On January 8th of this year, I noted that The New York Times editorial pages were forecasting a rather dark future for our country, specifically suggesting that a civil war might be on the way.
On January 14th, The Times ran a column by Jonathan Stevenson and Steven Simon, both "national security" experts. Stevenson and Simon advised us that we need to "think the unthinkable" about the future of the United States, which is being consumed, in their view, by "abject political decay."
The image immediately below is the photo that The Times has chosen to head up the Stevenson-Simon column, online. Things are dark and getting darker is the message I think we're meant to receive:
On its main editorial page, facing the Stevenson-Simon column, The Times once more relied upon David Brooks to deliver the bad news to its readers. Talk about "gloom and doom!" Brooks' column was titled, "America Is Falling Apart at the Seams," and here's the photo that The Times chose to illustrate the online version of that David Brooks' column:
My personal reputation, I know, from having heard this from friends, is that I am devoted to proclaiming the gospel of gloom and doom - not unlike The Times' columnists just mentioned. This reputation is based on the fact that I frequently point out all the problems that we face - including the existential crisis of global warming. I do not subscribe, however, despite this reputation, to the idea that we are "falling apart at the seams," and I continue to advise anyone who will listen to me that "anything is possible." Certainly our worst nightmares are within the range of possibility - but so are our most energizing dreams.
The light that can dissipate and drive out the gloom and doom we see around us is a light that we, ourselves, can generate both individually and collectively, and that light can pierce even the deepest, even the darkest, of obscurities and despairs.
Image Credits:
(1) - https://www.45cat.com/45_record_cover.php?r=2c01097528
(2) - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/opinion/january-6-civil-war.html
(3) - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/opinion/america-falling-apart.html
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your comment!