be focused on how to promote and defend justice, morality, ethical behavior, equity, fairness, and pursuit of the good.
9
Thank you for writing this. I have spent the last 8 months in a battle to stop a pipeline here in Vermont. For now, we have lost the first battle; natural gas is running under our beloved park, and may well continue if the courts do not rule in our favor. In a conference this weekend, many opponents of this new fossil fuel infrastructure seemed daunted, and perhaps on the verge of giving up. Many of us have abandoned the battlefield, but those of us that remain are stalwart. It takes that Quixotic mentality that, despite being called "hysterical zealots" by some, our work is worth doing. I will never stop believing that these places are worth saving, and that I should speak up for the voiceless. Your piece has reinforced that ideology.
18
As a historian, I find that the way most history is written a "trivial pursuit" and as a Paris tour guide, deplore the commercial pressure to leave out the dark side. So I'm writing a book in blog form to be read on Internet (which means without charge), called "Alternative Paris."
Will it have an impact? probably not. Do I do it anyway? Yes... for the last six years.
Will it have an impact? probably not. Do I do it anyway? Yes... for the last six years.
28
In my real life, I'm a semi-retired businessman, college-educated, experienced, married to the same woman for more than forty years, and comfortable but not wealthy. My lost cause? I am committed to my Christian religion, and I'm certain of the existence of deity and an afterlife.
I'm not a fundamentalist. I do not subscribe to delusions about the age of the earth, or believe that a book of religious writings is perfect and absolute, nor do I believe that any group of people are second-class or first-class in the eyes of my God. Yet as so many young people and so many adults are abandoning organized religion and even religion in general, I still see great value in honored traditions, in ritual as a mode of worship and consecration, in connections between generations adding meaning to individual lives, and in the necessity of an infinite atonement for mankind's inherent weaknesses by a divine savior. I believe in repentance and forgiveness and that life has purpose.
Now there's a lost cause that I can die for and continue to live for, because for me and my family much good has and continues to come from it. To some it may seem like jousting at windmills, but for many it is a satisfying and even rewarding contest for an understanding of human life.
I'm not a fundamentalist. I do not subscribe to delusions about the age of the earth, or believe that a book of religious writings is perfect and absolute, nor do I believe that any group of people are second-class or first-class in the eyes of my God. Yet as so many young people and so many adults are abandoning organized religion and even religion in general, I still see great value in honored traditions, in ritual as a mode of worship and consecration, in connections between generations adding meaning to individual lives, and in the necessity of an infinite atonement for mankind's inherent weaknesses by a divine savior. I believe in repentance and forgiveness and that life has purpose.
Now there's a lost cause that I can die for and continue to live for, because for me and my family much good has and continues to come from it. To some it may seem like jousting at windmills, but for many it is a satisfying and even rewarding contest for an understanding of human life.
44
"Common sense fails us.....it uncritically believes that technology equals progress"
Yes, and my lost cause worth fighting for is the belief that we must remain skeptical about every new technological breakthrough which seems to make life easier, while decreasing our ability to do something for ourselves, and increasing our dependence on a machine.
I will never give up my love for driving my own car which keeps me alert and my senses sharp.
I will never give up doing math in my head which is exercise for my brain.
I will resist "Googling" something before I have given my memory the opportunity to do its own magical research.
I will resist as much social media as possible, preferring instead social interactions that involve immediate two way contact, and demand discretion, humility, and responsibility.
I will continue to insist on writing in full and proper English by always reminding myself what Orwell meant by "Newspeak."
Yes technology has many wonderful benefits. But human freedom and independence are equally wonderful. The easiest path is not always the best.
Yes, and my lost cause worth fighting for is the belief that we must remain skeptical about every new technological breakthrough which seems to make life easier, while decreasing our ability to do something for ourselves, and increasing our dependence on a machine.
I will never give up my love for driving my own car which keeps me alert and my senses sharp.
I will never give up doing math in my head which is exercise for my brain.
I will resist "Googling" something before I have given my memory the opportunity to do its own magical research.
I will resist as much social media as possible, preferring instead social interactions that involve immediate two way contact, and demand discretion, humility, and responsibility.
I will continue to insist on writing in full and proper English by always reminding myself what Orwell meant by "Newspeak."
Yes technology has many wonderful benefits. But human freedom and independence are equally wonderful. The easiest path is not always the best.
1
In 2102 I resolved that I would ride a horse from New Mexico to Montana helping make the connection between faith and climate change. Then as now many of the Christian Right deny climate change. I reasoned that anyone would listen to a guy on a horse! Then I began to doubt my own sanity. The daily need to provide, the obtuse looks I received from those i hoped would support the effort, and the utter loneliness of battling windmills led me to abandon the journey. This article gives me inspiration that effort and sacrifice are justified even when the outcome may at first appear meager.
34
This is an excellent essay; thank you. It may matter, though, what the cause is and how one "tilts" at it.
Sometimes the windmills aren't machines; they're people, or machines filled with people. To tilt at them may be to harm - or end - human lives. Even if many of us feel that things are a bit crazy right now - and I assume this is a reference to the Trump presidency - other good people voted for him. It doesn't mean they're right, but it should make us more thoughtful about what it means to attack the windmills. They are filled wth lives.
The method of attack also matters. Gandhi titled at windmills, but in a very different way than (for example) George W. Bush. Both had "lost causes": Gandhi's was a nonviolent India, Bush's was a democratic Iraq. They may succeed in the long run, but in the short run, one of them will have killed fewer innocents, and that makes a difference.
In our daily lives, we choose which windmills to confront. At my workplace, I tilt at them too often. I'm a philosophy professor in a culture that is eliminating the humanities, and which lays off good people to build new machines. What I constantly struggle with is how to resist the machines - including when folks act like machines - without harming the humans in them. It's very difficult. It takes a certain amount of craziness, but also a certain amount of care. One does one's best, and fails, and tries again, quixotically. It's a battle with oneself as much as with anything - or anyone - else.
Sometimes the windmills aren't machines; they're people, or machines filled with people. To tilt at them may be to harm - or end - human lives. Even if many of us feel that things are a bit crazy right now - and I assume this is a reference to the Trump presidency - other good people voted for him. It doesn't mean they're right, but it should make us more thoughtful about what it means to attack the windmills. They are filled wth lives.
The method of attack also matters. Gandhi titled at windmills, but in a very different way than (for example) George W. Bush. Both had "lost causes": Gandhi's was a nonviolent India, Bush's was a democratic Iraq. They may succeed in the long run, but in the short run, one of them will have killed fewer innocents, and that makes a difference.
In our daily lives, we choose which windmills to confront. At my workplace, I tilt at them too often. I'm a philosophy professor in a culture that is eliminating the humanities, and which lays off good people to build new machines. What I constantly struggle with is how to resist the machines - including when folks act like machines - without harming the humans in them. It's very difficult. It takes a certain amount of craziness, but also a certain amount of care. One does one's best, and fails, and tries again, quixotically. It's a battle with oneself as much as with anything - or anyone - else.
35
Wonderfully put.
2
As a user and designer of machines (for NASA), I salute your quixotism with deep respect. Sometimes I think of myself as an amateur philosopher - not because of what I know, but because of what I feel I should learn. I still seek wisdom, even when thinking about my machines, what they can do, how they can touch others' lives, and how they stack up against competing ones. But I don't try to make a living of it. I deeply admire someone who does.
At the risk of indulging in arrogance, may I offer a remark? It is hard to fight against machines if you fight them on their own turf. The machines I design are meant to be very, very good at narrowly defined tasks that matter to very few (but very close) people. You would have a hard time fighting them on the basis of what they were designed to do.
But what you could do - and I often do, in a random and probably ineffective way - is point out alternatives to using machines. A survey conducted by my employer a few years ago asked us to identify Information Technology (IT) tools we found most useful. I answered "pencil and paper". You could do something similar. Don't try to provide a better iPhone. Ask people whether they have ever taught a kindergarten class or sung a song at a party. Better than google, better than youtube. But you only learn by doing it. So tell them that.
At the risk of indulging in arrogance, may I offer a remark? It is hard to fight against machines if you fight them on their own turf. The machines I design are meant to be very, very good at narrowly defined tasks that matter to very few (but very close) people. You would have a hard time fighting them on the basis of what they were designed to do.
But what you could do - and I often do, in a random and probably ineffective way - is point out alternatives to using machines. A survey conducted by my employer a few years ago asked us to identify Information Technology (IT) tools we found most useful. I answered "pencil and paper". You could do something similar. Don't try to provide a better iPhone. Ask people whether they have ever taught a kindergarten class or sung a song at a party. Better than google, better than youtube. But you only learn by doing it. So tell them that.
3
This is beautiful. What a message for our times: Do the right thing without regard for other people's opinion or financial gain. I have always loved Don Quixote and am grateful to Ms. Alessandri for giving me a new insight on why it appealed to me so.
Wonderful article. When I read it I could not help but remember the courageous few that first challenged the vicious monolith of racism in the South, and the women who first marched for equality (a fight that continues to this day). As the saying goes, "one person can begin a movement, in fact, that's how all movements begin."
13
It looks to me like a praise of Trumpism, European Populism and like. Not real lost causes, but widespread common sense, and it seems winning.
2
He said to me as he walked past, "What do we need another tax for?" He sounded angry. My wife and I were sitting in the shade waiting for the climate march to begin. I had my poster at my side, "We need a carbon tax".
Americans have a history of opposing taxes that is longer than the history of our democracy. Yet we must tax something to have a national government capable of protecting our chosen way of life. The question is, "What should we tax?"
Climate change is an existential threat to civilization. Taxing carbon will make the use of fossil fuels more expensive than other energy sources. It will work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thereby reduce the amount of climate changing gases in the atmosphere. This we must do...or die.
Americans have a history of opposing taxes that is longer than the history of our democracy. Yet we must tax something to have a national government capable of protecting our chosen way of life. The question is, "What should we tax?"
Climate change is an existential threat to civilization. Taxing carbon will make the use of fossil fuels more expensive than other energy sources. It will work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thereby reduce the amount of climate changing gases in the atmosphere. This we must do...or die.
21
Bringing Don Quixote's lesson to fight for (idealistic) causes to today's reality.
Changing the American political system i.e., to defend the interests of the 99% instead of the 1% be included into a lost cause?
Changing the American political system i.e., to defend the interests of the 99% instead of the 1% be included into a lost cause?
14
My lost cause is the fight against Aspartame. We need to tell the FDA to accept health complaints against Aspartame. (They stopped in 1992) We need to listen to research that is not industry funded. But most of all we need to listen to fellow Americans that suffer health problems that seem to come from Aspartame.
3
Pick your lost causes battles carefully, because there is usually a price to pay, which might include career, money, family etc.
Fall back positions and safety networks are helpful.
Pragmatism and a sense of reality are also important.
You can fall on your sword only once; no do-overs.
Fall back positions and safety networks are helpful.
Pragmatism and a sense of reality are also important.
You can fall on your sword only once; no do-overs.
11
Another way of putting this is that we are not in charge of the outcome, but we are in charge of our actions, and if nothing else, they change us, and who knows what the ripple effects will be.
54
When asked on his deathbed if he'd ever been lost, the wilderness scout Daniel Boone replied, " I was never lost but I was bewildered for weeks at a time." So maybe some of us who insist on tilting at windmills are simply still in the bewilderment stage and not lost at all. Call this optimistic pessimistic Quixotism. For me, it's acting on the conviction that the day will come when people will understand how truly connected we all are, and act in the spirit of Ubuntu... " I am who I am because of who we all our together." So I continue on the path of the storyteller ,sharing and encouraging encouraging people to listen deeply to each others stories.
24
We have plenty of people willing to take on Quixotic fights. Unfortunately, many of them are willing to charge at the windmills of science, sense and morality. 20-30 years ago only dreamers thought that overt racism would once more be acceptable public behavior in the USA; only a few Quixotic idealists thought that the lessons of Vietnam could be unlearned and America would once again storm into small foreign lands and kill millions in the name of Democracy; and yes, only a twisted few thought that blowing up children and driving trucks through crowds was going to bring an end to the excesses of the West.
Yet thanks to the “dreamers, idealists and lunatics” celebrated by this article, all these evils and more have become ever more common. Yes, let’s not be reluctant to fight against the status quo. But this, contrary to the author, is not the hard part. The challenge is to have the moral judgment to correctly identify the lost causes against which we should fling ourselves. This judgment is sorely lacking, and passionate energy indiscriminately applied has been the recipe for most of the human-made disasters of the past century.
Yet thanks to the “dreamers, idealists and lunatics” celebrated by this article, all these evils and more have become ever more common. Yes, let’s not be reluctant to fight against the status quo. But this, contrary to the author, is not the hard part. The challenge is to have the moral judgment to correctly identify the lost causes against which we should fling ourselves. This judgment is sorely lacking, and passionate energy indiscriminately applied has been the recipe for most of the human-made disasters of the past century.
8
I feel hopeless about stopping animal cruelty. We don't do enough but it's my family's lost cause.
We have a friend who takes in litters of puppies one after the other. She gives comfort, safety, rest and nourishment to the mother dog so she can nurse her pups. When they are big enough to travel, she transports the dogs to places near and far so they can be fostered and then adopted. Then she does it again.
We have adopted two of her dogs in need in the last year, but what we do feels insignificant. One of them, we only had for a day. He had been abandoned in a house. He was blind and deaf. When we got him to the vet, they discovered he was suffering with cancer. He had to be put down that very day. Did he feel rescued? Loved for the few hopeless hours we held him?
Time after time, we see anti-puppy mill legislation fail. We wonder if it's because stopping puppy mills will mean that hogs, cows, chicken, lambs, etc. will have to be treated more humanely at too much cost. Is it?
I hear people argue against helping animals because we face many other bigger problems. To me, it's the same argument that will take us out of the Paris climate accord. A logical first things first approach. I think it's one reason we fear and scapegoat others.
My friend is raising her own children in the midst of her "glorious quest" and they are learning what it means to care about lost causes and to fight anyway. To each his Dulcinea, though "she's nought but flame and air."
We have a friend who takes in litters of puppies one after the other. She gives comfort, safety, rest and nourishment to the mother dog so she can nurse her pups. When they are big enough to travel, she transports the dogs to places near and far so they can be fostered and then adopted. Then she does it again.
We have adopted two of her dogs in need in the last year, but what we do feels insignificant. One of them, we only had for a day. He had been abandoned in a house. He was blind and deaf. When we got him to the vet, they discovered he was suffering with cancer. He had to be put down that very day. Did he feel rescued? Loved for the few hopeless hours we held him?
Time after time, we see anti-puppy mill legislation fail. We wonder if it's because stopping puppy mills will mean that hogs, cows, chicken, lambs, etc. will have to be treated more humanely at too much cost. Is it?
I hear people argue against helping animals because we face many other bigger problems. To me, it's the same argument that will take us out of the Paris climate accord. A logical first things first approach. I think it's one reason we fear and scapegoat others.
My friend is raising her own children in the midst of her "glorious quest" and they are learning what it means to care about lost causes and to fight anyway. To each his Dulcinea, though "she's nought but flame and air."
14
The larger scheme is where the ultimate truth to this age-old dilemma presents itself.
The Anthropocene is a case in point. Science, more and more, is bracing us as a species for the reality that it's already too late to make amends with the natural world which we've so adeptly raped in the last 150 yrs.
And while attempts at reversing this cosmic dimemma seem hopelessly naive, an informed consciousness renders NOT doing anything sheer insanity.
The adage utilized in this piece highlights the ease with which we intellectually and spiritually fail ourselves by finding strength in numbers----even when that consensus means our ultimate demise. Welcome to our collective nightmare---the bacteria that we are.
So, what cause is lost? Doing, or doing nothing?
The Anthropocene is a case in point. Science, more and more, is bracing us as a species for the reality that it's already too late to make amends with the natural world which we've so adeptly raped in the last 150 yrs.
And while attempts at reversing this cosmic dimemma seem hopelessly naive, an informed consciousness renders NOT doing anything sheer insanity.
The adage utilized in this piece highlights the ease with which we intellectually and spiritually fail ourselves by finding strength in numbers----even when that consensus means our ultimate demise. Welcome to our collective nightmare---the bacteria that we are.
So, what cause is lost? Doing, or doing nothing?
14
Ms Allesandri draws exactly the wrong conclusion from Don Quixote tilting at windmills. The important point is not that Quixote fought a lost cause, but that he was delusional. The windmill was NOT a giant, and battling it successfully would only serve to deny the townspeople of badly needed bread. Lost causes are not worth fighting because they are lost causes. Many lost causes, like the Confederacy’s fight to defend slavery and the current fight to maintain Confederate war monuments, are wrong from the outset. We must fight the battles that need to be fought. We must not romanticize wrong thinking and the misguided dedication to causes that should be lost.
19
The lost cause for which I fight is the struggle to establish and then secure the ability to critically think within in my own mind and in the minds of my fellow citizens.
7
This column is awesome!! It feels like fighting for an America where people compromise and do not judge others is a lost cause, but I keep preaching it to my students.
9
My lost cause may be joining the Democratic party which is still engaging the calculating mindset of the Clinton machine, 'We don't go there unless we know we will win there.' I want the Democratic party to support each and every effort on the Party's behalf. Win or lose, we should be there. Vividly. If it is a 'lost cause', it is still worth Tom Perez, etc to come and work for the local Dems and the communities they want to represent in government. Each effort, won or lost, adds up to a portrait of a local grass-root, who care about people, who are public servants who understands that term well, and I would add on the term, patriot. It may be the Democratic Party, as it stands now, is the lost cause. I know this is not philosophical, but it is in good conscience. Pax, jb
14
Exactly! You'll never get your story out and plant the seeds of future victories unless you field candidates in every contest NOW. It's no fun being a sacrificial lamb but there are plenty of qualified Democrats who would be happy to win but prepared to lose for the greater goal, knowing they had the party at their backs. Since many voters only get their information from Fox - or worse - you need an actual physical presence in the community to deliver your message. Oh, and by the way Dems, while you're at it, get a message.
2
Mariana Alessandri's column is charming except for the glaring fact that Spain didn't choose to fight he United States. It wasn't a free choice. Spain did everything but surrender, but the jingoist, imperialist, zeitgeist in the U.S. was unstoppable.
A personal lost cause, quixotic endeavor, attempt to resist corruption?
My personal lost cause would have to be truth, honesty, rigor, comprehensive expression in the English language in America. To get some idea of the difficulty of thinking/writing in language, compare and contrast with music: In music a composer can make preliminary sketch after sketch, and after final composition no one will grudge what the musician accomplished during the sketching process--people will not mistake the sketching process for the complete work; but with language, writing, people not only seize on any word, sentence you ever wrote, they have no problem with taking the worst of what you have accomplished to define you, if they happen to feel themselves threatened by your example.
To further describe why I feel my cause is lost--and to tilt at a windmill in true Quixotic fashion--compare and contrast what I do with the Presidency of the United States. I would not want to be President because the language and other skills do not seem beyond a high school education. The personal example of Presidents appears hopelessly corrupted by wealth and the language level is such as not to prevent degradation of language and totalitarianism. The language of the best Presidents is so mediocre and careful that it is no protection against an incoherent President appearing next and/or totalitarian manipulation of language to the detriment of the populace.
I believe in thinking/writing--a lost cause.
My personal lost cause would have to be truth, honesty, rigor, comprehensive expression in the English language in America. To get some idea of the difficulty of thinking/writing in language, compare and contrast with music: In music a composer can make preliminary sketch after sketch, and after final composition no one will grudge what the musician accomplished during the sketching process--people will not mistake the sketching process for the complete work; but with language, writing, people not only seize on any word, sentence you ever wrote, they have no problem with taking the worst of what you have accomplished to define you, if they happen to feel themselves threatened by your example.
To further describe why I feel my cause is lost--and to tilt at a windmill in true Quixotic fashion--compare and contrast what I do with the Presidency of the United States. I would not want to be President because the language and other skills do not seem beyond a high school education. The personal example of Presidents appears hopelessly corrupted by wealth and the language level is such as not to prevent degradation of language and totalitarianism. The language of the best Presidents is so mediocre and careful that it is no protection against an incoherent President appearing next and/or totalitarian manipulation of language to the detriment of the populace.
I believe in thinking/writing--a lost cause.
3
My lost cause was to request an index for the Stone Reader, to be used in the Kindle edition. The volume is unusable for me currently because unlike a physical book, the Kindle edition does not allow skipping around the topics or even following various subject matter because you simply do not know where anything is or how to to directly access it without tediously going page by page. My request to the publisher for such provision was unanswered and not provided. This, a potentially exciting and useful publication, sits in my cloud: an ignored lump of potential promise.
3
Not to call it climate change... sounds innocuous and believing this change is a natural event. It is global warming which we caused and will impact all forms of life on the planet. We have the power and the know how to try and change this before it is too late. This is the lost cause too important to give up.
Politically to endorse candidates who see this as the number one priority for the country and the world: to reach the public in a way that they can understand that economically and spiritually, global warming is a death spiral and how we can sacrifice together for the planet we love. Developing public policies that inspire us to work together for this common good.
Media: to demand journalist and talking heads to question public officials constantly on this issue. I didn't hear any debates or media heads questioning the presidential candidates on this issue at all in this debacle of the 2016 election.
Personally: there are so many things to do but some examples: stop using plastic bags, stop buying bottled water, walk instead of drive, use public transportation. When someone says: "Isn't this warm weather great, I just love it"... Too say:"Actually this warm weather is abnormally hot and dangerous to us"... "If you love your children and grandchildren then you should despise global warming. " Too live simply, to live slow, to live with our eyes and minds wide open to the natural world.
To reach the unreachable star..no matter how hopeless, no matter how far!
Politically to endorse candidates who see this as the number one priority for the country and the world: to reach the public in a way that they can understand that economically and spiritually, global warming is a death spiral and how we can sacrifice together for the planet we love. Developing public policies that inspire us to work together for this common good.
Media: to demand journalist and talking heads to question public officials constantly on this issue. I didn't hear any debates or media heads questioning the presidential candidates on this issue at all in this debacle of the 2016 election.
Personally: there are so many things to do but some examples: stop using plastic bags, stop buying bottled water, walk instead of drive, use public transportation. When someone says: "Isn't this warm weather great, I just love it"... Too say:"Actually this warm weather is abnormally hot and dangerous to us"... "If you love your children and grandchildren then you should despise global warming. " Too live simply, to live slow, to live with our eyes and minds wide open to the natural world.
To reach the unreachable star..no matter how hopeless, no matter how far!
7
Quixote is an archetypal figure, "fighter for lost causes," as such he/she is timeless and potentially alive in all of us. Thanks to the genius of Cervantes, he/she was brought to life in the imaginary world of literature — where he/she will live forever.
A timely call, by Ms. Alessandri. "In Praise of Lost Causes" when the spirit of democracy once the aspiration and driving force of this young nation seems to be in its death throes. Can it survive? — we don't know.
But we find courage and inspiration in the quixotic figure of Bernie Sanders tilting at windmills, dreaming impossible dreams. May his "lunacy" live on forever and return all of us, past, present and future generations to the promise that once was the promise of America.
A timely call, by Ms. Alessandri. "In Praise of Lost Causes" when the spirit of democracy once the aspiration and driving force of this young nation seems to be in its death throes. Can it survive? — we don't know.
But we find courage and inspiration in the quixotic figure of Bernie Sanders tilting at windmills, dreaming impossible dreams. May his "lunacy" live on forever and return all of us, past, present and future generations to the promise that once was the promise of America.
34
The intention here is excellent and well-argued, but I fear it will give aid and comfort to the American Cult of the Lost Cause, i.e., the Confederacy, of which Atticus Finch said, "Even though you know you're licked a hundred years before your start, that's no reason not to try." What we still need is a way to figure out which unwinnable battles are worth fighting and why, so the defense of slavery doesn't wind up on the same list as resistance to Walmart (if that one's worth fighting). Dylan Root was quixotic in his desire to trigger a race war, but not heroic.
7
The lost cause I'm most concerned about is the mass extinction of animals and plants, via pollution, habitat loss, poaching and climate change.
11
The battles surely lost are those not engaged, the enemy avoided... And blustering enemy knows that and labors to appear stronger than he/she is. Don't be fooled.
When the deck seems stacked, think of Tom Brady.... greatness awaits those who never give up... who fight on with their last breath.
When the deck seems stacked, think of Tom Brady.... greatness awaits those who never give up... who fight on with their last breath.
6
But Unamuno in the end won. Francoism was hurried along with Franco and we can be sure forever.
5
There are no lost causes but only lost hope. What might be defeat today may lay the seeds of victory tomorrow. True optimism is knowing how bad things really are and how hopeless the cause is and yet still fighting on. Yes, I would rather die fighting for a good cause then live for a bad one.
I think of Don Quixote as the moral equivalent of my patron saint (not in any religious sense). Yes, I have taken on the powers of a whole town, a city, and a state. Yes, they used ridicule and called me names to try and diminish my impact. But for me they were badges of honor.
In a sense I won the battle while loosing and in another sense I lost the battle while winning. In the most important battle of all I won the battle for my self respect knowing that I tried.
I thought I was retired chasing windmills but as it so happens I am just about to embark on a new crusade to slay another dragon. This article helped remind me why I choose to fight.
I think of Don Quixote as the moral equivalent of my patron saint (not in any religious sense). Yes, I have taken on the powers of a whole town, a city, and a state. Yes, they used ridicule and called me names to try and diminish my impact. But for me they were badges of honor.
In a sense I won the battle while loosing and in another sense I lost the battle while winning. In the most important battle of all I won the battle for my self respect knowing that I tried.
I thought I was retired chasing windmills but as it so happens I am just about to embark on a new crusade to slay another dragon. This article helped remind me why I choose to fight.
5
Today's "logic" dictates forever pushing forward with new technologies, chasing the buck instead of the dream. But Life does not move in straight lines & if your only life goal is to get ahead financially setbacks become hard to take. The simple truth is that a life without dreams & true goals is not worth living. Often even Quixotic goals produce benefits over time. The American Revolution was an impossible dream at the time, Follow your dreams!
3
What a wonderful essay you have given us quixotic pessimists!
For over 40 years in the practice of medicine, I fought for a lost cause rooted in the arcane depths of the work. I have supported a system for structuring documentation as the bedrock of medical advances. This system, the Problem Oriented Medical Record, calls the adherents to establish for themselves a basic set of information collected and using it to grow wiser by asking better questions of ourselves, our patients and diseases in general. Presently, what doctors do is often unbelievably random with predictable effects on consistently good outcomes. The fly in the ointment for the medical establishment is the fact organization lays bare the logic of our work and shows it with a clarity inviting often negative assessments. Piercing the veil of the MD degree, the M.Diety if you will, is too bitter a pill to swallow. So, the windmill still stands and I have ridden into the sunset, bruises slowly healing, with head high. Giddyup, Rocinante!
For over 40 years in the practice of medicine, I fought for a lost cause rooted in the arcane depths of the work. I have supported a system for structuring documentation as the bedrock of medical advances. This system, the Problem Oriented Medical Record, calls the adherents to establish for themselves a basic set of information collected and using it to grow wiser by asking better questions of ourselves, our patients and diseases in general. Presently, what doctors do is often unbelievably random with predictable effects on consistently good outcomes. The fly in the ointment for the medical establishment is the fact organization lays bare the logic of our work and shows it with a clarity inviting often negative assessments. Piercing the veil of the MD degree, the M.Diety if you will, is too bitter a pill to swallow. So, the windmill still stands and I have ridden into the sunset, bruises slowly healing, with head high. Giddyup, Rocinante!
7
Thank you! It seems we are in this for the long haul.
3
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The "windmills of education" keep turning and turning, and too many students keep failing and failing. There seems to be no hope of saving many students.
My own focus is on student motivation. I wonder how we can awaken the interests of students to keep trying, in the face of endless struggle. I believe that within each child is a "perpetual motion machine" that he can tap into, to sustain his interest in school, and that he can indeed become successful.
But when I go up against educators in our schools, I am laughed at, over and over, again. Perhaps if I show them this wonderful essay, "In Praise of Lost Causes" some educators will become open to ideas on student motivation.
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THANKS SO MUCH, Mariana Alessandri