from the ’90s and before would know and recall the way things used to be at some kind of peak of Western culture and civilization. Know and remember what beauty and true culture are and where/how they can be retrieved.
Sad. Our present society catering to the lowest common denominator as law and order get lost in political correctness and young people are turned over to a society which panders to the lowest common denominator, what Faulkner identified as ‘of the glands’ and to what has been called the society of rights and entitlement.
A telling moment for me last year was a construction worker in his late 20s who came to the door in response to an online sale ad–he wanted three books by James Joyce. Imagine that! They were like manna as he turned them over lovingly, respectfully, in his hands. He had sought out something precious–true culture, something elevating, soulful, and civilized. This man is a definite rareity in our society today.
He came to know some of the best that was once known and thought in the world today.
Pity the young folk of today who believe all you need is a smartphone or tablet to ‘open up/gain the world’. Arnold’s “The best that is known and thought”–would the poor blighters even have a clue of what they were missing or why Culture, civilization, soul and beauty are all worth having and aspiring to?