Word: utopias
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...short, happy days could be here again. Not Utopia, however. Far more often than now, Americans will discover that the public itself is the butt of some of the biggest jokes around. In such cases, laughter might be reduced. Still, half a laugh is better than none...
...technology are sweeping all before it, shoving aside tradition, magic, superstition and old values that cannot be justified in terms of collective utility. This ultimate rationalization of human behavior provides the basis for modern industry and brings about un--precedented economic progress with its promise of a material Utopia--abundance, the arguments go, will eradicate class conflicts and education and enlighten the masses so they will naturally agree with other classes on societal goals. Stability and prosperity will hold sway, and all members of society will accept the legitimacy of capitalism as the means of production...
...more is expected of the CIA just when its capabilities are being restricted. Last week, when a Soviet spy satellite broke up over Canada and invaded the atmosphere like a streak of fireballs, it served as a blazing reminder that the world remains a dangerous place, far from a Utopia where a democracy can conduct all its business openly...
...Book of Sand, those perplexities can be shadowed by pessimism. "Now things are going badly," says Borges in a conversation with his younger self. "Russia is taking over the world; America, hampered by the superstition of democracy, can't make up its mind to become an empire." In Utopia of a Tired Man, an in habitant of the future lives on a featureless plain, eats cornflakes and tells a visitor from another century, "We have neither dates nor history . . . rereading, not reading, is what counts. Printing - which is now abolished, since it tended to multiply unnecessary texts...
...could count on a few up-tunes and some spangled bimbos, never in any more dissonant a musical mode than mixolydian. The script--"book" it was called by those in the know--grappled with Important Issues, like racial prejudice (Finnian's Rainbow) other cultures (The King and I), utopia found and lost (Camelot) and the Nazi rise to power (Cabaret). It was good, workmanlike entertainment, done with zeal and finesse, an enjoyable evening with drinks before and dessert after. The Kirkland House production of The Fantasticks is cast in this mold and wavers tantalizingly close to success by its standards...