But the brilliance, the versatility of madness is akin to
the resourcefulness of water seeping through, over and around a dike.
F. Scott Fitzgerald - Tender is the Night (1934)
There seems to be a division between people who are comfortable with viewpoints which are merely conventional social formulae and those who prefer more nuanced views and have a tendency to see many conventional formulae as
misleading or at least questionable.
Familiar enough and hardly surprising because we need
conventional formulae as shortcuts to social cohesion. We can’t keep inventing the
wheel of ideas. The problem is complexity because social formulae have to be
very widely adoptable which inevitably means that they cannot easily evolve the
nuances and adaptability demanded by a complex world. Adoptable is not
adaptable.
It is tempting to see many current social trends as akin to
madness, but madness may be a feature here, not an aberration. What could we have
done to avoid the madness? Nothing – there is no formula for avoiding the
madness. One solution appears to be the widespread adoption of a formula which
may be somewhat crazy but it works, it holds societies together and causes more
good than harm. A religion for example.
However, as Christian religions fade away as useful if
obviously patchy social formulae we seem to be adopting a monolithic political
formula, a totalitarian form of sentimental environmental socialism. This is
quite obviously not a formula for avoiding confusion, nonsense and outright madness.
It is far too simple, sentimental and too suspicious of reason and analysis.
Again – there is no formula for avoiding madness. If there
were it would not be a formula. Socially we may blunder into madness but not
out of it. That requires more of an involuntary upheaval such as a revolution,
which of course is another form of madness.
2 comments:
"sentimental environmental socialism."
Yes, that comes pretty close. The sentimentalism is very important; there are landmarks, like Diana's death, and it seems to be accelerating. Grenfell and the official response was a clear case of feelings-driven politics. Current Nurse-worship is the latest.
I wonder how strong the socialist aspect is, though. Even that seems to be driven by sentiment and spectacle, with little actual help for the disadvantaged. Sentimental Britain needs desperate people too much to abolish the causes of their desperation.
Sam - "Sentimental Britain needs desperate people too much to abolish the causes of their desperation."
Unfortunately that's a good point. Increasing the desperation seems to be the desired outcome.
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