“Something is profoundly wrong with the way we live today.”
From the first chapter of Ill Fares the Land, the new book by Tony Judt. If you’re in school or just out of school, and you’ve discovered that the principles drummed into you in school are negotiable after all, and you wonder if anything really matters, you have to read this.
Something is profoundly wrong with the way we live today. For thirty years we have made a virtue out of the pursuit of material self-interest: indeed, this very pursuit now constitutes whatever remains of our sense of collective purpose. We know what things cost but have no idea what they are worth. We no longer ask of a judicial ruling or a legislative act: Is it good? Is it fair? Is it just? Is it right? Will it help bring about a better society or a better world? Those used to be the political questions, even if they invited no easy answers. We must learn once again to pose them.
The materialistic and selfish quality of contemporary life is not inherent in the human condition. Much of what appears “natural” today dates from the 1980s: the obsession with wealth creation, the cult of privatization and the private sector, the growing disparities of rich and poor. And above all, the rhetoric that accompanies these: uncritical admiration for unfettered markets, disdain for the public sector, the delusion of endless growth.
We cannot go on living like this. Continue reading Ill Fares The Land in NYRB.
Thanks to Jaime for the alert.
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April 22nd, 2010 at 16:36
Thanks for the link Jessica. I’m definitely getting this book.