On history and a new poem
In my youth, I was interested in Francis Fukuyama’s book The End of History and the Last Man which proposes Western democracy and capitalism had defeated other political and economic philosophies. I even heard him speak live in person about his book, which seemed to have got criticism for being triumphalist.
It came to mind today because of the Ukraine war going on now and other military conflicts and terrorism that have occurred since Fukuyama published the book in 1992. His critics may have been largely correct because counter-ideologies like Middle East terrorism and Soviet holdovers such as Vladimir Putin did not just go away at the end of the 20th century.
One analyst of my dissertation topic Samuel Beckett said his drama is often in a way about asymptosis, a mathematical term for lines that geometrically approach each other but never really touch. So there are still significant vestiges of these counter-Western ideologies almost three decades later. And they are hurting and killing people.
On a lighter note, a satirical poem:
“Old” by yours truly
Get out of the stock market! It will soon crash.
Stash your cash,
Or instead invest in (g)old or s(l)ilver.
Old.
Take what’s left of your liver,
And just forgive her… him too.