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Ron Suskind in Today's NY Times
The Crisis Last Time
Suskind drags an important teaching moment out of the collective memory hole.
I am living in a land so ravaged by brain dysfunction that nobody has anything more than a very short term memory. We are unable have a national conversation that spans events of more than a couple of days in duration. We have one presidential candidate that cannot remember, in the afternoon, what he promised in the morning.
In a traditional society, the old ones represent the living history of the tribe. They can remember those events that preceeded the existence of the younger members, and provide continuity of cultural memory across the generations.
We have no such institution. We are a people unable to remember our past.
Comments (6)
Great reminder
September 25, 2008 10:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, Enron. Those were the days.
Seems quaint now.
September 25, 2008 11:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
What was it you were saying again?
September 26, 2008 12:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't remember what I just read.
Did I just read something?
I wonder: do I know how to read?
Did I at one time?
Is wakingness a one-dimensional present?
September 26, 2008 2:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Mr. Greenspan slapped the table. “There’s been too much gaming of the system,” he thundered. “Capitalism is not working! There’s been a corrupting of the system of capitalism.”
This warms my socialist heart quite a bit.
September 26, 2008 7:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's because the older generations have problems with the Intertubes.
Not all of them, to be sure, but enough that the corporate media is their only real information diet. The corporate media doesn't like nuance or history as it makes today's storyline less credible.
Conversely, those under 40 are by and large web-enabled and very comfortable snatching data out of the rabbit hole to double-check talking points or to flesh out the anemic fare offered on TV.
I have a feeling that this is the year the Gen X comes of age with Gen Y coming along as well, years ahead of schedule.
September 26, 2008 7:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
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