With
skill and humor, this exercise can fill the void with engaging
nonsense. But instead of confining such mind-flexing and tongue wagging
to – let’s call it “small talk raised to the nth” – mindless authors of
visual and audio communications commit their stuff to digital media,
paper, or art materials. Their allegorical erections may look impressive
but a few of us do sense the hot air in excursions common to sociology,
behavioral “science,” and symbol-minded treatises like The
Interpretation of Dreams. We notice too how useful a ploy this can be
for selling ideas.
“I
don’t like to think,” a young man once told me ( his exact words). This
stunning confession from an otherwise fine young person was to me
direct evidence that his mind was deformed by a defective system of education that dates back to John Dewey. It marked him as an asset of amoral strategists who care more about an agenda
than the welfare of their fellow human beings. It is beyond sick that
the young in America who, like this individual, “don’t like to think”
must depend on “authorities” and “experts” who despise the collective
wisdom of people smarter than they, garnered over many centuries,
regarding the most important things in life.
The
drift from reality in so many young minds today – thanks to the
progressive dismantling of intelligence in the public schools – must
halt if living in a civilized society still means anything at all.
Ricky’s skill and knowledge surely
made him one of the most talented performers of all time, but it was his
unique sense of humor and style on stage that set him apart. His use of vocabulary and self-deprecation
as a way to engage his audience was entrancing and unparalleled. A
performance by Ricky wasn’t a parlor show or something to be shoved into
the background of a cocktail party, but an encapsulation of his ability
to connect to a crowd through charisma and wit.
Ricky didn’t like playing to huge crowds
or groups of other magicians because he didn’t want to break the
connection he formed with an audience. He loved the bond he was able to
create by deceiving people, and they loved it too. Ricky believed in the
spell of pure entertainment, and his love for magic was fueled by the
look of wonder and delight on the faces of his fans. Whether or not they
believed what they were seeing was truly magic, they believed in the
enchantment of Ricky Jay.
Mark Twain quipped that history doesn’t repeat itself so much as
rhyme. We must seriously attend to those rhymes, but not at the cost of
making necessary distinctions. Contesting today’s populist strongmen
doesn’t require calling them fascists, a label that often deepens the
anger and alienation of their followers. It is quite enough to challenge
their misdeeds and to address the underlying causes of their rise.
The only thing worse than forgetting history is using it badly,
responding to echoes of the past with actions that fuel today’s fires
rather than douse them.
fair enough, that does soft pedal the real risk of tyranny
To emphasize the point that game-changing
technology needs game-changing rules that don’t rely on the old way of
doing things, two recently released studies highlight how the digital
landscape is shifting more than can be reliably perceived, making the
usual business models and regulatory templates a thing of the past.
The
big reveal in both of these analyses is that for America to win the
race to 5G, and for consumers and our economy to benefit from its
enormous promise, government has to get out of the way and let the
market take its course.
The first study of note,
produced by Duke Economics Professor Michelle Connelly, points out
specific types of consumer-oriented technology are no longer staying
within their own lanes, but spilling beyond their traditional paths.
Long-accepted notions of broadband being tethered to physical locations,
and wireless being used by consumers in a mobile capacity are a
scenario whose days are numbered.
Such is the context that President
Trump evokes (wittingly or unwittingly). Whether he can properly harness
the potency of this ideal is another matter. Nationalism, therefore, is
the people’s demand and hard struggle for freedom against the forces of
hegemony.
It is a
spontaneous revolution (hence the associated term, “populism,” or the
will of the people). How such revolutionary striving can now be mocked
as traitorous reveals our sad slavery to ignorance; so much so that
falsehoods are permitted to construct the world we must inhabit.
The
Hungarian populist poet, Sándor Petőfi, gave the best definition of
nationalism, in one of his verses: “Liberty and love, these I must have.
For my love, I will sacrifice my life. For liberty, I will sacrifice my
love.”
Contra our gauzy modern mindset,
fueled by Rousseau’s fantasies of the noble savage, more primitive
lifestyles are hardly likely to be exemplars of the good life.
Ancient Germans and Britons were cannibals, and in Carthage, infants were sacrificed.
(Memo to the Globe’s Graham: White Europeans were conquered and
civilized, too.) More recently, evidence of tribes in Papua New Guinea,
in Indonesia indicates the practice of cannibalism.
This is not to say the North
Sentinelese have such practices—frankly, they might be far more
civilized than CNN, which aired a host eating a human brain in 2017—or
anything similar.
Underneath all the left’s chatter
about cultural relativity and celebration of diversity is a firm,
unwavering belief in the superiority of certain beliefs.
At the end of the day, Chau’s greatest sin is holding beliefs unfashionable in our modern, secular world.
CultML 