Internet Books A Musical Contrarian Cassandra's Curse Generations Play

Copyright (C) 1993,1996,2009,2011,2016,2017,2018 by Barry Drogin

"Some have written a book for money; I have not. Some for fame; I have not. Some for love; I have not. Some for kindlings; I have not. I have not written a book for any of these reasons or for all of them together. In fact, gentle borrower, I have not written a book at all --- I have merely cleaned house." --- Charles Ives, 114 Songs

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INTRODUCTION

After some consideration, I've decided that the world doesn't reward the intelligent, the stupid, the victim, the oppressor, the meek, the powerful, and so on. I think the world rewards the conformist.

I can't explain why, in my personal value system, I find the conformist to be so contemptible. A conformist is one who acts not for moral, rational, emotional or religious reasons, but because others act that way. This might seem justification enough for contempt, especially in those cases where the actions are immoral, irrational, emotionally damaging or blasphemous, but I must confess to a special distaste for the unconsidered action and opinion.

It's not that, looking over this collection, I believe that every opinion of mine is completely and exhaustively considered. I welcome engagement and debate. But I feel this collection is devoted to fighting assumptions, including those of the proper use of vocabulary itself.

It is the curse of my intelligence, I suppose, that allows me to see through the assumptions. But I could keep my mouth shut, or decide it's not that important.

Was Cassandra's curse, then, that she saw the truth, or that she spoke of it? No, Cassandra's curse was that no one would listen, and that is my curse, too. Certainly, it would be wonderful to be intelligent, to observe an incorrect assumption, to correct the originator and inform the public (set the record straight), and be heeded. There would be no problem, then, no curse.

But the conformist, perhaps, knows that he or she has soldout, or purposely ignored the truth, and doesn't want to be reminded of it, does not want the record corrected. To violate this is to be arrogant, or obnoxious, or offensive, or elitist, or inhuman.

If to be human is to be a conformist, then I am eternally damned, for I have never been able to be a conformist. It's not that I don't want to be a conformist. I just can't do it.

In some ways, perhaps, I admire the conformists. I sometimes think they must be happier than I am. I might be wrong. Maybe the conformists are even more miserable than I am, and if they paid more attention to the truth, both they and I would be much happier.

Ah, the truth. Has it ever done anyone any good? Perhaps not. Perhaps we should have a society and a culture built on lies. Perhaps we already do, and we malcontents should just shut up, or be killed, or sacrificed, or scapegoated, or...

Well, maybe not.

PART ONE: THE "RATIONAL" MIND
I. ENGINEERING AND ETHICS

II. SCIENCE AND MORALITY

III. THE REAL CITY

PART TWO: THE "HUMAN" BEING
I. ARTS THEORIES

II. THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH

III. PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION

Here is the same Table of Contents sorted by type:

POETRY

SONG LYRICS

LETTERS TO PUBLICATIONS

LETTERS TO ACQUAINTANCES

REVIEWS

SHORT ESSAYS

LONGER ESSAYS

CREATIVE WRITING

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Last Updated: September 28, 2019