So far, this book is a lot to take in but still very interesting. With all the advanced syntax and the references to other artists I had a little troubling following what was going on, but I think I understood the main ideas. Hitchens talks about society and its relationship to our complex language. A passage that stood out to me is "society, like a benign family, tolerates and even admires eccentricity". I agree with this statement, and there is proof in our world today. If you think about all the great people in history, you will find that many of them were ridiculed at some point and called crazy. Galileo, Christopher Columbus, Gregor Mendel, Jean Jacques Rousseau; all of these famous historical figures were considered "eccentric" for their ideas, but that is what makes people respect them. Also in more modern times, many people think artists like Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus are too over the top and eccentric, but they are still all over the news. Society loves eccentricity, and its the people that stand out that gain the most recognition.
The quote "the ceaseless requirements of the entertainment industry also threaten to deprive us of other forms of critical style, and the means of appreciating them" seems to provide a different perspective from the quote I mentioned above, which makes sense since a theme of this book is conflict. I think Hitchens is describing how although eccentric people can be admired, many who chose to branch out and make statement are degraded because they aren't the norm. This shows a different viewpoint that some people in society have, where they look at anything eccentric with a negative perspective. I think these quotes show two different points of view that are common in humanity, and I'm excited to see what other ideas the book mentions.
No comments:
Post a Comment