The novel is not dead, as pundits have
proclaimed every decade for the past hundred years, only readers able to
sustain long narratives with complex plots and deep intellectual discussions of
ethics and morals. So too short stories
which require intense meditation and multiple readings. Most unlikely to survive our contemporary
education system are my collections of apothegms and aphorisms.
I went to the first rock’n’roll show at the
Brooklyn Paramount on the first morning and received a free 45” recording of
“Greasy Spoon.” Alan Freed pounded on a
telephone book to get the “big beat.”
People jumped out of their seats to dance in the aisles. I decided then
and there, in my self-righteous adolescence, to withdraw from popular culture
completely. I have been true to my word
ever since.
Is there really a world-wide clash of
cultures, or is it a clash between culture and barbarism in my own mind?
Six degrees of separation, or seven or five,
does it matter? I spoke to a friend by
phone short while ago whose relative had two children in Sandy Hook, Elementary
School, one of whom was killed and the other survived in a different room. Someone else I know lives in Aurora, Colorado,
just a few streets from the mall where the Batman shooting took place. My son was on jury duty around the corner
from the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001, and saw, heard and smelled
the terrorist attacks.
The world is too
small for comfort, even when you live at the very outermost fringes of the
Antipodes. What frightens me most,
however, are the trivializers of mass serial murders, the rationalizers of
fanatical religious groups and nationalists, and the obfuscation of rational
and efficient responses to such situations.
They dominate the press, pontificate in the universities, parade their
ignorance in the halls of power, and make spectacular films using all the
latest technology to perpetuate their lies.
What are the greatest threats to the peace
and stability of the world today? The
arrogance of power, the self-confidence of fools, and the illusion of
rationality. What are the best ways to
survive the next decade, with some degree of probability? The humility of preparedness, the patience of
wisdom, and the certainty of eventual crisis; in other words, historical
realism, social responsibility and moral determination.
Very well said! And as far as your apothegms, etc., I am pretty sure the pendulum will be swinging the other way before too long.
ReplyDelete