When I first decided to study and teach literature as my life’s vocation, I foresaw the work ahead of me — to learn as much as I could about English letters. Was I still unread in the Victorian novel? That would have to change. Had I a blank area in early American? It would have to be filled. The idea, though, was not simply to cover this and check off that. It was to gain a broad view of the whole, to see the relations of one area to another, to hear Melville in conversation with Milton, to set Jay Gatsby off against Tom Jones, to hear the American strains of confidence and rule-breaking in Walt Whitman, and the no less American strains of reserve and fence-setting in Robert Frost.
Great piece. Spot on and so sad. This all started deliberately in the 70s. Stupidity and ignorance reigns. From Bonhoeffer: “Against stupidity we have no defense. Neither protests nor force can touch it. Reasoning is of no use. Facts that contradict personal prejudices can simply be disbelieved — indeed, the fool can counter by criticizing them, and if they are undeniable, they can just be pushed aside as trivial exceptions. So the fool, as distinct from the scoundrel, is completely self-satisfied. In fact, they can easily become dangerous, as it does not take much to make them aggressive. For that reason, greater caution is called for than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer
ReplyDeleteThanks for that. - Nemo
ReplyDeleteAs Einstein said, and some say not, "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits." I guess who said it matters little. Regardless, it is truth.
ReplyDeleteExcellent read......spot on...thank you
ReplyDeleteSK
"Don't call me stupid!" Kevin Klein, in A Fish Called Wanda. Fun movie.
ReplyDeleteThe essence of stupid is plain old laziness.
ReplyDeleteIt's the easy way through life, especially if you're willing to live on .gov subsidy.
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I have met guys dumb enough that good decisions were really hard for them. On the other hand, they had been taught to listen to smarter people who had good reputations. This was years ago when morality still mattered, and good reputations were important.
DeleteStupidity would be self-limiting.
ReplyDelete...Unless it was rewarded.
Reading? WTF? That's so 20th century!
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