Why do we look back on the past with horror, and on the present as the epitome of good? Why were the Middle Ages worse than, say, the Ptolemaic Dynasty, or the time of the Visigoths? What is the purpose of such political exaggerration? Does it feed our notions of inevitable “progress”?
Ignorance, of course. Few people these days have any real acquaintance with Chaucer or Dante or Malory. It is worth noting that in Hildegard's time, abbesses were quite powerful, choosing who would be bishop in the region controlled by their abbey. Eleanor of Acquitaine, the Empress Matilda, and Hildegard would have scoffed at today's feminists.
I'm not so sure there isn't more to this than ignorance, Frank.
ReplyDeleteIn this election cycle, I'm seeing more and more attempts to organize stampedes with slogans, cookie-cutter op-eds, and crude caricatures. Lot of herding activities – petitions to express outrage, invitations to phone congressmen to vent wrath, and so on.
A fear of the past is one of the tools at hand, even when it's totally bogus idea of the past. For example, women in the 1950s weren't toothless hags with fifteen children. I know. I was there. I was one of the children. Hannah Arendt was alive and kicking, and so was Mary McCarthy. Susan Sontag was studying in Paris.
As a woman, I really resent people telling me what I should be "afraid" of, who is my enemy, and how I should feel, think, and vote.
The cartoon assumption is that I'll scream "Eek! A mouse!" and run into protective, paternalistic arms who will guide me to the appropriate way of thinking.
How insulting to my intelligence.
I could not agree more, Cynthia. I grew up in the '50s myself, and the caricature of it that has become current deeply annoys me. The '50s gave us the Beats — to say nothing of Tennessee Williams and William Inge,as well as the New York poets, abstract expressionism, and some of the best movies ever. What did the '60s give us besides some rock albums? As for people telling women what they should be afraid of, the women I grew up with have told such people to shove it.
ReplyDelete