climate talks in copenhagen, wrangling over senate votes on healthcare bills, iran, afghanistan, george schultz telling a local reporter it was a mistake to bail out the banks? hard news exhausts me. i hold a painfully moderate position, and then i listen to my more extreme friends and family. if only i could adopt a firm position, and free myself of this conviction that i don't know enough about the variables to have an informed opinion! perhaps it's a sign i'm not capable of seeing through the murkiness to the essential realities? despite the worst news, i confidently think all will work out somehow. my friends point out that things don't always work out, look at the roman empire, look at the paralysis of europe, look at the effects of loose immigration.
after awhile, i retreat to buying christmas presents, and happily immersing myself in the pleasures of the marketplace. say, i'm getting a new mobile phone! plus, there's always the new york times xword, which as the week wears on gets more demanding. just what i'm needing.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I guess all I would say is who said the death of the Roman Empire didn't work out just fine?; who says Europe is paralyzed, except by xenophobia?; and I seem to recall that the effects of "loose immigration" gave us a Land of the Free and a Home of the Brave full of people now calling themselves "Americans" whenever they make a vacation back to the home of their ancestors–it's only called "loose" after you and yourn get in and get a job...
ReplyDeleteRetail therapy is one, perhaps, tongue-in-cheek alternative to having one's position denigrated. However, I suspect that there are a number of historians, not least among them Howard Zinn, who could beef up your take on things.