Richard Rodriguez in Harper’s, on San Francisco and the death of newspapers:
We will end up with one and a half cities in America–Washington D.C., and American Idol. We will all live in Washington D.C., where the conversation is a droning, never advancing, debate between “conservatives” and “liberals.” We will not read about newlyweds. We will not read about the death of salesmen. We will not read about prize Holsteins or new novels.
Outside Myanmar I’ve never had the deep sense of place Rodriguez remembers. I find it difficult to mourn a lost America. At the same time the above quote did strike me as terrifying.
hmm. i think your comments on Rodriguez’s piece may say a lot about you, or at least about your politics. I think you may easily be callous. Arendt would suggest you suffer from worldlessness, a depravity particularly suited to those lost in the realm of neo-liberal homo economicus. Methinks the assault waged on behalf of “free-market” corporate capitalism has had grave results for the possibilities for a joyful life of the “commons.”
You also admit some “terrifying” about the quote…what was it? care to explore?
Unlimited growth is dream….& the world perishes because of it. No one knows the death of salesmen, & no one cares.
I have to admit, I’ve never had a real sense of identification with America, though that is more because of a lack of shared values than anything else.