Thursday, March 31, 2005
Response to Eric Bentley
I think that Eric Bentley hit the nail on the head with his statement, “Ours is the age of substitutes: Instead of language we have jargon; instead of principles, slogans; and instead of genuine ideas, bright suggestions. ” I think that all of these things that he mentioned result because our society is built around ease and cost-effectiveness rather than quality and meaning. To really communicate with language well, time for studying is required. To hold real principles, commitment and effort is required to live by them. To come up with genuine ideas one must spend time truly thinking about and developing their ideas. The problem is that no one has enough time, and no one wants to commit to anything or put forth effort for anything besides personal gain. This is a serious problem—one that needs to be solved before any genuine progress can be made.