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

[okoge.livejournal.com]

Freud, definitely.
What about Darwin?

[rinue.livejournal.com]

Darwin wasn't all that influential if you think about it. I'm not saying he wasn't important -- I'm not saying that I don't respect the guy, and that he didn't set science on its way. But I have the feeling that some scientists already believed what he articulated, and that more would have come to that opinion if he hadn't.

Moreover, there are a lot of people who still don't believe him. Darwin only rocked the worlds of the uber-religious.

I guess what I'm saying is that I don't look at, for example, Vietnam and say "Darwin at work!" in the same way that I say "reminds me of the Russian Revolution, and the American response is very Jack the Ripper." I don't look at the race riots and say "natural selection!" so much as "Russian Revolution again -- the class struggle!" With computers, I don't say "origins of the species!" I say "ah, Freud's theories on how the mind works led to this."

To be fair, though, I do think that natural selection did have a certain influence -- just look at the eugenics movement, and the justification for keeping certain races/genders down. But since that had been going on for centuries prior, I simply look at Darwin as a new justification, not a crucible.

Re:

[okoge.livejournal.com]

have the feeling that some scientists already believed what he articulated

yes, definitely, most of the ideas he put together had been around since the Greek philosophers/natural scientists

Moreover, there are a lot of people who still don't believe him.

in his ideas, i think you mean. ;)

I certainly haven't studied him [and 20th century history] enough to say yes for certain his ideas, and the idea of Darwin, have majorly influenced the 20th century. Just an intuition. I would also add Einstein to that list of major influences on the 20th century... maybe?

I don't look at the race riots and say "natural selection!" so much as "Russian Revolution again -- the class struggle!"

but class struggle is as old as civilization.. of which the Russian Revolution was only one manifestation. But again, I don't know enough to say anything definitive about it's influence, one way or the other. :)

thanks for some ideas to ponder, though.

[rinue.livejournal.com]

The "Darwin Issue" has been on my mind ever since I read your comment, and I think you should know that Val is fully in support of you. With Darwin came social Darwinism which set up nationalism, which set up WWI, which set up WWII, which set up the Cold War and Vietnam, etc.. So whether I agree with you or not, your position may be more valid than mine and we should investigate this further.

I think my major concern (or mental block, depending on your perception,) is that I place Darwin firmly in the 19th century. I see him to a large extent as a culmination of that century instead of a lead in to the next. Whether they disagreed with him or not, they made him.