“I
have been consoled by Arthur Schopenhauer’s delightfully morbid pessimism in ‘The Wisdom of Life.’ It’s a mistaken
prejudice of our times to think that the only way to cheer someone up is to
tell them something cheerful. Exaggerated tragic pronouncements work far
better.”
—In
an interview in The New York Times Book
Review, January 27, Alain de Botton,
author of "How to Think More about Sex" promotes a book on philosophy that he’s
recently read.
Tricky advice.
The rule in Western politics
is as hard as the land we think we’ve tamed: if you’re selling words to a hungry
politician, keep your messages positive. Keep relief within reach. Keep the
rewards well worth the bother.
In desperate times, we look
for a way out. Accordingly, hope wins; otherwise, we might not be here. But, in political
markets of unprecedented affluence and with endless distractions, happy talk
about staying the course or getting back
on track is boring and, after a while, losses our attention.
On the other hand, tragic
messages don’t even get to the client. Evangelical audiences are too positive
and the rest of us are just too unsophisticated to settle for unrelieved
disappointment and mistreatment.
Nevertheless, there’s worthy alternative.
Between Mr. Fix It and
despairing rhetoric, there’s the riveting oratory of approaching danger. It’s
not especially hard to write. Context, however, is critical.
The 90s were too sunny.
Bill Clinton was a fabulous actor who never had any great excuse to forewarn
and rally the nation. While the catastrophes of the Miserable 00s hit the
entire world the very moment they hit George Bush and Barack Obama.
As the clouds keep clearing, Paul
Ryan and the Neo Cons hope they can find fresh traction by warning America that
its drifting just above the falls. Promising
approach—if we’d take their graphs and three-decade-long projections more seriously.
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