Articles
Crisp and James on Revolutionary Politics
A couple of passages from my holiday reading (one from Quentin Crisp, another from Clive James on George Orwell) have struck me with enough force that I feel I should put them down for relative posterity. Both are to do with world politics, to some extent; both predate the current situation; and both are timeless.
Articles
Look out! Here come the active consumers
This is an interesting essay that moots the idea that all the “interactive” stuff that’s appeared is a whole new way to deal with what Clay calls a “cognitive surplus” — which, as far as I can tell, basically means all the extra thinking a guy can do when he doesn’t have to work sixteen hours every day to live…
Articles
Mencken on decadent societies
H.L. Mencken made this observation:
Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.
While the poster was referring to the sometimes farcical and frequently reason-defying antics known as “publicly visible airport security”, this quote can equally apply to certain other social control systems in other parts of the world.
Posted in Articles (Occasionals,) by R Cruickshank 31/12/07 11:50 AM tags: cosmic wisdom, ha ha only serious, occasional
Randomness
Take your water and shove it
Chugging down eight glasses of oh-so-vital pure water every day? Well, you’re not only a sucker, you could be endangering your health.
Articles
An Occasional Series: Will Durant
“[D]emocracy ruins itself by excess -– of democracy. Its basic principle is the equal right of all to hold office and determine public policy. This is at first glance a delightful arrangement…”
Articles
An Occasional Series: Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
“Now what is it, do you think, that makes Christians so bloodthirsty? ... I think the problem is linguistic, and might be repaired, if the evangelists would only allow it, with startling simplicity.”
About
About the Occasionals
According to a now-forgotten book, folk of earlier centuries (I forget as well which ones) kept what were called “occasional books”, which were rather like scrapbooks in that they would write down extracts from other people’s works that struck them with particular force. I see no reason to refrain from doing so electronically.
Of course, in the Internet age one can simply link to the striking web page… but one’s choice of extract can illuminate oneself as well as expose others to the same idea. And besides, much of this material comes from those old, non-online media… you know, books.
Posted in About (Occasionals,) by R Cruickshank 09/08/07 05:00 PM tags: occasional
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