Survivors and historians recounted the impossibility of there being a darker time in the always regrettable history of humanity than what occurred in the two world wars. But current times and what may come give serious competition to those long darknesses. In the 19th century, Dickens wrote at the beginning of History of two cities that his time had front and back: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, the age of wisdom and also of madness, the age of beliefs and disbelief, the age of light and of darkness, the spring of hope and the winter of despair.” If he had to talk about the present, perhaps he would cut that description in half. He might add: “It was the despotic and brutalizing empire of technology.”
And there must be quite a few of us who share Neruda’s desolate complaint: “It happens that I get tired of being a man.” Nor is his continuation negligible: “It happens that I enter tailor shops and cinemas withered, impenetrable, like a felt swan, sailing in a water of origin and ash. “I don’t want so many misfortunes for myself, dying of grief.” Well, it doesn’t matter if you get tired. They will continue to screw you. It is the natural order of things.
I see the shabby and horrendous theater that those in power have put on to legitimize the indefensible, with pitiful performers reciting a tired and embarrassing text. What a sordid job to earn a salary. And I remember Borges’ always utopian wish: “I believe that over time we will deserve not to have governments.” 70% of the staff votes. It is democratic, civic. And the blank vote is useless. Lying and abuse are legitimized.
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#age #darkness