March 29, 2012

Anglo Saxon helmet, British Museum

Anglo Saxon helmet, British Museum

The Old English poets convey emotions which are virtually inexpressible in modern English. The poems “The Wanderer” and “The Seafarer” from the Exeter Book express melancholy feelings of loss and exile which no modern poet can match. Such depths of feeling are kryptonite to the ironic scurrying roaches that trouble Charles Murray. Most SWPL types would probably seek medical attention after reading such things, mistaking depth of emotion for mental illness. Early literary inoculation might save more future medical bills than that high-school health class. 

Old English literature is suffused with sensibilities and values sorely lacking among modern “elites.” The Anglo-Saxons had heroes. They weren’t the sort of fist-shaking, lip-quivering victims and agitators fashionable as ‘heroes’ in modern academic curricula. The Anglo-Saxons valued strength, fortitude, gravitas, and physical valor. They laughed at adversity, danger, and fate. Our modern ‘elites’ would rather wallow in minor inconveniences.

The Anglo-Saxons knew there were villains, enemies, and monsters in the world, and they knew what to do with them. They also knew that they lived in a civilization that had regressed from what came before them, and they were acutely aware of the loss. This is something that the iPhone-clutching bipeds who make up our college-educated “elite” haven’t managed to figure out yet, despite their broad ignorance of formerly commonplace knowledge such as Anglo-Saxon literature. 

I’m not sure what modern college graduates learn outside of the hard sciences and engineering disciplines. I’m guessing a lot of it is cultural-Marxist palaver, which probably is helpful for social climbers. However, I do not think such baloney is a sign of intelligence. The ability to master such “knowledge” is more of a sign of gullibility and bloodless apathy than intelligence. I’d guess that assortative mating between modern college graduates will produce an upper middle class of emotionally stunted credulous imbeciles. That seems more worrisome than any hypothetical new caste system.

 

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