A while ago I issued a warning that the intellectual stock of the west was plummeting; my worst fears had been realised when I met a youngish man who had never heard of Jean Paul Sartre.... (not, I emphasise, had only vaguely heard of him, or thought him a figure of fun, but had never HEARD). That this guy was a librarian I couldnt be bothered to add, but its true.
But what does it mean, and why link it with Fortuyn ? Becuase in just 30 years, this is how far, and how low, the political culture has declined. I never bothered to ask what it was the population of Holland saw in Fortuyn, this confused amateur politician, but rather , why it was there was no-one else more worthy to attract the attention of the young... In Paris, huge demonstrations took place against the sinister figure of Le Pen, but what surpised me most was the strange, forlorn dismay on the faces in the crowd; HOW could they be so surprised about this when the entire region around Marseilles has been in the grip of an FN faction since 1995 ? Then, At the time, i recalled French students being mildly embarrassed or even amused about it, which were hardly sufficient responses, I thought.
This then is the result; forget what just a few years ago people understood so well, and disaster is not far off. But to return to the original theme, Again today I found yet another young person who had never heard of Sartre , so I gave him the battered old copy of "Nausea" I had been reading, on condition he promised to read the whole thing and not confuse the protagonist of the book with the author... he was a black shop-worker, and he seemed to genuinely appreciate the gift. I wish him luck.
Decay of culture is necesarily linked to political decline; this is the warning given by Rad Bradbury in "Farhenheit *451", and also in Murray Bookchins "The Third Revolution" (1994) where he too forsees the chilling result of what can happen if the great activists of the past are forgotten.
If they are indeed forgotten, its our fault alone.