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...the collective tendency of civilized men and women to forgetfulness.

The tendency to forgetfulness is more "enhanced" in today's society by the constant onslaught of useless or destructive "information" and "entertainment" that is shoved at Americans 24 x 7. Just a small case in point, I've heard today on local news radio briefs, that today is apparently the 1 year anniversary of the death of M. Jackson. Take a gander at how much network programming will be dedicated to the coverage of this non-story over the next few days. (I'm not suggesting that anyone actually watch it, just glance at the program listings!) I recall that I was astounded at the amount of coverage that event garnered (for weeks!) last year!

NEW, NEW, NEW!

UPDATED, "NEXT GENERATION," TOMORROW'S {blank}"

Thanks for the quote, this ("forgetfulness") is going into my list of societal elements to be countered via any educational process.

Harris will definitely make you think. Check out this post I made back in Oct 2004. This an excerpt of the introduction to Harris' Civilization and Its Ememies; the intro alone is worth the price of the book. Good news is that you find them used for around $2-$3 via Amazon. I buy several at a time and give them away.

Mine's heavily tabbed annotated, and I have disagreements with some of Harris views, but DAMN! if he doesn't hit out of the park on almost every page.

Harris also seems to ahve a blind spot with respect to the role of the Will to Power, especially as it applies to the horrors of the last 150 years - even though he manages to mention Nietzsche and Sorel in the same paragraph. What he has to say about the nature of conscience is compelling - and it ties directly to my theses regarding those without it.