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Highly recommend reading Kierkegaard's Journals where he writes about what he called the evils of the "daily press" and also his relationship to Regina and his
by dwd 5mo ago
Highly recommend reading Kierkegaard's Journals where he writes about what he called the evils of the "daily press" and also his relationship to Regina and his attempts the befriend the Bishop Mynster.
"The daily press is the evil principle of the modern world, and time will only serve to disclose this fact with greater and greater clearness. The capacity of the newspaper for degeneration is sophistically without limit, since it can always sink lower and lower in its choice of readers. At last it will stir up all those dregs of humanity which no state or government can control"
- daseiner1 5mo agoidentical critique of democracy, just sub in “manipulation of voters“ for choice of readers” (my comment is admittedly in poor form since I’m just redirecting to a hobby horse of mine)
- dwd 5mo agoH.L. Mencken is my preferred critic of democracy. "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." or "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
- wahern 5mo agoMencken's cynicism and mockery were arguably the type of thing Kierkegaard lamented, and perhaps in a sense were more a cause of social breakdown more than a consequence.
- dwd 5mo agoFrom reading his journals the editor of the Corsair publicly mocked him and used the paper to hide behind (in the name of journalism). His lamentations on journalism are very much due to this personal attack and he does name the perpetrator in his writings. Kierkegaard himself had his targets for cynicism, primarily the state church (Danish Lutheran) that he attacked endlessly in his writings.
- croes 5mo agoI guess he wouldn’t have thought much of social media either
- dwd 5mo agoYes, he had quite a few things to say. Unfortunately I don't have my ratty bookmarked copy on hand as he wrote some quite prescient ideas that are relatable to our "modern" world. "We make our happiness dependent on situations outside ourselves and blame others in the process if things don’t turn out well. In all our 'freedom,' we seek one thing: to be able to live without responsibility." probably sums up the Instagram/TikTok generation.
- newer_vienna 5mo agoHe saw that pure focus on Fact is empty without a framework of meaning behind it. He does not mean falsehood when he says degeneration! But purpose must transcend and direct the truth from fact.