My feelings as a person from "the continent" after BREXIT might be similar to those of a spouse whose partner of decades, despite all the pleading, finally filed for divorce. But the project of the European Enlightenment is not tied to one form of political organization.
What really challenges human progress at this point is the populism of rebellious teenagers at heart, usually senior men by age and position. The Korea Times' chief editor Oh Young-jin celebrates Brexit as the rejection of a "failed" European and world order, as the "trigger" for a global revolution _ admitting not to know of any specific positive goal. As "99 percent" of Europeans are poor, desperate and frustrated, overrun by refugees dreaming of such levels of poverty, "destruction" is the most "constructive" option we have. And: Who will "miss the opportunity to have an impact on a global scale" when our life as well as continuing cooperation is so boring? Wow!
No wonder that Donald Trump, chief representative of the starving 99 percent of Americans, applauds the withdrawal from shared responsibility.
I just want to remind us: In contrast to nationalistic political projects, the European integration was never meant to give frustrated men an opportunity for satisfaction. It might look like bureaucracy, regulating and implementing boring but life-saving things like the limits of cargo on passenger ships, but the European Union is still the most efficient institutionalization of the European Enlightenment that we know. I read Voltaire on this day: Enlightenment is opposed to both fatalism and blind optimism. It is, instead, the pragmatic optimism that rational planning and persistent work will lead to gradual progress, will steadily increase freedom and opportunity in safety and peace for people to find happiness in their individual lives.
Voltaire, facing the earthquake of Lisbon, saw whole Europe shaken to its spiritual foundations. But his hero Candide, exposed to the voices of fatalists and cynics, emerges unimpressed: We will continue to "cultivate our garden".
Michael Bergmann
German teaching
in Seoul for 10 years
bergmann2473@yahoo.de
What really challenges human progress at this point is the populism of rebellious teenagers at heart, usually senior men by age and position. The Korea Times' chief editor Oh Young-jin celebrates Brexit as the rejection of a "failed" European and world order, as the "trigger" for a global revolution _ admitting not to know of any specific positive goal. As "99 percent" of Europeans are poor, desperate and frustrated, overrun by refugees dreaming of such levels of poverty, "destruction" is the most "constructive" option we have. And: Who will "miss the opportunity to have an impact on a global scale" when our life as well as continuing cooperation is so boring? Wow!
No wonder that Donald Trump, chief representative of the starving 99 percent of Americans, applauds the withdrawal from shared responsibility.
I just want to remind us: In contrast to nationalistic political projects, the European integration was never meant to give frustrated men an opportunity for satisfaction. It might look like bureaucracy, regulating and implementing boring but life-saving things like the limits of cargo on passenger ships, but the European Union is still the most efficient institutionalization of the European Enlightenment that we know. I read Voltaire on this day: Enlightenment is opposed to both fatalism and blind optimism. It is, instead, the pragmatic optimism that rational planning and persistent work will lead to gradual progress, will steadily increase freedom and opportunity in safety and peace for people to find happiness in their individual lives.
Voltaire, facing the earthquake of Lisbon, saw whole Europe shaken to its spiritual foundations. But his hero Candide, exposed to the voices of fatalists and cynics, emerges unimpressed: We will continue to "cultivate our garden".
Michael Bergmann
German teaching
in Seoul for 10 years
bergmann2473@yahoo.de
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