This newsletter has been more political than usual of late, and I continue to promise that I will not convert it into a political blog, but there is an obvious reason for the political turn. Even nonpolitical people know by this point that we are living in a fateful historic moment. What I can perhaps contribute is an expanded perspective, because historical events always have a mythical background, sometimes obviously, sometimes covertly, almost invisibly. A primary goal in educating the imagination is to provide both students and the general public with the means of detecting and evaluating this hidden background, coming to see that what seems—and
Reminds me of David Hackett Fischer who argues persuasively in Albion's Seed that the Scots-Irish (which was originally a pejorative) have a unique identity descended from the borderlands people of England and Scotland. He traces how their social customs remain in place among their descendants, whose ideas about violence, sex, thrift, etc. are noticeably different from the other early immigrants (Quakers, Puritans, Virginians).
That's quite interesting, Richard, and goes along well with the resemblance to the Highlanders. Alienated isolation resulting in a kind of paranoid anger that quickly turns violent. Of course, no intention of stereotyping--after all, the Scots-Irish are not the only ones who have gone what we now call the MAGA route. But, yes, there does seem to be a cultural factor. Thanks for being such a faithful reader--your comments often show up in the first hour, and that's a compliment.
Reminds me of David Hackett Fischer who argues persuasively in Albion's Seed that the Scots-Irish (which was originally a pejorative) have a unique identity descended from the borderlands people of England and Scotland. He traces how their social customs remain in place among their descendants, whose ideas about violence, sex, thrift, etc. are noticeably different from the other early immigrants (Quakers, Puritans, Virginians).
That's quite interesting, Richard, and goes along well with the resemblance to the Highlanders. Alienated isolation resulting in a kind of paranoid anger that quickly turns violent. Of course, no intention of stereotyping--after all, the Scots-Irish are not the only ones who have gone what we now call the MAGA route. But, yes, there does seem to be a cultural factor. Thanks for being such a faithful reader--your comments often show up in the first hour, and that's a compliment.