Description: 'pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will'
politics (3999) trump (550) democracy (452) terrorism (252) isis (132)
The papers and online media have been filled with typical presentist sound-and-fury analysis that seems to almost relish the prospect of being forgotten the next day. In this sense, the coverage of the election results is itself a significant part of the carnage any thinking person has to reckon with.
Seeking out alternative resources of hope, I’ve been perusing my own personal library for reflective minds that might yield some measure of instruction in these dark times. I was especially pleased to happen on a strikingly prescient review piece by the late Tony Judt, public intellectual par excellence. The 2007 review is of Robert Reich’s book, Supercapitalism , which is just as instructive to read today. But the part that grabbed my attention was the following passages at the end of the piece that not on
“… Fear is reemerging as an active ingredient of political life in Western democracies. Fear of terrorism, of course; but also, and perhaps more insidiously, fear of the uncontrollable speed of change, fear of the loss of employment, fear of losing ground to others in an increasingly unequal distribution of resources, fear of losing control of the circumstances and routines of one’s daily life. And, perhaps above all, fear that it is not just we who can no longer shape our lives but that those in authority