Raphael's School of Athens. Universal History Archive/Getty |
Our serious thinkers are being silenced |
Today, says James Marriott in The Times, "anybody can have a go at establishing themselves as a serious thinker". Russell Brand is a perfect example – 10 years ago, half the bus stops in London advertised his "political treatise/extended brain fart", Revolution. He guest-edited The New Statesman, interviewed Ed Miliband in his kitchen, and faced an exasperated Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight. The revolution he was preaching never materialised, but Brand was still a "prophetic figure": he was among the first symptoms of the "cheapening of modern public debate". Now many comedians get lofty ideas. Australian comic Hannah Gadsby curated a "gratifyingly panned" exhibition on Picasso; Nish Kumar hosts a politics podcast; Ricky Gervais has "smugly installed himself as a partisan of enlightenment and reason". |
None of these figures have any claim to expertise other than fame, but "social media privileges personality over complex thought". Meanwhile, true intellectuals have retreated from public debate. The likes of Mary Beard, John Carey and Richard Dawkins were once highly visible cultural figures, and experts in their field. All are now over 65. If no "younger generation of comparable influence" has replaced them, it is partly because of the "grisly influence of social media", and partly because the spirit of "nervous consensus" on most university campuses, and the shocking job insecurity of lecturers, means few are willing to risk the rough and tumble of public debate. Dawkins was in his thirties when he published The Selfish Gene; his modern-day successor is almost certainly "drowning in grant applications and fretting about the rent". So public discourse is left in the worst possible hands: "comedians, tweeters and assorted grifters"; the heirs of Russell Brand. |
|
|
Take the Money and Run. Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/Getty |
Hero Jens Haaning, a Danish conceptual artist who tried to use his tricks of the trade to secure a bumper payday. Haaning was commissioned by a gallery in northern Denmark to recreate two of his earlier pieces, which used banknotes to represent average incomes. But after sending him about £60,000 in notes, they only got back empty frames, which Haaning had titled Take the Money and Run. "The work is that I have taken their money," he explained on Danish radio. "It's not theft." This week, a court rejected his foolproof theoretical reasoning and ordered him to repay the cash. |
Hero Rob Byrne, a 61-year-old grandfather from Hampshire, who fought off an 11ft python that came though his conservatory window. The rampaging reptile bit Byrne's arm, but he managed to break free and send it slithering back into the garden, after which it was eventually captured. The snake's owner hasn't yet come forward, but Byrne says he wants tighter controls on snake ownership. "I did not expect to be attacked by a giant python in my own home." |
A very naughty boy, and Dilyn. Christopher Furlong/Getty |
Villain Boris Johnson, according to Boris Johnson. My dog Dilyn "is a total sweetie", the former PM writes in the Daily Mail, but one day, when I was running around Buckingham Palace Gardens, his lead slipped from my hand and – "pow!" – he launched himself, "a lethal missile of fur, fang and nail", at a nearby gosling. The poor bird died at the scene, but Dilyn was just doing what was in his nature. "I was the culprit." |
Villain Greggs, for mixing up its Richmonds. Observant pastry-lovers recently noticed that a branch of the bakery in the North Yorkshire market town of Richmond was decorated with tasteful, black-and-white photos of Richmond-upon-Thames – a suburb in south-west London more than 240 miles away. Not a good look for a brand which bigs up its northern English identity. |
Villain Extinction Rebellion, which might have killed off marine wildlife in a stunt it pulled in the French town of Colmar. Eco activists dyed the local river bright green to protest a newly approved toxic waste dump nearby. Though they say they used fluorescein, a harmless organic dye, Colmar's mayor claims that dozens of dead fish were later found floating on the water's surface. |
|
|
Are you retirement ready? Receive a customised report in just two minutes with the free retirement readiness scorecard from Netwealth. It will help you understand the key areas to consider as you prepare to stop working – with actionable steps to give you a better outcome. And this isn't just for those who are about to retire. Whatever stage you're at, the retirement readiness scorecard can give you a good idea about whether you're on track to achieve your goals – allowing you to change course or make subtle adjustments to maximise your future potential.
|
|
|
THE WRITER'S RETREAT Perched high above the waves on one of south Cornwall's "most glorious coastal stretches" is Tregiffian Cottage, "made up of a trio of former fishermen's homes", says Emma Wells in The Spectator. It was spotted by the late John le Carré on a walk in the 1960s; he bought it and made it his writing retreat, where novels like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Constant Gardener were produced. "I can think well here," he told a local newspaper in 2020. "I can populate the empty landscape with my imagination." His family have put the four-bedroom property, which includes a library, conservatory, office space and an indoor swimming pool, on the market. £3m. |
|
|
Olivia Rodrigo: worried she isn't "pretty enough". Frazer Harrison/Getty |
I would never trade places with a girl today |
I'm only 32, says Elle Hunt in The Guardian, but I'm "profoundly grateful not to be a girl today". Sure, when I was a teenager all the "time-honoured" challenges were there: depression, bullying, eating disorders, and so on. But the fact that I didn't have ready access to the internet made things so much easier. My "social media" was largely confined to MSN Messenger; home could still be a "sanctuary from school, offering respite from the social politics and anxiety". Today, every young person with a phone has a "secretive and unceasing online life". The sense of adolescence as a competition – to be the prettiest, the thinnest, the most popular – has been "put on steroids". |
It's not just the personal stuff. For young people today, it is becoming impossible to shut out "threats from the world at large". Among twentysomethings, there is a "palpable and persistent anxiety" that they're not doing enough to address climate change – they have swallowed the Greta Thunberg line that children are not just "our future", but "responsible for securing it for the rest of us". Similarly, social media has made girls hyper-aware about sexual politics and rape culture, with TikTok users serving up "dating red flags" and giving advice on identifying "love-bombers, narcissists, abusers and other 'toxic' men". Nowhere is this more apparent than pop music. Olivia Rodrigo, 20, sings about not being "pretty enough"; 21-year-old Billie Eilish's songs deal with climate anxiety, sexual abuse and death. It's miserable. As Taylor Swift said of young women: "Give them back their girlhoods – it was theirs first." |
Bibury, Gloucestershire. Getty |
The joy of seeing Britain through American eyes |
After 12 years of living in Britain, says Brian Klaas on Substack, I've become a dual US-UK citizen. Here, in no particular order, is what I've learnt about my adopted home. "There is interesting history everywhere." Growing up, I was taken on a school trip to see a building in Minnesota because it was built in 1891; since moving here, I've lived in a cottage constructed more than four centuries ago, in 1578. ("It had no closets. The floor was slanted. It was lovely.") The villages are "utterly charming"; the pubs wonderful. "There is virtually zero risk of getting shot." British people are, for the most part, "friendly, polite and terrified of social awkwardness". |
There are plenty of oddities too. Many bathrooms don't have a light switch; instead, you have to find a little string hanging from the ceiling and pull on it. "Nobody knows why." Some people still warm up by pouring boiling water into a rubber bag – a "hot water bottle", they call it – and press it against their bodies. "Yes, even in the 21st century." Regional accents seem to change within the span of a few dozen miles. In contrast, I sound like a generic suburban Midwesterner who could "conceivably be from an area with a 1,000-1,500-mile radius". And driving in the country can be a nightmare. Lanes can be so narrow that motorists have to reverse to what's called a "passing place", sometimes a great distance back, almost invariably over large tree roots. "Both drivers are obligated, by British social law, to wave." |
| |
Enjoying The Knowledge? Click below to share |
|
|
You could never accuse Queen of being a "retiring band", says Tom Taylor in Far Out magazine. For their album Jazz, the group threw a launch party that earned the name Saturday Night in Sodom, and for good reason. Arriving guests were offered "complimentary oral sex"; Freddie Mercury sniffed cocaine off a "tray attached to the top of a hermaphrodite dwarf's head"; a live act beheaded chickens on stage "with a bite"; and a 300lb Samoan woman lounged on a banquet table, in the nude, "smoking cigarettes out of various orifices". It ended with a £200,000 bill "considered well spent". For the release of their single Bicycle, the band hired 65 professional models to take part in a naked cycle race around Wimbledon. The band filmed the "daring dash", airbrushed out any rude bits, and edited it into a "just-about PG" music video. |
|
|
"Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back." Oscar Wilde |
|
|
To find out about advertising and commercial partnerships, click here Been forwarded this newsletter? Sign up for free to receive it every day Netwealth Investments Limited ("Netwealth") is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, with firm reference no. 706988. Registered in England and Wales, with company no. 09493628 and with registered offices at Reading Bridge House, George Street, Reading, RG1 8LS. |
|
|
https://link.newsletters.theknowledge.com/oc/60897464f90441077868de3cjj0vy.9cl/06908755&list=mymail |
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment