tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22457440.post8888673601536680533..comments2023-08-04T10:42:00.506-07:00Comments on Stranger Things Have Happened: Niall Ferguson Is Still a DoltDave Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875499379638850312noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22457440.post-26579448758903793052011-11-09T05:18:05.438-08:002011-11-09T05:18:05.438-08:00Those damn, dirty apes!
I'm delighted to see ...Those damn, dirty apes!<br /><br />I'm delighted to see the image you've chosen for your current posting: Thomas Cole's destruction segment in his Course of an Empire series. I like this painting for many reasons, one of them being that it is a work of hysterical fiction. I like my fiction over-the-top. As a member of the Hudson River School (a personal favorite) Cole espoused the canon of Romanticism by believing in an edenic past where people weren't plagued by pesky things like dentistry, democracy, low infant mortality, and literacy (but never mind, it was edenic dammit). The Romantics placed emotion over reason, which makes for great art and terrific late night parties (so I'm told) but encourages irrationalism. That’s why your choice of Cole’s painting is apropos to your position. Please allow me to explain my assertion in a roundabout way: Ferguson's good-ole-days analysis seems reactionary, as reactionary as the graphic Newsweek chose to grace his essay -- the iconic, Statue-of-Liberty-setup from Planet of the Apes (the film). This image is a potent representation of humankind's paranoia about the supposed ills of an advancing civilization. Yes, like the Krell (okay, I'm switching to another film, but bear with me), our smart alecky tendency to progress will eventually annihilate us, or turn us into servants of apes, or perhaps jelly-like beings (‘nother film) that no one would ever want to invite to a late night party, terrific or otherwise. Ferguson wants us to behave like the prudent, hard working, denarius-pinching Romans of the Republic and not the decadent, flabby, demanding louts of the Empire. But these cardboard-cutout notions of ancient peoples are in themselves, pure fiction. Granted, my observations are only tangentially related to the specific arguments you present in your post. But I do suggest that Ferguson's desire to look for "The Event" in describing a civilization's downfall appears closer to apocalyptic fiction than to reality. What I see in him is a romantic desire to corral the breathtakingly complex ebb and flow of human development into a manageable, but sadly inadequate snippet of understanding. Because historians must be dispassionate to maintain credibility, his position is neatly accessorized by a laundry list of shallow analysis. In essence, he presents himself as rational but he’s behaving more like the people in Cole’s painting. I concede that sensibility is important and recognize that we all want comfort. But I’d rather “feel good” with my eyes wide open. One presumes that now that Ferguson’s got that troublesome task of explaining the fall of the Soviet Union ticked off his list, he can make a start this weekend on installing the linen closet shelves and, if the weather holds, he may have time to clean out the gutters. Phew! How tidy. Thanks Dave, for your comments on Ferguson. I've enjoyed it.Susan M. Freyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05388000424695089828noreply@blogger.com