Well thank you Poet,
While hiking in the Sierras this weekend, I thought a lot of Peter S's quote, " we need to reestablish, publicly, the dignity of liking." and I might add, whether it is people, places, or lifestyles..
If a person's initial reaction is dislike... to a race, a culture, a place, a lifestyle, a religion, a ???.. It becomes a very hard climb for that person to overcome that prejudice... It must make them very unhappy, IMO.. because they expend so much emotional energy overcoming something they wouldn't have had to do, if only they had.. an open mind....
I see so many people saying, Why go there, when you can come here. ,Provincialism? .. Why?, Because every place, everyone has something to offer.. It is more fun that way and more importantly, it will cause less trouble.. If a person thinks they're place is the best, they're religion is the best, they're lifestyle is the best, THEY just might, or they're ilk, start a crusade or allow a crusade. As we have seen so many times in the past.. with tragic consequences, immediate and long range.. It is such a immature view of life IMO.
And moving on to page 80 of the same "New Yorker", a good discussion on being a angel or a saint.. We can't be both, according to this .. I don't know where I stand on that one,, I have to take another hike or run, or something to figure that out.
And going further on a classic issue of the "New Yorker", a nice review, of the movie, "The Deep End , whom the reviewer, David Denby, calls maybe the best movie of the year.. A movie, BTW, that takes place in my back yard.
I don't know, maybe someone should start a thread on "The New Yorker". It might be of interest..
Take care..
m
AND ADDENDUM, I might add, I am NOT talking about the obvious immorality, we all know about , murder, brutality of all kinds, war etc. that people here on SI, will quickly jump on.. I realized later, I had to have a disclaimer.. |