>>>>>Moreover, for many years the intellectual and moral worth of a member of the intelligentsia has been measured by the vehemence of his criticism and rejection of the accomplishments of the past. Only anger over wrongs and injustices is considered a generous or constructive emotion; admiration for past achievement has been relegated to the status of swinish complacency, which is itself the passive handmaiden of oppression. And in an age dominated by mass media, it is hardly surprising that such an attitude should have communicated itself to the whole of society.
The identity of anger with virtue and generosity has become complete.
I plead guilty of speedreading and not reading the last paragraph....this is puzzling in light of the above.
Moreover, for many years the intellectual and moral worth of a member of the intelligentsia has been measured by the vehemence of his criticism and rejection of the accomplishments of the past. Only anger over wrongs and injustices is considered a generous or constructive emotion; admiration for past achievement has been relegated to the status of swinish complacency, which is itself the passive handmaiden of oppression. And in an age dominated by mass media, it is hardly surprising that such an attitude should have communicated itself to the whole of society. The identity of anger with virtue and generosity has become complete.
I plead guilty of speedreading and not reading the last paragraph....this is puzzling in light of the above.
Here he is making the same point, that the pseudo-intellectual elite (educators, so called) have been totally negative in their teaching about the accomplishments of science and technology (medicine, twin towers, etc.) and only considered issues like, "destruction of the environment," worthy. This resulted in a "passive" (not enthusiatic enough) attitude toward what we would call the blessing of liberty and a free market. He's right here too.
All these sniveling complainers take the life-style and freedoms they enjoy for granted because we have failed to make a big enough issue of the fact that it is the creators who make their very lives possible.
Hank