...For all sad words of tongue, or pen,
The saddest are these, "It might have been."
-John Greenleaf Whittier
In A Question of Values, Morris Berman presents one of the most articulate voices lamenting the breakdown of civilized society in America in the 21st century. In his introduction, explaining why he left the United States for Mexico in 2006, Berman says... "In substance, America [under Barack Obama] is still dominated by corporate and military values; by a pathetic philosophy of "We're No. 1!"; and by a way of life that's aggressive and competitive to it's very roots." These are the words of one with the courage to face the reality of our lives today, and the honesty to chronicle what he makes of that reality. And if these things were true under Barack Obama, the celebrated banker's clerk, who as Mr. Berman accurately points out started his populist bid for the presidency with a 750 million dollar war chest provided by investment bankers, then they've become a pathology under Donald Trump.
I'd like to interject here, if it's necessary, that I see Mr, Berman as a patriot of the highest order. It takes great courage and love of one's country to sound the alarm when one sees their country barreling headlong toward self-destruction, especially when they know they'll get nothing from their effort, other than the knowledge they've done the right thing. Because they know they will most likely be ignored or actively hated for their pains. Yet conscience calls them to do so regardless. Such people are the voices in the wilderness who serve to keep a society sane, to keep it grounded in reality. While conversely, the vastly more common kind of blind patriotism that wears its heart on its sleeve, is generally either a mere expression of utter-unsophistication, or worse, in the words of H.L. Menken, the last refuge of a scoundrel.
I concur with Mr. Berman's assessment of our social decay entirely. During the Clinton Administration I decided to leave the mainland U.S. for the Island of Hawaii for the same reasons, a decision I've never regretted. I felt also, as Mr. Berman goes on to say, that "America... had no heart; it was a callous place, with a death instinct hanging over it, like a huge dark cloud... The place, in a word, was and is toxic; it is making its citizens ill both physically and spiritually; it is a place from which the human dimension of life has largely been purged."
Powerful words. The ring of truth in them could bring tears for my lost country - for what it was, and for what it might have been.
The essays in A Question of Values are divided into four parts: 1. Lament for America: 2. Mind and Body: 3. Progress, True and False: and 4. Quo Vadis. Together they present an eclectic look at our society from the approaches indicated under the subheadings. The first part, Lament for America, I found to be the best. It is, I think, essential reading for those willing to take an objective look at our society; and in these essays Mr. Berman frames our central conundrum as he sees it, which is, in fact, our inability to see ourselves objectively. (*) We are, in Berman's view the victims of our own national myths, and of the fact that we've defined ourselves largely in terms of what we oppose, rather than by what we strive to be. As a result we're unable see ourselves objectively, and are therefore doomed to stride forth blindly down a road of self-deception that can only lead to self-destruction.
Brent Hightower
Copyright 2018 Brent Hightower
21stcenturyperceptions.blogspot.com
* Please note: I am aware of the irony in the paragraph, being that if only those who are able to see themselves objectively are willing to read such a work, what hope have those unwilling to see themselves objectively? This is, in fact, exactly the problem!
No comments:
Post a Comment