I saw this book called Dark Ages America ( I won't link to it on the off chance that someone might buy it and then I would know I gave money to the devil) and I was pretty sure it was going to suck. Michiko confirmed all my suspicions. It's a good review and this last para is key:
So indiscriminate and intemperate are Mr. Berman's complaints that they undermine the valid points he wants to make about the role the Iraq war has played in fomenting further terrorism, the moral implications of torture at Abu Ghraib and the dangers of a ballooning trade deficit and an overextended military. But his apparent hatred of all things American will give right-wing ideologues like Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter an opportunity to tar and feather those citizens who do not share Mr. Berman's contempt for this country but who happen to share his concern about the Iraq war and the policies of the current Bush administration.
I am so fucking tired of crybaby take-my-ball-and-go-home lefties (look at that pompous bastard's picture, you'll want to kick him in the balls immediately) who spoil reasoned and articulate criticism of the Bush administration with their childish and idiotic rants. What not everyone in America wants to sell hemp and drive a Prius? Oh they must be evil then. What's that? They practice a religion? Fie on them (unless they're Muslims, who are just angels!) Have these tools even been to Europe or Asia or Africa? If they want evil, they can get a mass grave load. To these class A jackasses, evil is a word you can toss around like hello. The vast majority of the centrists and leftists are not America haters, but this guy makes it easy to say its an issue.
The right is just as bad of course, but they are in power, so they have lots of room to play. Those who want to change the ship's direction need some discipline and some reason, not a rant like you might hear from a pissy sophmore with a couple of sociology classes under his belt.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Get out of my world
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3 comments:
. . . so our country is simultaneously "suffering from 'spiritual death'" while experiencing "'the triumph of religion over reason'"? Now, I realize that the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary may not be the ne plus ultra of truthiness, but it does define "spiritual" as - inter alia - "concerned with religious values."
A Canadian reviewer of Berman's earlier work, "The Twilight of American Culture," nailed Berman's narcissim:
"Berman is, according to the book jacket, 'an innovative cultural historian and social critic' who has 'held visiting professorships in the United States and Europe'.
He believes that the US, like ancient Rome, is exhibiting signs of imminent societal collapse: rising economic inequality, falling literacy, rising anti-intellectualism, and spiritual death through an expanding corporate culture.
Berman provides a familiar litany of what's wrong: 53% of Americans don't know that the earth takes one year to revolve around the sun; 60% of adult Americans have never read a book; 70% of Americans believe in the existence of angels.
Drawing inspiration from the Dark Ages, Berman advocates a remedy in what he calls the 'monastic option'. During a time of intellectual stagnation, monks preserved and copied classical wisdom. This knowledge was then available for the cultural renewal that started in the 12th century. Following this precedent, Berman suggests that what he calls NMI's (new monastic individuals) start preserving what's best in Western culture so that it can survive the coming storm.
What's an NMI? You're an NMI if you love your occupation, aren't focused on celebrity culture, and haven't sold out to the corporate world to get where you are. NMI's are creative and nomadic. Hmmm, doesn't that sound suspiciously like a description of a certain cultural historian and social critic who's held visiting professorships in the United States and Europe?
As Berman admits, his notion of NMI has much in common with 'Class X' from Paul Fussell's 1983 book, Class. Fussell dissected American culture into nine socioeconomic classes, from 'Bottom out-of-sight' to 'Top out-of-sight'. All of these classes are more or less despicable, except for an exceptional tenth class, Class X, which (surprise!) includes people like Fussell himself. Similarly, Berman's description of NMI's sounds like he is, with deep appreciation, looking into a mirror: 'the NMI is the purist [sic] embodiment of the human spirit'. Beware of books where people just like the author are depicted as saviours."
http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~shallit/berman.html
Ta-DOW!!
rbh
There is something very Ayn Rand-y about these types. They denigrate everyone else, which then allows them to disdain and abandon them. No untermenschen for our heroes.
And another thing: for every nadir there is an apex, and Berman's thesis necessarily presupposes some sort of cultural height from which we are declining. But I have a sneaking suspicion that Berman would whine just as much were he writing in 1944, 1833 or 1607.
feh.
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