“They saw their injured country's woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, - but left the shield.”
―Philip Freneau
.
And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again?
Archilochus
Monday, May 18, 2015
Twice Removed
There is only one way left to escape the alienation of present day society: to retreat ahead of it.
Sad, effete, exhausted, whiny, self-absorbed –– impotent. Sorry, but that's how all this kind of stuff strikes me, and has struck me since the advent of Bob ("Gagamaggot") Dylan. (:-x
The Sound of Self-Pity SUCKS.
I will say one thing for it: At least it avoids the Crash, Bam, Thump, Bump Bump! of putridly predictable percussion, and the harsh, grating, nerve-jangling, artificially-produced sounds of electronic GITT-arse.
Of course, and that's precisely what's so WRONG with it. When good ol' Western Civ. was on the way UP, the music, art, literature, architecture, etc. always TRANSCENDED the surrounding circumstances, and buoyed us up.
Until recently Art had always been in the avant garde –– it LED.
Today it's merely following The Pied Pipers of Doom over the Cliff straight into the Abyss.
The stench of rot and corruption accompany the nauseating smell of failure and limp-wristed surrender to despair.
As always, Shakespeare says it best: "Fair is foul, foul is fair; hover through the fog and filthy air ...
Well, sir, I'm not dead –– yet. Soon enough, since I'm now at that age where anything could happen at any moment, but as long as I –– and the few million others who keep swimming and refuse to surrender to Tidal Wave of Tripe and Twaddle that as engulfed us –– do our bet to support, promote and enjoy the glories of the past, while trying, however, feebly, to maintain high standards of quality and add fresh pieces of creative work of our own to the available mix, CULTURE will NOT be DEAD.
High culture has always been the province of the fortunate few anyway. The frankly vile pseudo-egalitarian initiatives that have sought with far too much success to destroy the very idea of a stratified society. This sought after Leveling Effect has been disastrous in every conceivable way. It has failed to RAISE standards all around. It has only succeeded in LOWERING them for virtually all but the Super-Rich, and frankly most of THEM are intellectual and spiritual BARBARIANS –– think "Donald Trump," and you should see exactly what i mean.
In my admittedly eccentric worldview we NEED an artistic, intellectual, inherently rich ARISTOCRACY to look up to, to aspire towards, and to emulate.
Who the heck do you think the Founding Fathers were, if not that?
Slave owners, exploiters of their fellow man, and people who robbed the Native Americans of their native lands.
When you can do all of that with a straight face and a clear conscience, you'll finally be back to being "cultured". And we're currently FAR too morally judgemental for that.
6 comments:
Sad, effete, exhausted, whiny, self-absorbed –– impotent. Sorry, but that's how all this kind of stuff strikes me, and has struck me since the advent of Bob ("Gagamaggot") Dylan. (:-x
The Sound of Self-Pity SUCKS.
I will say one thing for it: At least it avoids the Crash, Bam, Thump, Bump Bump! of putridly predictable percussion, and the harsh, grating, nerve-jangling, artificially-produced sounds of electronic GITT-arse.
The music merely reflects the Age.
Of course, and that's precisely what's so WRONG with it. When good ol' Western Civ. was on the way UP, the music, art, literature, architecture, etc. always TRANSCENDED the surrounding circumstances, and buoyed us up.
Until recently Art had always been in the avant garde –– it LED.
Today it's merely following The Pied Pipers of Doom over the Cliff straight into the Abyss.
The stench of rot and corruption accompany the nauseating smell of failure and limp-wristed surrender to despair.
As always, Shakespeare says it best: "Fair is foul, foul is fair; hover through the fog and filthy air ...
Please, FT, culture is dead. It won't come back until the worms are through chewing on the present.
Well, sir, I'm not dead –– yet. Soon enough, since I'm now at that age where anything could happen at any moment, but as long as I –– and the few million others who keep swimming and refuse to surrender to Tidal Wave of Tripe and Twaddle that as engulfed us –– do our bet to support, promote and enjoy the glories of the past, while trying, however, feebly, to maintain high standards of quality and add fresh pieces of creative work of our own to the available mix, CULTURE will NOT be DEAD.
High culture has always been the province of the fortunate few anyway. The frankly vile pseudo-egalitarian initiatives that have sought with far too much success to destroy the very idea of a stratified society. This sought after Leveling Effect has been disastrous in every conceivable way. It has failed to RAISE standards all around. It has only succeeded in LOWERING them for virtually all but the Super-Rich, and frankly most of THEM are intellectual and spiritual BARBARIANS –– think "Donald Trump," and you should see exactly what i mean.
In my admittedly eccentric worldview we NEED an artistic, intellectual, inherently rich ARISTOCRACY to look up to, to aspire towards, and to emulate.
Who the heck do you think the Founding Fathers were, if not that?
Slave owners, exploiters of their fellow man, and people who robbed the Native Americans of their native lands.
When you can do all of that with a straight face and a clear conscience, you'll finally be back to being "cultured". And we're currently FAR too morally judgemental for that.
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