I have been reading a collection of essays in the book “Consider The Lobster” written by David Foster Wallace. I remember reading an essay by him many years ago that struck a deep chord within me so I was thrilled to find this book at my library.
The book itself however, has been less the thrilling. It’s a difficult read for me. DFW uses words I’ve never heard of and styles I find annoying like long, convoluted sentences, numerous footnotes, frequent asides and other distracting literary techniques. Still, some of his essays were thought provoking and insightful.
One of my biggest takeaways is that this book published in 2006, is comprised of essays he wrote in the early 2000s. The subjects writes about are the same subjects that are often discussed today:
- America’s War on Terrorism
- Cell Phones and Social Media
- Mainstream Media and its Corporate Bias
- Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex and Advertising
- Corruption, Politicians and Corporate Influence
- The Far Right, The Liberal Left and the Absurdity of their Positioning vis a vis Patriotism vs. Political Correctness
In fact, I’ve written about all of these subjects in the last few years – 15 to 20 years after he wrote about them.
If you replace the names of the politicians, update the technology from flip phones to smart phones and replace some of corporate giants, we’re talking abut the same issues two decades later. Nothing is new here.
This makes me pause to consider all of the hand-wringing about the state of the country and the dire predictions about the decline of the US that dominate the Internet, the news and many conversations. Apparently we’ve been having these discussions and predictions for decades. I suspect they’ve been happening since America’s territory was being colonized by England, France and Spain.
I have studied a little about society during Greek and Roman times. A surprising common thread predicting the decline of society runs all the way back through them.
Perhaps these stories are as old as civilization itself.
This is but one reason why, when I hear predictions of the decline of society and a dark dystopian future, I no longer worry.
If it happens during my lifetime, I’ll deal with it. If it happens later, I’ll be long gone.