Feb 05 2007
Staring into the Abyss
Thinklings posts this quote from John Gardner about the distinction between good and bad artists (and bloggers):
“[T]he good artists are the people who are, in one way or another, creating, out of deep and honest concern, a vision of life . . . that is worth pursuing. And the bad artists, of whom there are many, are whining or moaning or staring, because it’s fashionable, into the dark abyss.”
- John Gardner, On Moral Fiction
I’ve noticed this self-loathing nihilism especially in many of the blogs on the left, whether the topic is atheism, global warming/whining, the war on terror or whatever the crisis de jour. It’s in their posts and in those they idolize. Here’s a quote from Hunter S. Thompson posted at Homeless on the High Desert:
“We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world-a nation of bullies and b*st*rds who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not just Whores for power and oil, but killer whores with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge us… No redeeming social value. Just whores.”
I’m not sure these people have the mindset solely because it’s fashionable, as Gardner suggests, but rather because they truly are looking into a void. They have no hope. This world is not what they want it to be and because they have killed all their gods, they have no hope of a future, better world. It makes sense to ignore the tyranny of a Saddam or to scrabble after an endangered species or to complain about perceived global warming because this fallen world is all they see. Grab whatever meager cold comfort you can, because this is all there is, folks. What a sad existence.
Any suggestion, though, that there is faith-based answer to their black hopelessness is mocked as foolishness. We are deluded, they tell us, believing in something beyond this earth. A wiser man than I had it covered, though:
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor 1:18, NIV)
