Page 78 - TheGoldBug1967-68

PAGE 4 THE GOLD BUG APRIL 12, 1968 McLuhanesque History Somebo~r.A~! There ?~ Kyrie,Kyrie rm POp Goes The Culture Anderson by Richard about sensory and future has generated a and oat- extension present, To most people, history Is the and his explanation of the past, future. McLuhan brings his point "0 foolish men, and slow of heart to believe ... great amount of interest, not par- ance home when he observes that account of past events that have been laboriously collected, and ticularly because he Is obviously in television, we have unknowing- America has lost its greatest prophet,UsmostauthenUc moral voice, correct or even original, but be- ly created a vast extension of the its outstanding humanitarian, and as WilHam Stringfellow said on this are even more laborious to mem- cause people are excited about human nervous system. The sign- campus three and one-half years ago, "the white man's best friend." crtee. History In this sense, as a anything that can help them to tncance Is that this new sensory When someofusgotlovolvedlntheClvll Rights' Struggle back in 1963, mass of fac~s, is not of vital In- understand the emerging "Pop" extension has wrested from the and then not actively enough, we idelltitled with the Southern Christian terest and Its primary use out- culture, and its Implications for book oriented visual sense, the leadership Conference, headed by Dr. King. He was a man of integrity side of the classroom IS by story~ the future. dominant position and has creet- and the one man we could trust and follow. tellers who draw on the good plots It is obvious that technology is ed a new sensory balance. A new That any American could be happy ovar this tragic death Is even more it sometimes oIfers,andbyalarm- the fundamental factor influencing sensory balance means a new cui- shocklng, more appallIng, and reveals more of our national sickness than ists in their vain attempts t~ keep the modern scene, but McLuhan's ture--one whose development has the assassination Itself. the human race from repeating old theory that technology Is the basic started and whose future char act- The people least qualified to express the overwhelming loss this nation mistakes. element of all previous history as ertsttcs can be predicted. has suffered are the white people oI the United States. We fumble for What peop~e really want, how- well, has provided us with a rad- McLuhan's major prediction is words and they are empty; we utter what otherwise would be meaningful ever, is a history of the future. ically different philosophy of his- that the mass media of television phrases and they turn out to be platitudes. People are only moderately In- tory and of man. McLuhan sees will re-trlbaUze man and turn the It Is under-standable that white America is tongue-tied. We put Martin tereSted in retaining a sense of the relationship between man's world Into a "global village". Luther King in his grave. Every white person in America Is responsible the past, but the same people be- senses and the extension of his These developments will elimln- for his death. No white person here deserves to sing "We shall over- come irrational in their excitment senses (technology or "media' ') ate the conditions that cause war, cO;:'~~;:::a:t,,~~::~ ::~~I:~~::~;;,~~:t::d~~a: ~::r~'~h:~ ;~t:~!~e ~;SI!i!tYd~f :;~n~~: as the key to history. New tech- but at the cost of the individual,as man will be nologies, which McLuhan refers the new "integral" more do they want?" "Whycan'Uheywait?" "I don't understand riots!" horoscopes an_d believe In ESP? to as media, form extensions more interested In involvement Such abysmal blindness vanity and Ignorance! Kyrle Eleison! "How long Bertrand Russell has stated that one or more of the human senses. of than in independence, o Lord how long?" .: Must ; Christ be cru'cified every generation fo; It Is merely an accident that we Sometimes a newly developed Whether Marshall McLuhan Is those with no imagination?" (G. B. Shaw) don't have some faculty akin to media, form extensions of one or right remains to be seen. It may So 11there is any weeping, any mourning, let it not be for Dr. King, but memory for the future.Although media will extend one sense to the be that we are all looking' for a !~~~::e:~sto~U:a:t~on~ ~fu:shardness of heart. The bell Is not tolling :~:nt::e!~::~~:~dr:fl~~~ll~nmay point where it will dominate tha, key to the future that isn't there. I must confess that one oIthe'f1rstthOUghts which came to my mind shows that much of'man's most other senses. New sensory bal-. McLuhan's only distinction being that he claims to have found It. The ances, says McLuhan, alter man's after hearing the announcement on Thursday evening was "There Is now serious attention and thought has approach to his environment, and interesting thing, however, is the no hope." "The bottom has dropped out". "What is there to hold to?" been directed towards uncovering cause him to modify his culture; attention prophets like McLuhan "What is this country coming to?" Rilke's "cracks in things" seemed too the key to the future, an activity McLuhan has applied his theory always attract, especially in con- e to the past to lend it credence, fused periods such as the present ;t %" t:~~:t'~~~~l :;:~~:~' ~~~:h:;~:~~~;,e;~g:~~~:t~e~~;:,s:~. :~;:m~nto ~:~;:s~~!~~~~~I::a:. which has in some cases meant when change is ahead of expl ana- in some areas the spirit of revenge Is loose uestoes the apparentI! normal making it roU over and do tricks, tion, and we don't know where we But new, e;peclally now, we can be held by that force which held and people who rely on Ouija boards but the point of Interest Is McLnh- are going or what w'e will do when supported Dr. King--his faith in the ultimate triumph of love over hate, and the like, there has always ex- an's concern for the present and we get there. good over evil, andjusticeoverinjustice.Itls a faith symbolized for him, Ist~d w~at Is perhaps the more as a Christian, by the Resurrection. ratlQnal approach of o~ganlzing This symbol matches our despalrwithjoy ourguut with grace and our the events oI the past toflOdasys- sense of futility with hope. With this sym~l he believed that there was tem to explain both history andthe never a humiliation without vindication; never a defeat without victory, future. SUCha system, or phUoso- never a death without life overcoming It. phy of history Interests practically But let us never forget that In this busIness oI equallty, justice, and everyone because Itoffers.atheor y truth there are no easy victories and no cheap vindications. Truth and oI what .the future wll~ brlllg. The the scaffold seem to be Inseparably united in h1story. The achievement potential interest that Isdeveloped 01 such ideals have always been costly in terms of life and sacrifice by a philosophy of history can be even though we are confident they will be achieved. ' seen In thephenomenaof Marxism. This undying hope of King's is contained in an article he wrote for the One of the fundamental factors In current LOOK magazlne."The American people arelnfectedwith racism Marxism's .success has been its --that is the {..ern•.Paradoxically they are also infected with democratic provision of what all people want, Last Rite For The Lost Right Ideals--that is the hope. While do'ingwrong,theyhave the potential to do a sense of what the future :ll by John Douglas :1~~~I!U~fU::;nt~~;~tghl~v~h::~~l::;~~h:o f:~~:~::;;ers: :so:e~~:el:a:: ~:Ing, and what ShOUl~00 !lone a ut Many centuries ago when we were all older and less civilized, the gurate Is not so unpalatable that it justifies the evils that beset the na- Phllosophies of history seem to Beatles had a top-40 hit called "We Can Work It·out" in which they stat- t1on. To end poverty, to extirpate prejudice, to free a tormented con- be prompted by vast changes, oc- ed (pre-guru)--"Llfe is very short and there's no time for fussing and science, to make atomorrem ofjustlce,falrplay and creaUvity--all these curing r&~ldly and chaotically. fighting, my friends. I have always thought that It's a crime. So I will ask you once again--Try to see it my way, only time will tell if 1 am ar~~~::v~~tt~~~~i:~~:r~~;lt~'e message contained in the concluding ~easest~~C~7~ti~~~~:n;:~~~n~~::~ right or I am wrong. Why do you see It your way? There's a chance that words of his last public speech delivered In Memphis April 3. "I have boring grave doubts about the per- we might fall apart before too long. We can work it out." no fear: I have seen the promised land; mine eyes have seen the glory of manence of the~r cultures. People, But It hasn't been worked out yet. The hawks and the doves attack each the coming oI the Lord!' as I said prevIOusly, always want other inmld-alrandthefeathersfallonthe rest of us and sooner or later It remains for us, the living, to make America that promised land of to knem what to expect from the we'U be suffocated by them. The militant call the peace lovers "Idealists" his vision. Let us continue the cause for which he dled--brotherhood, luture,.,but they want to know.twice because they still hope for brotherhood. Yetthe real idealist Is the hawk equality before the law, Uberty and justice for aU. And let us continue as badly under these conditions. who thinks he can achieve peace and love through fighting while the rea- lists realize war can bring no peace, only more war and destruction. It ~h:::U;;~:'itn~! ~~;~i~~~:~:!t :~~; u::~:~: ::~~v~~~~~r~~~= ~!;x':~~m~ea~ai~n:~ t::y~ase ~n Is unrealistic to thin~ violence can bring serenity because the warrior ance what we die for. The new oracle of the future spirit thrives on the brutal. Thisiswhya program was necessary to re- ....All the prophets have spoken!" seems to be Marshall McLuhan, habilitate World War II veterans for return to civil1an life • While hawks In the "responsible" right wing (e.g. john birch society) battIe creeping government power which they feel stifles the individual, 1/olei YCf!!#4a1ion they subordinate the individual by favoring the war, the dratt and even (In a SUbtle and subversive segregation maMer). Actually there is only Drive For Southern Democracy the irresponsible right wing which falls to realize there can be no free- dom aside from the freedom of the individual life. To give up flne's life Involuntarily is the greatest infringement on freedom. lith Primary Election. Both the The conservative philosopher-gad-king Thomas Hobbes wrote that Ira Klemons and Cathy MCCulloug!t ;~~~~~~o~!. ~:ne~~;;~~~~u: volunteers and the residents re- "no man can transfer ,or lay down, his right to save himself from death" "Only qualified voters are citl- the black community exceedingly ceived considerable satisfaction and that 1Iheforfeltsthisrlghitollfe, he gives away all rights. The pur- zens; all others are subjects. Don't receptive; 1n fact in many cases and learned something valuable pose of government is to save man from the "nasty, brutish, and short" be a subject be a cli.tzen. Register their friendliness was overwhel- a'Jout people from the face-to-face Ufe not to sacrifice him to it. Anarchy among nations is In many ways to vote now!' In an attempt to mlng. Many people would not even contact. Our learning experience worse than the anarchy of IndividualS because governments have the increase the numbe:- of Negro cit i- listen to us until we were seated in was heightened by living with Ne- power to maneuver men and destroy all that is living and beautiful. Gov- zens, seven W.M.C. students spent their living-rooms. Occasionally gro college students on the Bene- ernments are without conscience, love or dreams. their spring break working on an however, even fUteen minutes of dict campus. That great, antiwHegelian, Karl Marx (strangely unpopular these days), NAACP-YWCA sponsored Voter attempting persuasion could not Perhap.o; the most valuahle thing conceived of a world, however unattainable, of man helping man rather Registration Drive In Columbia, convince some that it was worth gained from the project was a hint than fighting him. From the time a child Is scolded for beating up the South Carolina. Those partici- their effort to vote. Some frus- of what the American Negro must neighbor kid, half his sIze, till, as a student, he reads The Grapes oI patlng were Pat Fleeharty, Pete trating replies included, "The experience every day of his life-- Yl1:ath, the importance of man helping man is-stressed. In flashes oI in- Harich, Ira Kiemous, Rich McCan- Lord will take care of me," "My frustration, subJimationdue to out- sight he unpatrlotlcaUy, sacrilegiously feels maybe Jesus was more of na, Cathy McCullough, Walt Mich- husband votes for us," "I can't right white supremacy, pOlice in- a social critic than a religious one. ael, and Charlotte Phelps. read," and "It doesn't do anyg09d terference, and jeering white rac- Inevitably this engrained natural brotherhood mustconfronttheVlllU· The northern volunteers who anyway." ists. Ali of these Ugly but real cal truth that his leaders ask him to fight and kill his brothers. In un- canvassed each Negro neighbor- It was estimated that between American traits came to the front mentionable daydreams, his mind might wonder why his leaders don't hood in smallteamseverymornlng 1500 and 2000 new registrations as the registration teams came in fight the enemy leaders, why all the hawks of any age, sex, draft class- during the week were joined in the were completed. In addition, there contact with the white Southernes ification or nation don't set up permanent battlegrounds (suggestions: afternoon by students fromtheNe- were Innumerable people re- who made It their businesstoagit- Red China, CaUfornla,lsrael, Egypt, Germany, either half) and conduct gro campuseS of Allen and Benedict gistrated ana remiMed of the June ate. their o.vn valiant gladiatorial games. And leave the rest of us alone.