The year 1989 was perhaps the high water mark of Western optimism. I remember passing through Thomas Mann's Lübeck, enthralled with the remains of earnest Hanseatic brick, heading East to Prussia back then feeling the rush of excitement for a reunified Germany, a beacon of bildung humanism. Ruefully looking back, the arc of decay that has overtaken us mocks this moment. The New York Times itself could be a sequel to Mann's Buddenbrooks, what was a newspaper of record spiraling down to rubbish it is now. A casual tour of facebook threads lays doubt on Mann's assertion of 'the infinite dignity' of man as a cornerstone of democracy. We perhaps need to seek surer foundations. I wish you all a Bright & Merry Christmas.
The year 1989 was perhaps the high water mark of Western optimism. I remember passing through Thomas Mann's Lübeck, enthralled with the remains of earnest Hanseatic brick, heading East to Prussia back then feeling the rush of excitement for a reunified Germany, a beacon of bildung humanism. Ruefully looking back, the arc of decay that has overtaken us mocks this moment. The New York Times itself could be a sequel to Mann's Buddenbrooks, what was a newspaper of record spiraling down to rubbish it is now. A casual tour of facebook threads lays doubt on Mann's assertion of 'the infinite dignity' of man as a cornerstone of democracy. We perhaps need to seek surer foundations. I wish you all a Bright & Merry Christmas.
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