decline and fall, 2020
August 20, 2020 5:20 AM Subscribe
“Western melancholy” can be understood as the ultimate consequence of our community’s acceptance of the incapacity to stop devastation of the environment and climate change by transforming the social and economic models responsible for those problems. Full text
Mod note: Edited with OP permission to fix the link text.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:58 AM on August 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:58 AM on August 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
It's taking me a long time to read through this, and I'm doing it in chunks, but I'm here to report from the front lines of the article: big mood.
Projects such as SpaceX or SolarCity represent the ultimate embodiment of such an approach or the idea about genius creative persons (or scientists) who are the only ones possessing the necessary knowledge and wisdom and who are going to save the planet from self-destruction (via innovation and technology).
Ah, just like those essential workers are going to heroically pull us through the pandemic. We really have a penchant for externalizing responsibility in the least effective way, don't we?
I'm reading Lies My Teacher Told Me and Loewen had an excellent chapter on heroification. He discussed how Helen Keller was reduced to a few images from her first autobiography about her childhood, with none of the content from her second (!) autobiography. I had no idea HK had a second autobiography, so I looked it up. I found about twenty copies apiece of The Story of My Life on various sites (amazon, b+n, libby/overdrive) and maybe two listings for Midstream, amazon only, all on the more expensive side, and none of them ebooks. Turns out HK was socialist as hell, and nobody wants to hear about that.
We really like our heroes, but we only like them sunny side up, it turns out. And we make new "heroes" (SpaceX, in this case) in that way too. I'm really appreciating how this article is illuminating the weird mobius strip we've imposed upon ourselves.
posted by snerson at 11:12 AM on August 20, 2020 [6 favorites]
Projects such as SpaceX or SolarCity represent the ultimate embodiment of such an approach or the idea about genius creative persons (or scientists) who are the only ones possessing the necessary knowledge and wisdom and who are going to save the planet from self-destruction (via innovation and technology).
Ah, just like those essential workers are going to heroically pull us through the pandemic. We really have a penchant for externalizing responsibility in the least effective way, don't we?
I'm reading Lies My Teacher Told Me and Loewen had an excellent chapter on heroification. He discussed how Helen Keller was reduced to a few images from her first autobiography about her childhood, with none of the content from her second (!) autobiography. I had no idea HK had a second autobiography, so I looked it up. I found about twenty copies apiece of The Story of My Life on various sites (amazon, b+n, libby/overdrive) and maybe two listings for Midstream, amazon only, all on the more expensive side, and none of them ebooks. Turns out HK was socialist as hell, and nobody wants to hear about that.
We really like our heroes, but we only like them sunny side up, it turns out. And we make new "heroes" (SpaceX, in this case) in that way too. I'm really appreciating how this article is illuminating the weird mobius strip we've imposed upon ourselves.
posted by snerson at 11:12 AM on August 20, 2020 [6 favorites]
Can't fail to lead to the beginning of something better. The next time, renewables will be the only option.
posted by Twang at 6:08 PM on August 20, 2020
posted by Twang at 6:08 PM on August 20, 2020
Side note - Archive.org has several copies of Midstream, of a couple of different editions. The book seems to be in the public domain (published in 1929, apparently not renewed) and is free to copy or distribute. (If it turns out it was renewed, it will be in the public domain in 2025.)
It's just that nobody's made a good ebook version.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:10 AM on August 23, 2020
It's just that nobody's made a good ebook version.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:10 AM on August 23, 2020
The Fake Futurism of Elon Musk | Tom Nicholas :P
posted by kliuless at 4:36 AM on August 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by kliuless at 4:36 AM on August 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
« Older "Surprisingly, all excreted beetles were alive and... | 212-Story Building in Melbourne Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Space Coyote at 5:38 AM on August 20, 2020 [2 favorites]