Word: socialism
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Nobel Laureate Jose Saramago's most recent novel, Blindness, tells the horrifying story of an epidemic of blindness that spreads across the world, destroying families, social institutions and, eventually, every shred of recognizable civilization. The blindness begins when one man is suddenly and inexplicably struck with a strange, dazzling white blindness. Helplessly seeking to find an explanation and cure, the man infects everyone he meets. The blindness does not discern between good and evil--it infects a car thief as easily as a doctor, a prostitute as easily as a child...
Saramago expertly crafts this intricate and horrifying allegory with a style as striking as it is sparse. The language is never intricate, extremely metaphorical or descriptive; rather, Saramago relies on the sharp edge of spare, pointed prose to pierce the fragile shells of human decency and social stability. Images of rape and death are told with the same distanced tone as scenes of strength and love, melding tone and image into a grand, constant conglomerate of uncomfortable fear and hopelessness...
...artists recorded familiar scenes in extreme detail. The market place, the country landscape, the butcher's meat market all are recorded with such accuracy that the viewer's mind dizzies at the intricacy with which lines are drawn. The prints were also used in order to display political or social allegories, much like the political cartoons of today's newspapers. All in all, the French world was thrilled to finally have an artistic movement that encapsulated them, and not the royal or religious scenes they were used...
Like with all social ills, we struggle to discern the genealogy of this corruption, and we seek an entry point where we can begin to improve a situation. First and foremost, our values develop in our families. But as we grow up, communities play an increasingly large role. These communities--such as the Harvard community--leave an indelible mark on the individuals who leave them...
...final clubs. In turn, the clubs do their part to poison our nation. That contribution may well be small, but it is still a harmful one. We all want to have fun, but fun unfortunately has a price. The final club dynamic is unacceptable, yet it has become a social norm. If we do nothing, if members never speak out against their policies and we still flock to their doors, the clubs will continue to feed an increasingly unvirtuous society...