Morris Berman Forum

Morris Berman

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I just reread this book. The thesis is basicly that civilizations start out lobsided emphasizing certain parts of the Human Character. They are a "package deal" in that they come with a certain constellation of Bedrock traits. These are kind of the DNA of the culture. The are very hard if not impossible to change once a civilization starts down a certain track. In the old days it might have been call National Character. The traits that have propelled American civilization (always favoring individual choice over the collective, weak social ties, mobility, competition) that cause a civilization to rise are the same factors which bring it down. It is kind like the developement of an individual biography or a tragic hero. Anyway much of the book is a rather bleak survey of the current American microcosm (mallscapes,Anomie,incivility, ignorance and public apathy) coupled with the macrocosm (corparate right wing onslaught of institutions, disasterous foriegn policy of imperial overstretch, forcing neoliberalism on rest of world, etc) a pretty bleak picture all in all. Berman quickly scans American history and comes up with the fatalistic conclusion that alternative paths in our past never really had a chance and that our fate is sealled. Kind of little being a Roman around 380ce. and being given a copy in Latin of Gibbon's Decline and Fall. Interesting read none the less.

>>By 1970s guy (Tuesday, 26 Jun 2007 04:22)

Sorry about the spelling and grammar mistakes. I didn't proof well enough or maybe I am a part of the phenomenon Berman is discussing. Sorry.

>>By 1970s guy (Tuesday, 26 Jun 2007 04:28)

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