Word: modernness
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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WHAT does it mean when important leaders of our society withdraw from the political debate? Can it be that they see themselves as the modern-day equivalents of mythology's Paris--believing that a wrong choice on their part could launch a thousand ships? What a thought. Either these leaders are right about their importance in society--which would be frightening enough--or, more disturbingly, they could be trying to guide our national institutions toward some ideal where values like Veritas and objectivity dwarf the petty concerns of partisan politics...
...speak with the flamboyance of personality, that itch toward originality that distinguishes this blood-soaked century. Instead, he offered his words in the service of a long tradition, from Vergil to Dante to Donne to the Puritans among his ancestors. He saw himself, at times, as a modern Aeneas, compelled to struggle, suffer and carry old burdens to a new synthesis of civilization. He knew he was courting failure. He mocked his own earnestness in verse: "How unpleasant to meet Mr. Eliot!/ With his features of clerical...
...worse things looked. Of the 2 1/2 million inhabitants, 500,000 were suddenly homeless; four-fifths of the nation's homes had been damaged or destroyed. Obstructions blocked and sealed off streets and roads. Said Prime Minister Edward P.G. Seaga: "It's the worst natural disaster in our modern history. The storm has left a trail of wreckage the length of the island...
...million tickets to Olympic events remained unsold, and hotel occupancy was running 20% below maximum. One reason for the surfeit of tickets is a lack of excitement among Koreans for the myriad preliminaries in some sports (soccer, for example) as well as for some entire events (fencing and the modern pentathlon...
...report that reached the world, stirring fears of more unrest, told of some 50 bombs, one coming within 10 yds. of the torchbearer's path. The Games may tell the world of South Korea's modern miracle, but the Western press seems unable to understand the realities of ritual...