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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cirrus who wrote (94566)	5/28/2011 9:08:15 PM
From: koan	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 149317

<<Obama made an to effort to civilize the tone of political discourse in this country... to little success. The shouting over substance continues. I'm so tired of politics in this country.>> Me too, but I can see clearly, it is simply a manifestation of our very shallow culture. In the 60's we fought hard to try and explain to people that the life of wisdom was more important than the life of "things", and simple pleasures. Guess we lost that argument. Not taking anything away from having a good time; but we all have a responsibility to future generations to protect our species and the planet. Many have forgotten, but avoiding shallowness was the primary thesis of the 60's as far as idealism went. Pulling others down to build ourselves up (keeping up with the Smiths), searching for knowledge more than gold. Organization Man about blind conformity; and the senselessness of the unexamined life (the Man in the Gray flannel suit). As Plato said: "The unexamined life is not worth living". The reason Herman Hesses was the most popular author in the 60's, in the Bay Area anyway. Steppenwolf was about the trappings of conspicuous consumption and living a comfortable but meaningless life. All of Hesse's books were about the human condition and the importance of examining it. And Tonio Kroger by Thomas Mann (Hesse's patron and nobel prize winner) (and autobiographical I think), was about how the mindless gain the respect of the masses, and often the riches, while the responsible philosopher ends up the janitor in the rich man's house. Every time I go into a Macdonald's I cringe.