Living in a World that Can't Be Fixed by Curtis White

Author:Curtis White [White, Curtis]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Melville House
Published: 2019-11-04T16:00:00+00:00

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Burns and Novick have no suggestions for what intelligence might have taken the place of the war’s stupidities, never mind the fact that the possibilities were many and were everywhere during the war years. In particular, there is no consideration of culture in the film, and that in spite of the fact that “counterculture” is the most common media tag given to the period. Certainly Burns and Novick exploit the music of the era for their soundtrack, but there is no effort to explain or account for the role played by music, cinema, poetry, experimental fiction, and the visual arts, in shaping a response to the war.

Although the fact seems to be lost on Ken Burns, even a conservative commentator like David Brooks understands the centrality of culture to politics. In an eyebrow-raising column in 2017, he acknowledges that the large part of political debate in the United States is non-rational. Quoting Marilynne Robinson, Brooks asserts that our political conversations are more about “the pleasure of sharing an attitude one knows is socially approved.” That is, people tend to retreat within the symbolic universes that are familiar to them. They retreat to what feels like family. These attitudes are approved within what C. S. Lewis called the Inner Ring, whether that Inner Ring is Harvard Square or the local VFW hall. This is more or less what we mean when we say that debate in social media is taking place in an “echo chamber”: we hear only our own fond and familiar voices.

Brooks’s contention is similar to what Nietzsche called “civic narcissism.” This narcissism says, “Everyone should live through our ideals because our ideals are self-evidently the best. We’re bewildered that others don’t share our ideals, and we’re indignant that these others are not persuaded when we loudly explain them. As a consequence, we would impose our ideals by main force if the opportunity presented itself. After all, it’s in everyone’s best interest.”

In short, Brooks suggests, tribalism has gotten us into trouble, but “if social life can get us into trouble, social life can get us out.” Brooks writes:

After all, think of how you really persuade people. Do you do it by writing thoughtful essays that carefully marshal facts? That works some of the time. But the real way to persuade people is to create an attractive community that people want to join.21

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