We are gearing up to take the train from Gare du Nord to St. Pancras station in London, thence to a hotel at Heathrow, and tomorrow the direct flight to RDU and home. Because of the Marx course, we shan't be back until next May. We arrive home just in time to vote and watch the debacle on television. The next decade and then some is not going to be fun, but we will always have the sixties.
I shall try to return to the blog on Monday.
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Professor Wolff –
What an interesting statement, “we will always have the sixties.” Somehow I don’t find it all that comforting. What did the sixties impart to us? Social and cultural liberalization there is no doubt. But those accomplishments pale compared to the steady environmental degradation that has taken place since then. Coupled with the rise of finance capital and the relentless diminishing of the union-based productive work force, the social and cultural advances of the sixties, while welcome and necessary, hold little promise for our environmental and economic future. Although you and I may hopefully not live to see it, your children and grandchildren will in all likelihood experience a permanently flooded Manhattan. Rachel Carson published her book, “Silent Spring,” in 1962 (the same year as Thomas Kuhn’s “Structure of Scientific Revolutions” – both before the sixties were really the “sixties”). Despite this, many still consider environmental degradation and global warming a matter of mere “opinion” -- in spite of overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary. With a House and Senate dominated by climate change deniers, we will more than likely experience the continuing effects of climate change if our health continues to hold out. If that scenario is realized, what solace does the sixties hold for us at the end of the political day? I am genuinely curious.
-- Jim
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