Interestingly enough, I heard this soundbite in a song. I thought it was thought-provoking, so why not share it? Rather than slap down a bunch of text, it might be more interesting if you heard it yourself. Just press play. But, I did quote the text below, if you wish to follow along.

“Sometimes it appears that we’re reaching a period when our senses and our minds will no longer respond to moderate stimulation. We seem to be aproaching an age of the gross, persuasion through speeches and books is too often discarded for disruptive demonstrations aimed at bludgeoning the unconvinced into action. The young–and by this I don’t mean by any stretch of the imagination all the young, but I’m talking about those who claim to speak for the young–at the zenith of physical power and sensitivity, overwhelm themselves with drugs and artificial stimulants. Subtlety is lost, and fine distinctions based on acute reasoning are carelessly ignored in a headlong jump to a predetermined conclusion. Life is visceral rather than intellectual. And the most visceral practitioners of life are those who characterize themselves as intellectuals. Truth is to them revealed rather than logically proved. And the principal infatuations of today revolve around the social sciences, those subjects which can accommodate any opinion, and about which the most reckless conjecture cannot be discredited. Education is being redefined at the demand of the uneducated to suit the ideas of the uneducated. The student now goes to college to proclaim, rather than to learn. The lessons of the past are ignored and obliterated, and a contemporary antagonism known as ‘The Generation Gap.’ A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete core of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals.” -Spiro Agnew

I ran across this quote on the outside of a journal I found in Barnes & Noble. I’d like to say that it exemplifies part of my personality, but I’m worried it might make me sound like a pathological liar.

“I shall try to tell the truth, but the result will be fiction.”
-Katherine Anne Porter