I sometimes think western Europeans bifurcated around the time of the Enlightenment into two distinct groups - the bohemians and the petit-bourgeois. The hipsters and the squares. Both materialistic, which is key. It might be a genetic predisposition.
The bohemians became modern liberals with careers, strivers who need to make it new. They were able to seize power as the belief in an eternal, unchanging divine order faded away.
The squares are suspicious of images, gestures and sounds in time – being too vague and ephemeral and therefore difficult to nail down. It's a kind of iconoclasm. Culture to them is decoration and entertainment - at least in the US. Maybe Europeans have a stronger attachment to ancient images but are unable to connect them to their lives.
I sometimes think western Europeans bifurcated around the time of the Enlightenment into two distinct groups - the bohemians and the petit-bourgeois. The hipsters and the squares. Both materialistic, which is key. It might be a genetic predisposition.
The bohemians became modern liberals with careers, strivers who need to make it new. They were able to seize power as the belief in an eternal, unchanging divine order faded away.
The squares are suspicious of images, gestures and sounds in time – being too vague and ephemeral and therefore difficult to nail down. It's a kind of iconoclasm. Culture to them is decoration and entertainment - at least in the US. Maybe Europeans have a stronger attachment to ancient images but are unable to connect them to their lives.