Recent Comments
- What about the Rest of the First Amendment? (1)
david: "The power in shows like this is in the fact that they're shows: they're relatively easy to organize, the average IQ can be low, but the visual effect…"
- Attention Attraction for the Attention Deficient Generation (6)
Tom Smith: "I can see the appeal of "tuning out the world." But I can't say that I think it's a good thing. I really have no argument, convincing or otherwise,…"
Funky Dung: "I don't think your comment is off-topic at all. In fact, I think it addresses underlying societal issues and questions my post only begged. BTW, I…"
Ales Rarus
A Rare Bird, A Strange Duck, One Funky Blog
random thought of the moment:
It is time again to resurrect the wise and marvelous quote from Canon Sydney Smith, the great classical liberal and anti-interventionist in early nineteenth century England. When Lord Grey, the Prime Minister, was moving toward a foreign war, Sydney Smith wrote the following letter to Lady Grey, in 1832: ‘For God’s sake, do not drag me into another war! I am worn down, and worn out, with crusading and defending Europe, and protecting mankind; I must think a little of myself. I am sorry for the Spaniards - I am sorry for the Greeks - I deplore the fate of the Jews; the people of the Sandwich Islands are groaning under the most detestable tyranny; Baghdad is oppressed, I do not like the present state of the Delta; Tibet is not comfortable. Am I to fight for all these people? The world is bursting with sin and sorrow. Am I to be champion of the Decalogue, and to be eternally raising fleets and armies to make all men good and happy? We have just done saving Europe, and I am afraid the consequence will be, that we shall cut each other’s throats. No war, dear Lady Grey! - No eloquence; but apathy, selfishness, common sense, arithmetic! I beseech you, secure Lord Grey’s swords and pistols, as the housekeeper did Don Quixote’s armour. If there is another war, life will not be worth having.’
— Murray N. Rothbard
Attention Attraction for the Attention Deficient Generation
Andy Warhol famously quipped, "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." His appraisal of the fleeting nature of fame was mostly right. However, he said that before the advent of repeated episodes, re-run and syndicated series, reality TV, blogs, and social networking. Had he seen these, perhaps he'd have suggested "15 episodes", […]
