Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Where have all the thinkers gone?





from prev blog

Where have all the thinkers gone...?
Where is that smoky salon?
Where is the passionate discourse?
Where is the oratory voice gone hoarse..?

Marx...Herzl...Bilaik
Slabodka...Novhardik
Spinoza...Locke...Kant
Izhbitche...Kotzk...Salant
The magic of an idea...an ideal
The arguments.. so REAL

I close my eyes..and travel back in time..
To a Paris café ..where praising Monet is a crime
To a premier in an Opera hall in Milan..
Where the composer is being booed and hissed on and on
People thinking..relating..
Artists starving..creating
Hope ..never more than a thought away
Money...not worth the time of day
Utopia...swirling around ..steel rim glasses
Teachers..blowing passion into their classes

There was a time when our youth was lost
Seduced by Bukharin and Zhabotinsky
Instead of marijuana and ecstacy
Singing the Internationale with fire in their eyes
Instead of moving to 50 cent as the eye flicker dies


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27 Comments:

Blogger Sara with NO H said...

this was pretty depressing...

June 19, 2007 2:30 PM  
Blogger the dreamer said...

sad but true...

in a way, i wonder what's better.
i mean, over here, the havdala is so much greater - you can actually SEE the emptiness...

June 19, 2007 7:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Shlomo Hamelech says that sometimes it's bad to think too much...
Dreamer - I think it was worse in previous times... As you said, the emptiness is so obvious here. And even though unfortunately people do turn to drugs and that kind of life, so many of them come back because eventually the emptiness hits them. The real problem is when it's too late to come back.. physically..

June 19, 2007 7:58 PM  
Blogger David_on_the_Lake said...

sara...
nostalgia is often mistaken for depression...

dreamer...
I'm not getting into whats better..
Its just such a waste..such a shame..people literally going to waste..
whereas back then..they were dreaming for something better..even if in hindsight we see the folly of their ideologies...

allie...
I dont know if its so much about thinking
Perhaps the titel should be "where have all the hopers gone?" (nah)
Where have all the passionate people gone?
Today the on ly thing propelling them is another form of pleasure or another buck..and that trickles into even the best of us.
Whereas back then..there were higher ideals..

June 19, 2007 9:06 PM  
Blogger socialworker/frustrated mom said...

Sad indeed.

June 19, 2007 9:14 PM  
Blogger the dreamer said...

david - i see your point.
people nowadays just don't want to think. we're actually taught not to think. computers, cellphones, calculators, PDAs... all are there to ease us into the comfort zone of not knowing and not caring that we don't know.

idealism is gone. nationalism is virtually non-existant. respect has faded away. we're sinking into oblivion, and noone is the wiser.

June 19, 2007 9:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry, I guess I kinda missed the point on this one.. Forgive me, my brain is feeling scrambled tonight..
Thanks for explaining it to me though ;)
I know what you mean... In the high school I went to, it was actually "cool" to fail tests and to be "dumb".. It always seemed so preposterous to me..

June 19, 2007 9:35 PM  
Blogger the dreamer said...

sorry, none are the wiser.

just had to correct myself...

:P

allie - you didn't miss the point. you just showed a different one.
:)

June 19, 2007 10:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks dreamer.. anyway it was actually your fault, because I was working off you comment... ;)~

June 19, 2007 10:48 PM  
Blogger the dreamer said...

allie - i know, i know.
everything's always my fault.
sorry.

i'll try not to let you think again.
:P

June 19, 2007 10:49 PM  
Blogger the dreamer said...

btw, david, whatever or whoever is Izhbitche?

the others, i know...

June 19, 2007 10:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm guessing izhbitche is a place... I could be wrong... Very possible David made it up cuz when I did a search on google the only thing that that showed up was this post..! :)

June 20, 2007 11:15 AM  
Blogger David_on_the_Lake said...

lol..
No I didnt make it up..
The Kotzker Rebbe, who was a firebrand and revolutionary leader had a star pupil R' Mordechai Yosef Leiner.
At some point after the Kotzker started secluding himself more and more..R' Mordechai Yosef broke away from his Rebbe and started his own Chassidus for strictly ideological reasons. He took with him some of the greatest of Kotzt like R' Leibel Eiger and R' Tzadok of Lublin..and moved to Izbitche. (the Polish spelling is probably more like Izbiczye..)
This caused a huge rift in Polish Chassidus..
His dynasty eventually moved to Radzin and his grandson is the one that discovered Techeiles..

June 20, 2007 11:44 AM  
Blogger David_on_the_Lake said...

swfm...
yup

dreamer...
thats so true...why think..when u just coast along..?

allie...
I thought ur comment was very good and definitely brought up valid points..
Not bad for a scrambled brain
:-)

June 20, 2007 12:05 PM  
Blogger smb said...

reminds me of chevlei mashiach

June 20, 2007 2:19 PM  
Blogger chaverah said...

all i have to say is "look at my previous comment" lol

June 20, 2007 4:47 PM  
Blogger Dovid said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

June 20, 2007 5:55 PM  
Blogger Dovid said...

Since I stopped blogging I really just drifted away from the whole blog scene and just forgot about what used to be my favorite hangout. Anyway, I was just looking at my blog this morning and I decided to reacquaint myself with the blogs I linked to. Yours was the first I clicked, and I got stuck. I must say I really love your blog. The writing is brilliant, the music fantastic (very similar to my taste), and your critiques (from vinyl siding to pop culture) right on. I love it. Keep it up and know that you have a fan right here.

June 20, 2007 5:55 PM  
Blogger David_on_the_Lake said...

lvnsm...
perhaps...

Chaverah...
Yes..it certainly pertains to this post as well..

Gonzooo..
Thank you..
That comment meant ALOT to me..
come back soon
:-)

June 21, 2007 8:56 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

the perfect song to this post is "la boheme" by charles aznavour..

uch.. i miss the good ol' days..
if only id been around back then :)

June 21, 2007 9:12 AM  
Blogger exsemgirl said...

Yeridus Hadoros.

June 21, 2007 9:12 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i always wonder to myself.

the youth of times past, who fought for lofty ideals. were they composed of deep thinkers?.

or were they simply doing what was in fashion at that time.

if the latter point is correct, we are stuck at the same spot.
ואין כל חדש תחת השמש

June 21, 2007 12:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

sometimes i wonder if we have our own deep thinkers and revolutionaries who are just too progressive for us to realize it..
the way those of the past were unappreciated in their days..

June 21, 2007 3:20 PM  
Blogger David_on_the_Lake said...

m00ks...
I dont know that song..
Perhaps you were..
:-)

exsem...
big time..

g,illuy...
While it might've been the thing to do...if u were a thinking youth in those times...You cannot in any way shape or form compare it to the obsessions of todays youth..(drugs, drinking, pleasure seeking)..
Those youths were willing to sacrifice years in banishment and trips to the Gilloutine for the chance at what they perceived was a better world..

m00kie..
Can you give me an example?

June 21, 2007 8:44 PM  
Blogger SemGirl said...

Intellectual laziness is very in vogue today...

Awesome music..

June 22, 2007 10:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

no, or else they wouldnt be too progressive for us to realize it :)
thats the point of my comment.. that we dont realize who the geniuses are!
maybe youre one of them :P

June 24, 2007 11:07 AM  
Blogger David_on_the_Lake said...

semgirl..
yup..thats true..and thanks

m00kie...
lol...maybe..hehe

June 24, 2007 3:17 PM  

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