Why is it that in most children education seems to destroy the creative urge? Why do so many boys and girls leave school with blunted perceptions and a closed mind? A majority of young people seem to develop mental arteriosclerosis forty years before they get the physical kind. Another question: why do some people remain open and elastic into extreme old age, whereas others become rigid and unproductive before they’re fifty? It’s a problem in biochemistry and adult education. -A. Huxley
There is such a thing as a relatively good communist, and if there’s one on earth, it was Fidel Castro. I mean, there’s a huge difference— the average communist that oppressed Vaclav Havel was a bureaucrat who had kept his nose clean and in the trough and was an oppressor because he was a mediocrity. And there was Castro, who was hated by every American president for a very simple reason, which is that he had become head of a nation by daring to win. And how had they become president? By shaking hands with people they despised for decades. - N Mailer
When it comes to foreign affairs, we’ve been living lies ever since World War II. Now, maybe for the first five or ten years after World War II, Russia was an ideological threat because it did have great appeal to certain poor countries, no question. And then after that they hit their bad years. They’ve never been a huge threat to us. Yet for forty-plus years while the cold war was on, we kept Americans believing we were engaged in a struggle of ideology that had to be won. So there was an awful lot of bullshit slowly rolling down, like lava, over the American mind. Most of the country believes in Jesus Christ. And they believe that compassion is the greatest virtue. But we only believe this on Sundays. And the other six days of the week, we’re an immensely competitive nation. We scramble like hell to make more money than our neighbor. Culture’s a word that most Americans don’t react to quickly. A European knows exactly what you mean by culture. They’ve got it there in their architecture. They’ve got it there in the curve of a street, and we have thoroughfares that go in a straight line because that’s the fastest way to get to market. So there’s a great guilt in American life, and this guilt is that we’re not good Christians. The Karl Rove concoction—stupidity plus patriotism—comes into play here. The basic propaganda machine of the parties, particularly the Republicans, is to enforce the notion that we are a noble, good country that wants only good for the rest of the world, and that we’re God’s blessing and that God wants us to succeed, that we’re God’s project. And under this exists, always, an ongoing sense of shame, an ongoing sense of guilt, the feeling that we’re not as good as we pretend to be. - N Mailer
3 comments:
Why is it that in most children education seems to destroy the creative urge? Why do so many boys and girls leave school with blunted perceptions and a closed mind? A majority of young people seem to develop mental arteriosclerosis forty years before they get the physical kind. Another question: why do some people remain open and elastic into extreme old age, whereas others become rigid and unproductive before they’re fifty? It’s a problem in biochemistry and adult education. -A. Huxley
There is such a thing as a relatively good communist,
and if there’s one on earth, it was Fidel Castro. I mean, there’s a huge difference—
the average communist that oppressed Vaclav Havel was a bureaucrat who
had kept his nose clean and in the trough and was an oppressor because he
was a mediocrity. And there was Castro, who was hated by every American
president for a very simple reason, which is that he had become head of a
nation by daring to win. And how had they become president? By shaking
hands with people they despised for decades. - N Mailer
When it comes to foreign affairs, we’ve been living lies ever since World
War II. Now, maybe for the first five or ten years after World War II, Russia
was an ideological threat because it did have great appeal to certain poor
countries, no question. And then after that they hit their bad years. They’ve
never been a huge threat to us. Yet for forty-plus years while the cold war was
on, we kept Americans believing we were engaged in a struggle of ideology
that had to be won. So there was an awful lot of bullshit slowly rolling down,
like lava, over the American mind.
Most of the country believes in Jesus Christ. And they believe that compassion
is the greatest virtue. But we only believe this on Sundays. And the other
six days of the week, we’re an immensely competitive nation. We scramble
like hell to make more money than our neighbor. Culture’s a word that most
Americans don’t react to quickly. A European knows exactly what you mean
by culture. They’ve got it there in their architecture. They’ve got it there in
the curve of a street, and we have thoroughfares that go in a straight line
because that’s the fastest way to get to market. So there’s a great guilt in
American life, and this guilt is that we’re not good Christians. The Karl Rove
concoction—stupidity plus patriotism—comes into play here. The basic propaganda
machine of the parties, particularly the Republicans, is to enforce
the notion that we are a noble, good country that wants only good for the
rest of the world, and that we’re God’s blessing and that God wants us to
succeed, that we’re God’s project. And under this exists, always, an ongoing
sense of shame, an ongoing sense of guilt, the feeling that we’re not as good
as we pretend to be. - N Mailer
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