What I find amusing is Murray's reference to the American Gentleman of the Old Days, referring to some sort of lost ethical standard among elites. Conveniently he forgets to mention the lynching of black Americans in the South or the Jim Crow laws which were omnipresent in the South in 1960, the time at which he hints American culture began its rapid deterioration. Nor does he have anything to say about women not being allowed to vote early in the century. Nothing vulgar about that, apparently. It amazes me that anybody takes him seriously.
Brett
"Dennis"
<dperrin13 at mediaone. To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
net> cc:
Sent by: Subject: Re: Murray on prole models
.panix.com
02/12/01 03:50 PM
Please respond to
lbo-talk
Well, I suppose someone should pipe up for "vulgar" expression. I mean,
what exactly are we talking about here? Rap? Death metal? Kittens in jars?
Murray's piece has been written a thousand times before by other cultural
reactionaries, from those who railed against ragtime music and early jazz
to those who bewailed the "dark" and "violent" influence of film noir in
the 1940s to those in Congress who attacked comic books in the 1950s.
Every generation sees something vulgar in the culture, and I'm sure in
2035 there'll be a form of dress or music that will rattle the elders of
that time. Does this mean that there is *no* vulgarity in the current
scene? Of course not. There's all manner of crap and trash to choose from.
But for Murray to go on about tatoos and nose rings (how very lower class)
is really quite ridiculous.
DP