Any time Hannah Arendt's name is brought back into critical conversation is better than it would have been without. "The Human Condition" is an intellectually brave book. For this moment, "Men in Dark Times" and "Between Past and Future" might bear more weight. As a work of poetic history, "On Revolution" has no equivalent.
Greil Marcus? Da VOICE of Village a'muse-ment hath spoken. That he's here on the side of two worthy critical theory schmos like Hannah Arendt and fine low-key champion Ted Gioia is kinda reason enough to again take note of Greil Marcus's notes on notes........
The comment section here is very, very good—which is unusual on the web (as we all know). So I learn things from the comments almost every day. That's totally driven by the caliber of the people commenting.
Off topic, but in response to your comment, I have to agree with your assessment of the quality of the comments written in response to your posts. I'm overtly conservative politically as the result of Dad having started his military career at the age of seventeen in 1943 at Fort Benning, GA in the USAAC (US Army Air Corps) , being a Korean War POW and disabled veteran, and retiring in from the USAF 1975 after over thirty-two years. But I come here to avoid the relentless conflict that permeates the interweb and inevitably learn new and interesting facts and trivia, as well as astute observations and insight.
If Trump is elected I think you will find the expectations wil be nothing like back in the 40's and 50's. Military will be used not to defend the country but to enhance Trump and his cronies. He will defy the constitution and set his own rules to glorify himself. I understand if you disagree, but I have major concerns. You may not like "the current form of government" but it is far better than the chaos that would ensue without it. You will ultimately lose freedoms one by one. Trump is different. He's not like Eisenhower.
Heather Cox Richardson posted a 1945 pamphlet handed out to soldiers just after world war II. This makes for fascinating reading. Distributed by the army itself!
Johnny Be Real answered your comment perfectly. I don't ever raise a politically oriented issue on The Honest Broker, but I have no hesitation calling out twits like you who are utterly unable to remove yourself from what is considered (accurately in my view) Trump Derangement Syndrome. I'd go on, but dealing with people who lack simple common sense is a waste of time.
“Society always demands that its members act as though they were members of one enormous family which has only one opinion….imposing innumerable and various rules, all of which tend to ‘normalize’ its members, to make them behave, to exclude spontaneous action or outstanding achievement.”
Incredible. She predicted the NPC meme. Thank you for sharing and expanding our minds.
Ellif Shafak questioned why women writers do not get the 'ian' treatment, e.g., Orwellian, Shakespearian, Dickensian, etc. It's a good question; I think we should describe certain critiques of totalitarian/fascist ideas as Arendtian.
Unfortunately for Emily, Charles locked up 'Dickensian' early. Chalk it up to the patriarchy...or just the one-damned-thing-after-the-other quality of history.
Thank you for mentioning the very real threats to our current society posed by fascism and related extremist ideologies. I'm guessing this is very clear to many who, like you, live in Europe and are seeing an upwelling of totalitarian thinking and rulers (would-be rulers, too).
Thanks lagz9. I wish it were clearer to more people. But yes, certainly, there is a very troubling resurgence of fascism - here and all over the world. We must never take for granted our freedom.
This makes me think once again about when I was a teenager in the 1950s. It was an exciting time. Things were changing and students were proud to have good grammar, courses in Science and be on the Honor Roll. In my time, I have lost all these friends to aging and illnesses, but I am still here to witness just what Arendt was trying to say and did so very well. We have work to do, people!
It’s as if she and Ted Kazinsky predicted what I’ve been feeling since the machines captured music and the art suffered from the crazy from too much choice. Great references, but being first in the I Told you So line changes little. It’s rock bottom where Change is born…by pain and chaos…and we’re there…and humans will long for fresh air and trees; for human touch, laughter, voices blended in harmony and instruments played by human hands. It’s cyclical and inevitable and space isn’t the only destination.
Remember neither our lives nor history is linear. Never exclude the possibility of radical change, and our ability collectively to bring it about. The dialectic is at work. Unintended consequences abound, for good and ill
I cannot stress enough that almost ALL my growth and development as a human being is due to avid reading of great literature. Jobs and skills are necessary but being a fully developed human is essential.
This is absolutely chilling, and excruciatingly true. In my practice I see far too many clients who feel lost, alienated, alone, and often worthless and discarded by the world. I do what I can to bring them comfort, but the sad fact is, this was the inevitable outcome of the thoughtless deployment of technology by the unenlightened and power-hungry few. There is no pill, no medical or spiritual intervention for this condition now. Sorry to sound hopeless, but ... well. We're a bit screwed.
One reason her points seem so applicable is that they could have applied to so many societies and in so many eras and not just our current one. Her first point about those disconnected from the human condition wanting to escape man's imprisonment on earth seems just as applicable to Buddhism or Christianity. Anyone using words or making art is trying to make at least some elements of life artificial. That's the whole point. So much for her views on art, but she's even more down on technology arguing that advances technology makes us its slaves while ignoring that there used to be a whole lot more slaves doing crap work that is now done by machines.
I still think her ideas are interesting, especially as warnings. The strongly religious are dangerous and have always been so. Art should not be confused with life. Technology does impose demands and drives change. It's good to think about those things, but these things have been true for thousands of years. Her concerns are universal, and that's to her credit.
Artificial is something that mimics something real. Art is the creation of something that is not real. This is why photography never could take over from painting as an art form. Anyway art has nothing to do with artificial.
Read The 'Human Condition' in college as part of Sociology requirement. Never knew how prescient it was, but that was the 70s. 'Planned obsolescence' was a buzzword of the day. Required too, was Marshall McLuhan's 'The Medium is the Massage'. Btw – the title is 'Massage', the intent and ensuing quote is 'message'. I read McLuhan's book more because it had pretty pictures. Truthfully, in that nascent era, we never took any of it seriously – the culture, society, just lived its way into that state of being. And here we are. Thanks for continuing the dialog these earlier soothsayers started.
Thanks Ted for reminding us again how the prophets of the past speak truth as plain as day. We indeed inhabit “an ‘artificial’ world of things distinctly different from all natural surroundings” and are slowly growing accumstomed to embracing the vitural like frogs warming up in a boiling pot of water.
Prophetic writings like these from Arendt convict me more than ever that we need to connect action to these insights. My husband Peco and I will be leading "The Walking Rebellion" which starts tomorrow! Until November 30th, we are committing to walking at least twenty minutes a day, and more on weekends - up to a few hours. This may not sound like much, but it is a concrete step away from the virtual toward the real. Wherever you are, you can join us by walking away from the digital deluge.
You can also read (re-read)Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD, which warns us about technology and its penchant for control. Or just take it from Einstein: “All of our technological progress, civilization for that matter, is comparable to an axe in the hand of a pathological criminal."
I was sorting books on our library this week — and I ran across this one. I smiled. The young man helping me (I am between 75 and 100) said it was a strange smile. I replied she made predictions that were accurate in a lot of ways. Thanks for the column. I think I will go pull it tomorrow and re-read. I had forgotten some critical things you mentioned.
I think some of this started with positivism. Everything needs to be operationally defined and counted. So everything is ‘enframed’ based on the purpose of your study. Then that things becomes what you made it vs what it is or could be.
Any time Hannah Arendt's name is brought back into critical conversation is better than it would have been without. "The Human Condition" is an intellectually brave book. For this moment, "Men in Dark Times" and "Between Past and Future" might bear more weight. As a work of poetic history, "On Revolution" has no equivalent.
Greil Marcus? Da VOICE of Village a'muse-ment hath spoken. That he's here on the side of two worthy critical theory schmos like Hannah Arendt and fine low-key champion Ted Gioia is kinda reason enough to again take note of Greil Marcus's notes on notes........
Health and balance
keep on doing & writing....
Tio Mitchito
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of Atonement Seekers)
Media Discussion List\Looksee
The comment section here is very, very good—which is unusual on the web (as we all know). So I learn things from the comments almost every day. That's totally driven by the caliber of the people commenting.
Off topic, but in response to your comment, I have to agree with your assessment of the quality of the comments written in response to your posts. I'm overtly conservative politically as the result of Dad having started his military career at the age of seventeen in 1943 at Fort Benning, GA in the USAAC (US Army Air Corps) , being a Korean War POW and disabled veteran, and retiring in from the USAF 1975 after over thirty-two years. But I come here to avoid the relentless conflict that permeates the interweb and inevitably learn new and interesting facts and trivia, as well as astute observations and insight.
Many thanks for creating your substack.
If Trump is elected I think you will find the expectations wil be nothing like back in the 40's and 50's. Military will be used not to defend the country but to enhance Trump and his cronies. He will defy the constitution and set his own rules to glorify himself. I understand if you disagree, but I have major concerns. You may not like "the current form of government" but it is far better than the chaos that would ensue without it. You will ultimately lose freedoms one by one. Trump is different. He's not like Eisenhower.
The definition of fascism!
Heather Cox Richardson posted a 1945 pamphlet handed out to soldiers just after world war II. This makes for fascinating reading. Distributed by the army itself!
https://archive.org/details/ArmyTalkOrientationFactSheet64-Fascism
There, you ruined the comments section. Ironically under comments about the caliber of commenters here…
Johnny Be Real answered your comment perfectly. I don't ever raise a politically oriented issue on The Honest Broker, but I have no hesitation calling out twits like you who are utterly unable to remove yourself from what is considered (accurately in my view) Trump Derangement Syndrome. I'd go on, but dealing with people who lack simple common sense is a waste of time.
“Society always demands that its members act as though they were members of one enormous family which has only one opinion….imposing innumerable and various rules, all of which tend to ‘normalize’ its members, to make them behave, to exclude spontaneous action or outstanding achievement.”
Incredible. She predicted the NPC meme. Thank you for sharing and expanding our minds.
I was copying and posting that quote, only I could only muster "Wow." So, instead I commented here! The word "prescient" springs to mind.
Indeed, it seems as if she has also predicted the raise of despotism and also the rise of wokeism.
It’s stuck me in recent year how the values of independence and self reliance are lacking in general. Cities in my opinion are a contributing factor.
Ellif Shafak questioned why women writers do not get the 'ian' treatment, e.g., Orwellian, Shakespearian, Dickensian, etc. It's a good question; I think we should describe certain critiques of totalitarian/fascist ideas as Arendtian.
Unfortunately for Emily, Charles locked up 'Dickensian' early. Chalk it up to the patriarchy...or just the one-damned-thing-after-the-other quality of history.
She’d be Dickinsonian, no?
Indeed. It's the extra syllable, though. It's the best of terms; it's the worst of terms
Thank you for mentioning the very real threats to our current society posed by fascism and related extremist ideologies. I'm guessing this is very clear to many who, like you, live in Europe and are seeing an upwelling of totalitarian thinking and rulers (would-be rulers, too).
Thanks lagz9. I wish it were clearer to more people. But yes, certainly, there is a very troubling resurgence of fascism - here and all over the world. We must never take for granted our freedom.
This is one of the things I'd like to discuss with you when we meet!
This makes me think once again about when I was a teenager in the 1950s. It was an exciting time. Things were changing and students were proud to have good grammar, courses in Science and be on the Honor Roll. In my time, I have lost all these friends to aging and illnesses, but I am still here to witness just what Arendt was trying to say and did so very well. We have work to do, people!
It’s as if she and Ted Kazinsky predicted what I’ve been feeling since the machines captured music and the art suffered from the crazy from too much choice. Great references, but being first in the I Told you So line changes little. It’s rock bottom where Change is born…by pain and chaos…and we’re there…and humans will long for fresh air and trees; for human touch, laughter, voices blended in harmony and instruments played by human hands. It’s cyclical and inevitable and space isn’t the only destination.
Remember neither our lives nor history is linear. Never exclude the possibility of radical change, and our ability collectively to bring it about. The dialectic is at work. Unintended consequences abound, for good and ill
Which is why, I think, that playing Jazz is a major raison d’etre for me. The unknown is always at the centre of improvisation.
Hmm, Maybe we ought to bring more political jazz into our world? Spontaneity has value and can keep the oppressors off-guard.
Improvisation is at the center of "Life Skills."
Tio Mitchito
Interesting thought. 😊
I cannot stress enough that almost ALL my growth and development as a human being is due to avid reading of great literature. Jobs and skills are necessary but being a fully developed human is essential.
Go out to the woods, get down on your knees, claw the earth with bare hands, pick up sticks, find a dog.
This seems like a great list for ‘things to do this weekend’
Plant a garden by the roadside
It would be cool to do a Burroughs-esque cut-up of quotes from your articles on Arendt, Spengler, and Ballard. I bet the future would leak right out.
This is absolutely chilling, and excruciatingly true. In my practice I see far too many clients who feel lost, alienated, alone, and often worthless and discarded by the world. I do what I can to bring them comfort, but the sad fact is, this was the inevitable outcome of the thoughtless deployment of technology by the unenlightened and power-hungry few. There is no pill, no medical or spiritual intervention for this condition now. Sorry to sound hopeless, but ... well. We're a bit screwed.
One reason her points seem so applicable is that they could have applied to so many societies and in so many eras and not just our current one. Her first point about those disconnected from the human condition wanting to escape man's imprisonment on earth seems just as applicable to Buddhism or Christianity. Anyone using words or making art is trying to make at least some elements of life artificial. That's the whole point. So much for her views on art, but she's even more down on technology arguing that advances technology makes us its slaves while ignoring that there used to be a whole lot more slaves doing crap work that is now done by machines.
I still think her ideas are interesting, especially as warnings. The strongly religious are dangerous and have always been so. Art should not be confused with life. Technology does impose demands and drives change. It's good to think about those things, but these things have been true for thousands of years. Her concerns are universal, and that's to her credit.
Artificial is something that mimics something real. Art is the creation of something that is not real. This is why photography never could take over from painting as an art form. Anyway art has nothing to do with artificial.
Read The 'Human Condition' in college as part of Sociology requirement. Never knew how prescient it was, but that was the 70s. 'Planned obsolescence' was a buzzword of the day. Required too, was Marshall McLuhan's 'The Medium is the Massage'. Btw – the title is 'Massage', the intent and ensuing quote is 'message'. I read McLuhan's book more because it had pretty pictures. Truthfully, in that nascent era, we never took any of it seriously – the culture, society, just lived its way into that state of being. And here we are. Thanks for continuing the dialog these earlier soothsayers started.
Thanks Ted for reminding us again how the prophets of the past speak truth as plain as day. We indeed inhabit “an ‘artificial’ world of things distinctly different from all natural surroundings” and are slowly growing accumstomed to embracing the vitural like frogs warming up in a boiling pot of water.
Prophetic writings like these from Arendt convict me more than ever that we need to connect action to these insights. My husband Peco and I will be leading "The Walking Rebellion" which starts tomorrow! Until November 30th, we are committing to walking at least twenty minutes a day, and more on weekends - up to a few hours. This may not sound like much, but it is a concrete step away from the virtual toward the real. Wherever you are, you can join us by walking away from the digital deluge.
See “The Walking Rebellion: Restoring the Mind at Three Miles an Hour” for details https://schooloftheunconformed.substack.com/p/the-walking-rebellion-restoring-the
You can also read (re-read)Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD, which warns us about technology and its penchant for control. Or just take it from Einstein: “All of our technological progress, civilization for that matter, is comparable to an axe in the hand of a pathological criminal."
I was sorting books on our library this week — and I ran across this one. I smiled. The young man helping me (I am between 75 and 100) said it was a strange smile. I replied she made predictions that were accurate in a lot of ways. Thanks for the column. I think I will go pull it tomorrow and re-read. I had forgotten some critical things you mentioned.
I think some of this started with positivism. Everything needs to be operationally defined and counted. So everything is ‘enframed’ based on the purpose of your study. Then that things becomes what you made it vs what it is or could be.
Watching the steady departures of OpenAI staff who previously worked on AI safety strikes me as adding weight to her view.