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02/26/2005: A Babbling Brook of Profundity
Much as I deride David Brooks (NY Times)...and he most certainly and often deserves it...he does have an intellect. Sometimes he even uses these brain powers to stray from the scripted path of Administrative Apologist and Lap Doggerie he's been so well trained to "heel" to all these years. He actually lets his own "Inner Gonzo" loose and says something quite profound. So, here it is today....David Brooks being Profound:"This is the most powerful question in the world today: Why not here? People in Eastern Europe looked at people in Western Europe and asked, Why not here? People in Ukraine looked at people in Georgia and asked, Why not here? People around the Arab world look at voters in Iraq and ask, Why not here?...
....The head of the Syrian Press Syndicate told The Times on Thursday: "There's a new world out there and a new reality. You can no longer have business as usual."...
...It's amazing in retrospect to think of how much psychological resistance there is to asking this breakthrough question: Why not here? We are all stuck in our traditions and have trouble imagining the world beyond. As Claus Christian Malzahn reminded us in Der Spiegel online this week, German politicians ridiculed Ronald Reagan's "tear down this wall" speech in 1987. They "couldn't imagine that there might be an alternative to a divided Germany."
But if there is one soft-power gift America does possess, it is this tendency to imagine new worlds. As Malzahn goes on to note, "In a country of immigrants like the United States, one actually pushes for change. ... We Europeans always want to have the world from yesterday, whereas the Americans strive for the world of tomorrow."....
...Not all weeks will be as happy as this one. Despite the suicide bombings in Israel and Iraq, the thought contagion is spreading. Why not here?"
Karen on 02.26.05 @ 07:00 AM CST
