Post by fusilier23 on Oct 16, 2005 19:23:03 GMT
Absolutely agreed, Gerrit, man's been fighting since he could stand erect, in fact almost all creatures in this world fight, though mostly over food and mates and rarely in an organized fashion.
The early Soviets banned all forms of religious expression, yet they waged war on multiple fronts, so it's not about religion. They were also not terribly into nationalism, identifying themselves as international communists, so it isn't about national boundaries either. Someone is always looking to impose his will on somebody else, and that is just human nature.
The song is wishful thinking of the highest order, and if wishes were horses, we'd all be riding around.
However, though realpolitik folks like a Victor Davis Hanson or a Stephen Ambrose (may he rest in peace) can write great, even persuasive, prose in favor of realpolitik, and realpolitik does not make for very good song lyrics, particularly when the song is aimed at younger people coming out of school, thinking they are going to solve all the world's problems if only someone would listen to them. What makes them think any of the ideas expressed in this song are terribly original I don't know, but the idea of total love and total peace without any belief save that belief sounds good when put to music.
I don't teach, but I did consider it for a while at one point in my life. If I had pursued it, my advice to the kids would always have been: the world is bigger and much older than you, and so is society, and so are most of the problems, that's why we're still talking about them now. Continue to work so that things may be better, but do not get it into your head that you, or even your generation, will be the one to turn this world into H.G. Wells' paradise of children in the far future. If you are concerned about cleaning things up, start with your own living quarters. If you are concerned about peace, start by staying out of fights and arguments here. If you are concerned about achievement, start by being the best possible student you can be. When all's in order at home, you can concern yourself with these bigger goals. But understand, despite the personalities you read about in these books, one person rarely moves this world even a little bit off the course it is moving on. North and South had been on a collision course over slavery since Abraham Lincoln was a child, and he had many able generals and an army of 600,000, he didn't conceive the idea of ending slavery nor end it on his own. The Indian National Congress existed before Gandhi was born, and Mounbatten only took the post of Viceroy of India on the understanding that he would be the last, one thin man who never held political office did not take the British Empire apart on his own. I could give many more examples, but I trust the point is made.
The early Soviets banned all forms of religious expression, yet they waged war on multiple fronts, so it's not about religion. They were also not terribly into nationalism, identifying themselves as international communists, so it isn't about national boundaries either. Someone is always looking to impose his will on somebody else, and that is just human nature.
The song is wishful thinking of the highest order, and if wishes were horses, we'd all be riding around.
However, though realpolitik folks like a Victor Davis Hanson or a Stephen Ambrose (may he rest in peace) can write great, even persuasive, prose in favor of realpolitik, and realpolitik does not make for very good song lyrics, particularly when the song is aimed at younger people coming out of school, thinking they are going to solve all the world's problems if only someone would listen to them. What makes them think any of the ideas expressed in this song are terribly original I don't know, but the idea of total love and total peace without any belief save that belief sounds good when put to music.
I don't teach, but I did consider it for a while at one point in my life. If I had pursued it, my advice to the kids would always have been: the world is bigger and much older than you, and so is society, and so are most of the problems, that's why we're still talking about them now. Continue to work so that things may be better, but do not get it into your head that you, or even your generation, will be the one to turn this world into H.G. Wells' paradise of children in the far future. If you are concerned about cleaning things up, start with your own living quarters. If you are concerned about peace, start by staying out of fights and arguments here. If you are concerned about achievement, start by being the best possible student you can be. When all's in order at home, you can concern yourself with these bigger goals. But understand, despite the personalities you read about in these books, one person rarely moves this world even a little bit off the course it is moving on. North and South had been on a collision course over slavery since Abraham Lincoln was a child, and he had many able generals and an army of 600,000, he didn't conceive the idea of ending slavery nor end it on his own. The Indian National Congress existed before Gandhi was born, and Mounbatten only took the post of Viceroy of India on the understanding that he would be the last, one thin man who never held political office did not take the British Empire apart on his own. I could give many more examples, but I trust the point is made.
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and I thoroughly enjoy it.
