Fans contemplating suicide etc…

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/11/avatar.movie.blues/index.html

I like the guy, but find this particular piece oddly weak. He bills Caleb’s criticism (and indeed the whole FPR project) as motivated by a desire to return to Eden and the belief it is possible to do so.

I see why such an evaluation might be plausible for the occasional lurker, and I actually don’t know whether Caleb himself believes a return to Eden is possible or desirable. Milliner is certainly right to condemn that project, if anyone holds it.

I think, though, that the goal of FPR is not quite so idealistic (and thus unrealistic) as a return to Eden. The goal is not the elimination of history (which a return to Eden necessitates) but the recovery of memory which is indeed the opposite of such an elimination. Nor is it a total rejection of the goods we have inherited and received over time, but a recognition that such goods are never pure and thus immune from criticism, but are reflective of their historical development, which is always sin-laden. Contrary to a lack of realism, then, the goal of FPR is to understood and wisely act upon the present and historical realities of life in late modernity.

It is here that the tables may be turned a bit. Is it a sign of realism to laud the small moral successes in the marketplace represented by CSAs and say nothing of Wall St. raking in billions and Walmart displacing more and more small businesses, as if CSAs are the dominant norm rather than the economic exception? I believe in appealing to desires and not just waving sticks (as happens often in some circles), but it is realistic to see our pursuits in the current democratic capitalist order as merely a fair contest on the playing field of beauty? Or are there other considerations shaping the playing field, considerations that FPR routinely discuss but that are often ignored by those with more faith in the neutrality of economic modernity, considerations that may call for a rejection of some cultural practices and institutions?

It is true that we cannot return to Eden. But perhaps it is too easy for some to mistake the desire for redemption for a desire to see Eden. In the end, those on the cruciform road ought not ignore Eden, for that is from where we come.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6977014.ece

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P.T. Barnum at least winked when selling farce. “This Way To the Egress”.

Jason, an interesting idea but it seems to me that the idea of “Place” is itself a principle. It is the immediate life, the full moment, the authentic surroundings, the distinctive, the human touch and the direct experience of human intercourse in all its forms. It is the antidote to the pseudo-Place, the Vicarious Agora…our Electronic Entertainments, that is subsuming a less brassy local . We accept it as a depiction or forum of culture even though it is, by and large a coarse simulacrum spawned by the Entertainment Industry. When one’s “Entertainment Industry” is one of the largest industries one possesses, it is not surprising that it should start to be taken as some kind of important and lasting phenomenon in our lives, rather than the comic and shallow thing it is. Fortunate for us, something synthetic and artificial can never remain anything other than a chimera and so therefore cannot actually subsume reality, ….reality, the local, the “place” continues apace, sometimes banal, sometimes truly remarkable. The good news is that approaching reality as a craft still is a distinct possibility in this larger place, our lapsed Republic. “Place” will be that reality we return to when we have worn out the allure of the junk food that is our popular culture. We may even be able to order it to a higher degree of resolution whereupon we preserve the vibrant aspects of the mosh pit of our popular culture, while renewing our profounder attachments to the places we exist within.

Thanks for the ref to Deneen’s essay.

Something you mentioned in an earlier comment reminded me of a concern I have had with Front Porchers: they value place above principle. It looks like no one addressed that particular agument in the subsequent comments.

Patrick Deneen has an essay titled “Patriotic Vision” in Intercollegiate Review in which he recognizes the problem too. It would be nice if someone would discuss the problem further on the Porch itself.