The Sethmosphere

Personal Reflections on a Seminal Event
By Seth J. Itzkan, August 29, 2008.

I won’t soon forget the most important political moment in my lifetime.

Antidote to Timidity

In addition to the superlatives that are no doubt in abundance this August morning, I would add that Obama’s treatments of the abortion, gay rights, and gun ownership issues were transcendent. “Don’t tell me we can’t uphold the second amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals”, he angrily exalted concerning the latter. That type growling clarity is exactly what the Democratic Party has been lacking. He is the antidote to timidity. Another pinnacle moment came when he proclaimed the bipartisan principles of patriotism, “The men and women who serve in our battlefields…have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America”.
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I attended the Barak Obama 47th Birthday Party Fundraiser yesterday, August 4th. This was in the “Great Room” on the 33rd floor of 60 State Street in Boston. Harry Connick Junior was there to sing Happy Birthday.

What is the sound of one hand clapping (and the other hand holding a cellphone camera)?

My social observation of the day is that everyone, myself included, had all their cellphone cameras in full gear so no one had a free hand to clap with. When he came out there was a curiously mild applause, almost like a gulf clap. Seeing as this was such an enthusiastic group of supporters that seemed strange, until I realized why. No one had their hands free! It was a sea of cell phone cameras held high in the air like periscopes from a mass of heads. I was reminded of Vonnegut’s classic eyeball-hands of the Trafalmadorians. Feeling somewhat ashamed at contributing to this unintended awkward artifact of the modern era, I quickly stashed my cellphone and started clapping gregariously. How strange.