Peggy Noonan: Big Mike, No Message

Wall Street Journal ^ | June 3, 2004 | Peggy Noonan

[Mamzelle]

Bump for Peggy--

But--the chief reasons for these kids wanting to go into communication are two--

1) They have a useless liberal-arts degree. They have to go to some kind of grad school.

2) Communications provides scope and stage for the Vain.

[CatoRenasci]

I would submit that the fundamental problem you've described in anecdotal terms is the desire of the modern world to deny God.

This is also (of all people) Nietzsche's insight in Die Froeliches Wissenschaft [The Gay Science in the famous Aphorism 125 concerning the death of God -- that the people mocking the madman (tollen mensch, a bit more nuanced in german) have themselves killed God, the greatest of all man's creations, but, though the deed has been done, it is as yet 'far off' and they don't realize what they have done. Nietzsche's athiesm (i.e., his view that man created God), this is remarkably perceptive -even to the notion that God is the noblest thing man can concieve- and thought-provoking. I have pondered on this aphorism often.

I disagree that the problem is the Enlightenment, but then my education was not scholastic, but rather in intellectual history and philosophy, and I regard the Enlightenment and its (primarily British) precursors to be the foundation of the philosophical basis which undergirds our republic. The difficulty, of course, is that Faith is not automatic for the mind that embraces the Englightenment. I would argue at length on a suitable occasion that the problem is most people's disinclination to think as hard as serious understanding of the Enligntenment (or Nietzsche, for that matter) requires, than the ideas of the Enlightenment itself.

Recall, that the position of the Church through the 18th and 19th centuries (and until recently in many ways) was ultramontane and fundamentally hostile to individual liberty as well as to classical liberalism and capitalism. A world in which the Englightenment was rejected to return (to paraphrase a line from Georges Hazard's Crise de la Consicence European [The Crisis of the European Mind]) to the world of a Bossuet, is one that would be on the road to medievealism similar to that which has mired islam.

[hobbes1]

Hey man, that was a beautiful post.

[Mears]

Bump for later!

Places to go,things to do-----not bad for an old lady smoker!

[FreedomPoster]

"he's a haircut with a person attached."

That's gonna leave a mark. LOL!

[hobbes1]

You're thinking British (Locke, Hume etc...), vanmo is thinking French (Rabelais,de Montaigne,Rousseau)


You're both right.




And both wrong...lol

[CatoRenasci]

Sorry, I meant to say "Nietzsche's athiesm aside...."

On a number of your other points we agree:

surely, the lack of serious educational grounding in logic, theology (and I would add, philosophy and history) make it difficult for anyone to seriously and rigorously think or evaluate the mass of facts available.

I have often noticed, and been disturbed by the phenomenon you note with respect to children (youth, even adults) unable to evaluate the wealth of information available on the internet. With my own children, I have stressed the importance of determining the quality of sources, and checking any information found on the internet against print sources of high reliabilty wherever possible. This is especially true in matters historical, which are near to my heart and interest.

[FreedomPoster]

>>Everyone seems to be focusing on the Kerry aspect of this piece. I think the really interesting point is the one about the graduates of the elite colleges all wanting to go into communications, but without a clue what they have to say.

What makes you think those two parts of this commentary are unrelated? My "take" is that Peggy knew what she was doing very well, when putting both these items in this piece.

[CatoRenasci]

I think you're on to something there, I know that in my own thinking I am explicitly British-oriented, with a good dose of the German enlightenment for seasoning. Starting with my view (not original with me) that the French Revolution and its excesses (throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, in which I include Marxism and its spawn) represents a reductio ad absurdam on the French enlightenment, which itself strikes me as less balanced than the British or German, I focus most on the classical liberal Enlightenment. The French ultramontanes (whether like Bossuet or deMaistre or their epigoni) have always made me feel like I was dealing with something foul and unclean as I read them.

[Atlas Sneezed]

the chief reasons for these kids wanting to go into communication are two--

1) They have a useless liberal-arts degree. They have to go to some kind of grad school.

2) Communications provides scope and stage for the Vain.

---

Those who have not learned HOW to think want to tell others WHAT to think.

[Endeavor]

I think you have to remember the "herd" in which this thoroughbred runs. Peggy's friends' kids are likely to have journalists/tv producers/news professionals as parents. Therefore, the kids she's in contact with are more oriented towards the arts than the sciences. While that's a bit of a generalization, I think there's some truth to it.

The Ivy League schools have excellent and very full and successful programs in the sciences. There are lots of Ivy League kids who want to engineer, build things and solve biotechnological problems.

Of course, the key is that all of them are leaving their Ivy League schools with a leftist perspective - imagine that in the realm of bio-ethics, nuclear/weapons defense system planning, etc.

[Endeavor]

Thanks, friend.

[dennisw]

Correct you are about "our Peggy". Who she hangs out with in Manhattan. I think she has compensated for this but your point is valid.

[Salvation]

**I wondered if the loss of a kind of national manliness, or force, tends to coincide in modern nations with a rise in expertise in the delicate arts.**

Could be its own thread!

[Salvation]

**Great quote about Kerry:

"he's a haircut with a person attached."**

LOL! So true!

[vanmorrison]

Thanks for your very thoughtful responses...

"Philosophy is the handmaid of theology", as they say.

I have become a Thomist in my old age. After a lifetime of seeking, I've found nothing better.

[vanmorrison]

"Nothing can be known or communicated." - Gorgias

[cgk]

Thanks for the ping!

[TheOwl]

If there is a better, brighter, and more intelligent voice for American Conservatism, I don't know who it is. Not even Rush, Sean or Glenn can punch a point home like this lady.

Thanks for the post. Truth never read so well. :)


Owl

[RottiBiz]

"I love Peggy" bump!