Interview with KPFA-FM, Berkeley, 14 May 2007
posted by Morris Berman at 8:27 PM
May 14, 2007
About Me
- Name: Morris Berman
- Location: Mexico
Morris Berman is well known as an innovative cultural historian and social critic. He has taught at a number of universities in Europe and North America, and has held visiting endowed chairs at Incarnate Word College (San Antonio), the University of New Mexico, and Weber State University. During 1982-88 he was the Lansdowne Professor in the History of Science at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. Berman won the Governor’s Writers Award for Washington State in 1990, the Rollo May Center Grant for Humanistic Studies in 1992, and the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity (from the Media Ecology Association) in 2013. He is the author of a trilogy on the evolution of human consciousness–-The Reenchantment of the World (1981), Coming to Our Senses (1989), and Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic Spirituality (2000)–and in 2000 his Twilight of American Culture was named a “Notable Book” by the New York Times Book Review. Dr. Berman relocated to Mexico in 2006, and during 2008-9 was a Visiting Professor at the Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico City.
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5 Comments:
I am not sure if this is the right way to ask Morris a general question, but here goes.
I have read DAA, and I agree with it. I can't really see how America can get itself out of the death spiral.
That being said, what can an individual DO? I have teenage daughters, what do a say to them, "there is no hope?" Should we move to Canada or Europe? I think the US is doomed, but what about me? Am I doomed, too?
In other words, now that I have this theoretical framework that seems so accurate, how can I apply it to my own life, and the life of my family?
Dear Anonymous:
Thank you for your very important question. The answer is obviously one of personal choice. One possibility is the path of the "new monastic individual," as discussed in the Twilight book: optimism, at least, on the individual level. As far as Canada goes, it's better than the US, but still very much under American influence, and drifting more and more in that direction (at least commercially and economically). When my students asked me about this, I would tell them quite frankly that now is the time to make a move, and that Europe is probably their best bet. Again, the pressure to be American is great there (witness the recent election in France), and it's hardly utopia. But what I would make clear to them is that all that awaits them in the US is a harried, overworked life; a pressure to buy endless numbers of objects; lack of real friendship and community; a parochial (and paranoid) vision of the world; and an old age without much, if any, of a social safety net. I'm sure you don't want to put your daughters thru that, so frankly, giving them a new start, with another culture and language, would be (imo) a great contribution you could make to their lives. And since I don't know you, I can't really say, but you might be giving yourself a new start as well.
Hope this helps...
mb
One of the most under reported stories about the Western Conquest of the world is what it did to the Western personality, thought and culture. It is my position that when the West began the long march of discovery it created something new. The enslavement of people based on skin color. The Church in the process lost it's moral authority, but those in power held power with gunpowder, steel and a massive program of brain washing called re-education for Western Civilization.
When Columbus went into the New World in 1492 the rot of Western World began. He saw urban renewal and people removal if they were a problem.
The problem of Western Capitalism resonates in Africa to this very day and the destruction of the whole of Africa has not been repaired.
The Founders of the American Republic knew or should have known that they could not keep women in the kitchen, Blacks in chains and Indians in the fields and the American republic and personality not be tainted, but they gladly exchanged women, Blacks and Indians for their own grand scheme.
RobertW_Jones@msn.com
Mr. Berman:
Thanks for the link! I really enjoy listening to your interviews.
And I agree with much of DAA's premise. When you wrote that people get the government they deserve, I agree. I think Americans are pretty much getting what they deserve, and as a result of much ignorance, the population has seen a rise in obesity, and a defect in critical thinking.
When former president Jimmy Carter made that comment about the Bush administration having the worst foreign policy in US history, I was simply shocked by the reaction of the "news" media. I couldn't believe everyone was criticizing Carter simply for expressing his views. Isn't that what democracy is all about? The willingness to criticize and be criticized? How can one hope for improvement when critical thinking is discouraged? What has happened in this country is dark, indeed.
I saw Al Gore on Larry King the other night, and I thought he was quite brilliant. Al Gore mentioned that it's a shame that our media--along with our presidential candidates--really don't mention the more important issues, like global warming. Really, I can't think of a more important issue than our environment right now.
And I would love to hear your opinion on the Iraq war. What do you think would happen if we pulled the American troops out immediately? Would an all-out chaos ensue, as the Bush administration predicts? Or is chaos already ensuing? Lies, lies, lies.
Thanks for listening, and when I move to Italy, Germany, or Switzerland, you can drop by and visit any day. :-)
Emily
Dear Emily,
You can probably guess what I think abt our involvement in Iraq. I look forward to visiting you in Italy, or some other reasonable country (the Berlusconi lapse notwithstanding).
-mb
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