tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25624602.post287436244982796934..comments2024-03-15T00:12:57.489-07:00Comments on Covenant Zone: Neopalinismtruepeershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401984575637492845noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25624602.post-10720107198033312782009-04-07T00:12:00.000-07:002009-04-07T00:12:00.000-07:00I'm getting nervous, to put it mildly, that we not...I'm getting nervous, to put it mildly, that we not only have "forgotten" what America is but that so many, including our president, don't have any idea why we are a nation at all. A nation without a sense of its own history is doomed to idiocy. And worse, it could well doom us to death.Daghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10664271893389366772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25624602.post-2071876889462157022008-10-27T17:34:00.000-07:002008-10-27T17:34:00.000-07:00I like this post, still I'm wondering what that br...I like this post, still I'm wondering what that breast milk thing has to do with a "coherent memory of America"... in my day, most kids were weaned *before* the age when memory starts to become more or less permanent.<BR/><BR/><I>I venture the opinion that many Americans have forgotten, or worse, never knew, what America was and is. It seems that many have come to remember the memories of others, and taken them on as personal.</I><BR/><BR/>-this seems a criticism, but the rest of the post seems to contradict the apparent pessimism here; as your beautiful idea of neoPalinism suggests, we must take on the memories of others, right? I mean weren't the Persians moved by Cyrus by doing just that? No one's personal experience is sufficient to serve the needs of the range of experiences we must communicate to each other to make our nation strong.<BR/><BR/>You suggest that you have given us four "coherent" memories of America. I'm not sure about the first two, or even the fourth (for America); but yes, surely it is ultimately up to us to make of the many experiences we see symbolized some kind of coherent identity, with integrity. This is why respect for the individual is so important: only the individual can synthesize the many representations of the nation in a way that makes sense and demonstrates integrity, becoming a model for others to follow, on their way to making their own model. No committee of comrades can do it - and so I doubt that paranoid conformist "history" of Amerikkka as a "coherent" memory. It is mythical, based on a misunderstanding of the sacrificial terms of its own emergence; and there must be a difference between that sort of myth and the kind of history that begins with Athens and Jerusalem and, inter alia, philosopher kings - a concept which reflects Plato's discovery of a new way of thinking - metaphysics - more than it represents any particular philosophy...<BR/><BR/><I>Memory, thus, is Will. Memory is also futurity...</I><BR/><BR/>I like that; it remains for us to elucidate how necessary, historically specific experiences can be represented and shared, illuminating universal truths. The will to shared memory is not simply an appeal to individual will, even though ultimately the individual's integrity is key to representing it to the rest of us in a way that makes sense.truepeershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16401984575637492845noreply@blogger.com