The principled curmudgeon

Note: This blog post has been retracted, since I no longer think of it as a good representation of how I think about its topic. I may, or may not, have written a better post about the same topic since; check the full list of posts.

I am like unto an old crank. I hate today’s times; I hate today’s youth; I hate today’s culture and music. But, to me, this is not a matter of practice, but of principle.

I hate the times. I don’t hate them for being worse than other, earlier times; that would be ridiculous. There have been much worse times, with more wars and poverty and disease, even very recently before now. Any time from before which was better in some respect was also much worse in others, and it seems a folly to choose among them; we cannot get a clear enough view.

Nor do I hate them for being bad in an absolute sense; I do not believe in an absolute standard for judging of the times. Some times are better or worse than others, but there is no rule besides the times that have actually obtained for judging of the times; imagined times, which we may take for a standard, may well be unobtainable, illusory.

I hate the times for being times – for that they will pass. They call for my worries, for a place in my memory, and yet, much later, they will not, for the most part, be relevant again. They are naught but a pressing waste; they are the bane of souls.

I hate the youth. I don’t hate them for being worse than other, earlier generations; that would be ridiculous. Today’s old persons did much greater evils when younger; there have been much worse generations throughout time. Any earlier generation which was better in some respect was also much worse in others.

Nor do I hate them for being bad in an absolute sense; I can certainly judge absolutely of a man, but not of a humanity. I can recognize that some earlier generations had a much better understanding of particular truths; I cannot make that judgment about truth in general, nor about their wills rather than intellects. Some generations are better and worse, absolutely; it is presumptuous for a man to judge of which.

I hate the youth for being young – for that they are inexperienced. They try to have an effect upon the world, and yet their knowledge is meager and their habits are ill-formed. They have great energy, which is always ill-employed; they are the bane of times.

I hate today’s music, mores, and culture. Not for being worse than that of other times, or absolutely bad; that would be a ridiculous, stupid, extremely rash judgment. I hate them for being today’s; I hate them precisely insofar as they are today’s. For to that extent they will not survive this age, and are the bane of body and of soul – which both spring from an age-old, near-eternal kind. Innovation is always to be hated.