I’m thinking . . . a man without qualities (character) and on the cinema screen there arises mug shots of George W Bush, Tony Blair (and his successor David Cameron), Silvio Berlusconi, Vladimir Putin . . . could we put them behind bars in a small provincial zoo so that they might be examined, interrogated, perhaps poked with a cane or umbrella and pelted with faeces. How might we begin to examine these men without qualities? Qualities that might lead one to assume a moral core rather than the emptiness of self-creation, ambition and acquisitiveness. These managers and betrayers of democracy. What sort of life do we want to value? What sort of society do we want to be part of?
1938 and 1978
Dates suggestive of what was about to be unleashed on a barely suspecting world. 1938 – Territory and Ideology. What form was society to take, Capitalist, Communist or Fascist? And then 1978 – the advance of Neo-liberalism. The apparent victory of capitalism. The freeing of capital and the market from every restriction. Nothing must get in the way. Come on! We can all sign the Faustian pact with the devil and we will soon all be wallowing in wealth and privilege.
And you made it through the storm, young Odysseus. You don’t mention Sirens or Calypso . . . or maybe it was a fleeting visit to Silvio’s bunga-bunga cave on Sardinia. But there you were in clouds of Musil. Though I wonder if there was a certain muesli quality, a worthy and chewy mash soaked in cold water and tasting of cardboard. Ah, the joys of travel. Eleven hundred pages! But then what about a kindle edition of the great work? This tiny box of plastic and electronics to hold the library. Shall I buy one? Yes, no? Kindle? Is that to do with children or lighting a fire? I see our fairy godmother, Annie Amazon, has brought out a cheaper version. How many thousands of books do I need it to hold? Though they say our purchases are automatically backed up in some cloud or other. I really must stop adding to these ever towering piles of books on every available horizontal surface. Get rid of some of them, you say? Easier said than done in my experience.