Neil Postman's graduation speech that he never got to give says we have one question in front of us: shall we be Athenians or Visigoths? Because sooner or later, we have to choose. Excerpt:
To be an Athenian is to hold knowledge and, especially the quest for knowledge in high esteem. To contemplate, to reason, to experiment, to question -- these are, to an Athenian, the most exalted activities a person can perform. To a Visigoth, the quest for knowledge is useless unless it can help you to earn money or to gain power over other people.To be an Athenian is to cherish language because you believe it to be humankind's most precious gift. In their use of language, Athenians strive for grace, precision, and variety. And they admire those who can achieve such skill. To a Visigoth, one word is as good as another, one sentence in distinguishable from another. A Visigoth's language aspires to nothing higher than the cliché.
To be an Athenian is to understand that the thread which holds civilized society together is thin and vulnerable; therefore, Athenians place great value on tradition, social restraint, and continuity. To an Athenian, bad manners are acts of violence against the social order. The modern Visigoth cares very little about any of this. The Visigoths think of themselves as the center of the universe. Tradition exists for their own convenience, good manners are an affectation and a burden, and history is merely what is in yesterday's newspaper.
To be an Athenian is to take an interest in public affairs and the improvement of public behavior. Indeed, the ancient Athenians had a word for people who did not. The word was idiotes, from which we get our word "idiot." A modern Visigoth is interested only in his own affairs and has no sense of the meaning of community.
And, finally, to be an Athenian is to esteem the discipline, skill, and taste that are required to produce enduring art. Therefore, in approaching a work of art, Athenians prepare their imagination through learning and experience. To a Visigoth, there is no measure of artistic excellence except popularity. What catches the fancy of the multitude is good. No other standard is respected or even acknowledged by the Visigoth.
Now, it must be obvious what all of this has to do with you. Eventually, like the rest of us, you must be on one side or the other. You must be an Athenian or a Visigoth.
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sorry - regurgitated my grilled Babelfish morsels! That should read
"I know of those who are seen as Visigoths who do, very much, require and expect some forms of courtesy, if it is viewed as a sort of obeisance to those IN power. Beware of 'dissing'."
Right. Ms. Manners did a talk show some years back on which she discussed the urban younger generation's lack of manners. I called in to quote Robert Heinlein's "an armed society is a polite society." "What went wrong here?" I asked her. She pointed out, quite rightly, that Heinlein's law works only if people care about surviving. Otherwise courtesy become totally one-sided, along with its armed enforcement.
The Ostrogoths had a more impressive kingdom than their Visi cousins, at least under Theodoric. The Arian Baptistery in Ravenna is a remarkable example of their art. Unfortunately, Theodoric had idjits for successors, which Justinian I made careful note of.
As to which to be, I'd say neither. I'd like to be part of a culture with the wherewithal to endure more than a couple of centuries.
"This is a bit off-topic, but I was interested in the point about the Spanish claiming Visigothic heritage."
There is still a fair-sized Spanish population of blonds and redheads, very fair-skinned. They do tend to brag about the Visigothic ancestry, mainly to distinguish themselves from the other Spaniards, who have lots of Jewish and Moorish ancestry.
And, yes I know all of this is off-topic, and poor Neil Postman, may he rest in peace, is probably really unhappy about having stumbled into a nest of history nerds with what he undoubtedly intended only as a commentary about civilization in a much broader sense. The History Channel, BTW, did a series about barbarians, and one of the episodes was about the Goths. Not a pair of black jeans in the entire hour.
most of spain is of celtiberian and roman stock. the germaic peoples which were suebic,vandal and visigoth did leave an imprint on the general makeup of spain which most notably the visigoths were mostly brown haired. central and northern spain have the typical nordic look while in the south and southwest is the mediterranean look which are still considered european. moorish blood is minimal since the invasion was a religious one and mainly concentrated in the south of spain. since there was always a no mans land in between andalusia and northern spain. if it wasnt for the visigoth/roman counterattacks from the north of spain the whole of western europe would have fallen to islam. we should give praise to our fathers of europe to don pelayo for leading the reconquest. since the rest of europe was to busy figthing amongst themselves, not letting a lending hand to their brothers in Hispania. in HISPANIA we fought the real enemy the invader,the foreigner the muslim berber!!! spain is where the real stories of heroes and myth and heroic battles come from. where castles werer actually needed to fend off the invader. not like in england and france where castles werent really needed! spain is europa
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