Thank you for thinking and then creating, as you did.
I think that it is apparent that social trends run in cycles. Let us hope that humanity preservers beyond this one that we are currently finding ourselves in.
Wow, extremely well said - “Two generations later, what Invasion of the Body Snatchers portrayed in its figurative expression has come to pass in many ways.
An obvious example is the omnipresence of regulatory bureaucracies. These monster herds have worked collectively, relentlessly and -- while professing their own supposed virtue -- in a manner entirely absent of care or concern for the host who are compelled under penalty of prosecution to feed them, destroyed the American livelihoods we used to know when we proudly made our own products with our own hands. But even outside of government, a much larger percentage of Americans than ever before, especially those whose livelihoods are often supported entirely by the taxpayers they hate, despise America, our liberty, our livelihoods and the sanctity of human life; but most of all themselves who are empty, incapable of empathy, narcissistic and soulless.”
Straight to the ‘Heart of Darkness’. Or in engineer speak, ‘Have you been engaged in performing a Root Cause Analysis?’ 😁
What happens to others doesn't necessarily happen to all. There are facets of reality unique to each individual. The world seems to be full of facts, inexorable and relentless, but this isn't so, except to the extent one adopts the falsehood as one's own imagination, which then demonstrates itself. That is why I say, "get better ideas."
Your response above, “What happens to others doesn't necessarily happen to all. There are facets of reality unique to each individual. The world seems to be full of facts, inexorable and relentless, but this isn't so, except to the extent one adopts the falsehood as one's own imagination, which then demonstrates itself. That is why I say, "get better ideas."
In light of your essay (Parts 1 and 2), I don’t understand your comment in response to John Leake’s Substack Post: “Fiction is fictional. To read fiction as if it were anything but a fantasy in the mind of the writer who conceived it is to mistake it. Similitude notwithstanding.”
It's common nowadays, especially young people in the West, to confuse life with fiction, and fiction with life, just as they claim that there is no truth and yet what is false is by them held to be somehow true. Indistinct (as opposed to critical) thinking.
If fiction is to make great literature, it's core ideas must be true, i.e., be false to be true. But the characters, events, sentiments, etc., are all fantastic, even the so-called realist fiction, which is just a different kind of fakery (much less appealing to me, like trompe d'oeil painting). Fiction is not a history of anything, but the observations of a singlewriter imagining a story.
Generalizing from a work of fiction to the world in which the writer lived, as the writer of the post did, is a fundamentally academic mistake. It should be as plain as day. Reality programming is similarly all made-up, even though it claims to be reality. I blame this sad state of affairs on the widespread English lit classes whose armchair critics set out to prove relevancy. Fiction is a fantasy. Fiction is not relevant. Literature is never relevant; but it is always supremely true and valuable for its own sake.
On a different subject, I was astounded that Argentine President-Elect Milei was invited, much less, allowed to speak at Davos: "I Didn't Come Here To Guide Lambs, But To Awaken Lions"
I have always been more interested in the natural sciences: geography, geology, botany, biology, the natural world, what I consider tangible fascinating things; and the intangible- human history, cultures, social structures, ethics, intangible important things (as I consider these). I honestly was never terribly fond of literature, per se, except for books like ‘Gulag Archipelago, War and Peace, 1984, Catch 22, The Jungle, Lord of the Rings, The Grapes of Wrath. And these books I found valuable because, for me, they emphasized and illustrated, through analogy, core ideas and basic truths about human nature and the human condition.
Finished the essay, Part 1 and Part 2.
Insightful.
Heartbreaking.
Thought provoking.
Inspiring.
Thank you for thinking and then creating, as you did.
I think that it is apparent that social trends run in cycles. Let us hope that humanity preservers beyond this one that we are currently finding ourselves in.
Wow, extremely well said - “Two generations later, what Invasion of the Body Snatchers portrayed in its figurative expression has come to pass in many ways.
An obvious example is the omnipresence of regulatory bureaucracies. These monster herds have worked collectively, relentlessly and -- while professing their own supposed virtue -- in a manner entirely absent of care or concern for the host who are compelled under penalty of prosecution to feed them, destroyed the American livelihoods we used to know when we proudly made our own products with our own hands. But even outside of government, a much larger percentage of Americans than ever before, especially those whose livelihoods are often supported entirely by the taxpayers they hate, despise America, our liberty, our livelihoods and the sanctity of human life; but most of all themselves who are empty, incapable of empathy, narcissistic and soulless.”
Straight to the ‘Heart of Darkness’. Or in engineer speak, ‘Have you been engaged in performing a Root Cause Analysis?’ 😁
You're welcome. Thank you for reading.
What happens to others doesn't necessarily happen to all. There are facets of reality unique to each individual. The world seems to be full of facts, inexorable and relentless, but this isn't so, except to the extent one adopts the falsehood as one's own imagination, which then demonstrates itself. That is why I say, "get better ideas."
Sounds like something C.S. Lewis would say.
Your response above, “What happens to others doesn't necessarily happen to all. There are facets of reality unique to each individual. The world seems to be full of facts, inexorable and relentless, but this isn't so, except to the extent one adopts the falsehood as one's own imagination, which then demonstrates itself. That is why I say, "get better ideas."
In light of your essay (Parts 1 and 2), I don’t understand your comment in response to John Leake’s Substack Post: “Fiction is fictional. To read fiction as if it were anything but a fantasy in the mind of the writer who conceived it is to mistake it. Similitude notwithstanding.”
Please explain.
Tx,
Ek
It's common nowadays, especially young people in the West, to confuse life with fiction, and fiction with life, just as they claim that there is no truth and yet what is false is by them held to be somehow true. Indistinct (as opposed to critical) thinking.
If fiction is to make great literature, it's core ideas must be true, i.e., be false to be true. But the characters, events, sentiments, etc., are all fantastic, even the so-called realist fiction, which is just a different kind of fakery (much less appealing to me, like trompe d'oeil painting). Fiction is not a history of anything, but the observations of a singlewriter imagining a story.
Generalizing from a work of fiction to the world in which the writer lived, as the writer of the post did, is a fundamentally academic mistake. It should be as plain as day. Reality programming is similarly all made-up, even though it claims to be reality. I blame this sad state of affairs on the widespread English lit classes whose armchair critics set out to prove relevancy. Fiction is a fantasy. Fiction is not relevant. Literature is never relevant; but it is always supremely true and valuable for its own sake.
On a different subject, I was astounded that Argentine President-Elect Milei was invited, much less, allowed to speak at Davos: "I Didn't Come Here To Guide Lambs, But To Awaken Lions"
I have always been more interested in the natural sciences: geography, geology, botany, biology, the natural world, what I consider tangible fascinating things; and the intangible- human history, cultures, social structures, ethics, intangible important things (as I consider these). I honestly was never terribly fond of literature, per se, except for books like ‘Gulag Archipelago, War and Peace, 1984, Catch 22, The Jungle, Lord of the Rings, The Grapes of Wrath. And these books I found valuable because, for me, they emphasized and illustrated, through analogy, core ideas and basic truths about human nature and the human condition.
May I recommend the 1964-68 Russian film series of War and Peace? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063794/?ref_=ext_shr