Sunday, July 18, 2010

Indeed ...

... Sentimentality is poisoning our society. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)


Sentimentalists try to make up for a lack of feeling by emotional exhibitionism. Men who feel little for women or children often have their names tattooed on their arms; the tattoo says, in effect, "Look what I am prepared to do for you." This is all too often a prelude to abandonment; the man is prepared to have himself tattooed, but not prepared for the slow grind of lasting support, which requires genuine feeling.


I am, I am pretty sure, immune to sentimentality.

2 comments:

  1. It isn't sentimentality at work here. It's narcissism with a dash of self-delusion. The other flaws in this essay are the gratuitous swipes at Freud and at social networking.
    I enjoy reading Mr. D but this is the second essay of his that I have read this month that has really disappointed me.

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  2. I always liked a definition I read somewhere that sentiment is incompletely imagined emotion.

    And that of course is greatly to be feared in my business.

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