Word: spenglerism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Oswald Spengler had been developing somewhat similar theories as early as the first volume of Decline of the West in 1918. But while Spengler argued that the decay of civilizations was inexorable and essentially purposeless, Toynbee insisted that man retains his freedom of choice: "I do not believe that civilizations have to die...Civilization is not an organism. It is a product of wills." Moreover, it has a purpose, a dimly perceived but divinely ordained purpose. "History," he wrote, "[is] a vision of God's creation on the move...
...They were three of the all-time greats," McCurdy said yesterday in reference to Tim McLoone '69, Keith Colburn '70, and Tom Spengler '71. "In fact, Mc loone was probably the fattest, most out-of-shape freshman distance runner who everturned out to be good. Now he's a great entertainer. You should hear him sing the Yaz song...
...Spengler and Colburn exhibited equal admiration for the man under whom they served as captain in the autumn campaigns of 1969 and 1970 respectively...
...last week. U.S. reporters on board heard one of the blackest assessments of global events ever uttered by a certain "senior American official." That prescribed euphemism, of course, failed to disguise the obvious source: Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. To hear him tell it, sounding like an airborne Spengler. American foreign policy seemed to be spinning out of control-and almost solely because Americans had plunged masochistically into a self-destructive attitude toward world affairs induced by their Viet Nam and Watergate experiences. Kissinger warned that the Russians and Chinese might conclude that the U.S. no longer has the will...
People are out there in the land of Midcult, My Not-So-Dear Editor, who should be warned against Marshall McLuhan (compared to whom "Spengler is cautious and Toynbee positively pedantic"). Buckminster Fuller (whose prose reads like Archie the cockroach with his capital shift working). And of course Tom Wolfe-"Parajournalist!" -who presumed to attack The New Yorker, the Golden Arches Macdonald calls home. Could a Macdonald enemies list be complete without those sparring partners Cozzens (James Gould) and Cousins (Norman), the author of By Love Possessed who was by Macdonald savaged and the editor of Saturday Review/World? (When Macdonald...