tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16816866.post8514488146256078501..comments2024-02-29T02:10:56.878-08:00Comments on J O S H U A P U N D I T: Chris Matthews: West Point An 'Enemy Camp' Full Of 'Rabble'Freedom Fighterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13649470110087808596noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16816866.post-74096975986889592012009-12-03T04:49:46.690-08:002009-12-03T04:49:46.690-08:00At one point, being acquainted with Kipling, Tenn...At one point, being acquainted with Kipling, Tennyson, Lewis Carroll, Poe, Shelley, Keats, Byron, Mark Twain, Matthew Arnold, & other great Victorian & Edwardian writers was considered necessary as part of a typical education. I marvel sometimes at the ease with which quotes from Kipling & Tennyson could be dropped into programmes such as ' Lost In Space ' , a children's show of the 1960s. The writers were the product of a classically-educated school system. We were still expected to have at least a nodding acquaintance with French & Latin when I was a kid.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the culture has sunk into a politically-correct slough wherein the race, age, sex, &, above all, the politics of the writer are the concerns of the current pathetic crop of academics. ( I once quoted Confucius, & a PC girl said to me : ' Why, he's just some white male, isn't he?! ' ! ) & the writing for Hollywood has sunk to the bottom of the barrel -- half-literate & nauseously politically correct. ( I am happy to say that I did not replace my old monochrome, B&W, Samsung ca 1982 ( yes, 1982!, inherited twice! ) television set when the digital conversion occurred. What I see when I travel tells me that I'm not missing much.<br /><br />I am reminded, though, of a once-famous joke from the 1920s ( the Golden 20s or Roaring 20s ) : Naughty Boy says to girl : Do you like Kipling ? Girl responds : I don't know, you naughty boy. I've never Kippled !<br /><br />-dragon/dinosaurAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com