Sharpe's Opinion
Thursday, 12th Feb, 2009
Western Society has been growing more cultured, more knowledgeable and more interested in arts, literature and classical music for the past two decades, according to Intelligent Life magazine. And visitors to London are more likely to go to the British Museum than the London Eye; visitor to Paris prefer the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower. Plus, TV Shows such as QI and The Wire (and I would add the rise of blogging) demonstrate that we’re more interested in high-brow entertainment than ever before.
I find very little to argue with here. But then I’ve never been one to bemoan modern standards, as many Brits seem to enjoy doing…
With you there. I really dislike those people who go on about how much better things were at some unspecified point in the past. Their moaning always makes me glad to live in the 21st century & that.
They have never spoken to a working-class old person. They should find out what life was like for my grandparents when they were young. You wouldn’t be celebrating the glories of imperial times if you’d lived in a slum in the Potteries.
My thinking on this has been in flux, & I haven’t considered it for a while (I know I should) but it is my firm conviction that the blogosphere has raised standards & people are no longer content to lie back & accept what authority says, which is a profoundly good thing.
Additionally, Obama is encouraging in this department: by far the most encouraging thing about his administration is that he’s appointed such high-calibre minds to top positions & such & ended the hideous anti-intellectualism which flourished under Republican rule.
The GOP assumed people were stupid, & that rednecks & morons would vote for them, but in fact this small-town constituency of idiots does not exist as the “white working class” are much cleverer & more sophisticated than Karl Rove etc want them to be.
Sorry for going on about America but this really typifies the whole business for me when you look at the campaign strategies that were used. Re: dumbing down, I actually associate it more with the right than the left, as witness Murdoch, Faux News & what have you, but both left & right have traditions of excellence.
I think there will be a mass movement of under 30s back to the source, especially in music. I myself am roving around listening to old blues & country record, & of course Motown, which people will still be marvelling at in 200 years in my humble opinion. All good working-class stuff that can stand alongside anything that academia has produced.
Am very positive about all this business like online shopping, blogs, ipods & even the long-term outcomes of the recession when I consider what this country will look like in 10 years. We have been going down the wrong road, but I am probably more negative than I should be.
All a nice bit of business that you’ve brought back to my attention & that, for which I thank you. Will have a bit more of a deeper think about it all.
asquith
February 12, 2009 at 9:54 pm