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Tag(s): Culture; History; Interconnectedness; Rove Karl
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January 13, 2008 at 13:00:14

Connections Through Time

by Andrew Bard Schmookler Page 3 of 3 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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Just as the human genome creates new versions of the basic pattern(s) of our species, so also the culture moves through time, recapitulating --for better and for worse, depending on the nature of the pattern and the spirit behind it-- variations on cultural themes. Like the Jim-Crow/Rovian theme of exploitation of one's ostensible "allies" through a certain kind of pattern of distraction in the fomentation of conflict over secondary issues.

There are six million such patterns in the Naked City (for good and for ill and for just the way a culture is). This is just one of them.

I invite any reader here to share any other pattern that moves in a cultural system through time, operating to give shape to how the system structures action and meaning.

And I invite you to share your thoughts about this whole aspect of "connectedness" that's concerned with how things are connected through time.

I think of the opening lines of T.S. Eliot's poem, "Burnt Norton":

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.

******

Next time out, I'll share another pattern of a somewhat different sort, to help flesh out more of the dimensions of interconnectedness in our reality, and to help flush out any more interesting patterns that others here may be able to contribute.

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Andrew Bard Schmookler's website www.nonesoblind.org is devoted to understanding the roots of America's present moral crisis and the means by which the urgent challenge of this dangerous moment can be met. Dr. Schmookler is also the author of such books as The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution (SUNY Press) and Debating the Good Society: A Quest to Bridge America's Moral Divide (M.I.T. Press). He also conducts regular talk-radio conversations in both red and blue states.