AmCon 102–Day 2

We started early today. After this was pointed out, we had a deal: start early, leave early. More after the break.

We then discussed whether David Brooks was correct in the previous night’s readings. Our ORC group had a consensus that we weren’t very fond of Whitman and Brooks. We discussed the indecision that was involved with the multiple commentaries on Democracy in America.

Our (that is to say, the ORC Group) overall agreement was that we didn’t agree with Brooks. Looking at the piece in its historical context, maybe it’s the most important political commentary of its time. Today, we have better examples. We thought that Whitman’s constant optimism of “We’ll get there….eventually…” eventually decreased and then became rather depressing. We weren’t very fond of his tangent about literature being on the rise. Well, he is a poet, and is quite nostalgic about the past classics.

The overall class discussion was more or less as follows.

Memorable Quote of the Day: “Voting is NOT an essay question.”

Eight people agreed with Brooks.

All but one of the rest disagreed with Brooks.

I abstained from voting.

Highlights of the class discussion are as follows:

Pros: Optimism, David Brooks’ authority, idealism vs realism, need for cultural unity, genre - sermon,

Cons: Obesity, overconsumption, inaccuracies, realism, pompous,change people, differences in idealism, idealistic ramble, contradictions, super-hard to read, achievable?

Quotes: “Whitman just wanted people to be poets.” “I write, so, clearly, I’m better than all of you because Whitman said so.” “This is what we say, ‘what does this mean for the AVERAGE AMERICAN?’” “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” “I don’t think we are the most peaceful people in the world, look at our history.” “Maybe the American public is more apathetic than I thought.” “Besides it being a generally confusing thing to read…” “The soufflé that falls is not a good soufflé. You need to call it something else. A fallen soufflé is a failure."

Conclusion: Question is too extreme. The question itself is not a productive question. The response that requires moderation and nuance is the best response. Also, there is a difference between being idealistic and being an ideologue.

 

Unrelated, but still relating to Democracy in America: the Patriot Act had a spot in the news today as most of the blogosphere misreported today’s vote. My personal favorite comment was “I get that it was wrong to vote for this bill 10 years ago because you didn't get a chance to read it.  But if you want to be a Congressperson and haven't read the PATRIOT Act sometime over the past 10 years, you're probably in the wrong line of work.”