Bryan at his best. I agree, by the way, that Naipaul is "the greatest writer now living in Britain." I also think there is much in what Naipaul says about the academy.
To add, Appleyard writes: "Islamism is Islamism is an antiintellectual creed of mad delusions" What about a culture that is at ease with interviewing the Ants & Decs of this Brave New World...an antiintellectual creed of mad delusions? But cosying up to the sick, consciousness-defiling hallucination- machine of this vile culture gives Appleyard a very comfortable living so lets erase all dignity & take the pay-cheque, & talk about the dangers of some terrible other that threatens this noble way of life; Nietzsche's "poverty, dirt & a miserable ease." Though Nietzsche could probably have had little idea how sick & infantilising this culture could become.
I've been a Naipaul fan for years. But then, I sympathize with his rootlessness, as I share it in some ways.
I read "Among the Believers" when it first came out, and later spent a year living in Islamic Indonesia myself. I found Naipaul to be prophetic then, and now. He laid out what would happen later, that did happen.
Except that 911 was blatantly not the work of mad Islamic terrorists that it purported to be. Which is not to say that Islamism, which is probably Satanism masquerading as Islam just as Skull & Bones Bush & his ilk are Satanists masquerading as Christians; masquerading very unconvincingly let it be added.
Well, but for Bryan, I would never have heard of Ant & Dec. Bryan is a pro and a prop moves gracefully among all sorts of themes. And Mark, if you doubt that 9/11 was the work of Islamic extremists, yopu need to read this.
If you doubt believe 911 was what it purported to be, Frank, I think you should watch David Ray Griffin go through in extensive detail the 911 Commission Report here. Or Dr. Robert M. Bowman, a former Director of Advanced Space Programs Development for the U.S. Air Force in the Ford and Carter administrations here. He describes the official story as "a bunch of hogwash, it's impossible." Now more than ever we need to get our heads out of our collective asses.
I'd say the but for Bryan you never hearing of such dross as Ant & Dec is kind of the point, Frank. The only reason one can talk about evil is that one has a notion of good to which this evil is opposed. And as all the main religions attest this Good is the surrender of self to God, Tao, the life-force, etc & the subsequwent manifestations of this living encounter with Good is wisdom, love, genorisity, etc. As Jesus is described as saying, "He that is not with me is against me." The modern mainstream Western culture is very obviously utterly opposed to this Good, dedicated as it is to fostering a delusional state of consciousness in those infected by itself. It could be, in Christian terms, accurately described as, the son of the Father of Lies. It is also infinitely more damaging to people within that culture than Islamism, removing them from an awareness of Truth, which one could say is its whole point. As said, to talk about Evil, such as Islamism, one must have a good, but when B Appleyard immerses himself in this falsehood mentioned, he clearly is without sense of truth...he is simply floating in a moral void & he has essentially denied himself of any real right to talk about good & evil as he apparently doesn't know the difference. As for Naipual, in interview he says Hindu militancy is a "creative force." "Dangerous or not, it's a necessary corrective to history and will continue to remain so." Salman Rushdie described V S Naipaul as "a cheer leader for the Bharatiya Janata Party & Hindu militancy." "When Naipaul writes articles which the BJP can use as recruiting material, it's a problem."
Naipaul, it could be argued, has no moral authority either with which to talk of good or evil.
To clarufy, this mainstream delusion fostering culture in the West is infinitely more damaging to its citizens than the tiny effect of Islamism, which incidentally this mainstream delusion creating culture hypes up to absurd proportions when the real evil is the very culture machine that is doing the pointing. And the following is of course apt- "Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:3). Something is indeed rotten in the state of the West & people like Bryan Appleyard play their little roles in allowing this rotteness to grow by ignoring or even living off this insidiousness while having the hypocritical gall to talk about extrinsic evils we need to combat.
I did better than that, Mark. Sunday night I had dinner with an old friend of mine who was actually a voting member of the 911 Commission. I stand by my comments.
I'm really having to scratch my head at all this. Did I miss a conspiracy theory or three? And I thought I was up on all the paranoia out there. But wait, if I missed out on a conspiracy, it means they really ARE out to get us, and it's reason to get even more paranoid . . .
Okay, I'm removing my tongue from cheek, and putting Miaskovsky's Cello Concerto on the CD player.
Just switch on the television, Art. Bryan will advise you what to watch. Ant & Ded do a fine number in celebrities eating insects & the like. Edifying for participants & audience. Oh how I laughed...see, I have a sense of humour. Laughed so much I threw up.
And to add, when such a simple point as to talk of evil involves a necessary good, & that a brain-washing culture is opposed to good isn't treated as self-evident; well, all intellectual worth has conveniently vanished. And from the consciousness that is at ease with this brain-washing, & so is presumably itself happily brain-washed, then reality & truth are very much alien territory; alien territory that will be dismissed by this ingnorant, deluded, self-satisfied hypothetical being as conspiracy theory. And of course, how is this person whose sense of reality is obviously so sadly atrophied ever to recognise truth; immersed as he is in falseness all he recognises is falseness. What a pity someone like Bryan wasn't there to advise people like Jesus to develop a sense of humour about the defiling of life.
Well, I don't know the source of your animus toward Bryan, Matthew, but I feel obliged to say that I admire Bryan and his work. I think he writes splendidly - even when criticizing yours truly - and has a wonderful ability to explain complex matters clearly and concisely. I also like the way he moves from "light" to "heavy" topics with nary a gear sounding. You are free to disagree, of course, but let's be civil about it, OK?
Perhaps it is because he is a man of intelligence that I feel roused as I do at the sight of someone writing in the service of inanity. Bryan did write a book called Brave New Worlds as far as I know; the kind of target of the book from which he derived his title should be fairly clear; ie the dumbing down of populations with shiny idiocy in the form of the Take Thats & Ant & Decs of this world. The anger of my attack might seem strong coming from out of the blue but it is far better that we do feel in this manner towards an infantilising culture rather than surrendering ourselves with a perhaps ironic chuckle to this insidiousness. And it has nothing to do with a want of a sense of humour as the only ocmedy going on is of a decidedly black kind.
I thought writing on Ant & Dec was Bryan at his best; more his level. What was that Lennon song...? oh yeah- "How Do You Sleep?"
ReplyDeleteTo add, Appleyard writes: "Islamism is Islamism is an antiintellectual creed of mad delusions"
ReplyDeleteWhat about a culture that is at ease with interviewing the Ants & Decs of this Brave New World...an antiintellectual creed of mad delusions? But cosying up to the sick, consciousness-defiling hallucination- machine of this vile culture gives Appleyard a very comfortable living so lets erase all dignity & take the pay-cheque, & talk about the dangers of some terrible other that threatens this noble way of life; Nietzsche's "poverty, dirt & a miserable ease." Though Nietzsche could probably have had little idea how sick & infantilising this culture could become.
I've been a Naipaul fan for years. But then, I sympathize with his rootlessness, as I share it in some ways.
ReplyDeleteI read "Among the Believers" when it first came out, and later spent a year living in Islamic Indonesia myself. I found Naipaul to be prophetic then, and now. He laid out what would happen later, that did happen.
No one likes a prophet, as usual.
Except that 911 was blatantly not the work of mad Islamic terrorists that it purported to be. Which is not to say that Islamism, which is probably Satanism masquerading as Islam just as Skull & Bones Bush & his ilk are Satanists masquerading as Christians; masquerading very unconvincingly let it be added.
ReplyDeleteMeant to say which is not to say that Islamism....doesn't exist.
ReplyDeleteWell, but for Bryan, I would never have heard of Ant & Dec. Bryan is a pro and a prop moves gracefully among all sorts of themes. And Mark, if you doubt that 9/11 was the work of Islamic extremists, yopu need to read this.
ReplyDeleteIf you doubt believe 911 was what it purported to be, Frank, I think you should watch David Ray Griffin go through in extensive detail the 911 Commission Report here. Or Dr. Robert M. Bowman, a former Director of Advanced Space Programs Development for the U.S. Air Force in the Ford and Carter administrations here. He describes the official story as "a bunch of hogwash, it's impossible."
ReplyDeleteNow more than ever we need to get our heads out of our collective asses.
I'd say the but for Bryan you never hearing of such dross as Ant & Dec is kind of the point, Frank. The only reason one can talk about evil is that one has a notion of good to which this evil is opposed. And as all the main religions attest this Good is the surrender of self to God, Tao, the life-force, etc & the subsequwent manifestations of this living encounter with Good is wisdom, love, genorisity, etc. As Jesus is described as saying, "He that is not with me is against me." The modern mainstream Western culture is very obviously utterly opposed to this Good, dedicated as it is to fostering a delusional state of consciousness in those infected by itself. It could be, in Christian terms, accurately described as, the son of the Father of Lies. It is also infinitely more damaging to people within that culture than Islamism, removing them from an awareness of Truth, which one could say is its whole point.
ReplyDeleteAs said, to talk about Evil, such as Islamism, one must have a good, but when B Appleyard immerses himself in this falsehood mentioned, he clearly is without sense of truth...he is simply floating in a moral void & he has essentially denied himself of any real right to talk about good & evil as he apparently doesn't know the difference.
As for Naipual, in interview he says Hindu militancy is a "creative force." "Dangerous or not, it's a necessary corrective to history and will continue to remain so." Salman Rushdie described V S Naipaul as "a cheer leader for the Bharatiya Janata Party & Hindu militancy." "When Naipaul writes articles which the BJP can use as recruiting material, it's a problem."
Naipaul, it could be argued, has no moral authority either with which to talk of good or evil.
To clarufy, this mainstream delusion fostering culture in the West is infinitely more damaging to its citizens than the tiny effect of Islamism, which incidentally this mainstream delusion creating culture hypes up to absurd proportions when the real evil is the very culture machine that is doing the pointing. And the following is of course apt- "Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:3). Something is indeed rotten in the state of the West & people like Bryan Appleyard play their little roles in allowing this rotteness to grow by ignoring or even living off this insidiousness while having the hypocritical gall to talk about extrinsic evils we need to combat.
ReplyDeleteI did better than that, Mark. Sunday night I had dinner with an old friend of mine who was actually a voting member of the 911 Commission. I stand by my comments.
ReplyDeleteFirst, Matthew, lighten up, then get a life, then a sense of humour and humanity. Try Mozart, a lot of it.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Bryan. Lots less Wagner, lots more Mozart.
ReplyDeleteI'm really having to scratch my head at all this. Did I miss a conspiracy theory or three? And I thought I was up on all the paranoia out there. But wait, if I missed out on a conspiracy, it means they really ARE out to get us, and it's reason to get even more paranoid . . .
Okay, I'm removing my tongue from cheek, and putting Miaskovsky's Cello Concerto on the CD player.
Try gaining a little dignity, Bryan. Alot of it. Then go interview Take That & listen to the Velvet Underground on the way home.
ReplyDeleteJust switch on the television, Art. Bryan will advise you what to watch. Ant & Ded do a fine number in celebrities eating insects & the like. Edifying for participants & audience. Oh how I laughed...see, I have a sense of humour. Laughed so much I threw up.
ReplyDeleteAnd to add, when such a simple point as to talk of evil involves a necessary good, & that a brain-washing culture is opposed to good isn't treated as self-evident; well, all intellectual worth has conveniently vanished. And from the consciousness that is at ease with this brain-washing, & so is presumably itself happily brain-washed, then reality & truth are very much alien territory; alien territory that will be dismissed by this ingnorant, deluded, self-satisfied hypothetical being as conspiracy theory. And of course, how is this person whose sense of reality is obviously so sadly atrophied ever to recognise truth; immersed as he is in falseness all he recognises is falseness.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pity someone like Bryan wasn't there to advise people like Jesus to develop a sense of humour about the defiling of life.
Well, I don't know the source of your animus toward Bryan, Matthew, but I feel obliged to say that I admire Bryan and his work. I think he writes splendidly - even when criticizing yours truly - and has a wonderful ability to explain complex matters clearly and concisely. I also like the way he moves from "light" to "heavy" topics with nary a gear sounding. You are free to disagree, of course, but let's be civil about it, OK?
ReplyDeletePerhaps it is because he is a man of intelligence that I feel roused as I do at the sight of someone writing in the service of inanity. Bryan did write a book called Brave New Worlds as far as I know; the kind of target of the book from which he derived his title should be fairly clear; ie the dumbing down of populations with shiny idiocy in the form of the Take Thats & Ant & Decs of this world.
ReplyDeleteThe anger of my attack might seem strong coming from out of the blue but it is far better that we do feel in this manner towards an infantilising culture rather than surrendering ourselves with a perhaps ironic chuckle to this insidiousness. And it has nothing to do with a want of a sense of humour as the only ocmedy going on is of a decidedly black kind.