Atonal

[rinue]

The tone of the twentieth century was set by three things: Sigmund Freud, Jack the Ripper, and the Russian Revolution. Almost any definitive historical event can be traced to one of them, or more often to all three. From Jack comes the sexualization of violence, sensationalist news as entertainment, the idea that the rich should care for the unfortunate, conspiracy theories as common trade, and the notion that the bad guys get away with it. From the revolution, you get class struggle on a large scale, the end of aristocracy, equality among all classes, war conducted on and by civilians, Josef Stalin, and the Cold War. The two combined birthed Hitler, nationalism, and paranoia. Freud rounded us out with sexual liberation, psychotherapy, blaming our parents, and the preeminence of the brain.

I'm not saying that none of these concepts existed before, but that these three factors drove them home and influenced everyone so profoundly -- whether directly or indirectly -- that they can be given almost full credit for the last century. They were definitive.

I strongly suspect that September 11th set the tone for the twenty first century. Much as I'm tired of hearing about it and talking about it, the fact that it is still so present throughout the world speaks to its effect. I think this will be a century of uncertainty and fear, but with a sense of unity that I hope will prove more powerful.

Fuck, I'm not saying this right and I sound like a high school philsopher. Stop listening to me explain it and just think. Speculate.

Comments

[keieru.livejournal.com]

fascinating. Out of curiousity, which would you attribute the scientific revolution to? Not Newton's, but Einstein's: the replacement of the existing logical, mechanistic worldview with the current weirdass quantum uncertanties. I mean, to a certain extent, most new technologies can be traced to nationalism (computers, cryptosystems, atom bombs, space travel, etc), but what about the more neutral advances like relativity and particle dynamics? They required a major leap in thinking from the 19th century school of thought.

I definitely agree about Sept 11th. It'll be interesting to see what kind of long-term global effects we end up with. (For instance, I don't think this paranoia thing will go away any time soon.)

[rinue.livejournal.com]

My God, that's a brilliant point. I could say that there's a certain Freudian attitude to it, the idea that while you can trace things backwards you can't take them forward -- you can say that a man's depression stems from his unhappy childhood, but you cannot say that because someone has an unhappy childhood he will be depressed in the future. You also wind up with small things that have huge impacts, or things divergent from what everyone else sees as reality.

It's also possible that quantum physics -- which are still not fully understood and certainly not fully accepted (let's face it -- I've taken half a dozen physics courses (ahh, engineering majors,) and they're almost entirely composed of classical physics except maybe one class period out of the semester) actually belongs more to the 21st century -- that the computer and information revolution began in the 20th, but is really just a precursor.

In addition, I don't know how much Einstein's theories have really impacted everyone's imaginations. That is -- I know they've influenced me profoundly, as well as almost any science fiction buff. Or, well -- okay, the people who understand relativity on an instinctual level, the people to whom it was introduced early enough to influence thought processes (consciously or un) are people of my (our?) generation, people who haven't come to power yet.

Score one for the 21st century! We've got September 11th, quantam physics, and the Internet. Whatever else happens, we're sure going to be international.

And Jesus will there be privacy issues.

wow

[marcyleecorgan.livejournal.com]

that while you can trace things backwards you can't take them forward -- you can say that a man's depression stems from his unhappy childhood, but you cannot say that because someone has an unhappy childhood he will be depressed in the future.

I was actually thinking about this last night. Mankind in general is always looking back to find a scapegaot for their behavior. With Freud and the emergence of psychology as a "normal" everyday kind of thing, the public had an explanation and excuse for every mistake they ever made. Sad, really, but I just can't hate anybody. They just all do what they percieve as right at the time.

[marcyleecorgan.livejournal.com]

forgive the horror that is my spelling.

Re: wow

[rinue.livejournal.com]

. . . and quantum physics reverses all that, doesn't it? (Or maybe it doesn't. ::laughs:: Here I go attributing free will to sub-atomic particles. ::rolls eyes::) It is their choice, because how they are now is only one option along an axis of probability curves. Existentialism again: the past explains the present but does not justify it. Psychology is not about explaining the past, but about overcoming it.

. . . and that's why we can still love everyone -- because it's our choice to do so. Their past is irrelevant, whether they've hurt us or not. I don't love people or not love people based upon who they are or their reasons for being who they are; I love people because they are people and I made the decision long ago that I would.