Hey Jaz---this is a toughie, because the question you're posing involves history so recent that we're still in the midst of it. I feel kind of at sea on this---like most people, I am trying to be reaslistic---on the one hand, not in denial, but on the other, not looking for the apocalypse around the next corner....
The Belle Epoque began with open borders and free movement of people back and forth without hindrance, a state of affairs that the growth of the European Union has tried to re-create in our own time. And it ended with barbed wire and the Treaty of Versailles. In our own time the same thing has happened---for our safety and survival, we feel the need to seal every last hole in our borders, monitor our own activities as much as possible, and in effect give up all the aspirations we thought were going to come true when the Cold War ended. I think we're in the same place that the West, particularly Europe, was in 1919, say---in deep shock, and bleak pessimism. Radical Islamist zealotry has been the tip of the spear we're looking at, no question. But now we know that anyone can do this---you don't need a nation-state, just a group of people enough burning conviction, to pose a serious threat to humanity, at least in the thinking of people whose thinking shapes opinion and attitude generally.
Your question about the very rough-edged and harsh trends in current music goes to the heart of this new reality we at least feel we live in. I think people for the first time regard the personal threat of violence as something unconnected with crime (again, this is the view of the prosperous, living in protected enclaves) but rather with terrorism, violence as a way to coerce compliance with beliefs we have no intention of adopting as our own.
But I have no clue whether any of this makes any sense or is the best way to view our current situation... help! Anyone out there have another take on this? Jonathan??
it makes lots of sense... just not sure where to apply it
i do think there's a mitigating force in the growth of the internet- websites, blogs etc-- this in many ways as taken the place of the open borders and free flow of peoples. even the radical jihadis maintain websites these days and entertain email. Perhaps this in some odd way will give the people themselves a voice over their dogmatic leaders and allow greater understanding of the root issues that divide people the world over.
I think fear has been a state of mind that the media plays on so regularly that its almost numbing islamic fascists, global warming, bird flu, e. coli outbreaks, war, genocide, oil crisis, drugs, cancer, massive drought, wild fires, mudslides, tsunamis, environment disasters, earthquakes the list goes on and we still manage not be found in the corner of a room balled up in a fetal position whimpering the darkness.
most americans still go out and buy something when it becomes too overwhelming to contemplate. then they feel better.
Hmmmm, maybe this is as belle as it gets.
