tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post4375024872189655632..comments2024-03-28T18:31:34.933+00:00Comments on A K Haart: The past is a foreign countryA K Haarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05897490979828603179noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post-66380591187665131072022-09-23T11:51:28.474+01:002022-09-23T11:51:28.474+01:00Peter - good point, I hope we haven't forgotte...Peter - good point, I hope we haven't forgotten how.A K Haarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05897490979828603179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post-3879906757447915582022-09-23T11:39:28.059+01:002022-09-23T11:39:28.059+01:00"If we don’t take life as seriously as previo..."If we don’t take life as seriously as previous generations, perhaps we don’t need to. "<br /><br />If we don’t take life as seriously as previous generations, perhaps we haven't needed to up till now. <br /><br />FTFYPeter MacFarlanenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post-28735976874102658172022-09-23T07:34:59.640+01:002022-09-23T07:34:59.640+01:00James - almost saintly (:
dearieme - thanks for t...James - almost saintly (:<br /><br />dearieme - thanks for the link - I've bookmarked it. Unfortunately, he was right although it's not an outlook we can use for getting anything done.<br /><br />Tammly - thanks - it does seem to be a common problem. It's as if we use flippancy to avoid our tendency to conform.A K Haarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05897490979828603179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post-54410794173147760712022-09-22T20:09:16.271+01:002022-09-22T20:09:16.271+01:00All my life, (which I think I've taken more se...All my life, (which I think I've taken more seriously than most of my contemporaries), I've been struck with the tide of flippancy with which I have been confronted. At school, amongst fellow under graduates and around the party dinner table, it is nothing but frivolity and flippant banter. That's why AK's blog is such an oasis of seriousness which I can't get anywhere else except with my brother.Tammlynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post-34295276514824892592022-09-22T16:33:35.391+01:002022-09-22T16:33:35.391+01:00"Nothing matters very much, and few things ma..."Nothing matters very much, and few things matter at all." Balfour.<br /><br />There are more of his pensées here.<br />https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/7328491.Arthur_Balfourdeariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post-25629926426944861642022-09-22T14:40:42.550+01:002022-09-22T14:40:42.550+01:00"Yet if I earned that much, I wouldn't be..."Yet if I earned that much, I wouldn't be the person I am now."<br /><br />And imagine how good you'd be in penury!James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post-30016628929423069872022-09-22T14:25:08.368+01:002022-09-22T14:25:08.368+01:00Mark - I'd see it as optional. For me, an attr...Mark - I'd see it as optional. For me, an attractive option would be to earn enough to walk away and still have enough left for my heirs on my expiry date. Yet if I earned that much, I wouldn't be the person I am now.<br /><br />Sam - thanks for the link, I've bookmarked it. I imagine troops used humour and frivolity in the Great War trenches as an antidote to the horror of it, but we use it all the time and as you say, we also use it to disarm the big questions. Maybe we are always using it to disarm something. A K Haarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05897490979828603179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post-6806135719946771102022-09-22T13:16:15.660+01:002022-09-22T13:16:15.660+01:00Some interesting thoughts there. The Frankfurt Sch...Some interesting thoughts there. The Frankfurt School of Marxists would say that frivolity was written into capitalism as a deliberate attempt to mesmerise the proletariat and keep them happy. <br /><br />I think it's probably deeper than that. A person without frivolity is now seen as miserable, lacking something, lacking taste. The person who takes life seriously is now a figure of entertainment: either an object of ridicule as in the pompous and officious little authoritarian, or the "deep" artist or spiritual seeker who is in some ways admirable, but not to be emulated. <br /><br />Perhaps those who had come through the Great War had seen enough of seriousness and developed frivolity as a defence. Huxley's early novels like "Antic Hay" deal with this theme brilliantly. But was it ever like that before? Did politicians and the public go through periods when they disarmed the big questions with jokes and irony and dissembling and actind like fools all the time.<br /><br />If you haven't read this about Boris and what is wrong with him, have a look. And watch the linked video, if you have time.<br />https://unherd.com/2021/12/why-boris-is-scared-of-god/<br /><br />I have no understanding of the "God" bit, but it really made me think. Sam Vegahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05978971199859845931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481298417819219839.post-57519057176377930452022-09-22T13:02:36.705+01:002022-09-22T13:02:36.705+01:00You'd take your job seriously if you got paid ...You'd take your job seriously if you got paid £50 million a year for doing it and knew it would be passed on to your heirs.Mark Wadsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.com