Madame,
You bring up such a good point, one mean-spiritedly ignored in
this accusing age. That our senses take
in, and our brains process and absorb much that we are consciously unaware
of. Almost every doctoral candidate
lives in dread of this. Even with all
the new electronic tools, it is too easy to not detect that one has absorbed
much and registered it as one’s original thought. President LBJ was famous for this. So, perhaps, was Stephen Ambrose, the accomplished
historian whose prestige was tarnished late in his career (and life, given his
condition) by what appeared to be plagiarism.
Well done, Madame, in your description of Normandy. I have not yet been (I would say, sacre bleu!,
but of course, actual French people don’t really say that).
On
to hodgepodge:
Our
work-life balance used to be much better, before plutocratic exploitation got
out of hand. Remember “9-5?” That was with lunch time factored in too. People could get their kids to school and run
an errand or two before work. And
banking hours were 9-3. We didn’t need
24/7 because people weren’t “ON” 24/7. Quality of life was often better even without
all the many wonderful things and options we have today. Because we had more time for relationships,
for the truly important things. The
bitter irony is that back then, the lament was that we were not making enough
time for our families. My, my.
Anthony
Weiner is a weird guy, no doubt, but I’ll say this: He’s not a sexual
hypocrite. He didn’t try to advocate
laws about that, didn’t try to dictate, legislate, or preach on it, unlike many
largely “conservative” (now disgraced) legislators. And professionally, his performance has been relatively
solid, meaning that he was able to keep the two things separate.
History
is full of men who were weird in their private lives yet still performed ably
in the public sphere. We didn’t choose
them for husband, but for leaders. Why
are we fixated on the lives of politicians and celebrities? We don’t look into the plumber’s personal
life who comes inside our house, we just want him to do his job well. Why not, when we do so the “famous” who don’t
come into our home in anything but through an entertainment medium? The answer seems anything but unclear. Because of spectacle. Hedges is proven right again.
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