Lawrence,
When the population is startled governments can get away with measures they
otherwise wouldn't. William Hague, former Foreign Secretary, author and
scholar, notes that, whatever quirky theories one may hold about the origin
and purpose of the current *global* condition, there is one regime that
appears to make greater gains from it than others. Writing in The Telegraph
he finds that
The greatest irony of the coronavirus crisis is that it shows every sign of
working to China's geopolitical advantage. Six months from now, the country
where the virus was born and that initially suppressed the news of it has
every chance of being more powerful. There are many reasons for this. The
most immediately apparent is that the Chinese economy looks likely to
recover more rapidly than that of any nation in the West. The very same
totalitarianism that led to cover-up and denial at the beginning has
permitted ruthlessly effective suppression of the virus once its potency
was acknowledged. China has managed to confine the infection to certain
areas, while any hope of doing that in Britain or America has been
abandoned. The initial data suggests a quick rebound in Chinese industrial
production, while every week of lockdown makes that less likely here.
(William Hague in The Telegraph, 7 Apr 20)
*Torgeir,*
*I can’t recall who all referenced articles from the U.S. edition of the
Guardian in the past, but its robot has noticed that I have “read more than
8 articles in the last four months.” Earlier I put the robot to the test
after it convicted me of having read more than 7 articles in the last four
months. Just now I revisited the same article and it declared I had read
more than 8. The reason it does this, it says in yellow highlight is to
work upon my conscience to “Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – it
only takes a minute. Thank you.” *
*Be that as it may, while dutifully sequestering myself during the
covid-19 pandemic, I have subscribed to a few additional publications. I
have not been terribly impressed with the British edition of the Guardian
in the past, but as long as I am being importuned I might as well give it
some thought. It seems very critical of American news reporting of any
sort and declares itself, in effect, “more robust.” But if they are so
robust why do they need my “from as little as $1”? [not quite sure about
the grammar of this request – maybe it’s a British thing].*
*Does the U.S. edition of the Guardian operate from within the U.S., or
does it observe us from afar?*
*I took some time after reading the Guardian article to consider
anti-establishment movements of the past. I suppose I’ve always been
critical of them because the “movement” I grew up being interested in was
World War II and couldn’t wait (literally) to join the Marine Corps (I
tried to quit school at age 16 so as not to miss the war in Korea, but the
Marines found me out and told me to come back when I was 17 – with my
mother’s approval). Thus, after serving only one hitch, I left USMC with
the rank of sergeant to enter college and encounter the “Beat generation.”
Perhaps that sentence is enough to explain why I never took that
counter-cultural movement seriously. I did read Kerouac’s On the Road and
tried a bit of Ginsberg’s Howl but they seemed poor fare. This movement
was apparently absorbed by the Hippies [there was Vietnam in the midst of
that – maybe absent Mike Geary we don’t need to revisit that]. I can’t
recall if there was anything comparable between Hippies and Punk. With
earlier movements I felt obligated to come to terms. I couldn’t simply
dismiss them without having justification, but I apparently overcame that
qualm in the case of the Punks. *
*Lawrence*
*From:* lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Torgeir Fjeld
*Sent:* Monday, April 06, 2020 3:32 AM
*To:* lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* [lit-ideas] The man without a theory
We read in the mass media about the eminently practical (and thence, at
least to *some* poster at this list, truthful) Malcolm McLaren that he, in
the end, would preface his performance thus:
I have been called many things: a charlatan, a conman, or, most
flatteringly, the culprit responsible for turning British popular culture
into nothing more than a cheap marketing gimmick. This is my chance to
prove that these accusations are true.
A truly perverted approach!
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/06/the-life-and-times-of-malcolm-mclaren-by-paul-gorman-review-punks-king-of-chaos
Mvh. / Yours sincerely,
Torgeir Fjeld <https://torgeirfjeld.com/>
~~ ereignis <https://ereignis.no/>: taking you to who you are ~~
