Collective Banality
I love the word banal because I have suffered from it so much – while it did not bother anyone else at all. It’s nice to have a word ready-made for use. The following may give you a feel for Ortega y Gasset’s style:
The adoption of meaninglessness as a form of existence is a sign, Ortega goes on to argue, that the twentieth century life, especially that of the post WWII period, is enthralled by a spurious rejoicing in the form of banalities. This is why Ortega argues in several places that today man lives for the moment and all our cures are merely designed as temporary patch jobs. Ortega ties in the inability of the mass man to create or achieve anything substantial with…post-modern theorizing.
He spends some time analyzing this post-modern theorizing, but it boils down to a rejection of reason and values – and an elevation of vulgarity.
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