History is what happened. Nostalgia is what we wish had happened.
Source: The new Age of Nostalgia offers hollow political promises – The Globe and Mail
Beautiful article, good holiday read.
Also see this clip from Mad Men:
Fake news. False memories. Impossible promises. These are the fuel that feed Rhetoric. And it is mighty difficult for Reason to compete against that. Rhetoric tugs at the heart, while Reason appeals to the mind. We are born with an innate sensitivity to rhetoric. But it takes discipline and training to learn to hear the voice of reason. It is a learnt skill, like riding a bicycle, swimming or skating.
As a society we seem to be rushing headlong into an age of denial and delusion. Has the pace of technological change and avalanche of new scientific knowledge becomes so great that people must find refuge in Rhetoric, no matter how steeped in falsehood and injustice?
That we are regressing is, in my opinion, undeniable. The only question is – how far back are we going to fall?
Whatever the answer to that question, rationalists should not despair. This is not a time to question our beliefs but to double down and steel out hearts. This is the time to protect the light of reason from being extinguished.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
You can interpret these prophetic words of Yeats in two ways: You can see them as a fatalistic omen. Or you can consider them a call to action. I prefer to choose the latter!
Anand's musings 